Say "NO" to OOXML as an ISO Standard

(Update 23 August 2007: Click here for list of Malaysians who say "NO")

Click the above to sign a global online petition to let National Bodies of the member countries of ISO (International Organization for Standardization) know that you say "NO" to approving OOXML as an ISO Standard.

Malaysians, this means you are saying "NO" to SIRIM, the organization that manages the approval process for DSM (Department of Standards Malaysia).

Visit the <NO>OOXML site for more information, but here is text of the petition:

Say NO to the Microsoft Office format as an ISO standard

I ask the national members of ISO to vote "NO" in the ballot of ISO DIS 29500 (Office OpenXML or OOXML format) for the following reasons:

1. There is already a standard ISO26300 named Open Document Format (ODF): a dual standard adds costs, uncertainty and confusion to industry, government and citizens;
2. There is no provable implementation of the OOXML specification: Microsoft Office 2007 produces a special version of OOXML, not a file format which complies with the OOXML specification;
3. There is missing information from the specification document, for example how to do a autoSpaceLikeWord95 or useWord97LineBreakRules;
4. More than 10% of the examples mentioned in the proposed standard do not validate as XML;
5. There is no guarantee that anybody can write a software that fully or partially implements the OOXML specification without being liable to patent damages or patent license fees by Microsoft;
6. This standard proposal conflicts with other ISO standards, such as ISO 8601 (Representation of dates and times), ISO 639 (Codes for the Representation of Names and Languages) or ISO/IEC 10118-3 (cryptographic hash);
7. There is a bug in the spreadsheet file format which forbids to enter any date before the year 1900: such bugs affects the OOXML specification as well as software versions such as Microsoft Excel 2000, XP, 2003 or 2007.
8. This standard proposal has not been created by bringing together the experience and expertise of all interested parties (such as the producers, sellers, buyers, users and regulators), but by Microsoft alone.

So Malaysians and others, go ahead, click the above and sign the petition.

Comments

[yoonkit]

I have already signed the petition. Its not suppose to be a knee-jerk reaction against Microsoft.

My decision is fully based on the serious technical deficiencies of the standard as described throughout this blog.

yk.