OOXML, Microsoft Reportedly Rolls the ISO on a Standard for Data Formats

According to reports (1,2, 3) from the European and technical press, Microsoft has succeeded in reversing an earlier vote rejecting a proposed standard on data formats called OOXML. The voting is by the International Organization for Standards, known as the ISO.

This is not just a technical issue. Microsoft uses its effective control over the OOXML standard to continue its monopolistic dominance of software applications for word processing, spreadsheets and presentation graphics. Our statement on the ISO/OOXML vote is here.

Today there are thousands of software applications that allow people to create documents for the web. This innovation and diversity is due largely to the fact that web pages are build around a set of core open standards, managed by trusted bodies like the World Wide Web Consortium or the Internet Engineering Task Force. The opposite is true for the software applications that run on desktop and laptop computers. Microsoft has a global market share for "Office" productivity applications in the high 90 percent, largely because people don't want to risk compatibility problems if they use non-Microsoft products. The issue concerns the format in which the data are stored.

Microsoft's proposed OOXML standard is an effort to defeat adoption and use by the public of more open and competitive alternatives, like the competing Open Document Format supported by many technical experts, free software advocates, consumer groups and Microsoft competitors.

The next step in this battle may be to create rules for government procurement of software that requires evidence of effective implementation of the data format standard in several competing products, on at least each of the three leading operating systems used by consumers.