Microsoft Brings Standards Committee “To A Grinding Halt”

In the final days of the OOXML vote Microsoft attempted to stack the deck in its favor by bringing in a host of new countries sympathetic to its position in hopes its much-maligned "standard" would pass. It didn't, but part of the fallout from the unprecedented expansion of committee membership is that the standards body has now come, in words of its chairman, "to a grinding halt."

Because at least 50% of the P-level committee members must vote and the upgraded and new members (there are now 23 P members, compared to 11 before Microsoft's tinkering) aren't voting, not a single standard has been addressed since the OOXML vote.

As many said at the time, the new members were simply there to stack the vote and now the voting record bears out that conclusion. Andy Updegrove writes on the Standards Blog:

The extraordinarily large number of upgrades in the final months, and particularly in the final days, therefore seemed attributable not to an abiding investment and interest in the work of SC 34, but in the outcome of a single standards vote. That conclusion is now certain, given the voting performance of the upgraded members since they cast their votes on OOXML.

Of course it doesn't take a conspiracy theorist to suggest that this may well have been Microsoft's goal all along — not just to stack the vote, but to cripple the whole process in the long run.

As Updegrove says it's a sad story but there does appear to be a solution. The only way for things to change is either for the new members to start participating or for the committe to downgrade them to Observer-level membership.

According to the ISO directives (PDF):

1.7.5 If a P-member of a technical committee or subcommittee fails to vote on an enquiry draft or final draft International Standard prepared by the respective committee, the Chief Executive Officer shall remind the national body of its obligation to vote. In the absence of a satisfactory response to this reminder, the national body shall automatically have its status changed to that of O-member. A national body having its status so changed may, after a period of twelve months, indicate to the Chief Executive Officer that it wishes to regain P membership of the committee, in which case this shall be granted.

In the mean time, don't expect any new standards to emerge.

[via Slashdot]

See Also:

• Standards Org Deals a Blow Against Microsoft's OOXML Format
• ISO Rejects Microsoft's Office Doc Format
• Microsoft Petition A Desperate Bid to Gain OOMXL Support
• Industry Leading Publications Reject Office 2007 Documents