Open Source Industry Australia

Representing Open Source Industry Australia, Jeff Waugh voiced his concerns over the relatively short length of time the complex standard has been under review, compared to the extended standardisation process ODF underwent.

"Our perspective on the issue, and this has been communicated to Standards Australia, is that there is a lack of integration and harmonization with existing standards. We also don't believe that there has been sufficient technical rationale for why we need another standard in this area."

Waugh said that Microsoft's OOXML standard has not followed a similar review process to other standards, which could have an adverse impact on Australian businesses and governments and has the potential to lead to a 'lock-in' to Microsoft's format.

He also cautioned against the proposal that the ongoing administration of the standard be conducted within ECMA.

"That's a huge concern if it does become a standard, because further revisions will be pushed through in a similar fast-tracked process and will become ISO standards by default, and OOXML will become pretty much administered by Microsoft alone," he said.

"We're for the open, transparent and participatory administration and maintenance of the standard. This maybe a great opportunity, but as it stands OSIA's recommendation for Standards Australia will continue to be 'no'."

A summary of the symposium, put together by Pia Waugh of Waugh Partners, can be found here.

IBM

Paul Robinson, national requirements manager for IBM Australia, read from the ISO guide which defines what a 'standard' is, citing "a standard is a document established by consensus and approved by a recognized body that provides for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their result, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context. Standards should be based on the consolidated result of science, technology and experience aimed at the formation of optimum community benefits."

"We don't believe that OOXML meets those objectives of what is defined as an international standard," he said.

He then spelled out further concerns.

"First of all we believe the standard was very rushed, and this might be why they have had some of those deficiencies."

Robinson said the average time it takes to write an ISO standard is two years, averaging around 50 pages per standard, with some up to 1000 pages that can take three years.

"When you contrast that with OOXML, which was developed in one year and contains in excess of 6000 pages, you have to ask - what does that have to say about the quality of the standard?"

"The first point is that it is not precise, repeatable and common. For example, compatibility settings of WordProcessingML such as autoSpaceLikeWord95 do not provide for repeatable practices."