Thursday | 20 November, 2008
ISO adopts OOXML format as international standard
The ISO has approved Microsoft's OOXML as an international standard.
Peter Sayer (IDG News Service) 02/04/2008 07:52:52

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has adopted an international standard based on Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) document format.

The standard was approved by 86 percent of all countries voting, and by 75 percent of those countries participating in JTC1, the joint committee of the ISO and the International Electrotechnical Committee that organized the vote, according to a number of sources. To pass, it required the approval of 75 percent of all countries voting, and 66 percent of those countries participating in the committee, known as P-members.

Among the organizations relaying the information were Microsoft and industry standards consortium ECMA International. Microsoft first sent its OOXML document format to ECMA for approval, where it was adopted as standard ECMA-376. ECMA then submitted its standard to the ISO where, after numerous modifications, it has been adopted as ISO standard 29500.

While the ISO has sent the ballot results to the national standards bodies, it does not plan to announce them publicly until Wednesday.

The results were first disclosed in a document sent to the OpenDoc Society mailing list in a posting by a Dutch technical standards committee member, Michiel Leenaars.

Of the 87 countries that voted, 61 approved, 10 disapproved and 16 abstained. Among the P-members, 24 approved, eight disapproved and nine abstained, according to the document.

The full results the document contained are as follows:

  • Argentina; Abstention
  • Armenia; Approval
  • Australia P-Member; Abstention
  • Austria; Approval
  • Azerbaijan P-Member; Approval
  • Bangladesh; Approval
  • Barbados; Approval
  • Belarus; Approval
  • Belgium P-Member; Abstention
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina; Approval
  • Brazil; Disapproval
  • Bulgaria; Approval
  • Canada P-Member; Disapproval
  • Chile; Abstention
  • China P-Member; Disapproval
  • Colombia; Approval
  • Congo, The Democratic Republic of; Approval
  • Costa Rica; Approval
  • Cote-d'Ivoire P-Member; Approval
  • Croatia; Approval
  • Cuba; Disapproval
  • Cyprus; P-Member; Approval
  • Czech Republic P-Member; Approval
  • Denmark P-Member; Approval
  • Ecuador P-Member; Disapproval
  • Egypt; Approval
  • Fiji; Approval
  • Finland P-Member; Approval
  • France P-Member; Abstention
  • Germany P-Member; Approval
  • Ghana; Approval
  • Greece; Approval
  • India P-Member; Disapproval
  • Iran, Islamic Republic of P-Member; Disapproval
  • Ireland P-Member; Approval
  • Israel; Approval
  • Italy P-Member; Abstention
  • Jamaica P-Member; Approval
  • Japan P-Member; Approval
  • Jordan; Approval
  • Kazakhstan P-Member; Approval
  • Kenya P-Member; Abstention
  • Korea, Republic of P-Member; Approval
  • Kuwait; Approval
  • Lebanon P-Member; Approval
  • Luxembourg; Abstention
  • Malaysia P-Member; Abstention
  • Malta P-Member; Approval
  • Mauritius; Approval
  • Mexico; Approval
  • Morocco; Approval
  • Netherlands P-Member; Abstention
  • New Zealand P-Member; Disapproval
  • Nigeria; Approval
  • Norway P-Member; Approval
  • Pakistan P-Member; Approval
  • Panama; Approval
  • Peru; Approval
  • Philippines; Approval
  • Poland; Approval
  • Portugal; Approval
  • Qatar; Approval
  • Romania; Approval
  • Russian Federation; Abstention
  • Saudi Arabia P-Member; Approval
  • Serbia; Approval
  • Singapore P-Member; Approval
  • Slovenia P-Member; Approval
  • South Africa P-Member; Disapproval
  • Spain P-Member; Abstention
  • Sri Lanka; Abstention
  • Switzerland P-Member; Approval
  • Syrian Arab Republic; Approval
  • Tanzania, United Rep. of; Approval
  • Thailand; Approval
  • Trinidad and Tobago P-Member; Approval
  • Tunisia; Approval
  • Turkey P-Member; Abstention
  • Ukraine; Approval
  • United Arab Emirates; Approval
  • United Kingdom P-Member; Approval
  • Uruguay P-Member; Approval
  • USA P-Member; Approval
  • Uzbekistan; Approval
  • Venezuela P-Member; Disapproval
  • Vietnam; Abstention
  • Zimbabwe ; Abstention
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    Comments

    Exactly. Just look at where

    Exactly. Just look at where the yes votes are.. in some of the most Linux prominent countries. MS paying it's way to the future once again. Like a kid giving the teacher an apple a day for extra stars on his score card... big deal. Just because its a "standard" doesn't mean it will be used exclusivly. Look at Vista... who needs to fear viruses when the OS can't stand up on it's own boot straps. Linux/GNU is growing in strides... fear not, we will conquer.

    Dizzy

    Bah!

    Surprise, surprise. Wonder what the going rate was for 'say i' vote? The IWC could learn a thing or two off MS about how to swing votes.

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