Google welcomes ISO decision on OOXML
By Zaheda
Bhorat, Open Source Team
Google welcomes the
ISO
decision to not approve the fast track of
Office Open XML (OOXML)
proposed standard DIS 29500 (ECMA 376).
Our engineers conducted an
independent analysis of the OOXML specification and found several areas of concern, which we
communicated both
to the ISO and
to the public. These include and are
not limited to the following:
- for a specification of this size
it was not given enough time for review;
- the undocumented features of
OOXML prevents its implementation by other vendors;
- dependencies on other
Microsoft proprietary formats and their technical defects makes it difficult to fully
implement; and
- the overall cost for vendors of implementing multiple
standards (hence the lack of OOXML implementations in the
marketplace).
It is also incompatible with the existing ISO standard ISO
26300:2006, the
Open Document
Format (ODF), which already offers a high degree of interoperability, wide support,
and offers the level playing field the world needs. Google is a supporter of ODF and has
successfully integrated this open format into Google Docs and Spreadsheets. ODF also enjoys
implementation in
over twelve other
products.
The ISO approval required at least 2/3 (i.e.,
66.66%) of the votes cast by participating (P) members to be positive, and no more than 1/4
(i.e., 25%) of the total number of national body votes cast negative. Neither of these
criteria were met by the proposed standard.
The concerns from many
technical experts around the world were submitted as comments by the voting bodies to ISO on
September 2, 2007. These must now be resolved at a Ballot Resolution Meeting (BRM) on February
25-29, 2008. In contrast, ODF was approved unanimously (23-0 among P members, 31-0 overall) as
an international standard by ISO in May 2006.
As we represented our
position in many countries, we were encouraged by the process observed in some places that
truly evaluated the proposed standard on its technical merits as well as the feasibility of
implementing the standard for the people of the country. These countries successfully declined
or abstained due to insufficient information about the standard or the lack of time to
evaluate the specification. In addition, many irregularities have been reported in the voting
process (see
here,
here and
here).
Technical standards should be arrived at
transparently, openly, and based on technical merit. Google is committed to helping the
standards community remain true to this ideal and maintain their independence from any
commercial pressure.
Google supports one open document format and calls
on industry participants to collaboratively work on ODF. With multiple implementations of one
open standard for documents, users, businesses and governments around the world can have both
choice and freedom to access their own documents, share with others and pass onto future
generations.
