It’s been a while since I was part of the core team doing the broader interop work at Microsoft. I have become increasingly focused on global standards issues which is only a part of the bigger picture on interop. That said, I was just kicking around the Interoperability Bridges & Labs Center...

My last post has driven some great discussion around what an open standard means. Heck, I think I was writing about “open” issues back in March of 2005. One could almost say it has become thematic. Given the comments from my last post, I thought it would be useful to write out the analogy that was used...

I love reading smart people’s blogs – and Rick is definitely among that group. I have really enjoyed reading his post, “ Standards media formats and licensing: JPEG vs. MPEG ” and then the associated post, “ Balance of Interest .” In the first one, Rick referred to my recent post “ Contribution, Collaboration...

A colleague of mine, Stuart McKee, sat on a panel recently during a Red Hat event. His comments have drawn some attention, and now some FUD that I really feel needs to be addressed. First of all, you can see the coverage here , here , here , and here . But the one I most want to comment is this one from...

Clearly the Press Announcement today from Microsoft will bring about another wave of discourse on the future of document formats. The really short version of this announcement is that Office is going to support ODF, PDF, and XPS in the product directly and Microsoft engineers are going to join the OASIS...

Just a quick note today. I am on the road meeting with MS people and later this week doing a bunch of external outreach work in South Africa as well. During the last few months there has been a good deal of rumblings about participation in committees, about countries moving from o- to p- status, etc...

There have been numerous comments to my last blog posting, as well as a long response from Groklaw. Overall I am encouraged by the conversation as a whole because I think it is touching on some foundational issues. One of the most challenging aspects to the threads I've been reading in the responses...

There is much to talk about based on what has been happening in the discussion of Open XML these days. First, ISO has posted a FAQ about 29500. The approach taken in the FAQ is both direct and simplified. The rabbit hole on standards goes deep indeed, and any such FAQ must simplify to make it digestible...

Throughout the months leading up to the BRM and then following it, there was discussion over the future maintenance of the specification. Rather than recapitulate the results of the last SC 34 meeting, let me just point you to Alex Brown's blog . For those of you who were not following all of the players...

On Wednesday April 9, the Texas House of Representatives Government Reform Committee will be hearing testimony regarding electronic documents. The notice for the hearing states that the committee is looking to hear about: Research, investigate, and make recommendations on how electronic documents can...

The complaints keep rolling in on Groklaw about the outcome from Open XML. ***UPDATE #2: I went out to dinner and have been thinking a great deal about this. I do hold an opinion on this, but I think it is reasonable that people who read my blog expect me to be careful with my assertions. For that reason...

ISO has distributed the results of the Open XML vote to national bodies (**UPDATED) resulting in leaked information - but now confirmed by ISO in a press release . DIS 29500 has become IS 29500. In regular person speak – Open XML was adopted as an international standard by ISO/IEC JTC 1. This standard...

I have repeatedly made the argument that it is bad logic that leads you to the conclusion that there should be only one document format. If you value innovation in document creation, and you want to see applications continue to advance rapidly, and you want to see broad-based problem sets be addressed...

***Updated April 2*** - ISO has just confirmed the approval of IS 29500 in a press release . ***Updated end*** It has been a few days since I've had a chance to blog. I've been on the road and that tends to make it harder to find the time to put up posts. I have been pleased to see the fact that countries...

The United States national body has voted to approve DIS 29500 with 11 votes "yes," 4 votes "no," 1 "abstain," and 1 "not yet". The 2/3 super-majority requirement was met. The next step for them is a resolution meeting later this month.

As last week came to a close, I blogged about a few examples where Microsoft was applying the Interoperability Principles to its business. Much is being written about the role standards will play in the future of the software industry. It is important to understand that no software company or product...

Busy, busy, busy. So many things going on at once. I have been meaning to write about a few items all week and just haven't gotten to them. In the middle of all the excitement around the BRM, there have been some very positive steps taken on the interop front. I wrote a simple news blog post about...

I want to highlight a few comments following the close of the BRM in Geneva. The folks highlighted here are balanced, experienced standards professionals. This is not to say that there are not other standards professionals who hold opposite opinions, but I think these two are important voices. Patrick...

The national standard body for Denmark has posted some short comments about the BRM. For the moment, I don't think the comments are posted anywhere on their site in English. I found a translation, but if it is off, please let me know. ******** The following is a translation of comments posted by the...

Rick has pulled his blog posting about the BRM for the moment due to the fact that he will be reporting into Standards Australia about the meeting. His original post can be found in web caches and he is being quoted on other blogs. I will include one quote from what he wrote, and then wait for the repost...

Ecma International released its comments on the BRM. The Ballot Resolution Meeting was a very productive and positive meeting, where National Bodies' representatives worked together very hard, resolving many issues, to come to an improved final DIS 29500 text..." The point I have been making about the...

The weekend has brought about a frenzy of blog activity surrounding the BRM last week. The comments section of my last blog post makes for very interesting reading as you see a number of points of view expressed. I really don’t want to repeat the points I made in that post, so I would suggest reading...

The DIS 29500 ballot resolution meeting (BRM) finished up in Geneva today and was an unqualified success by any measure. A few things need to be kept top of mind as national bodies solidify their position within the next 30 days: A BRM is about technical work on the remaining open issues most important...

First An article in CIO Magazine online The CIO of Denmark comments that no matter what happens at the BRM or in the following month, they will still use Open XML and ODF. The articles asserts that the CIO considers Open XML an open standard and one of the formats included in the government mandate for...

Well it would seem that facts, rumors, and opinions are flowing fast and hard from Geneva. There have been some substantive opinions being shared around that are interesting. I'll focus on 2 topics for today. 1) Patrick Durusau - the project editor for the OpenDocument Format has posted another opinion...