Open XML Nuggets 2008-03-27

Here are a few Open XML nuggets I've collected in the final days of consideration of DIS 29500 by the national standards bodies.

The Apache POI project is a Java API to access various document formats.  They have announced on their web page that they will be including Open XML support.  This is good news and one more proof point that Open XML is fully compatible with open source free software.

[Note: For those of you that enjoy Kafka, Arnaud Le Hors, a senior member of IBM standards group, wrote a couple of blog posts regarding this announcement.  Le Hors shows his true stripes by greeting with negativity the availability of an open source toolkit.  Truly bizarre was the way in which he acts indignant about a claim that he himself made up.  Later he was forced to retract it and proceeds to deny having made it.  Rick Jelliffe brilliantly deconstructs the spin upon spin.]

Patrick Durusau makes some good points about the last minute arguments against Open XML.  His opinion is that even if these points are valid, ISO/IEC ratification is the right thing to do, and that SC34 is the proper place for maintenance of the standard going forward.  One of his points is that, while it is true that there is no final specification, the ad hoc rules in place were not written by the proponents of Open XML.  As an aside, Eric White has a post analyzing the rules of JTC1 that determines that in fact, the rules regarding availability of the specification are specified clearly in the JTC1 directives.

Hewlett Packard has released their position statement on standardization of office document formats:

Hewlett-Packard Company is in favor of standards for office document formats, including the Office Open XML (OOXML) and Open Document Format (ODF) standards. We believe that the two standards will co-exist interoperably, and that customers should have the opportunity to select the standards which best fit their needs.

HP believes that the international standardization process is working. This process has already significantly improved the OOXML specification and additional evolution of it will take place under control of the global community if the specification is ratified by ISO/IEC JTC 1.

In the current vote on OOXML at JTC 1, HP is supporting an affirmative vote in those national standards bodies in which HP is active.

And finally, Miguel de Icaza looks forward to the day when everyone will get back to work on something productive. He advocates approval, and relates his view on the OOXML storm in a teacup:

I have been reading the OOXML storm in a teacup for more than a year now. Am looking forward to the approval of OOXML as an ISO standard and to be able to move the discussion back to the things that actually matter: free and open source software.

For a year, countless bytes have been wasted on what is now a very difficult plot to follow, specially for people that have not followed it since the start (or as Bill Maher said last week "Its like trying to make sense of a LOST episode". Note: am a Lost fan).

I share Miguel's enthusiasm for the day when we can move beyond the negativity.