Microsoft has joined a committee that has a key role in the ratification of the OpenDocument format as an international standard
Microsoft this month joined the INCITS/V1 Technical Committee, according to press reports, which has a key role in the ratification of OpenDocument as an international standard, leading to accusations that it intends to sabotage the process. Microsoft denied these accusations, claiming that it only plans to involve itself in the ratification of its own standard.
While on the surface the news sounds rather benign, the group is responsible for the reconciliation of votes to make the OpenDocument Format a worldwide standard.
The Redmond Company is currently pushing its response to ODF, called Office Open XML, through the ECMA. It is also expected to look to receive International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification.
Pamela Jones, who runs legal Web site Groklaw, speculated that Microsoft had joined the group to sabotage the ratification of ODF, in the hope of giving its rival standard a chance to catch up. Last year, Microsoft submitted its Office Open XML file formats to the European standards body ECMA International, as a prelude to seeking ISO standardization later.
"There sits Microsoft, waiting, like a spider," Jones wrote in a posting on her site. "I am imagining ODF plodding along, with Microsoft asking questions, fine-combing through the comments, ‘did you mean this or that?’, getting bogged down in minutia until, lo and behold, either Microsoft’s XML makes it as an ISO standard first, or they arrive neck and neck."
But Microsoft denied this accusation, claiming that the only reason why Microsoft employee Jim Thatcher has joined the group was to get involved in the ISO standardization of its own file format.
All they would have to do to slow ODF down, I’m thinking, is ensure lots of discussion, review, documentation, exploration, etc. to arrange that ISO cannot ratify ODF until ECMA is ready to submit their competing XML, she said.
However, Jones said she hopes that she is wrong in her belief. "That would be mean and anticompetitive," she argued.
To its defense, Microsoft says the only reason it joined the committee was to ensure ratification of its own format. It also denied that it was attempting to derail OpenDocument in any way.
In order for Jim to participate in the future Open XML File Format work he needs to have standing in JTC1 SC 34 [a committee that mirrors INCITS/V1] which mandates participation over time. His presence in this group will have no impact upon the voting process for the ODF standard. Just as we have a seat on the board of OASIS and have not participated in the ODF process there, we will not participate in the JTC1 process, said Jason Matusow, Microsoft’s director of standards affairs, in a statement.
The Office Open XML file formats will be supported by the upcoming late-running version of Microsoft’s office productivity suite, Office 2007. OpenDocument is already supported by a number of productivity applications including the open source office productivity suite OpenOffice 2.0 and Sun’s StarOffice 8.
The news comes shortly after Microsoft announced the formation of a new developer effort centered on its open file formats, known as the Open XML Formats Developer Group. According to Microsoft, 39 companies have signed up already, including Intel, Apple Computer and Toshiba.