Microsoft managed to buy the vote of Sweden in ISO?
I have written before about the situation around OOXML, and that Microsoft tries to push it through the standards organisations. Today (Monday, Aug 27) a meeting took place in WG17 of SIS/ITS that discuss the OODF question. I already heard Friday last week there where rumors that Microsoft with the help of new partners (as new members of SIS) stuffed the meeting as single majority is enough to win a vote.
When a friend of mine arrived, it was clear that it all was stuffing going on from Microsoft side. All Microsoft partners in Sweden was at that meeting. People against OOXML got an offer to leave the meeting without paying the fee (not becoming a member). Everyone left, including IBM that thought it all was a farse.
It will now be interesting to see what the final vote will be from Sweden in ISO. It is the case that the vote of Sweden can be bought? Or will SIS take a decision to go against the WG?
**Update:**My friend nd writes here that Stephane Rodriguez in this text specifies a number of issues with OOXML and the Microsoft implementation of it. Of course, a detailed writeup should maybe distinguish more clearly between what is a problem with the standard, and what is a bad implementation of a standard. But the text pretty clearly state we are not there yet. If we have no implementations of the standard that works, how come we should push it through any standards body? Dear ISO, please stop. Take a deep breath, and go through the specification making sure it really include everything is that is needed for an OOXML editor. Everything and nothing more. Then people in procurement processes can require Microsoft (and others) to follow that standard and not have proprietary extensions that make documents incompatible.
Update: Another friend of mine, Joakim, write in Swedish about what happened and also list the companies that suddenly where members of the wg. Out of these, I only see Google with a known view, and that is against OOXML. The rest I presume where in favor of OOXML becoming a standard.
The result of the vote? 25(positive)-6(negative)-3(abstain)