Microsoft OOXML debacle continues
Published: 31 Aug 2007 12:22 BST
The Swedish Standards Institute has decided to invalidate its Microsoft Office Open XML vote after it found that one of the participants had voted more than once.
The Swedish Standards Institute (SIS) declared its vote invalid after it revealed on Thursday that a participant voted more than once. The move follows criticism of SIS's earlier decision to vote "yes" to Office Open XML (OOXML) by the Free Software Foundation Europe, which accused Microsoft of ballot rigging.
"The SIS has information that indicates that one of the participants in the workgroup participated in the ballot with more than a vote," said the SIS in a statement. "Such a procedure is not compatible with the SIS's rules, which state that each [member] only has one vote."
The decision means that the SIS will take the decision not to vote if it is unable to take a new ballot before 2 September, when the global balloting process ends, according to Lars Flink, SIS chief executive.
Microsoft has admitted encouraging partners to join the national bodies deciding whether to recommend OOXML for fast-track ISO (International Organization for Standardization) certification.
If OOXML receives ISO certification, it could pave the way for OOXML to be accepted by governments as a document standard. The Free Software Foundation has argued that OOXML contains proprietary components.
Meanwhile, New Zealand has voted "no" to OOXML being fast-tracked for ISO certification at present.
Microsoft: OOXML free from proprietary hooks
As national votes on OOXML loom, Microsoft is attempting to persuade potential adopters they will not be locked into a proprietary file format [31 Aug 2007]
Microsoft accused of rigging OOXML votes
Microsoft admits encouraging partners to join bodies deciding on ISO recognition of OOXML, but says that a Swedish memo offering rewards for doing so was an error [30 Aug 2007]
OOXML approval system open to abuse
The Office Open XML approval process is not up to standard. Pushing ahead will be a mistake [30 Aug 2007]
Brazil says 'no' to Office Open XML
The Brazilian Technical Standards Organization has voted against Microsoft's OOXML ISO certification [24 Aug 2007]
IBM attacks Microsoft over SOA
The two IT giants continue to tussle over open standards, as the argument spills over into service-oriented architecture [08 Aug 2007]
Microsoft loses key vote for Open XML
The software giant has failed by one crucial committee vote to get backing for its Office Open XML format from a major US standards organisation [13 Aug 2007]
Higher-education bodies warned over XML transition
A report has warned that urgent work is needed to assess the best way for higher-education institutions to upgrade to XML-based file formats [09 Aug 2007]
Massachusetts to use both Open XML and ODF
The US state will use both document formats, despite a storm of protest from the open-source community [02 Aug 2007]
Microsoft Office Open XML gets US knockback
The document format has encountered a serious setback on its way to achieving certification as an open standard [17 Jul 2007]
Massachusetts may embrace Microsoft Office
US state has issued proposed technical guidelines that include Microsoft's Office Open XML on the list of 'open format' standards [03 Jul 2007]
BSI silent on OOXML vote result
The British Standards Institution has refused to divulge either the membership of its technical committee or the outcome of its vote on OOXML [04 Sep 2007]
Raymond attacks Microsoft over OOXML fiasco
Eric Raymond has warned that the Microsoft Permissive License may be refused OSI approval following the OOXML debacle [03 Sep 2007]
New Zealand OOXML rejection 'not final'
Standards New Zealand may change it's ISO fast-track vote to 'yes', if Microsoft is able to address 16 technical concerns [03 Sep 2007]
Hungary abstains from OOXML vote
The country has declined to vote on Microsoft's controversial format after IBM warned of 'irregularities' in the process; meanwhile France has said no [04 Sep 2007]
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