As you may know, on December 8th, 2006, Ecma overwhelmingly approved the adoption of Open XML as a standard, with only one member voting against.  Ecma also overwhelmingly agreed to submit Open XML to ISO/IEC JTC 1 for adoption as an ISO/IEC standard under their procedures. 

Open XML is now before ISO/IEC JTC 1 for adoption, a step that some governments had encouraged Ecma to take because of the status they give to ISO/IEC standards and to establish choice among ISO/IEC standards - particularly now that Open Document Format (ODF) has already gone through that process. The ISO/IEC JTC 1 process for considering Open XML (called "Fast-Track") involves a one month period where National standards bodies can raise perceived contradictions with existing ISO/IEC standards or ongoing projects, followed by a five month technical review and balloting process. 

With this in mind, Microsoft is aware that some countries will post contradictions to Ecma Open XML and welcomes the input of these national bodies, which will lead to a better understanding of their concerns through the next months of the review period. While it is true that the British Standards Institute issued such a contradiction on behalf of the UK, it's important to note that this is by no means a future indication of Ecma Open XML failing as an international standard.  ISO standardization is a complex process that takes many months and by design gives voting members the opportunity to raise concerns and for those concerns to be addressed.  It's also worth pointing out that organizations such as the British Library and Barclays were on the technical committee that created the Ecma Open XML standard.   

The Ecma Open XML formats have received continued supportive momentum over the past several months. The 2007 version of Microsoft Office has been finalized and includes support for the Ecma 376 standard on Open XML formats, while at the same time Novell and Corel have separately announced their support for the formats.  Many members of the Open Source community have also expressed their support of the standard on http://openxmldeveloper.org/posts.aspx.  In addition, more than 750 developers have joined the Open XML Dev Group, and many different government and private sector customers are now evaluating the specific benefits for their organization.

Ecma, Microsoft and many national bodies trust and support the ISO/IEC JTC 1 fast-track process of Ecma 376 (also known as Draft International Standard 29500). 

It is important to note that this is an issue of choice: 

•          Customers want choice among document file formats based on their needs.  The global effort in a large number of countries by ODF supporters to stop ISO/IEC from even considering Ecma 376 is an effort to limit choice.  The standards process should not be used to limit choice and competition between document formats.  Doing so conflicts with customer interests.  Microsoft understood this when it didn't oppose in any way the standardization of ODF in ISO/IEC JTC1.

•          These standards can coexist and do interoperate.  An open source translator became available this past week that enables interoperability between ODF and Open XML for Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, and any other solution interested in building a bridge between these two formats.  This is great for customers and the IT ecosystem.

•          Ecma 376, Open XML Document Format, is an international standard and was recommended to ISO for ratification.

•          Whilst it has been reported that of the 100+ members of ISO, only 19 filed submissions regarding the ratification of Ecma 376, one should not assume that all the 19 submissions that were reportedly received, actually contain substantive comments or contradictions.  In fact, we expect that some are either statements of support or simple statements that the ISO member has no comments at this stage (A number of ISO members, including the United States, specifically reviewed whether any comments should be filed at this time and concluded that they should not.)

•          This is just one step in the ISO/IEC JTC1 process that will proceed for a number of months.  This is a complex process that gives an opportunity for voting members to raise concerns, and for those concerns to be addressed.  ISO/IEC JTC1 has now closed its contradiction comments period as of Feb. 5, and now has up to 3 months (following the normal and approved  ISO/IEC JTC1 process) to decide when to start the 5 month technical review process and ballot. ISO/IEC JTC1 is the final decision maker.  We are confident that at the end of this process ISO/IEC JTC1 will ratify Ecma 376.