Microsoft has lost a key vote for its
Office Open XML (OOXML) to be accepted as an alternative to the
OpenDocument format.
The ballot, held by the
International Committee for Information Technology Standards
(INCITS), is a setback for Microsoft to see its Open XML approved
as an open standard for office documents.
The vote
follows previous fears that an open standard would be
controlled by a single commercial entity.
Apple, The Department of Homeland Security, EMC, The Electronic
Industries Alliance, HP, Intel, Microsoft and Sony Electronics
voted in favor of OOXML. But the software giant needed a majority
of nine votes and lost by one. There were seven opposing companies
including IBM, Oracle and the US Department of Defence.
"The use of proprietary file formats within the open standard
appear to cause potential intellectual property ownership
concerns," said the US Department of Defence.
The Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEEE) abstained from the
vote "due to the divergent viewpoints of key IEEE members and
stakeholders."
Microsoft teaming with Novell on the standard has also raised
question about its openess. Novell announced it will provide a
plug-in for its edition of the open source
OpenOffice.org productivity suite to support the Open XML
format, in a move to boost interoperability with Microsoft's Office
2007.