I love standards - they make life easier. TCP is one, ODF is one, SNA is one, ASCII and EBDIC are. Even PDF is one. It just makes life easier. In this connected world standards are a good thing and sometimes more than one standard is very good. Microsoft has offered the Open XML (Office 2007 document format) as a standard too. We can have it as a standard in a short time frame or a long time frame. I want you to sign the petition to help it happen in the short time frame. Even Novell are supporting this as they see it as just making their customers lives easier.
Go here and sign the petition to help move things forward in the short time frame.
If you want to see how developers could use the standard have a look at http://openxmldeveloper.org/posts.aspx.
You might wonder why I am asking you to do this. Well I've read the text at the microsoft.com site on Open XML and I like the idea of this being a public standard that people can write to without having to pay for the right to do so and the knowledge that writing to the standard will give them good interoperability. My 1st three years after University was writing document converters, including those for Microsoft Office and Open XML would have made my life MUCH MUCH easier.
To aid interoperability, XML-based file formats can unlock data in documents and help integrate front- and back-office processes. Recognising these benefits, Microsoft has implemented XML-based formats in successive releases of Office.
Both public and private sector customers have expressed their preference for making Open XML an open standard so that they have broad rights to use, without cost, any Microsoft patents necessary to implement all or part of the format.
Responding to this, Microsoft and others called for the standardisation of Open XML. On 7 Dec 2006 Ecma International, a highly respected standardisation body, approved the adoption of Open XML as an international open standard.
The strengths of Ecma Open XML are clear:
- Ecma Open XML was developed through the collaborative efforts of leading companies such as Apple, Barclays Capital, BP, The British Library, Essilor, Intel, Microsoft, NextPage, Novell, Statoil, Toshiba and the US Library of Congress.
- Ecma Open XML is backward compatible with billions of archived documents held by the private and public sectors.
- Any company can freely implement and develop innovative products using Ecma Open XML
- Ecma Open XML enables interoperability, accommodates multiple languages and cultures, and supports technologies that enable people with disabilities to use computing devices.
Customers want choice, interoperability and innovation. We and others believe that Open XML achieves all these goals. We look forward to supporting Ecma as it works closely with national standards bodies throughout the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) / International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) process.
If you agree that Open XML should be approved as an ISO standard please sign this petition, which we will send to the Chairman of the British Standards Institute to demonstrate broad support for this initiative in the UK.
Source: Openxml - Microsoft UK
Sign the petition today and help to make Open XML a standard for the future.
ttfn
David
Posted
Wed, Apr 4 2007 7:55 AM
by
David Overton
Filed under: Office System, Support and Tools, Business, Developer, Community, Personal, SBSC, Microsoft, Office 2007, Word, Excel, Demo, Small business, Internet and Web, Partner, Licensing, Academic, Application Compatibility, Office 2003, Open XML