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Microsoft’s OOXML standard will not be granted standard status following the ISO ballot resolution

The Standard
Comments 6
This prediction is closed and has been judged.
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This is one of a very few times that the community has been wrong. --The Industry Standard

Microsoft's much-ballyhooed move to let developers build open-source implementations on the APIs of some of its most valuable intellectual property and embrace industry standards may seem remarkable. Nevertheless, it won’t help Microsoft’s efforts relating to the Office Open XML (OOXML) ballot resolution at the meeting of the International Standards Organization, which takes place in Geneva from February 25-29, 2008. Microsoft desperately wants the ISO to award its document format ISO standards status. However, Microsoft's history of bullying and missteps -- including an attempt to bribe participants in an earlier OOXML ISO vote -- have poisoned the waters. When the results of the Geneva meeting are announced, Microsoft will come up short -- OOXML will not be granted ISO standard status by the ballot resolution. Betting will close on the date listed with this prediction, but The Standard will not make a judgment until an official announcement by the ISO.

Price History

Prediction Statistics

Betting Closes:Feb 26 2008Current Consensus:83.89%Total Bets:31
Today's Change:
0%
Life Time High:84.55%
Life Time Low:50.00%

Comments

It appears that the final decision on this should be out by March 29th. 


Patrick Durusau, the editor of the Open Document Format standard, has written a letter that supports OOXML being made a standard by the ISO. He says that nothing will be gained if the ISO shoots down OOXML, and points to specific Microsoft-related limitations of the ODF standard, such as those associated with Excel.


/. claims (via Cnet, et al) that OOXML will PASS, regardless of massive irregularities in the voting. Sounds like some WWF action is going on, if you know what I mean. Yikes!


Yup. Looks to be a done deal. I have to say, this one really took me by surprise (and apparently a lot of other people, too). One of our first big community missteps. We'll award this tomorrow, at what looks to be S$0, unless this is some sort of unbelievably intricate April Fool's joke.


What a hit.


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