in070169
From: Jerry Askew [jerry@askew.net]
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 7:14 PM
To: Rajchel, Lisa; Garner, Jennifer; Desautels, Sara; angel.lopezsolanas@wipo.int
Subject: Jerry Askew Contribution in Response to JTC 1 N 8455
- 30 Day Review for Fast Track Ballot ECMA-376 | ISO/IEC DIS 29500 Office
Open XML File Formats
Hello,
I do hope
that I am sending this to the correct people. I am a technology consultant
who works primarily for law firms. As an industry, providers of legal
services are concerned about standards pertaining to document formats.
Earlier this month
the ECMA International standards group submitted a standard for "fast-track"
ISO approval. That is the "Ecma 376 Office Open XML" standard. (ISO/IEC
DIS 29500)
Ecma-376
is a (proposed) standard for "word-processing documents,presentations, and
spreadsheets" which overlaps completely with an existing, approved, standard
ISO/IEC 26300:2006 (openDocument (ODF)). Therefore it conflicts directly
with ISO's goal of having one standard for any area.
Furthermore,
this specification is so complex (>6,000 pages) and vendor-specific that
it can only be successfully implemented by Microsoft Office (the application
on which it is modeled).
The page
lists many contradictions in Ecma 376 as defined by the ISO rules.
The initial
review period ends in two weeks, on February 5th. If none of the "P-Members"
of the ISO/IEC JTC1 (Joint Technical Committee 1) raise a "contradiction",
the specification will go through the "fast-track" process towards ISO approval.
I believe,
and I hope that you will agree, that this standard should not be allowed
"fast-track" approval. Rather it should be remanded to Ecma International
for: (i) harmonization with ISO/IEC 26300:2006 and numerous other standards.
Thank you
-Jerry
Askew Network Solutions
(818) 723-4086