Where does the adoption of OOXML as the International Standard ISO/IEC 29500 stand today?
Alan Bryden: Four member countries of ISO and IEC – Brazil, India, South Africa and Venezuela – have appealed against the decision to adopt the standard. The IEC General Secretary and I are now considering these appeals until the end of June before passing them on with our comments to the ISO Technical Management Board and the IEC Standardization Management Board. The two management boards will then decide whether the appeals should be further processed or not. In line with ISO/IEC rules, the publication of ISO/IEC 29500 is now on hold pending the outcome of the appeals process. Since voting on the standard began, we have been communicating regularly to report results and explain the processes. FAQs on ISO/IEC 29500, media releases and the standards development rules are available on the ISO Web site at www.iso.org/iso/faqs_isoiec29500. Reuters: The adoption of OOXML has generated a tremendous amount of publicity, much of it negative. What’s your reaction to this? Alan Bryden: Some of
