KEY POINTS:
Well, Microsoft won't be too pleased. Standards New Zealand has just voted 'no' to validating in its current form as an international standard the Open XML format Microsoft created.
Don't worry, this isn't going to have any impact on you really, it's a complex theoretical debate that could have implications for how digital documents remain accessible and compatible in the future.
The decision was reached fairly swiftly.
"After considerable discussion and input from key New Zealand stakeholders, a large number of whom opposed publication of the document as an international Standard in it's current form, the Standards Council have concluded that the best vote for New Zealand is 'no'," said Grant Thomas, chief operating officer, Standards New Zealand, in a release this afternoon.
A Computerworld article outlines Microsoft's campaign this week to rally support for Open XML and the response to that from the open source community.
It seems there are too many potential fish hooks in the 6000-odd pages that make up the technical specifications Microsoft issued for Open XML for Standards New Zealand to stomach it in its current form.
The international members of the ISO each get a single vote on the matter, regardless of their size, so a vote for "no" by New Zealand will be viewed as a significant one internationally, just as the no vote from Brazil was.
So voting no, but "with comments" means that our standards body would like everyone concerned to go back to the drawing board and try and come up with something that everyone is more comfortable with.
That's easier said than done. Microsoft could have made changes to the existing document as a compromise but chose not to. It will be interesting to see when the chips are down on a global level, whether there are enough yes votes to get get Open XML its ISO classification...
Meanwhile more interesting things are happening in Berlin where I've arrived (minus my luggage) for the huge IFA consumer electronics fair so will be in gadget mode for the next few days. A few things I'm going to be interested in finding out about:
- The hi-def format wars- is Blu-ray kicking but and if so, why did Paramount/Dreamworks just ship to support HD-DVD? Did it just come down to money?
- Keen to see if there's any more wireless HDMI devices on show, they were seriously impressive at the CES show in January in Las Vegas.
- Hopefully I'll get some hands-on experience with Nokia's new iTunes music store rival
- Where are the remaining plasma screen makers going with the technology considering LCD is becoming so dominant?
- I'll be sniffing around for signs of the Play TV digital tuner for the Playstation 3 that was annouced last week.
Should be plenty to see in the next couple of days. I'll keep you posted.
