standard-regulating bodies of four countries--Brazil, India, South Africa and Venezuela--have appealed to the International Organization for Standardization (iso) against its approval of Microsoft's Open Office xml (ooxml) as a standard format for digital documents.
India had earlier complained that the format was neither compatible nor interoperable with other common formats like the Open Document Format. The Bureau of Indian Standards confirmed it had filed an appeal on May 29, the last day for making appeals to iso.
The secretary general of iso and the general secretary of the International Electrotechnical Commission (iec), a standards and conformity assessment body, are considering the appeals. They will send their comments to iso's technical management board and the iec Standardization Management Board by the end of June. The two boards will decide whether the appeals should be processed. The ooxml document cannot be published until the appeals are resolved, which may take months.
Responding to the appeals, a Microsoft spokesperson said, "We respect the iso/iec appeals process and trust it will enable interested national bodies to have the standard quickly."
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