On Wed, 02 Apr 2008 20:32:30 +0100 Alan Lord wrote: > Robin Laing wrote: > <snip /> > > > > On top of this, there is supposed to be about a year of writing and > > amending the standard until it is ready. One site I read today > > asked if Office 2007 will actually follow the standard once it is > > finalized? > > > > Indeed. ECMA have yet to issue the final spec that is the result of > February's BRM and what the NBs were actually voting on! > > Microsoft do not currently even support ECMA-376 which is the original > version of DIS29500, i.e. before the BRM edits. So they definitely do > not support DIS29500. > > There is a BIG caveat on the ISO press release today: > > "Subject to there being no formal appeals from ISO/IEC national bodies > in the next two months, the International Standard will accordingly > proceed to publication." > > This might be their "get out of jail" clause... > > However, you are right in that it will probably take about a year > before there is a formally approved and finalised text for IS29500. > > Microsoft have NEVER said they will support/implement it because the > standard is "now under ISO's control" and not theirs.
The spec is maintained by Ecma and the committee there maintaining it are principally Microsoft. The ISO process has actually had minimal impact on the spec. Microsoft will be highly pleased by this. > Brian Jones has said before that they cannot commit to blindly > supporting ISO's spec. It might go in directions they do not wish to > follow - or words to that effect. > I've seen reference to this quote before, but never actually seen the quote. It was meant to refer to a reply he made in the comments section of one of his blog posts. But the comment was pulled and i know of no proper archive of it. > This is a very long road and one which I honestly believe Microsoft > will ultimately regret having taken... > No, it is something they do to counter the principally European resistance to their vendor-lockin. Ecma is a European organisation, and was i suspect chosen both for it's fasttrack process as it's European-ness. It was a well calculated move. -- Michael All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well - Julian of Norwich 1342 - 1416 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
