NEW DELHI : The battle of standards for word processing documents is hotting up. Infosys technologies, TCS and Wipro have joined the 21-member Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) committee to decide between Microsoft's OOXML Open (Open Office Extensible Mark Up Language - a platform for word processing software) and Open Document Format (ODF), promoted by IBM and Sun Microsystems. The decision, to be taken by September 2, will determine the standard in which all electronic documents will be stored in future.
Industry bodies like Nasscom and MAIT have also jumped into the fray but their stand remains inconclusive as they have both parties (Microsoft and IBM-Sun Microsystems) as members. Other members C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing) have also joined the committee for deliberations. By September 2 India has to submit a 'Yes' or 'No' vote to ISO along with 123 countries to make Microsoft's OOXML an ISO standard. Rival ODF Alliance led by Sun Microsystems and IBM is opposing OOXML. BIS has set a meeting on August 23 to decide on the issue. Interestingly, IIT Delhi and IIT Mumbai have been kept out of the committee's meeting. The IITs have been raising technical concerns (like compatibility with other software) in OOXML. Professor SK Gupta of IIT-Delhi said: "I do not find any reason why a separate document standards of OOXML needs to be adopted when a fully functional ODF standard already exists and has Indian implementations also. Further, OOXML has only one known implementation." The rival Sun-IBM combine is reported to be backed by IISc, IIM-A and Red Hat. "There are about 200 technical issues like full backward compatibility and conversion identified with OOXML. We can't let it become a standard unless these get resolved," said another expert, opposing OOXML. On Wednesday, members from MAIT, CDAC, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, IBM, Reserve Bank of India, Indian Statistical Institute, Indian Institute of Science met with BIS and Ministry of IT as observers in a day long meeting at the BIS' Manak Bhawan office in the capital. The meeting remained inconclusive and final voting is due for August 23. Despite its importance, not many IT companies have come forth proactively on the issue. "If India has to chart its own course in technology, Indian academics and IT companies should take control of issues," said Vinnie Mehta, president MAIT and member of the BIS technical committee on OOXML. OOXML opponents claim that in case of a sanction by US, documents may get locked in a particular standard as it's owned by a US-based company. Microsoft however claims that the standard is completely open and has no proprietary ownership. ODF alliance also claims that rather than spending more on costly operating systems India should opt for open source software and spend its money on promoting IT literacy instead Thanks & Regards, *Siddartha* Business Development Manager Closed Gap Enzen Solutions Private Limited 54,Ist Floor,Rockline Chambers,Richmond Road|Bangalore - 560 025 | INDIA Ph: +91-80-41233461-62| Fax: +91-80-41473075 | Mobile: +91-99450 00220 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Web: www.cge.in ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *CONFIDENTIALITY/ PROPRIETARY NOTE* This email (including any attachments) is intended for the sole use of the intended recipient/s and may contain material that is CONFIDENTIAL AND PRIVATE COMPANY INFORMATION. Any review or reliance by others or copying or distribution or forwarding of any or all of the contents in this message is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. The opinions expressed are those of the sender, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Company. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by email and delete all copies; your cooperation in this regard is appreciated. This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by *MailScanner* and is believed to be clean. -- Manjunath --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLUG" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/mylug?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
