Alex Brown: ISO committee takes full control of OOXML
Alex Brown's post "ISO committee takes full control of OOXML" is the first report I've seen from the just-finished SC 34 meeting in Oslo. Alex calls out one of the several resolutions passed which relates to the maintenance of IS29500 - Resolution 4, "Creation of Ad Hoc Group 1 on ISO/IEC 29500 Maintenance".
SC 34 is the JTC 1 designated maintenance body for ISO/IEC 29500 (Office Open XML file formats).
The passage of ISO/IEC 29500 has instituted a new era of standards activity in SC 34 related to document formats. ISO/IEC 29500 does not represent an isolated phenomenon, since SC 34 is also responsible for ISO/IEC 26300 and for interoperability between these and other projects.
SC 34 envisages the creation of three distinct working groups that meet the needs of:
- ISO/IEC 29500
- ISO/IEC 26300
- Work on interoperability/harmonization between document format standards
and wishes to incorporate existing expertise on these standards.
For these reasons, SC 34 hereby establishes an ad hoc group pursuant to the JTC 1 Directives, clause 2.6.2, for investigating how the first of these groups may be set up most effectively.
Alex reproduces the whole text and adds his own inline commentary.
Personally I am pleased to see this and it is entirely consistent with discussions I've had in the past.
<Update>
Brian Jones has also posted a comment about the meeting now. Brian reports that DIN presented their work on OpenXML/ODF interoperability:-
Interoperability/Harmonization
The DIN Delegate (DIN is the German national standards body) presented an update on the work that they have been doing around translation between the Open XML formats and ODF. I've discussed this a number of times before as being a key piece of the harmonization work.
DIN presented this to SC34 because they are going to propose a new work item within SC34 and are currently in the process of asking other countries to join them in this work. We were informed that AFNOR (France's national standards body) already told DIN that they will work together. It really seems to me that we are seeing some great movement and momentum on interop between formats led both by the thinking within SC34 of creating a new WG on interop and also clearly by this latest initiative of DIN and AFNOR.
Also, resolution 8 is noteworthy as it confirms that the final text has already been received by ISO:-
Resolution 8: Distribution of Final text of DIS 29500
SC 34 requests the ITTF and the SC34 secretariat to distribute the already received final text of DIS 29500 to the SC 34 members in accordance with JTC 1 directives section 13.12 as soon as possible, but not later than May 1st 2008. Access to this document is important for the success of various ISO/IEC 29500 maintenance activities
</Update>