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AFTER more than 14 months of wrangling, Microsoft has won its bid to have a key document standards format adopted as a global standard – a decision that should translate into more sales.
The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) said in a statement that 75 percent of votes cast by national member organisations had been positive, surpassing the threshold required to approve the Microsoft bid.
Microsoft has sought approval for its Draft International Standard (DIS) 29500: Office Open XML (Open XML) proposal,
“This outcome is a clear win for the customers, technology providers and governments that want to choose the format that best meets their needs and have a voice in the evolution of this widely adopted standard,” Microsoft general manager of Interoperability and Standards Tom Robertson said.
Microsoft says the approval process had improved it Office Open XML standard. The approval is likely to lead to better sales of its Office productivity suite, particularly in the Government sector.
Some government’s around the world had put purchasing decisions on hold because they did not want to commit to a platform in which the document standard was controlled by a single private sector organisation.
“The input from technical experts, customers and governments around the world has greatly improved the Open XML specification and will make it even more useful to developers and customers,” Mr Robertson said.
“Once it is formally approved, we are committed to supporting this specification in our products, and we will continue to work with standards bodies, governments and the industry to promote greater interoperability and innovation.”
The open standard has gained broad adoption across the software industry for use on a variety of platforms — including Linux, Windows, Mac OS and Palm OS.
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