Standardization of Office Open XML

10 months ago

Office Open XML (OOXML) was standardized by Ecma International in December 2006 as ECMA-376 and later by ISO/IEC in November 2008 as ISO/IEC 29500.
The standardization process was contentious, with allegations of irregularities, vote manipulation, and heavy lobbying by Microsoft and its competitors.
Ecma TC45, chaired by Microsoft employees, developed the OOXML specification, which grew to 6,000 pages and included members from Apple, Canon, Intel, and others.
The ISO fast-track process faced criticism for insufficient review time, with only 20% of proposed changes discussed during the Ballot Resolution Meeting (BRM).
Despite opposition from countries like Brazil, India, and South Africa, OOXML was approved as an ISO standard, with 75% of participating members voting in favor.
Post-approval, Microsoft faced criticism for not fully supporting the ISO/IEC 29500 Strict variant in Office 2010, delaying compliance until Office 15.
Technical arguments for OOXML included its use of ZIP compression, custom XML schema extensibility, and internationalization support, while critics highlighted its complexity and overlap with OpenDocument Format (ODF).
The standardization process led to resignations from national standards bodies (e.g., Norway) and sparked debates about ISO's credibility and the need for reform.

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