The states of swing
Four executive board members swung to support Open XML from their prior 'no' votes. Those four are GS1, a non-profit group that is best known for overseeing the Universal Product Code (UPC) stamped on retail products, printer maker Lexmark, NIST, and the Department of Defense.
While none of the reversing members submitted comments this time, their earlier comments show that many were unhappy with the lack of consensus within the INCITs' board over Open XML -- and that they would likely support Open XML if these conflicts could be resolved.
For instance, Lexmark called for "the general letters of support and nonsupport should be removed as those items are not actionable by the JTC1 ballot resolution process and provide a conflicting view of the US position. Upon correction of the US ballot comments, Lexmark will vote to support the approval of DIS 29500 as an international standard."
Similarly, the DOD said that its 'no' vote was, in part, "based on the requirement to first resolve existing comments."
Quality questions fire no votes
IBM continued to vote no, citing what it claimed were more than 1,700 technical problems identified with the would-be Open XML standard.
"If a proposal with this low of a quality level is approved as-is, then by what criteria can we disapprove of any proposal in the future?" the IBM representative wrote. "Will we only consider political and market factors? If so, what is our protection from antitrust conflicts?"
Oracle, which also voted no, wrote, "The appropriate way to move forward is to make approval of the specification conditional upon the satisfactory resolution of the large number of issues identified during the public review period."
The United States joins Germany as national members of ISO that look more likely to support Open XML when ISO ballots are due on Sept. 2nd.
A key technical committee in India, meanwhile, voted earlier this week not to support Open XML, though that decision can still be overturned.