How MS is making their responses to OOXML comments "accessible".

ffreeloader · Dec 4, 2007

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I just ran across this blob by Rob Weir. It's on how the ECMA process on OOXML is closing itself to the public, and not only to the public, but to committee members as well. MS claims to have resolved 662 complaints/comments on OOXML. Here is the process for finding out about MS's claims of resolving issues and what MS defines as "transparent". All I can say is that MS has quite an odd definition of the word. It looks to me like more double speak in which black is white, dark is light, opaque is transparent, etc....

Contrast how MS is doing things with how the ODF process worked. Read the entire article. It's quite an eye opener.

Microsoft risks a repetitive stress injury from the recent frenzy of patting themselves on the back for responding to some of the ballot comments submitted in the failed OOXML ISO ballot of Sept 2nd.

They claim to be transparent and acting so that NB's can easily review their progress in addressing their comments.

Well, let's take a closer look.

First, Microsoft has managed to get JTC1 to clamp down on information. What was a transparent process is now mired in multiple levels of security leading to delay, denial of information to some NB participants and total opaqueness to the public.

Let's review how things worked with ODF.

1. OASIS ODF TC mailing list archives are public for anyone to read
2. OASIS ODF TC public comment list archives are public for anyone to read
3. OASIS ODC meeting minutes, for every one of our weekly teleconferences going back to 2002, are all public for anyone to read.
4. The results of ODF's ballot in ISO are public, including all of the NB comments
5. The comments on ODF from SC34 members are also public
6. The ISO Disposition of Comments report for ODF is also public for anyone to read

Short of allowing the public to read my mind, there is not much more we can do in OASIS to make the process more transparent. (And if you read this blog regularly you already have a good idea of what I'm thinking.)

But what about the OOXML process? Every single one of the above items is unavailable to the public, and in many cases cases is not available even to the JTC1 NB's who are deciding OOXML's fate.

In fact, OOXML is moving in reverse. Documents that were once public, such as the Sept 2nd. ballot results and NB comments, have been taken down and replaced with password-protected versions (Look for the DIS 29500 documents here. They all used to be available for all to download.) How do you get access to the password? The password is made available to NB points of contact "on request". But so far few NB's have requested the password. You can see here which ones have requested the password and which have not. As of today, only 18 of 51 NB's have requested the password. Only 35% of SC34 NB's have access to the same information they had back in September. Indeed, we're moving backwards.
Click to expand...

You can read the rest of Rob's blob on this at the link below.

http://www.robweir.com/blog/2007/12/662-resolutions-but-only-if-you-can.html

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How MS is making their responses to OOXML comments "accessible".

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