Letter #1:

Andalusia Regional Government

Counsel for Innovation, Science and Enterprise
General Directorate of Innovation and Public Government

To: President of the Standarization Technical Commitee 71
Mr. Victor Izquierdo Loyola

Date: 07-19-2007
Your reference:
Our reference:

Dear Sir:

I am writing to you because it has come to my knowledge the fact that is has been communicated to the members of the CTN71 AENOR Commitee that the Government of Andalusia had expressed it support to the approval of the standard ISO DIS 29500. In this sense I want to express to you our deep distress for the misrepresentation of the letter that I sent to Mr.Gonzalo Sotorrio González, Director of the AENOR Standarization Division, on the 29th of january 2007. In this sense I want to make you know that the Government of Andalusia never has made any declaration in favor of the approval os the standard ISO DIS 29500, which did not exist at the moment of the signature of the aforementioned letter, and more exactly, and I quote verbatim, our letter was in line with “The bet of the Government of Andalucia for the adoption of open standard in the matter of IT connects directly with the European Union recomendations stated in the “European Interoperability Framework” and, is currently firmly based in the ISO/IEC 26300 standard with respect to document formats”

In the communication submited to the members of the CTN71 mention was made to a paragraph taken out f context, from a letter, signed by me as General Director of Innovation and Government Administrations of the Government of Andalusia, with the subject of the study of the convenience of submitting the standard ISO CP 29500 by an urgent procedure (fast track) and in which the Government of Andalusia expressed its offering of help to the CTN71 Commitee and its interest in a study with the greates depth possible due to its importance on the ground of open standards. In this sense, my letter expressed support for the open standard ISO/IEC 26300 as relating to document formats an in no case to the ISO DIS 29500 standard.

As you know, the Government of Andalusia has been for many years supporting interoperability and open standards with absolute certainty, and in this sense, we have always tried to express our offering to colaborate – from a very relevant position in the use of IT in Spain- with the CTN71 Commitee in order to procure a greater clearness and promotion in the use of open standards and of IT in general.

Consequently we ask you to deliver promptly this rectification to the members of CTN71 before they can make a decission on a wrong basis, or at least, with an uncertain information about the position of the Government of Andalusia with respect to open standards.

At the same time, I would ask from you that you inform us how has it been possible for such confussion to take place in a process of such magnitude and trascendence takin into account that it questions the certainty of the Government of Andalusia in relation with interoperability and open standards.

Sincerely:

The General Director

Signed: José María Rodriguez Sánchez

Letter #2:

(From) Government of Andalusia

Counsel for Innovation, Science and Enterprise.

Date: Jan-29-2007

To: Mr. Gonzalo Sotorrio González
Director of the Standarization Division
AENOR
6 Genova Street
28004 Madrid

Our reference (200702*5)

Subject:

Dear Sir:

Recently, the International Standards Group of Ecma has submited a standard to the ISO to be approved by an urgent procedure (fast-track); it is the standard “Ecma 376 Offcie Open XML”.

From my duty as General Director of Innovation and Government Agencies of the Government of Andalusia, and being competent in the matter of IT policy of this Autonomous Government, I must manifest our utmost interest in the process of standards elaboration on such relevant matters as the exchange of documents in electronic formats

The formats for documents exchange are one of the foudations for the development of the Information Society, and, as part of that, of the so-called “Intelligent Government”; and that is why the Government of Andalusia will manifest always its support for the establishment of standards in this area, and the reason why I wish that AENOR, in its role of member of the ISO/IEC JTC1 transmits our support in that sense to that commitee.

The bet of the Government of Andalucia for the adoption of open standard in the matter of IT connects directly with the European Union recomendations stated in the “European Interoperability Framework” and, is currently firmly based in the ISO/IEC 26300 standard with respect to document formats; I am confident that the ISO initiative will enrich and strenghten the perspective for the advance of open standards and interoperability.

The recent experience acquired at elaborating a “Framework for the Interoperability of the Information Systems of the Government of Andalusia”, promoted from this General Directorate, could be useful in this matter. That is why I along with my team are at your disposal and the aforementioned commitee’s for any collaboration and help you deem adequate in relation to the matter of the present letter.

Sincerely,

The General Diector,

Signed: Jose Maria Rodriguez Sanchez

Address
Telephone
Email

Letter #3:

To the attention of the Standarization Technical Commitee AEN/CNT 71
AENOR
Genova, 6
28004 Madrid

Dear Sirs:

We are adressing you to manifest our support for the approval of the standard ECMA 376-Office Open XML as part of the norm ISO/IEC CP 29500.

We advocate the recognition of this standard because it is reliable, participative and compatible with the technology used by the majority of business and spanish government bodies.

The Open XML format is an open standard and is distributed completely free of charge, it is compatible with all kinds of digital documentation currently created, and additionally allows using legacy versions, ensuring interoperability
of the documents with the majority of applications used in the marketplace and its perdurability in time.

Moreover, the technology used in Open XML reduces the requirements for data storage, by means of the automatic compression of the archived files and enhances damaged file recovery, including the ability to open and use the non-damaged parts of the file when there is just one damaged component, with the resulting benefit for all kind of users.

We consider that the qualification of the Open XML format inside the standard ISO/IEC CP 29500 will contribute to guarantee the archive of documents in the future both in the government sector and in businesses in our country.

Signed in Madrid, June 29 2007

Marcos Fco. Pavo López.

Section Manager.
National Center for Geographic Information
Ministry of Fomento (Public Works)
Address
Telephon
Fax
Email

Letter #4:

GENERAL SECRETARY
FOR GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION

Juan Miguel
Márquez Fernández

GENERAL DIRECTOR FOR
GOVERNMENT MODERNIZATION

MADRID FEBRUARY 1ST 2007

To: Mr. Javier Sánchez
Secretary of the AENOR National
Technical Commitee 71
ADDRESS

Dear Javier:

With respect with the contradiction period opened for the project of the future standard ISO/IEC 29500, I make you aware that from the Ministry of Government Administrations the initiatives relative to converting proprietary specifications into international standards that intend to be so, are supported.

In particular to the standard referred, in the contradiction period, this Ministry in its positioning echoes the IDA Recommendations of May 24 2004 in which Microsoft, among others is called to consider the following two actions:

- To report the XML formats to an international standarization body of its choice.

- To publicly make a compromise to publish and provide non discriminatory access to future versions of its specfications of “WordML” (currently MS-OOXML).

Best regards

Signature
(Juan Miguel Marquez)
email address

Kind greetings and plenty of gratitude to the translator.

The letters are public since the moment that Neutralidad people made them public. They got them from different ways as they confirmed to me, and they (lawyers) confirmed its legitimacy.

You can get all them here, including the MS missleading at AENOR:
http://www.openxml.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10&Itemid=33

Also you can read the comments about the issue of the Director of Information Society of the Region of Extremadura (brother of Andalusia):
http://notasdecarlos.blogspot.com/2007/07/andaluca-denuncia-manipulacin-de.html

Best regards,
Alberto Barrionuevo.