04.10.08
HarmonISOsation After OOXML Protests in Norway?
The protests in Norway we have covered quite extensively by providing many pointers and for plenty of material you can start in this page. More interesting, however, is the effect of the pressure on ISO, which according to CNET is now considering harmonisation.
ISO takes up Open XML-ODF ‘harmonization’ as Norwegians protest
The ISO has taken over control of the Open XML specification and started a committee to consider harmonization with the OpenDocument Format (ODF).
Steep technical barriers aside, what would such a move mean to licensing? OOXML is inherently (maybe also deliberately) incompatible with the GPL and as the following short article reminds us, software patents remain an obstacle whose removal is hinged on political brunt.
With ISO/IEC 26300, Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) v1.0., the ISO did address business software interoperability in 2006. This requires all office documents to be able to be sent from one software system to a competing software system without having to be re-formatted.
In the U.S., it has been hard to stop software vendors from filing or expanding software patents that lack integrity and bankrupting OSS startups with lawsuits. U.S. “lawmakers are so in thrall to big-media lobbyists that they do not even realize that counterarguments to copyright extensions exist,” said Professor at Stanford Law School and founder of the Center for Internet and Society Lawrence Lessig.
It seems like the buzzword in the coming days will be “harmonization”. It’s not entirely clear how feasible, realistic or pro-competition that would be. Rob Wier proposed this over two months ago but it never materialised. █
