Ecma-376, DIS 29500, OOXML: Vote fails to get Majority needed


Well, it looks like this is the final tally based on a leaked doc from Finland (allegedly): 17 Yes, 15 No, 9 Abstentions.

Microsoft have failed to get the required 2/3rds majority so it is on to the BRM in February (Unless in the meantime some of the comments are un-reconcilable whereby the whole process could be thrown out!)

On the noooxml.org site they have a list of all votes cast, including the “O” members.

Acknowledgements: NoOOXML, Andy Updegrove, Groklaw, Andreas Fischer

Any further votes that come in I will try and add to this page as soon as possible. Drop me a comment if you know something more or find any inaccuracies.

Update #1: Apparently Ecuador has voted no: http://lowe.no-ip.info/rvtradio/

Update #2: Thanks for the link Andy, have removed non-members of the ISO JTC1

Update #3: The *** indicate a “new” P status member. Probably a M$ puppet.

Update #4: Andy Updegrove now believes that this voting round will result in OOXML NOT gaining the 2/3 majority needed to gain automatic approval as an ISO standard. [Be sure to read the comments on Andy's post too - a couple of very interesting messages from Alex Brown]. The ISO should hopefully announce the official result today (04/09/07) or very soon thereafter.

Update #5: It appears that Cyprus voted yes.

Update #6: It appears as though Microsoft did not get enough of the important “P” votes. http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-04-2007/0004655552&EDATE=

Update #7: Most of the votes have been leaked. Table is now updated.

Country Vote
  Yes No Abstain Unknown
Australia     abstain  
Azerbaijan yes      
Belgium     abstain  
Canada   no    
China   no    
***Côte-d’Ivoire yes      
***Cyprus yes      
Czech Republic   no    
Denmark   no    
***Ecuador   no    
Finland     abstain  
France   no    
Germany yes      
India   no    
Iran, Islamic Republic of   no    
Ireland   no    
Italy     abstain  
***Jamaica yes      
Japan   no    
Kazakhstan yes      
Kenya yes      
Korea, Republic of   no    
***Lebanon yes      
Malaysia     abstain  
***Malta Yes      
Netherlands     abstain  
New Zealand   no    
Norway   no    
***Pakistan yes      
Saudi Arabia yes      
Singapore yes      
Slovenia     abstain  
South Africa   no    
Spain     abstain  
Switzerland yes      
***Trinidad and Tobago     abstain  
***Turkey yes      
United Kingdom   no    
***Uruguay yes      
USA yes      
***Venezuela yes      
41 17 15 9 0

So - it’s on with the show… Microsoft will be desperately trying to cajole, bribe, corrupt and bully all the “no” and abstain voters before the BRM next February.

There, they will have a week, to review probably a thousand comments and try to get a majority vote by conceding on some of the issues. But there will be trouble with some of the comments which will not be implementable without sacrificing the lock-in and proprietary hooks that M$ really needs.

May we live in interesting times…

14 Comments

  1. Comment by carlos on September 3, 2007 23:32

    what are the “***” ?

    if there are marks of the “P new comers”, then you should mark this countries too:

    malta
    Côte-d’Ivoire
    ecuador

    ( they are recent P new comers … some of them may be bought or “invited” by Microsoft )

  2. Pingback by My math-fu tells me OOXML has not passed JTC-1 - Lone Wolves - Web, game, and open source development on September 3, 2007 23:50

    [...] to go by, it looks like Microsoft’s Office Open XML will not become an ISO standard today. Various websites around the world are all busy tallying the votes as the news is dripping in. If their tally is [...]

  3. Pingback by The Linux Loop News Blog » Blog Archive » OOXML Controversy on September 4, 2007 1:35

    [...] Update: Websites are beginning to tally up the votes. See this website. [...]

  4. Comment by Alan Bell on September 4, 2007 13:24

    wow! remarkable spin on that press release. Not sure all the maths works yet though. They say they got 51 yes votes which represents 74%. That means they think there were 69 votes to count. 18 of which were not yes. We already know about 13 No and 5 abstains, so they are saying that everyone else voted yes, all the other P countries and all the O countries. They also gloss over the fact that many of the yes votes were “yes with comments” which they lied about being a conditional yes. I suppose some yes with comments could turn into No at the BRM if the comments are not addressed.

  5. Comment by Alan Lord on September 4, 2007 13:32

    See the updated table - these are just the “P” members - the votes that really count. It is not enough for the specification to get automatic approval. The Press Release is a farce - they are spinning better than Alistair Campbell ever did!

  6. Comment by Alan Bell on September 4, 2007 15:35

    they counted Abstain votes as approvals! So folk who abstained because Microsoft were caught stuffing their ballot have now had the further insult of being claimed by Microsoft as ardent supporters. You couldn’t make this up.

  7. Comment by Tim on September 4, 2007 18:30

    where’s the Brazil’s NO with comments?

  8. Comment by Alan Lord on September 4, 2007 18:32

    Brazil is not a “P” member…

    I will do another table later on with all the votes and a bit of an analysis.

  9. Comment by Tim on September 4, 2007 18:32

    http://www.iso.org/iso/standards_development/technical_committees/list_of_iso_technical_committees/iso_technical_committee_participation.htm?commid=45374

    JTC 1/SC 34 - Document description and processing languages

    * Participating countries: 36
    * Observing countries: 12

    Secretariat:

    * Canada ( SCC )

    Participating Countries

    * Brazil ( ABNT )
    * Bulgaria ( BDS )
    * Chile ( INN )
    * China ( SAC )
    * Colombia ( ICONTEC )
    * Cyprus ( CYS )
    * Czech Republic ( CNI )
    * C�te-d’Ivoire ( CODINORM )
    * Denmark ( DS )
    * Egypt ( EOS )
    * Finland ( SFS )
    * France ( AFNOR )
    * Germany ( DIN )
    * India ( BIS )
    * Italy ( UNI )
    * Japan ( JISC )
    * Kazakhstan ( KAZMEMST )
    * Kenya ( KEBS )
    * Korea, Republic of ( KATS )
    * Lebanon ( LIBNOR )
    * Malta ( MSA )
    * Netherlands ( NEN )
    * Norway ( SN )
    * Pakistan ( PSQCA )
    * Poland ( PKN )
    * Romania ( ASRO )
    * Sri Lanka ( SLSI )
    * Sweden ( SIS )
    * Switzerland ( SNV )
    * Thailand ( TISI )
    * Trinidad and Tobago ( TTBS )
    * Turkey ( TSE )
    * USA ( ANSI )
    * United Kingdom ( BSI )
    * Venezuela ( FONDONORMA )

    Observing Countries

    * Australia ( SA )
    * Croatia ( HZN )
    * Greece ( ELOT )
    * Hong Kong, China ( ITCHKSAR )
    * Hungary ( MSZT )
    * Indonesia ( BSN )
    * Ireland ( NSAI )
    * Israel ( SII )
    * Lithuania ( LST )
    * Mexico ( DGN )
    * Spain ( AENOR )
    * Ukraine ( DSSU )

  10. Comment by Tim on September 4, 2007 18:33

    http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=45515

    ISO/IEC DIS 29500
    Information technology — Office Open XML file formats

    ==> TC/SC: JTC 1/SC 34

  11. Comment by Alan Lord on September 4, 2007 18:35

    SC34 is the sub-committee that will handle the analysis of the comments. It is not the JTC-1 committee itself.

  12. Comment by Alejandro Nova on September 5, 2007 5:34

    Chile abstains. Add it to the table ;)

  13. Comment by Alan Lord on September 5, 2007 7:48

    Chile is not a “P” member of the JTC-1 committee. This table is just the 41 countries that make up the “P” members of the JTC-1.

  14. Pingback by The Open Sourcerer » A REALLY BIG day for OOXML on January 14, 2008 22:11

    [...] There is to be a meeting in Geneva next month called a BRM (Ballot Resolution Meeting) where members will participate in the review of ECMA’s suggestions for amendments and changes to DIS29500. After the meeting (which only lasts 5 days) the members will have 30 days to decide if they should change their September vote. [...]

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