Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 2nd Apr 2008 17:54 UTC, submitted by Almafeta
"Microsoft's embattled Office Open XML document format received ISO fast-track approval after receiving support from approximately 86 percent of the national bodies that participated in the vote. ISO approval will be broadly perceived as a sign of validation for the document format which has received widespread criticism from technical experts and standards advocacy groups."
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Member since:
2005-07-08
I think you are mixing completely different scale things.
When talking about package managers we are talking about software alternatives. There's nothing wrong in having lots of software alternatives in package management, or also in the world of office software, like word processors.
When talking about electronic document format standards, we are talking about an aim to have a common open document standard that could support not restrict the existence of competition and alternatives in the software world. So that an electronic document could be opened and edited as well as possible in all alternative apps now and in the future.
Now, having two main standards for electronic documents is not too much, and in itself might be quite ok. The potential problem with OOXML is, however, what kind of a standard it is. Is it really an open standard that supports and not restricts interoperability and competition in software? Maybe it will be and we may hope so - but lots of experts have had serious doubts about it so far, however.