Oliver Bell’s weblog

It has been an interesting start to a new role, when I accepted the position there was no mention of ISO, OpenXML, or anything even remotely connected to this topic. As I arrived in Singapore in late January somebody asked me if I could look at the work that our subsidiaries were doing locally with the Ecma OpenXML file format… and so began the next seven months of my life.

It has been a great opportunity for me. I’ve met a lot of people from across the region representing many diverse points of view. Many have been very positive towards the steps that Microsoft is taking to standardize the Open XML file formats, and some not quite so positive.

Regardless of the position taken I have nothing but admiration for the robust and well educated conversations that always take place on this topic, and I firmly believe that every one of them takes us a step closer to meeting the goals of delivering an open file format that can be implemented by developers on the platform of their choice, using the tools that they’re most familiar with.

September 2nd sees the arrival of the latest milestone, the end of the technical comment period followed by a ballot where every ISO country will have the opportunity to put forward their current position on the standardization of Open XML.

The ISO process is designed to create and promote standards, and the ballot process falls squarely into those design metrics. Countries can vote to approve the standard, abstain from the vote or they can vote to disapprove the standard in its current form. In the ISO world I have frequently heard this final option referred to as a “conditional approval” where the submission of comments and suggested resolutions is mandatory.

Each voting option can be submitted with technical comments, and in the spirit of reaching a consensus based approval for any standard, all comments also need to be submitted with a constructive suggestion around how the technical issue can be resolved.

Overall this means that a few days from now we will have a really clear view of the positions taken by each country, the comments that they put forwards and a lot of ideas around how those comments can be resolved.

We are still some distance from the end of the process and the final issuance of DIS29500 as an international standard however. The next, and final , stage in the process takes us to a Ballot Resolution Meeting (BRM) in late February followed by a 30 day ballot on the outcomes of that meeting.

The time between now and the BRM will be spent looking at the comments that have been drafted by each country, then at the BRM meeting itself the resolutions will be discussed by the participants with the goal of finding a positive position for each of the countries present. Ultimately the BRM is about addressing any technical concerns raised by the countries, which if satisfied result in turning any votes of disapproval into an approval.

I’ve now spent seven months working in the Asia Pacific region in my new role of Regional Technology Officer. It has been an interesting few months, I have learned a great deal, I have met a lot of great new people and I’m starting to see some ways that technology can have a really clear and beneficial impact on the region as a whole. Everywhere I go somebody is doing something very innovative with existing software and hardware technologies, or has a brilliant idea around how technology can be used in new and interesting ways.

I figured it was time to start blogging on some of the topics and thoughts that end up being discussed on my travels.

In the long term I expect I will look at issues such as new and innovative technologies that are relevant to this region, some of the creative eGovernment projects that exist in the countries that I visit, rural computing and some of the great strides that have been made in formulating neutral and inclusive technology policies.  In the near term I expect there are still conversations to be had about the process of standardization of Open XML with the International Standards Organization. I have been directly involved in a lot of these conversations across the region and it is an area where I would continue to welcome the diverse and constructive viewpoints that have been put to me on this topic.

So, the blog starts now, I can’t promise to post daily or even weekly but I will share ideas as they come up and I’d welcome any conversation that follows.