Patrick Durusau, the project editor for IS26300 and the Open Document Format TC in OASIS, has posted an open letter on his site discussing the process that Ecma has been through to standardize OpenXML.
He discusses the increasing openness of the specification at each stage in the process.
You will find Patrick’s open letter here;
The OpenXML project has made a large amount of progress in terms of the openness of its development. Objections that do not recognize that are focusing on what they want to see and not what is actually happening with OpenXML.
One of the footnotes of the letter in particular caught my eye, I think this highlights some of the contention in the current debate;
Sphere: Related Content[footnote #1] Granted, I have a number of issues with the current OpenXML proposal but experts do disagree in good faith even within open standards development projects. If a proposal cannot progress until we all agree, then we risk proposals being held hostage to whim and caprice.
One problem: The lack of transparency of the ISO process that cannot be blamed on the submitter.