Whence Came That Heavenly(?) Fragrance?

Have your online documents had an odour about them lately? A sort of 'Ook' smell?

Do you wonder where it might be coming from?

Check out this Groklaw article in which someone spills the beans on the shenanigans that have been going on around the ISO fast tracking of the OOXML documentation standard. A lot of people appear to be getting very desparate!

As someone succinctly put it: maybe governments can mandate that car tyres meet a certain standard, but can they mandate a standard that only Bridgestone can meet?

I don't have a problem with Mi... I mean ECMA proposing a standard based on Word. I do have a problem with the crass, abusive way they are trying to get it adopted.

You may not think it important. I think it has a lot of ramifications if Mi... I mean ECMA get their standard adopted (shades of Nov 2000).

As PJ puts it:

... I see an anonymous comment suggest that ISO now stands for: [I Sold Out]

But isn't it good to see how many are refusing to do so? Consider the pressure, the threats, the stacking the deck, evidently some promises too, not to mention the confusing and ever changing rules, and it's remarkable. And yet all around the world, people have the courage and the integrity to say No.