Brian Jones: Open XML Formats : Narrative of the ISO/IEC DIS-29500 BRM Meeting

Required reading if you're tracking the Open XML debate

I wanted to take the time to give a narrative of what actually happened in the BRM, since we're now moving onto the final phase and I wanted to get this all in writing before I forgot. I wanted to give an overview of the topics discussed based on the documents that were published last week as well and provide a bit of commentary. While there has been a lot of discussion over the past week or two around the BRM, I think that much of it is misguided. Remember that the BRM wasn't some sort of competition, and there we no winners or losers. The purpose of the BRM was to approve the changes to the specification necessary to help resolve issues that have been raised by the various national bodies. They kicked off their official review over a year ago (and many had been reviewing content well before that). The final decision on whether or not DIS-29500 will be approved is still a couple weeks away, but in terms of the BRM I believe it was a success and the goals were met.

Brian Jones: Open XML Formats : Narrative of the ISO/IEC DIS-29500 BRM Meeting