Swedish OpenXML Vote Declared Invalid
The Swedish Institute for Standards (SiS) has just released a press statement declaring its vote for Microsoft's OpenXML format invalid.
In its statement SiS revoked its controversial vote from earlier this week, and announced that Sweden will not be taking an official stand on OpenXML. The official reason stated by the institute was that one of the voting parties had cast two votes, although each enterprise is allowed one vote only under SiS rules.
The Swedish Association for Free Information Structure (Förening för en fri informationsinfrastruktur) FFII had accused Microsoft of manipulating the vote via its partner companies. In a blog entry, Jason Matusow, who is responsible for intellectual property and interoperability at Microsoft, has since admitted that Microsoft had contacted business partners in Sweden and asked them to support OpenXML, and there are media reports that Microsoft promised incentives. According to Microsoft manager Tom Robertson the incentives were immediately withdrawn after they became known as "inconsistent with corporate policy".
At present, ISO is collecting votes from national committees on recognizing Microsoft's XML format as an ISO standard. Standardization institutes can cast their votes until September 2. As Sweden will probably be unable to keep the deadline in the wake of the irregularities, SiS has decided to abstain.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Gnome 48 Debuts New Audio Player
To date, the audio player found within the Gnome desktop has been meh at best, but with the upcoming release that all changes.
-
Plasma 6.3 Ready for Public Beta Testing
Plasma 6.3 will ship with KDE Gear 24.12.1 and KDE Frameworks 6.10, along with some new and exciting features.
-
Budgie 10.10 Scheduled for Q1 2025 with a Surprising Desktop Update
If Budgie is your desktop environment of choice, 2025 is going to be a great year for you.
-
Firefox 134 Offers Improvements for Linux Version
Fans of Linux and Firefox rejoice, as there's a new version available that includes some handy updates.
-
Serpent OS Arrives with a New Alpha Release
After months of silence, Ikey Doherty has released a new alpha for his Serpent OS.
-
HashiCorp Cofounder Unveils Ghostty, a Linux Terminal App
Ghostty is a new Linux terminal app that's fast, feature-rich, and offers a platform-native GUI while remaining cross-platform.
-
Fedora Asahi Remix 41 Available for Apple Silicon
If you have an Apple Silicon Mac and you're hoping to install Fedora, you're in luck because the latest release supports the M1 and M2 chips.
-
Systemd Fixes Bug While Facing New Challenger in GNU Shepherd
The systemd developers have fixed a really nasty bug amid the release of the new GNU Shepherd init system.
-
AlmaLinux 10.0 Beta Released
The AlmaLinux OS Foundation has announced the availability of AlmaLinux 10.0 Beta ("Purple Lion") for all supported devices with significant changes.
-
Gnome 47.2 Now Available
Gnome 47.2 is now available for general use but don't expect much in the way of newness, as this is all about improvements and bug fixes.