ISO/IEC has made available an interesting FAQ on the ratification of Office Open XML. You can find it in full length here.

I’ve gathered some highlights here:

Q: How could a 6 000-page document be fast-tracked?

A: The number of pages of a document is not a criterion cited in the JTC 1 Directives for refusal. It should be noted that it is not unusual for IT standards to run to several hundred, or even several thousand pages.

 

Q: Why would ISO and IEC allow two standards for the same subject?

A: The ICT industry has a long history of developing multiple standards providing similar functionalities. After a period of co-existence, it is basically the market that decides which survives. A past example within ISO concerned the SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) and ODA (Office Document Architecture).

 

Q: Will ISO and IEC review how ISO/IEC 29500 was adopted?

A: We reviewed the process before it started, all the while during its course and afterwards as well. While the voting on ISO/IEC 29500 has attracted exceptional publicity, it needs to be put in context. ISO and IEC have collections of more than 17 000 and 7 000 successful standards respectively, these being revised and added to every month. This suggests that the standards development process is credible, works well and is delivering the standards needed, and widely implemented, by the market.