South Africa Protests Approval of Microsoft File Format

Published: May 29, 2008, 8:21 am

South Africa has lodged an appeal against the decision to make Microsoft Corp.'s Open XML format an internationally recognized standard for electronic documents, officials said Wednesday. The South African Bureau of Standards sent a letter of protest to two Geneva-based organizations that held a worldwide ballot on Microsoft's application last month, complaining that the process was poorly conducted and rushed. SABS Chief Executive Martin Kuscus sent the letter to the International Standards Organization and the International Electrotechnical Commission. The letter is dated May 22. "We challenge the validity of a process that, from beginning to end, required all parties to analyze far too much information in far too little time," Kuscus said. Supporters of the rival format ODF have claimed that Microsoft used strong-arm tactics to win approval from the national committees that voted on the new standard last month. "It is our opinion that the process followed during all

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