In the four posts (Getting down to the nitty-gritty) I have been exploring the details of voting and the BRM (Ballot Resolution Meeting). Non-techies tend to be amazed at the eye-glazing technicalities which techies seem to relish, but, of course, there is nothing unique about software. All specialisms tend to be eye-glazing for the non-enthusiast. I am not quite sure who, if anyone, reads this blog, but I assume few of them are lawyers, so I imagine most eyes have glazed. Wake up! Here are the take-home messages:
(1) Shame on you, JTC1! You cannot even draft comprehensible Directives for your own use. Should we really be trusting you with drafting international standards?
(2) You only have two possible votes: “Yes” or “Conditional No”. More formally a “Yes” vote is an “approve” vote. A “Conditional No” is a “disapproval … for technical reasons to be stated”. The technical reasons carry the implication that you would probably change your vote to Yes if the draft was appropriately changed to meet your points.
(3) The only real importance of the current “letter ballot” which closes on 2 September 2007 is that it gives you a ticket to the BRM. It is almost inconceivable that there will not be a BRM.
(4) The real votes will happen at the BRM. So for your vote to count you must (A) vote in the current letter ballot (to get your ticket); (B) turn up regularly to the BRM meetings (it is highly likely there will be many meetings).
(5) Don’t vote Yes in the letter ballot unless you want to be seen as a MS shill. The current draft includes a prodigious number of errors. Surely you want these cleaned up, however passionately you believe that OpenXML should become an ISO/IEC standard? The way to get them cleaned up is to vote No giving as reasons a long list of things that need fixing. That way everyone is on notice that you are unlikely to vote Yes until they are fixed (or appropriate instructions given to the Project Editor to fix them).
(6) If you want to vote No on principle, then remember to provide suitable “technical reasons” for your No to avoid any possibility of it being ruled out of order.
(7) If you are against OpenXML on principle, and you are a P-member of JTC1, then consider tactical abstention if it looks as though the required number of P-member votes could fall below the threshhold, but be careful!
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