My father was an inveterate reader of notice boards. He explained that all manner of interesting things were put on them for those who took the trouble to look. I should have paid more attention and spent more time looking at the JTC1 website, or more specifically the SC34 website.
SC34 is the JTC1 committee dealing with the fast-track proposal that the MS OpenXML standard for office documents should become an ISO/IEC standard. At the moment most attention is focussed on the letter ballot that closes on 2 September. I have explained in many previous articles, most recently here that about a hundred “National Bodies” (NBs) who are ISO members are eligible to vote by submitting a voting form “G18″. Submitting a form gives you a ticket to the Ballot Resolution Meeting (BRM) which is currently pencilled in for February 2008. Comments submitted with the voting forms are pooled. The BRM goes through the comments and sees whether a subset can be adopted for inclusion in the draft so that the amended draft will attract the requisite majority (3/4 of those voting and 2/3 of P-members voting).
So (except in rare circumstances, unlikely to apply here) the proportion of yes, no and abstains in the letter ballot is of no consequence. What matters is whether a subsequent vote at the BRM is able to muster he requisite majority for an amended draft. The conduct of the BRM will be substantially in the hands of the “Convenor” Alex Brown. If an amended draft is approved, then the “Project Editor” (who appears to be Rex Jaeschke of MS) has the job of producing the actual text of the amended draft in accordance with the BRM decisions. Presumably in practice he is overseen by the Convenor and SC34 secretariat. According to the SC34 website completion of the process is currently forecast for December 2008.
But what would happen then (if it was ultimately approved)? 13.13 of the JTC1 Directives provides that
If the proposed standard is accepted and published, its maintenance will be handled by JTC 1 and/or a JTC 1 designated maintenance group in accordance with the JTC 1 rules.
Now what do you think has happened? Well just go to the SC34 website and find document 885:
The full proposal is about 45 lines long, but the important part is those words with Ecma TC45 … carrying out the key duties. Anyone who thinks this might be an unwise procedure needs to make sure that their NB is appropriately briefed for the SC~34 Plenary meeting in December 2007 when this proposal is to be discusssed.
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