XML

Guyana hosts 2nd Commonwealth Legislative course

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

A team of 12 persons including attorneys from the Caribbean and Guyana; representatives from the Attorney-General?s Chambers, the Ministry of Labour and Human Services and the Guyana Police Force are currently participating in the second Commonwealth Programme Legislative Course being held in Guyana on writing of laws. The 12 -week course which began on June 2 is being held at the National Centre for Education Resource Development (NCERD) and is designed to provide the foundation for training ?relatively? new entrants to legislative drafting offices.

Legislative XML Summer School 2008

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The school aims at providing knowledge of the most significant ICT standards emerging for legislation, an understanding of their impact in the different phases of the legislative process, awareness of the tools based on legislative standards, and the ability to participate in the preparation and use of standard-compliant documents throughout law-making process.

Office Open XML out of Microsoft's hands-officially

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, ISO members voted to make Microsoft's Office Open XML format an official standard. The vote was not without its share of controversy, but it's a done deal and now the world will get to see how Microsoft handles having the file format for its flagship office suite no longer under its exclusive command. ISO has now taken official control of the format and has put it under the aegis of the same Joint Technical Committee responsible for the OpenDocument Format.

Open XML recognised as document standard

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Microsoft's Office Open XML (Open XML) standard now joins HTML, PDF and ODF as ISO and IEC recognized open document format standards after the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) announced that Open XML had received enough for votes for it to be ratified as a standard.

Microsoft's ISO win may worsen antitrust woes

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Microsoft may have won a year-long quest to make its Office Open XML document format an ISO-recognised international standard, but claims of foul play in the voting process may come back to haunt the software giant when the European Commission concludes its latest antitrust investigation of Microsoft's business practices.

Open XML appears to clear ISO standard vote

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Early reports Sunday indicate that Office Open XML (OOXML) appears to have enough votes to be certified an ISO standard. If confirmed by the ISO, the vote is a victory for Microsoft and other industry backers of Open XML at Ecma, the standards body that submitted Open XML to ISO/IEC (International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission). ISO certification will make products that use Open XML, officially called DIS 29500, more attractive to government customers concerned with long-term archives of digital documents. It could also be more appealing to developers who want to build products based on those file formats.

Fast-Tracking of Office Open XML Meets Opposition

Fri, 06 Apr 2007 11:00:00 +0000

Last December, Microsoft's Office Open XML format, a direct competitor to the OpenDocument Format (ODF), was approved by the ECMA following review by a technical committee that included Apple, Intel, Novell, Toshiba, and the British Library. ECMA then submitted the Office Open XML standard to ISO/IEC, where it has come under fire.
The fast-tracking of Microsoft Relevant Products/Services's Office Open XML standard is coming under fire as it quickly moves up the ladder for approval by major international standards organizations.
A petition asking businesses to indicate their support for Office Open XML, made available on Microsoft's UK site late last month, has been called a "pseudo-grassroots" effort by the founder of the Open Source Consortium. Consortium head Mark Taylor said Thursday that Microsoft is trying to "fake" community support for the document format and that an international standard, the OpenDocument Format (ODF), already exists.