It is interesting to read Patrick Durusau’s site. Specifically, the one in which he states:

“Approve an admittedly rough DIS 29500? That gives all of us a seat at the table for the next Office standard. Granting that I wince at parts of DIS 29500, it is hard for me to argue with that rationale. Because approval of DIS 29500 insures an effective international and public forum whose members will be heard by Microsoft I recommend approval of DIS 29500 as an ISO standard.”

It is unfortunate that he is agreeable to granting ISO status to an incomplete, insufficiently defined DIS with the hope that people will be able to help fix it post approval. When something is crying out to be fixed, why is it difficult to fix it first? Why is that so difficult to accept? I welcome ECMA and Microsoft resubmitting the DIS with the fixes as proposed and then letting the international community accept it as a standard. I have indicated my support for a move like that for it would be the Right Thing to do.

It is 8 days till the voting deadline. I have not seen the edited copy of the DIS post BRM. Does the ODF Project Editor have that copy? If he does not have it, what would the basis be for him to support approving – “signing a blank cheque” – of the DIS? Getting a seat at the table? We will have a seat at any table if Microsoft so desires to be inclusive and honest.

I am very sure Microsoft and ECMA would be using the fact that Partick Durusau “endorses the approval of OOXML” in their global campaign to convince national bodies to approve the post BRM DIS. I think it does not matter what Durusau says. Project Editor status of one standard does not give magical insight into another and one that is far more complex than the one he is a editor of. His commentary is cleverly entitled <a href=“On The Importance of Being Heard” (referred earlier).

Clearly, he is trying to sound like he has changed his opposition to OOXML which he cleverly places in the foot note as:

“This is a change in my prior position on DIS 29500. Different behavior has led to a different DIS 29500 and hence a different position on my part.”

My question is “what was the change in behaviour that is now leading you to change your position”? I wonder?