ISO to review OpenDocument as a standard

IDG News Service - A standards body will soon consider adopting the file format used by the OpenOffice.org software suite, among others, as an international standard.

Massachusetts recently made headlines when it mandated use of the Open Document Format for Office Applications for its internal documents from Jan. 1, 2007. OpenDocument is already used by the free software suites OpenOffice.org and KOffice, and by the commercial StarOffice suite from Sun Microsystems Inc., but Microsoft Corp. doesn't support the format in its Office suite.

The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards submitted the OpenDocument specification to a joint technical committee of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission for publication as an international standard, according to an ISO spokesman.

The committee will send the specification out to its members probably at the end of this month, and they will have five months to study and vote on it, according to ISO spokesman Roger Frost.

Supporters of OpenDocument expect more governments to follow the lead of Massachusetts if the format becomes an ISO standard, and they encourage other software developers to get ready.

"Suppliers need to realize that it's in their interest to adopt the standard, because it will maximize their access to future markets," said Ian Lynch, a spokesman for the Open Document Fellowship, a group that aims to support volunteers promoting the format.