ISO voted no on OOXML. But the battle isn't over.

I'm extremely happy with the turnout. I'm more than joyous since my country's standards organization (INEN) voted no as well. But this battle is just beginning now:

Do you remember how most no-voters voted, right? They voted "no, with comments". This means that Microsoft gets a chance to address the comment, and a vote will take place in the future. Probably about a year from now.

So there will be another vote to see if OOXML (perhaps with a few modifications) is approved. Which is kind of dumb, since the world already has ODF.

And we're running out of arguments to stop OOXML... because we have already discovered just about every single technical counterargument to OOXML. Now, you may say "but, so what? That should be enough" -- and yet you couldn't be further from the truth:

So it's time to start supervising and attacking the process, and making noise every time Microsoft gains a seat on the OOXML vote table (metaphorically speaking, of course). I know that at least in Ecuador there is a powerful lobby of companies sworn to Microsoft that will try to tilt the balance in favor of the yes, despite all technical absurdities in OOXML.

So, the take-away message from this article is this: Microsoft will have no qualms rigging future votes. Thus, be vigilant.

Damn I'm infuriated by this. Technical decisions should be based on merit, not on depth of pocket. But now it's not time to get mad -- it's time to get even.

The image was stolen from this place. Great cartoon!