The long ensuing battle for document standards seems to have been finally won by Microsoft’s OXML. Recently at the ISO, it won the vote with 86 per cent votes in its favour of the standard being ratified, a big victory for Microsoft.

In the Indian context, Microsoft narrowly lost at the BIS, with most of the votes going against the OXML standard, although it had few backers, in terms of Indian IT majors and NASSCOM in particular. Deccan Herald caught up with Microsoft spokesperson Vijay Kapur, National Technology Officer, Microsoft India, who said “Now that Open XML is an ISO standard, Indian IT industry, businesses and government have the option of adopting it.” “This (ISO ratification) is clear recognition that different formats meet different needs in the marketplace and users should have a choice. Microsoft is committed to working with the IT industry, academia, standards bodies and the government in an open and collaborative manner to enhance interoperability and innovation,” he assured.

ISO’s ratification means that Microsoft, which has millions of office document users, will see its influence growing with government users and other vendors. This can be validated as the Indian government predominantly follows ISO standards.