It's been an unusually active week in the contest between already ISO-adopted ODF and OOXML, as the latter moves through the first step of the ISO the adoption process.  More specifically, Ecma submitted OOXML to the ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1 (JTC1) on January 5, starting the clock on the traditional one-month "contradictions" period that begins the "fast track" process in the JTC1.  However, OOXML is no traditional specification, weighing in at over 6,000 pages.  During this phase, eligible JTC1 members can note ways in which the proposed standard overlaps other standards, fails to incorporate available ISO standards, or otherwise does not meet ISO rules (a second, five month period will begin on February 5, during which technical and other objections may be raised).  

With OOXML formally launched within the JTC1, both sides have pulled out all the stops to influence the national bodies eligible to participate, as well as the public at large.  Here's a chronology of the principle events of just the last seven days, and how they fit into the overall scheme of things:

January 17:  The first public statements on the number of contradictions begin to be made, including my blog entry, The Contradictory Nature of OOXML Pamela Jones reveals an ambitious project at Groklaw the same day that uses two Wikis to allow the community to find and post contradictions and another for guidance on writing objections.  Mainstream press articles follow.   

January 22:  Rick Jelliffe, an O'Reilly XML.net blogger, posts an entry titled An interesting offer: get paid to contribute to Wikipedia.  The offer in question was made by Microsoft, which feels that the Wikipedia entries on ODF and OOXML are inaccurate, biased, and (according to Microsoft spokesperson Catherine Brooker, "heavily written by people at IBM).  A firestorm of protest follows. 

January 22:  IBM announces the upcoming public beta of its "Hannover" release of Lotus Notes and Domino platform.  The beta will commence in February, and the full launch is scheduled for this summer.  As stated in the press release Notes 8 will bring the ability to convert documents into and out of ODF and Office formats to tens of millions of desktops around the world:

In Notes 8, customers will be able to use productivity editors that support the Open Document Format (ODF) at no additional cost, giving them access to crucial office tools without the cost of a separate license. With IBM Productivity Editors users can create, edit, and save a variety of documents in ODF format, including word processing, spreadsheet and presentation documents. The productivity editors also allow a user to import and export supported file formats used by Microsoft Office and Open Office file formats, edit those files and save them in either the original format or as ODF documents. 

January 23, 2007:  Pamela Jones announces completion of the Groklaw contradictions project in a post titled Deadline Looms to Express Concerns about Ecma 376 Office Open XML.   The blog entry includes the final list of contradictions and explanatory text – over 13,000 words in all, as well as a link to a page that includes contact information for all JTC-1 Principal members, by country, as well as sample letters to use in bringing contradictions to their attention.

January 23:  Both Microsoft and OpenOffice.org release toolkits to help developers build applications that comply with OOXML and ODF, respectively.  The OpenOffice.org project invites developer participation.

January 24:  Ever since ODF-compliant products were challenged as being less than equal to the Office environment as regards accommodations for people with disabilities, there's been an "assistive technologies" race between Microsoft and ODF proponents.  Thus, it's no surprise that Microsoft unveils "an array of innovative products and services for people with disabilities" at the Assistive Technology Industry Association annual conference.  The press release notes that: 

Historically, customers often had to wait six, 12 or even 18 months for assistive software and devices that supported a newly released operating system…. “In the past it’s been challenging for the AT community to ship updated versions of our products in a timely fashion following the release of a new version of Windows® or Office,” said Doug Geoffray of GW Micro Inc., which develops the screen reader Window-Eyes to assist people who are blind. “But because Microsoft has done such a good job collaborating with us during the development process of Windows Vista and the 2007 Office release, there is a lot of confidence and excitement in the AT industry about the launch of these new products.”

January 2%:  OpenForum Europe, an association with a small membership of primarily large IT vendors, and the ODF Alliance, an organization with a very large, diverse and global membership, issue a joint press release alarming titled IT Standards Hijack Threatens European Competitiveness.  Excerpts:

So there you have it – just some of what occurred during just one week of what will be (at minimum) a six-month process.   

What can you say, but "stay tuned?"