Office Open XML (OOXML), Microsoft's answer to the upstart open source Open Document Format (ODF), has passed to the next hurdle on its way to fast-track ISO standardization just like ODF: a five-month-long ballot by the national members of ISO and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) that stays open until September 2.

Microsoft critics claim OOXML standardization is unnecessary because ODF is already an ISO standard.

Meanwhile, ECMA secretary general Jan van den Beld, who saw the chance of standardizing Java slip through his fingers and got the Microsoft franchise instead, has retired. He's been replaced by recently named deputy secretary Dr. Istvan Sebestyen, an ex-Siemens standards guy.