Silver is extremely close to Microsoft. It’s almost like quoting Microsoft itself). Search on the Web to find out just how close the two are.

Be careful of others like O’Kelly, who are on Microsoft consulting contracts.

Sadly enough, your post says nothing about the fiasco (even crime) that was involved in the OOXML lobby.

The approval of OOXML only shows that MS is still able to coerce countries into voting for them. I see MS in pushing forward its on standard and will rely on the Open Source Community to make OpenOffice.org interoperable with OOXML.
While nations such as China, India, and South Africa may represent a good and fertile ground for OpenOffice, etc., it still the shadow of MS has to be on everyone’s mind. I also see the approval of OOXML as a signal to many of MS’ partners to go with the MS standard and not with ODF.

The OOXML approval process was not a technical nor nationals interest. It was a “commercial issue”. I’m from Panama City and Panama voted yes only because a TLC (Free Trade Agreement) that it’s on it way with the USA. Microsoft is the most powerful American company and possibly over the world and Panama don’t want USA get mad at it right now and voted yes on the OOXML ISO vote. Sorry for my english

this highlights the need for ODF interoperabiity
It actually changes absolutely nothing for ODF. ISO standard or not, OOXML is — as is well documented — merely XML window dressing on Microsoft’s proprietary formats. That means it *is* a proprietary format, impossible, for technical reasons, for anyone else to “interoperate” with.
Look into it, and watch. It’s easy to pontificate. If you set yourself to understanding the spec and what would be involved in just parsing an OOXML document in all its technicolor variety, you’ll find many places where it precribes formatting behavior “like Word 95″, etc.
I’m saying the spec is incomplete, and that for that reason no one will be able to produce a full converter. All we’ll ever get is what we have now: near compatibility. The network effects of Microsoft’s products continues unabated.
ISO adoption is just a marketing checkoff. It would have been better if it had failed, because nonadoption would have highlighted to the digitally illiterate that using OOXML cuts you off from an emerging worldwide standard. But adoption will continue as it would have without it, because competing with Microsoft — and to some extent surviving in the marketplace — requires some degree of compatibility.

Russia abstained.

[...] the ODF-OOXML world turns Jay Lyman, May 23, 2008 @ 2:06 pm ET Oh the drama. Most of us knew ISO approval of Microsoft’s OOXML format was not the end, but more of a beginning in the ongoing fight for [...]

[...] This comes a year after Microsoft was criticized for its Office Open XML (OOXML) standardization campaign and subsequent turnabout tosupport ODF in Office [...]