[LINK] ISO and computing standards

[Marghanita da Cruz]

FWIW this is where AS8015-2005 has got to.
ISO/IEC DIS 29382
Corporate Governance of Information and Communication Technology
<http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_ics/catalogue_detail_ics.htm?csnumber=45429&ICS1=35&ICS2=20&ICS3=>

Marghanita

Glen Turner wrote:
> There are three ways to develop an ISO computing standard. ISO
> can develop it itself, via the WG1 working group; a Publicly-
> Available Specification (PAS) can be submitted and then approved
> by WG1; or a standard from another standards body can be adopted --
> this is called the Fast Track.
> 
> Most standards bodies don't bother to submit to the Fast Track,
> partly because they see ISO as a competitor. But mainly because
> of the misuse of the Fast Track by ECMA International, a body
> which was once the European Computer Manufacturers' Association.
> Since there are no longer any European computer manufacturers,
> ECMA has re-purposed itself in providing a path for vendors to
> make their specifications into ISO standards.
> 
> In the past year Microsoft submitted a poor specification of
> its Office 2007 document formats to ECMA International (ECMA 376),
> and then to the ISO Fast Track (ISO draft 29500). This was accompanied
> by a coordinated lobbying effort, one part of which was to sign up
> countries to vote for the Microsoft specifications acceptance as an
> international standard.
> 
> Those signed-up (or Participating, or simply P) country members
> are doing no other work in WG1, and this has entirely stalled
> the working group.
> 
> With this background, you can now understand the significance
> of the following e-mail.
> 
> 
> From: Russell Ossendryver <worldlabel at gmail.com>
> Date: Dec 5, 2007 1:40 PM
> Subject: [odf-discuss] ISO Working Group Status Report from Convenor,
> ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34 WG1
> To: ODF Discussion List <odf-discuss at opendocumentfellowship.com>
> 
> The second half of 2007 has been an extremely trying time for WG1. I
> am more than a little glad my 3 year term is up, and must commiserate
> with my successor on taking over an almost impossible task.
> 
> WG1 has been struggling against the rules laid down ISO for a number
> of years, trying to prepare a complex multipart standard that needs to
> take account of work being done in OASIS, W3C and IETF within the
> extremely limited timescales laid down by ISO for completion of
> standards. While these rules make sense when you have a single
> standard, or sufficient members to multi-task, they make it impossible
> for a small group to produce a multipart standard. WG1 have frequently
> had to ask for extensions to our time limits, and must continue to do
> so while trying to produce an integrated suite of standards.
> 
> This year WG1 have had another major development that has made it
> almost impossible to continue with our work within ISO. The influx of
> P members whose only interest is the fast-tracking of ECMA 376 as ISO
> 29500 has led to the failure of a number of key ballots. Though P
> members are required to vote, 50% of our current members, and some 66%
> of our new members, blatantly ignore this rule despite weekly email
> reminders and reminders on our website. As ISO require at least 50% of
> P members to vote before they start to count the votes we have had to
> reballot standards that should have been passed and completed their
> publication stages at Kyoto. This delay will mean that these standards
> will appear on the list of WG1 standards that have not been produced
> within the time limits set by ISO, despite our best efforts.
> 
> Unless ISO tightens up on its rules, and removes or demotes, P members
> who do not vote as required by ISO rules I would recommend my
> successor that it is perhaps time to pass WG1's outstanding standards
> over to OASIS, where they can get approval in less than a year and
> then do a PAS submission to ISO, which will get a lot more attention
> and be approved much faster than standards currently can be within
> WG1. The disparity of rules for PAS, Fast-Track and ISO committee
> generated standards is fast making ISO a laughing stock in IT circles.
> The days of open standards development are fast disappearing. Instead
> we are getting "standardization by corporation", something I have been
> fighting against for the 20 years I have served on ISO committees. I
> am glad to be retiring before the situation becomes impossible. I wish
> my colleagues every success for their future efforts, which I
> sincerely hope will not prove to be as wasted as I fear they could be.
> 
> Martin Bryan
> Convenor, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34 WG1
> 
> http://www.jtc1sc34.org/repository/0940.htm
> 


-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
http://www.ramin.com.au
Phone: (+61)0414 869202