Participation - Open XML Discussion cont...

Looking through the extended comments in the posting I did recently about the comments being put into Open XML, one theme that is being referred to often is about who is participating and th eimplications of that. I find this particular piece of the discussion intersting. I have absolutely no problem with interested parties participating in the processs of standardization. That means both people who agree with and disagree with me (or in this case - with my company). The whole point of my posting was to disagree with the insinuations being made on this front. I think as many individuals and organizations who are interested (either from a technical or business perspective) should have a say in the process. I think one situation I would disagree with is if one party had wholly or partially-owned subsidiaries brought onto committees to vote as a block - that would seem wrong to me. Working with your business partners or like-minded orgs is what collaboration is all about and that is fine. The fact that support letters get sent in - even if it is the same letter 100 times - means that those orgs cared enough to list their name in support of a given goal. (I'm pretty sure this what petitions and many other forms of participation look like in other arenas).

 I'm jumping on a flight...be back online tomorrow.