Portugal Votes Yes For Ecma Open XML

I always thought summer was a time for relaxing - not blogging all the time and working until all hours. It has been a busy few weeks.

As posted today by Rui Seabra on his blog (in Portuguese) and up on Groklaw in English - it looks like the vote in Portugal was yes with comments.

A few things about this:

1) I am glad to see that the comments will be part of the yes vote. There were issues raised with the spec and the TC-45 folks doing maintenance of the specification should have the benefit of those comments.

2) There apparently was a 30 minute discussion reviewing the process and all parties agreed that everything was done according to the rules and to the satisfaction of the TC members as well as the national body.

3) IBM did provide comments which were distributed to all voting members prior to the vote.

4) All voting members were given the opportunity to speak and express their opinions.

5) The vote was cast and counted with the intent of the vote results being public. (Although the TC decided that the votes should be anonymous - it would seem that Mr. Seabra was not interested in respecting that decision.)

Like everything with the whole process, this was just one step of many. The desire to claim victory or defeat at any step in the process other than after the ballot resolution meeting sometime early next year is premature.