OOXML: decision time is nigh

The drumrolls are getting louder....

One of Varghese's concluding paragraphs asks one of the key questions concerning Microsoft's questionable tactics throughout the fast-track approval process:

Quoting:At times one does wonder - is it desperation or arrogance? Why does a company which commands over 90 percent of the world's desktop computer market have such a degree of paranoia?

Indeed.

And what is Varghese's own estimate of whether or not OOXML will indeed be an ISO standard?

Quoting:The acceptance or otherwise of OOXML as an ISO standard will have little to do with technical merit. It is all about lock-in, all about being bound to a standard to which even Microsoft's own Office 2007 does not adhere. By the end of March, we will know more about Microsoft's ability to influence such votes through crude methods than anything else.

All true, but one outcome of this paragraph is that Varghese HAS no clear estimate of the final results..

He does, though, try to leave readers of the piece with his upbeat remark

Quoting:One glimmer of hope comes from the European Commission - which is reported to be finding out whether Microsoft's efforts to rally support for OOXML among its members were done by the book.

Yes, and this may come about AFTER the final OOXML standard approval, should this de jure standard happen to end up being the "done deal" Microsoft's supporters already claim for it.

Also telling is this morning's Groklaw piece 'What Really Happened at the BRM for OOXML & Who Attended - Updates on Results', http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080328090328998 Sure seems from Brazilian delegate Jomar Silva's accounts here that Microsoft's very questionable tactics have yielded enough 'Yes' votes for OOXML approval under this flawed process. At the same time, PJ, in a vaguely similar vein as Varghese above, writes here in Update after Update that the ISO OOXML-standard approval may NOT be the inevitable result of the BRM as MS supporters claim. As PJ writes here

Quoting: I see an anonymous comment suggest that ISO now stands for:

I S old O ut

But isn't it good to see how many are refusing to do so? Consider the pressure, the threats, the stacking the deck, evidently some promises too, not to mention the confusing and ever changing rules, and it's remarkable. And yet all around the world, people have the courage and the integrity to say No.

So what are others' leading estimates here? (Hopefully leading, as opposed to conceptually misleading ones!)