I used your ballot resolution meeting FAQ to cleanup the Office Open XML article on wikipedia but I noticed that the faq could do with a bit of info on the followup after the BRM (so I can remove that from the wiki article as well)

@hAl

Ah thanks - you beat me to it!



- Alex.

Has Ecma already created a first editted version of the specs for review by the national bodies ?

@hAl

> Has Ecma already created a first editted version of the specs for review by the national bodies ?

No, but I believe their first batch of written responses is imminent ...

- Alex.

Hey Alex,
What are your thoughts on the issues around whether or not the responses are available publicly? I know Ecma has been told that the comments should only be available to the national bodies. I saw this discussion though earlier today and I'm wondering if that approach is going to have a negative impact overall: http://standardsandfreedom.net/index.ph ... nsparency/

I can understand both sides, so I was curious to know what your thoughts were.

-Brian

@Brian

Ecma are keeping this process confidential on the instructions of ISO/IEC. I've not looked into this in detail but I suppose the problem is not so much that the discussions themselves between Ecma and the NBs should be confidential, but that if they were conducted in public the 2 September ballot response document (which is a JTC 1 document) would effectively be made public (as it was, erroneously, for a while anyway).

Rules is rules, as they say.

In general, I have some sympathy with those who'd like to see these discussions taking place in public - so long as their motivation is not purely to generate more material for blogging, or to add to the circus aspect of this standardisation effort. OTOH I think there is also a place for confidential deliberation in standardisation too so that (as in juries) people may contribute freely without any overt public/corporate/etc pressure being brought to bear.

The current liaison between Ecma and NBs is an informal part of the process. Ultimately, the important thing is that on 14th January NBs will all get to see Ecma's final considered responses (and, I hope, the results of much of these in a revised, change-tracked text).

- Alex.