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<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="http://blogs.technet.com/utility/FeedStylesheets/rss.xsl" media="screen"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"><channel><title>Microsoft MiddleEast - Gulf IT Pro Blog : OpenXML Ratification</title><link>http://blogs.technet.com/gulf_itpro/archive/tags/OpenXML+Ratification/default.aspx</link><description>Tags: OpenXML Ratification</description><dc:language>en-US</dc:language><generator>CommunityServer 2.1 SP1 (Build: 61025.2)</generator><item><title>Participate in establishing technology standards for industry growth</title><link>http://blogs.technet.com/gulf_itpro/archive/2007/07/02/participate-in-establishing-technology-standards-for-industry-growth.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 02 Jul 2007 15:26:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">d5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:1422262</guid><dc:creator>gulf_itpro</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><comments>http://blogs.technet.com/gulf_itpro/comments/1422262.aspx</comments><wfw:commentRss>http://blogs.technet.com/gulf_itpro/commentrss.aspx?PostID=1422262</wfw:commentRss><description>&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"&gt;&lt;SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: text1"&gt;&lt;FONT size=3&gt;Standards are an essential component for successful innovation in the fast moving world of technology. Without a common set of agreed principles of design, process and production it would be extremely difficult to produce technology that satisfies IT requirements in a comprehensive and efficient manner.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"&gt;&lt;SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: text1"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: text1"&gt;&lt;?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;FONT size=3&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"&gt;&lt;B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: text1"&gt;&lt;FONT size=3&gt;As this affects us all directly, we ask you to participate in the standards forming discussion unfolding on a worldwide basis in the software community.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/B&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"&gt;&lt;SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: text1"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;FONT size=3&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"&gt;&lt;SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: text1"&gt;&lt;FONT size=3&gt;Successful &lt;B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;ratification of the OpenXML standard&lt;/B&gt; at the International Standards Organisation (ISO) later this year will represent a key step in the formulation of robust standards that encourage industry transparency, allowing for wider customer choice and collaboration between the producers of software and the people and companies that use this technology.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"&gt;&lt;SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: text1"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: text1"&gt;&lt;FONT size=3&gt;&lt;SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"&gt;&lt;SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: text1"&gt;&lt;FONT size=3&gt;Open XML represents an important advancement in document standards that offer benefits to technology users, the technology industry, consumers, businesses and governments worldwide.&amp;nbsp; It enables backward compatibility with billions of archived documents, and accommodates a wide range of languages and cultures, as well as assistive technologies that help people with disabilities.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"&gt;&lt;SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: text1"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: text1"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;FONT size=3&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"&gt;&lt;I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"&gt;&lt;SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: text1"&gt;&lt;FONT size=3&gt;We invite you, as IT Professionals and key influencers, to become involved in this discussion and contribute to the continued rate of progress shown by our industry worldwide by registering on the following websites for more information and insights into why the standards debate is so important.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/I&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"&gt;&lt;SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: text1"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;FONT size=3&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"&gt;&lt;A href="http://www.openxmlcommunity.org/" mce_href="http://www.openxmlcommunity.org/"&gt;&lt;SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin"&gt;&lt;FONT color=#0000ff size=3&gt;http://www.OpenXMLCommunity.org&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/A&gt;&lt;SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: text1"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"&gt;&lt;A href="http://www.voicesforinnovation.org/" mce_href="http://www.voicesforinnovation.org/"&gt;&lt;SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin"&gt;&lt;FONT color=#0000ff size=3&gt;http://www.voicesforinnovation.org&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/A&gt;&lt;SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: text1"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"&gt;&lt;SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: text1"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;FONT size=3&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"&gt;&lt;SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: text1"&gt;&lt;FONT size=3&gt;Thank you for your support in this critical issue.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;img src="http://blogs.technet.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=1422262" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://blogs.technet.com/gulf_itpro/archive/tags/news+items/default.aspx">news items</category><category domain="http://blogs.technet.com/gulf_itpro/archive/tags/OpenXML+Ratification/default.aspx">OpenXML Ratification</category></item></channel></rss>