Story: UK standards body taken to court over OOXML

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ukuug quit BSI committee themselves prior to OOXML vote

I seems that the ukuug quit the relevant BSI committee a few months before the OOXML vote.

Also previously Alain Williams, Chairman of UKUUG said

"We are very disappointed that BSI has chosen to take this decision against the advice of its technical committee."

This is very odd because the BSI website states clearly:
"3. What was the BSI vote on ISO/IEC DIS 29500 following the BRM meeting in February 2008? BSI British Standards exercised its right to vote BASED ON THE RECOMMENDATION OF ITS TECHNICAL EXPERTS who are members of IST/41.
IST/41 reached a consensus decision and BSI voted in accordance with the committee’s recommendation."

BSI member Alex Brown prreviously commented on the ukuug stament:
"I find it hard to understand what the UKUUG thinks it's playing at.
The statement from their chairman that BSI went against the advice of its technical committee is FALSE.

What makes this particularly rich is that the UKUUG actually *had* representation on that very technical committee, but withdrew it mid-way through the 29500 project. If they had stayed, then they would have been able to make a material difference to the final UK position. However, rather than taking responsibility for representing their community, they instead abdicated this responsibility and have resorted to untrue and childish press releases from outside the process.
I hope they *do* have a barrister, as somebody there needs to grab some beards and knock heads together.
- Alex."

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