ISO puts Microsoft OOXML on hold   
June 16, 2008
Source:  TNN

NEW DELHI: Following appeals by four countries, including India, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has put on hold its earlier decision approving Microsoft’s Open Office OXML (OOXML) file format as an international standard. 

OOXML is a format for word-processing, presentations and spreadsheets. The other countries that appealed against the ISO decision are Brazil, South Africa and Venezuela. 

In April, OOXML was approved as an ISO/International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) International Standard, having received the mandated over two-third votes of participating members. 

“The fact that these countries have appealed against the OOXML after ISO’s approval in April clearly shows the opposition to it. India has repeatedly voted against the proprietary format. 

However, the country was not even allowed to present all its comments against OOXML at the ballot resolution meeting (BRM) at Geneva last year. All this has put a question mark on the credibility of ISO,” said a member of the Bureau of Indian Standards committee, which was responsible for examining the standard and deciding India’s position at ISO. 

The appeals by the four countries are being considered by the ISO secretary general and the IEC general secretary, who will, by June- end, submit the appeals with their comments to the ISO Technical Management Board and the IEC Standardization Management Board. 

The two boards will then decide whether the appeals should be further processed or not. If the appeals are further processed, a conciliation panel would be established to resolve the appeals. The process could take several months and till it’s over, the Open Office XML format can’t be published as an international standard. 

OOXML was originally disapproved in a ‘fast-track vote’ in September 2007. It was followed, as required under the rules, by a BRM at Geneva in February this year to address comments made by voting members. India voted against the format at the BRM. However, when final votes were cast in March, OOXML got 75 per cent votes in its favour. 

The BIS committee retained its earlier disapproval vote in March in its final verdict. While Indian software & services body Nasscom and IT majors TCS, Infosys and Wipro supported OOXML at BIS committee meetings, IBM, Sun Microsystems , Google, Department of IT, IIT-Bombay and IIM Ahmedabad were in favour of the Open Document Format (ODF). 

IIT Bombay professor Deepak Phatak, in an open letter to BIS members, said that Microsoft continued to make representations to top Indian leadership to change the country’s final vote against OOXML 

eBay opening up selling app to outside developers    
June 16 , 2008 
SOURCE: By Rafe Needleman 

At the eBay Developers Conference this week, the auction company will announce a new marketplace for sellers' add-ons to its online auctions. Essentially the program gives developers access to all the data that eBay's existing online app for medium- and large-scale retailers, Selling Manager, already has. 

Like other online apps that have become platforms, such as Salesforce.com and Facebook, eBay's new initiative, called Project Echo, will give developers not just access to rich data they can package up for customers, but also a marketing channel for their applications. 



Project Echo will make it possible for third-party developers to get access to the same data that eBay's own selling app has.

(Credit: eBay)

Project Echo will allow app developers to pitch their apps to just the potential customers they are looking for. For example, if an app is designed only for high-volume electronics sellers, Project Echo will make sure that those sellers get queued up to see pitches for the app; other sellers won't be bothered with it. 

In order to get into the Project Echo program, developers have to meet certain standards for trustworthiness. Also, all apps must have 30-day free trials. In return, developers will get access to "special APIs that are only available to people who integrate in Project Echo," according to Max Mancini, senior director of Mobile Platform and Disruptive Innovation (yes, that is his real title). 

The program will go into testing in the fourth quarter of this year, but in the interest of not disrupting the holiday buying season, it won't go into open beta until the first quarter of 2009. 

My take: Seems like a good extension for the eBay economy. And eBay needs to keep ahead of the curve in this department--28 percent of all listings are through third-party tools, according to Mancini. That adds up to 6 billion API calls a month. Also, I like that eBay is enforcing the 30-day-free rule. 

Speaking of disruptive technologies, I asked Mancini what eBay was doing about the growing fraud that is creeping into eBay for non-power-sellers. He didn't have a concrete answer, although he said there will be announcements at the eBay conference that starts Monday. All I got out of him for now was, "Creating a trusted marketplace is critical to us." 

NIIT, Genpact form JV; to impart IT training     
June 16, 2008 
SOURCE: Business Line

NEW DELHI: To address the increasing demand for skilled workers in the technology sector, BPO firm Genpact and IT training institute NIIT today joined hands to form a new venture - NIIT Institute of Process Excellence -- which will offer training in business process services. 

NIIT and Genpact has entered into a joint venture where the training institute would have 75 per cent stake and BPO major would have 25 per cent. The two firms would invest Rs 25 crore in the first phase. 

As per the agreement, Genpact would provide industry- specific knowledge as well as internship and job opportunities to students and NIIT would complement this with its expertise in content development and training delivery. 

Genpact President and CEO, Pramod Bhasin said, "The training institute would focus on developing talent and increasing employability to meet the growing demand for a skilled workforce in the countries where we operate." 

"The training programmes will be offered to students through our learning centres in key metros , mini metros and Tier II towns in India, followed by China and the Philippines," NIIT CEO Vijay K Thadani said. 

The first centre would come up in Gurgaon in September this year. Both the companies expect the new institute to have over 250 centres by 2012. 

The move is likely to address the talent crunch that the BPO industry is facing. IT industry body Nasscom estimates that the Indian BPO industry is expected to generate over 1.4 million jobs by 2010.