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Publication of ISO/IEC 29500:2008, Information technology - Document description and processing languages - Office Open XML file formats

2008-11-18

ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) have just published the joint International Standard, ISO/IEC 29500:2008, Information technology – Document description and processing languages - Office Open XML file formats.

ISO/IEC 29500 is a standard for word-processing documents, presentations and spreadsheets that is intended to be implemented by multiple applications on multiple platforms. One of its objectives is to ensure the long-term preservation of documents created over the last two decades using programmes that are becoming incompatible with continuing advances in the field of information technology.

ISO/IEC 29500:2008 comprises the following four parts:

• ISO/IEC 29500-1:2008, Information technology – Document description and processing languages – Office Open XML File Formats – Part 1: Fundamentals and Markup Language Reference (5 570 pages)

This defines a set of XML vocabularies for representing word-processing documents, spreadsheets and presentations, based on the Microsoft Office 2008 applications. It specifies requirements for Office Open XML consumers and producers that comply to the strict conformance category.

• ISO/IEC 29500-2:2008, Information technology – Document description and processing languages – Office Open XML File Formats – Part 2: Open Packaging Conventions (138 pages)

This defines a general-purpose file/component packaging facility, which is built on top of the widely used ZIP file structure.

• ISO/IEC 29500-3:2008, Information technology – Document description and processing languages – Office Open XML File Formats – Part 3: Markup Compatibility and Extensibility (46 pages)

This defines a general-purpose mechanism to extend an XML vocabulary.

• ISO/IEC 29500-4:2008, Information technology – Document description and processing languages – Office Open XML File Formats – Part 4: Transitional Migration Features (1 475 pages)

This defines a set of XML elements and attributes, over and above those defined by ISO/IEC 29500-1, that provide support for legacy Microsoft Office applications; that is, those prior to the 2008 release. It specifies requirements for Office Open XML consumers and producers that comply to the transitional conformance category.

ISO/IEC 29500:2008, Information technology – Document description and processing languages - Office Open XML file formats, 7 228 pages, can be purchased on a single CD-ROM for 342 Swiss francs from ISO national member institutes (see the complete list with contact details) and from ISO Central Secretariat through the ISO Store or by contacting the Marketing & Communication department (see right-hand column).