Microsoft‘s contested Open Office XML (OOXML) document format has received fast-track approval by the International Standards Organization (ISO), with 75 percent of eligible participants voting to fast-track the standard, and only 14 percent voting against it. ISO will now proceed to publish OOXML as an international standard alongside the competing Open Document Format (ODF).
In theory, standardized documents format should offer a wide range of file interoperability between competing applications: someone could create a document in say, OpenOffice or Apple’s Pages, for instance, save it in a standard file format, and expect that document to be fully accessible in any other application supporting that format—perhaps including Microsoft Word.
Because of Microsoft Office’s dominate position in the productivity applications marketplace, OOXML is likely to become a de facto industry standard format with widespread support from other applications developers. Critics of OOXML’s approval point out that Microsoft has a poor track record of working with standards organizations or supporting international standards, and has frequently leveraged its position in the marketplace to stifle competition. However, OOXML has gained supporters even among proponents of the competing Open Document Format, who are hopeful Microsoft will fully participate in the standards process, and that the two formats may "co-evolve" and encourage greater interoperability.
As ever-increasing amounts of data are stored in digital document formats, organizations, governments, corporations, and individuals are increasingly concerned that important data could be locked away in proprietary file formats and eventually become inaccessible as companies and applications fade from the scene, and current information technology may not be able run older applications. Using an open document format, conversely, assures that new applications can be created to access information in the files, even if the programs used to create them are long-gone.
The ISO approval is a victory for Microsoft, which previously lost a bid to have OOXML approved for fast-track status amid charges the company attempted to manipulate the voting process. Microsoft denied it tried to manipulate the initial vote, and implied OOXML failed to get fast-track approval the first time solely because IBM worked against it.
ISO rules call for at least two thirds of eligible votes approve a standard for fast-track consideration, with no more than 25 percent voting against it. The voting process was open to to IEC and ISO members from 104 countries, including 41 that are members of the ISO/IEC JTC 1 information technology group.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.