Microsoft format rejected

SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp., the world's biggest software company, failed to win approval to make its Office Open XML file format an international standard, a setback to efforts to win customers in Europe.

After five months of lobbying, 26 percent of the countries to vote rejected Microsoft's proposal, the Geneva-based International Organization for Standardization said yesterday.

The vote underscores the software maker's difficulty winning over some countries that oppose its tactics. Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft is working toward the open standard certification while government offices in countries such as Germany and France increasingly look to purchase such programs.

Open XML is used to exchange information between normally incompatible programs and systems without having to translate it first. By default, documents created in Microsoft's Office 2007 use Open XML. The format is available royalty free. Microsoft charges for its Office suite of programs. Getting the format certified as a standard would reassure some customers the technology is controlled by the standards-making body and can't be altered by Microsoft in a way that would make it incapable of working with other programs.

Microsoft said it is confident the company can get the needed votes in the next stage of the process. A final tally is likely to take place in March, Microsoft said.

The state of Massachusetts, which requires government offices to purchase desktop applications that use open formats, last month added Office Open XML to the approved list.