Microsoft may have failed to win enough votes to have its OOXML (Office Open XML) file formats approved as an international (ISO) standard by the International Organization for Standardization, but the Seattle, Washington-based software developer still has a chance to renew its standards push. The five-month balloting by the International Electro-technical Commission and ISO national member bodies from 104 nations ended on September 2, 2007. The comments that were brought about during the latest balloting will be discussed at a ballot resolution meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, in February 2008. Microsoft officials are positive that OOXML will ultimately be awarded an ISO certification at the final tally. However, Marino Marcich, executive director of the ODF Alliance, which is endorsing the Open Document Format, believes that whether or not OOXML becomes an ISO standard for creating and viewing electronic documents, the issues that were raised by member bodies hint at doubts about OOXMLs interoperability and openness. These issues included the inadequacy of Microsofts patent commitment, the undocumented functionalities of the format that stop other vendors from adopting it, reliance on other Microsoft proprietary solutions, and technical problems. Microsoft is keen on getting an ISO standard approval for OOXML because it wants to hang on the billions of dollars of revenues that its Office division generates. But the approval of ODF as an ISO standard poses the first real threat to Microsofts Office business.