Open XML blogging in 2007

It's been quite a year for those who have been blogging about the Open XML file formats. Here's a look back at some of the stories I remember best from this busy year ...

January:

• Brian Jones provides an overview of Passing the Open XML standard off to ISO, followed by a post on the history of Office XML formats.
• My first post of 2007 covers Dr. John Tunnicliffe's ExcelPackage API for Open XML spreadsheets.
• Tristan Davis explains how content controls and the XML data store (custom XML parts) enable true data/view separation.
• Rob Weir kicks off the new year with How to hire Guillaume Portes and an Emerson quote about a foolish consistency, inspiring me to quote Emerson on counting spoons.
• Kevin Boske releases videos on how to use Ken Getz's Open XML code snippets for the System.IO.Packaging API.
• Miguel de Icaza weighs in on the debate around document formats.
• Rick Jelliffe's blog kicks off Wikigate, which throws a few folks into a tizzy, and even Stephen Colbert eventually covers the "story" before the real press figures out nothing's going on.

February:

• This month finds me at Linux Asia in Delhi and Open XML workshops in Sydney and Canberra.
• Version 1.0 of the Open XML Translator project is released.
• Datawatch announces their Monarch V9 product includes support for Open XML spreadsheets and formulas.
• Brian Jones takes a close look at how ODF and Open XML handle application settings, a topic that will be revisited many times in the DIS29500 debate.
• The Wraith starts blogging because he (or she) is "bored with all the nonsense written about OOXML."

March:

• I'm in Redmond most of the month, musing about interoperability and catching up with friends at the Open XML workshop we did during the week of the MVP summit.
• Stephen McGibbon posts screen shots of OpenOffice's Open XML support, and his Stuck in the past explores why document formats are not a zero-sum game.
• Dennis Hamilton's Why not .rtfx? considers some possible creative uses for OPC outside the scope of Open XML.
• Michael Scherotter blogs about Mindjet's approach to Open XML interoperability.
• Art imitates life: "Pam Jones" bans "the Wraith" from Groklaw.
• The last week of March finds me in Prague, Ghent and Ljubljana for Open XML workshops.

April:

• The DIS ballot period begins on April 2, and technical committees worldwide begin reviewing the spec.
• In April I deliver Open XML workshops in Munich, Kiev, and Beijing.
• The PHPExcel API for Open XML gives PHP developers a set of tools for Open XML development, thanks to the work of Maarten Balliauw and Jakub Vrana.
• Sam Hiser posts a joke that some folks don't get for a few months.

May:

• May finds me doing workshops in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Kenya.
• I blog about one of Open XML's most popular features in custom schemas revisited.
• Brian Jones notes the formation of DIN's document translation working group in Germany.
• Stephen McGibbon covers Open XML support for Mobile Devices from DataViz.
• The Wraith wonders Has IBM annexed the Kenyan ISO National body?
• Julien Chable's OpenXML4J API project is officially launched.

June:

• I take a close look at Open XML's approach to numbering options.
• We announce the Microsoft SDK for Open XML at TechEd in Orlando, and I get a chance to catch up with friends like Stephen, Ted, Patrick, Mick, Erika, Steph, and everyone I'm forgetting to name at the moment.
• Altova announces comprehensive Open XML support in their XML Spy product.
• Brian Jones blogs about IBM's positive comments regarding Open XML interoperability; pinch me, I must be dreaming.
• Rob Weir's No representation without specification makes the case for full documentation of Open XML's compatibility settings.
• Stephen McGibbon's IBM's antics carrying on and Rick Jelliffe's Fantasy Press Releases make my face red.

July:

• The INCITS V1 technical committee in the US reaches deadlock after a long meeting on Friday the 13th; paraskevidekatriaphobia ensues.
• Brian Jones notes iPhone support for Open XML and discusses the philosophy behind the WordprocessingML document model.
• Rick Jelliffe congratulates Slashdotters on herding the beast, and offers Bribery Watch "in the spirit of truth and reconciliation, and to calm the situation down."
• Rob Weir looks back on a year of anti-Open XML blogging, Stephen McGibbon reminds us that Dastardly and Muttley have been here before
, and Jon Udell chats with me about my Open XML travels.

August:

• The INCITS executive board passes a motion for the US to vote Yes with comments on DIS29500.
• The revised Massachusetts ETRM includes Open XML, ODF, PDF and other document formats.
• Our friends over at MSDN publish a set of developer workshop videos from the San Francisco workshop.
• Brian's post on the Ecma meetings in Toronto starts a free-ranging discussion.
• Mike Ormond starts a useful video series on Content Controls and Repeating Data.
• Rick Jelliffe cements his reputation as a Microsoft shill with My recommendation on Office Open XML: "No with Comments"!
• Wouter Van Vugt announces availability of version 3.0 RC1 of Package Explorer, and the OpenXMLDeveloper.org web site publishes his eBook "Open XML Explained".

September:

• The voting results for DIS 29500 are this month's big story, and Stephen McGibbon's DIS29500/IS26300 ballot results in charts provides a clear visual overview of the outcome.
• Jason Matusow posts Independent Implementations of Open XML and Open XML Implementations Part 2.
• Blogging from Malaysia during TechEd, I post a set of OPC test documents for developers.
• Dennis Hamilton comments on the state of the debate from a long-term perspective, and Mick Lohan explores dynamic Open XML tables from a an Irish VBA perspective.
• NOOOXML.org reviews my latest videos, granting me the sexy screen name Hug Madog; how'd they know?

October:

• David Gainer posts about conditional formatting on the Excel team blog, and I show some Open XML markup samples.
• Brian Jones blogs about a beta version of Wordperfect that supports both Open XML and ODF.
• Oliver Bell covers the public rift between ODF supporters that has started popping up in comments on document-format blog threads ever since Gary Edwards let the cat out of the bag.
• RosettaNet Malaysia announces Open XML support in their RosettaNet Automated Enablement standard.
• NOOOXML.org announces that Microsoft is the winner of their 2500-Euro Kayak award, as I had requested back in July.

November:

• The Open XML to DAISY translator project is announced by Reed Shaffner at TechEd/Barcelona.
• JTC 1 publishes Alex Brown's much-needed and much-appreciated ISO/IEC DIS 29500 Ballot Resolution Meeting (BRM) FAQ on the JTC 1/SC 34 web site.
• Barack Obama tells Google he would "put government data online in universally accessible formats," which eWeek interprets as Obama voices support for ODF.
• Andy Updegrove kicks off his ODF vs. OOXML: War of the Words eBook project. (Note to self: get to work on screenplay project.)

December:

• Wouter Van Vugt releases the Word 2007 Databinding Toolkit
• Gray Knowlton blogs some interesting data on File size reduction for Open XML and Compatibility pack for Open XML: 20 Million downloads and counting.
• Brian's Why all the secrecy? starts a lively debate, as does Jesper Lund Stocholm's Hypocrisy 101.
• NOOOXML.org congratulates Eric White and me on our recent role changes at Microsoft.
• Eric continues his series on Using LINQ to XML with Open XML Documents with WordprocessingML and SpreadsheetML classes.
• James Newton King covers LINQ to XML over large documents and explains how LINQ can handle WordprocessingML structure in "LINQ over OOXML: Loving it.
• After writing and reviewing hundreds of proposed dispositions for NB comments, TC45 reaches the 2/3 point and heads into the home stretch.

What a year. If 2008 is just half as busy, and Open XML gets just half as much attention, and I travel just half as much as I did in 2007 ... that will be plenty.

Happy New Year, everyone!