The dusty world of technical standards setting is full of excitement and intrigue again as 120 delegates from 37 countries convene in Geneva to discuss whether to accept Microsoft’s new Open Office XML software as an international open standard under the International Standards Organisation.

Standard-setting does not normally arouse much interest. It’s usually a group of five or six engineers in a small room voting on an incremental modification to a piece of code few people are even aware exists. But this time the stakes are high – especially for Microsoft, which could stand to lose out on a great deal of business if it does not get the ISO seal of approval.

Many governments, particularly in Europe, are starting to mandate their departments use open standard. Without ISO certification, Microsoft may find it harder to get its software on the procurement list.

Its hard to say exactly how much they might stand to lose. Some governments may not mind lack of ISO approval. Denmark, for example, said this week that its public sector purchasing would not be affected by the result. However, the Danish government may face a legal challenge over this. Certainly, it is fair to say lack of the ISO rubber stamp will make life harder.

Discussions in Geneva, have therefore been tense. Microsoft failed to get enough votes in the previous ballot September.

It has now had a week in Geneva to try to resolve 1100 issues raised about the OOXML standard. It needs to get around 5 countries that are part of the ISO voting process to change their minds to get the standard through. The final vote is at the end of March.

Its impossible to call the result. Ironically enough, this discussion on open standards is happening entirely behind closed doors. The delegates have been instructed not to reveal anything about the proceedings. If they take photographs of anyone in the meetings, they could be sued. This appears an attempt to prevent a reprise of the frantic scenes around the September vote, when both Microsoft and the ODF-camp, representing a rival open standard, hurled accusations of vote-rigging at each other.

Bits and pieces are trickling out on blogs, however, such as one from one of the Malaysian delegates. By the sounds of things, things are as tense as in September, with Microsoft representatives posted in Geneva hotel lobbies to schmooze delegates. Microsoft officially says they are there to provide technical assistance.

The other side has also brought its luminaries, with Vint Cerf, early internt pioneer and now Google employee, and Bob Sutor, IBM’s champion for the ODF format, in town to expound the virtues of open source software. Google has been unable to resist taking a swipe at Microsoft on its official blog.

Clearly a huge amount of energy is being expended on all of this. The battle may be taking place under the auspices of a rather bureaucratic standard setting body, but make no mistake – this is war.