Had this infuriating discussion in the office today about whether it should be color and program, or colour and programme. I react to that sort of discussion a little more passionately than most others would. So, color and program is obnoxious, I said, and there's no way I was going to let misspelt words creep into any communication within the company. And, more importantly, any communication going to the outside world.

These are the arguments I put forth: British English has a reasonable degree of uniformity in its formal written form, which, as taught in schools, is largely the same as in the rest of the English-speaking world, except US

• British English is also favoured by most of the educational systems in the world
• British English is lingua franca for most of the world other than US. In fact, British English is better described as Commonwealth English because most of its speakers live in countries that are members of the Commonwealth of Nations. Other nations and groups that use British English include the European Union and, often, the United Nations. Many international organisations, like the International Olympic Committee, NATO, the World Trade Organization and ISO also use British English. All Middle Eastern Countries use British English.
• American English is only used in US. Even Canada does not, preferring the Commonwealth form
• There is only one principal reason for American English catching on in India in recent times and that is because Microsoft Word is an American product and because laziness induces people to just blindly accept the MS Word spellchecker.

Does that make a convincing enough case? If not, help me make it sound more convincing.