__/ [ High Plains Thumper ] on Saturday 09 December 2006 00:42 \__
> B Gruff wrote:
>
>> Subject says it all:-
>>
>> http://www.sutor.com/newsite/blog-open/?p=1264
>
> Article states:
>
> | IBM votes NO on Open XML in ECMA
> |
> | We just got a call from a reporter, so I guess this information is public
> | and I want to confirm it for you.
> |
> | IBM voted NO today in ECMA on approval for Microsoft?s Open XML spec.
> |
> | I think Rob Weir and I (as well as many others) have made it clear in the
> | last few months why we think the OpenDocument Format ISO standard is
> | vastly superior to the Open XML spec. ODF is what the world needs today
> | to drive competition, innovation, and lower costs for customers. It is an
> | example of a real open standard versus a vendor-dictated spec that
> | documents proprietary products via XML. ODF is about the future, Open XML
> | is about the past. We voted for the future.
>
> "Well I'll be dipped in molasses." - General Carville, Command and
> Conqueror Red Alert, Uri's Revenge, last episode.
>
> Similar to Sony Betamax versus VHS, I see ODF winning this one.
I've been looking for an analogy. It's like presenting a hypertext language
that only works in IE (oh, wait, Microsoft sort of works on that already, in
its battle against Adobe/Macromedia Flash). Then, Microsoft gets people to
upload their 'pages' onto the Web and released a 7,000-page document which
explains how it works. Firefox, Safari, and even lynx must then have to
learn how to implement and test that new Microsoft rendering engine
(backward engineer from the specs) in order to enable their users to view
surf on the Web.
There is one spec---HTML. It's universal. Microsoft has alread tried to
corrupt it and it continues to do so with Office, Front Page (RIP
yesterday), and other anti-standards software that's a true poison and
cancer on the Web. Microsoft wants to change goalposts by changing formats
and standards and it has a large userbase which makes this possible. Someone
has _got_ to stop them. It's monopoly abuse that punished the user, raises
cost, and limits choice through penalties.
Best wishes,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz | Disclaimer: no SCO code used to generate this post
http://Schestowitz.com | Free as in Free Beer ¦ PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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http://iuron.com - semantic search engine project initiative
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