__/ [ The Ghost In The Machine ] on Monday 11 December 2006 16:42 \__
> In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Roy Schestowitz
> <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote
> on Sat, 09 Dec 2006 09:33:55 +0000
> <1566555.9xKfXHmYr8@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>> __/ [ 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.
>
> That's the problem. :-) The Web2.1 standards need to be
> totally controlled by Microsoft and incrementalizable
> so that the market can be leveraged, verticalized,
> and dominated. Microsoft of course may want to charge
> licensing fees for Web2.1, if they can do so without
> losing too much credibility.
Sweet sarcasm as usual, but it's actually geared up towards that.
Microsoft's 'Everywhere' Excludes Linux
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft's Windows Presentation Foundation is aimed at making it
| easier for developers to create modern user interfaces for
| interactive applications whether they are Windows native or
| delivered through web browsers. The problem with browser-based
| interfaces is that not everyone uses Internet Explorer, let
| alone Windows itself. To this end, Microsoft has released
| 'Community Technology Previews' of a future product code-named
| WPF/E (Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere). This
| browser add-on enables rendering of WPF content, but
| "Everywhere" doesn't include Linux.
`----
http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/7794/53/
OpenAjax Alliance tackles interoperability
,----[ Quote ]
| While the alliance already has an impressive list of members, one
| name remains conspicuously absent: Microsoft.
`----
http://news.yahoo.com/s/macworld/20060920/tc_macworld/openajax20060920
Just when I thought Microsoft was getting better...
,----[ Quote ]
| So my epiphany for the day is this, "$100 million dollars can buy a
| lot of innovation, but cannot change a culture that fundamentally
| is not geared towards respecting users." Google and Yahoo (despite
| stiff competition from everyone) seem to have the right balance of
| innovation and monetization (they are businesses after all), tempered
| with a healthy dose of competition. However, despite those drivers,
| they both seem to respect users first and foremost; I know this
| first hand from having worked with both. Microsoft, however, can't
| seem to shake its old habits.
`----
http://www.flock.com/blog/just-when-i-thought-microsoft-was-getting-better
Why Microsoft Expression Web redefines irony
,----[ Quote ]
| Expression is Microsoft's suite of web development tools slated to
| replace the wonderful application known as Front Page. A quick visit
| to the site for this tool yields a fairly typical Microsoft webpage.
|
| [...]
|
| WHOA! Did they not even listen to their own marketing garbage? 144
| Errors! No DocType? Are you kidding me?
|
| [...]
|
| Bravo to our good friends at Microsoft for setting such a great example
| and leading the masses to a more standards compliant internet! (and
| for giving web standards geeks something to hate on).
`----
http://shifteleven.com/articles/2006/11/16/why-microsoft-expression-web-redefines-irony
,----[ Quote ]
| Wow, this is absolutely devastating! As near as I can tell, the poor
| guy at Microsoft has been trying to support open standards against
| management. He doesn't say much about the history, i.e. the fact that
| Microsoft didn't do anything with IE until they were recently forced to
| by Firefox competition. The feedback is amazing. Example:
|
| Quote:
| -------------
| So if you believe that the reason for IE's lack of standards support is
| something other than malice of forethought to strangle other browsers,
| you are wrong. If you have followed the anti-trust trial you would have
| seen the actual evidence for these decisions. Microsoft is an
| anti-competitive company run by unethical shitheads.
|
| This won't change until the workforce is slashed and the entire company
| culture changes. Steve Ballmer is the king of the shitheads, so when he
| goes things might get better. But until then, expect MS to only do the
| absolute minimum to defuse the worst criticism. Remember my words:
| unethical shitheads.
| -------------
| End quote
|
| Erik cited this same guy's blog a few days ago to support the notion
| that Microsoft is dedicated to standards compliance and is doing the
| reasonable thing (I think that's why he cited it). The way this story
| has developed, it shows exactly the opposite, and is very revealing
| about sentiments out there in the developer world.
`----
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.advocacy/msg/cc1ad063dcc0400d
,----[ Quote ]
| In order to use Microsoft Office Live, you will need to have
| Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or later running on Microsoft Windows
| 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Microsoft Windows Server 2003. You
| can download the latest version of Internet Explorer from the Microsoft
| Download Center.
`----
http://home.membercenter.office.microsoft.com/Misc/CompatibleShell.aspx?linkId=UnsupportedBrowser
>> 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.
>
> But it makes money for Microsoft, and possibly others. That's the
> problem, too. :-)
Yes, I'm sure that ActiveX control screw up enough PC's, which in turn gives
jobs to 100,000 Americans, according to IDC. Never mind the low productivity
and the nuisance the victims are subjected to...
> We'll see how this all shakes out, admitted, but I'm cynical enough to
> think that Microsoft might be looking at the long view here, and
> integrates DRM, Web browsing, and office work to become a truly
> domineering company, despite their bad architecture. Or maybe I've
> just been hanging around alt.conspiracy too long.
Don't forget Sharepoint.
> But never mind that, where did you want to go today? Oh, not over
> there. That's open standards, level playing field, flat as a pancake.
> We don't want that.
The battle should be more litigious.
> </sarcasm>
>
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Roy
Oops. I still do it in a knee-jerk fashion. Culley asked me to throw it under
the .sig delimiter.
--
~~ Kind greetings and happy holidays!
Roy S. Schestowitz | "Free the mind, the source will follow"
http://Schestowitz.com | RHAT GNU/Linux ¦ PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
4:00pm up 56 days 2:14, 8 users, load average: 2.46, 1.49, 1.45
http://iuron.com - help build a non-profit search engine
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