Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> ____/ Mark Kent on Thursday 19 July 2007 08:58 : \____
>
>> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>>> HP, MIT bolster DSpace open-source archives
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>>| Open-source advocates claim that the Microsoft-championed format is not as
>>>| open as it should be and doesn't compare well to rival formats such as the
>>>| community-developed OpenDocument Format (ODF).
>>>|
>>>| "If it were, Microsoft wouldn't need to make Novell and Xandros and
>>>| Linspire sign NDAs (nondisclosure agreements) and then write translators
>>>| for them," Pamela Jones, an open-source expert and editor of the Groklaw
>>>| blog, wrote recently.
>>>|
>>>| But the National Archives said that it is not wedded to any particular data
>>>| format and that all technology options are being considered at this time.
>>> `----
>>>
>>> http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9592_22-6197345.html
>>
>> Look at this, from the *joint* National Archives and /Microsoft/ press
>> release:
>>
>> Adam Farquhar, Head of eArchitecture at the British Library and
>> co-chair of the Office OpenXML standards committee said:
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>> |
>> |
>> So this guy, paid for by *our* taxes, is working for Microsoft
>> to promote their proprietary formats. Now look at this:
>>
>> "Microsoft has shown considerable initiative working with The National
>> Archives, The British Library and others to increase our ability to
>> ensure access to today's digital information tomorrow. This announcement
>> represents an important step and shows the sort of value that effective
>> collaboration between public and private organisations can bring to the
>> challenge of preserving our nation's heritage."
>>
>> Which you can sum up as:
>> "we're putting national heritage, at tax-payer's expense, into
>> the hands of the world's greatest monopolist, to ensure access
>> to data in the future".
>>
>> So we, the taxpayer, have to *pay* to have *our* data locked into a
>> proprietary format which will never be readable on standard platforms,
>> supplied by a company which cannot even manage to add a proper ODF
>> format to its office suite, and pushed by a guy, Adam Farquhar, who *we*
>> pay for, who chairs an OOXML "standards" committee.
>>
>> This is just beyond anything you could imagine. Can we get this guy
>> moved to a more suitable job - in Microsoft, say?
>
> They already have enough astrotrurder. That division is overstaffed. Such
> things need wider exposure. I put your quote in BoycottNovell, which is
> getting amazing traffic these days. Mind if I post your findings (above) as
> well? With or without attribution?
>
Please put them on there - so long as I get the credit :-)
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
| Cola faq: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/linux/advocacy/faq-and-primer/ |
| Cola trolls: http://colatrolls.blogspot.com/ |
| My (new) blog: http://www.thereisnomagic.org |
|
|
