There They Go Again: It's Time to Just Say No to Microsoft and Ecma
,----[ Quote ]
| Why does this latest submission matter? The reason, of course, is because
| it indicates a desire by Microsoft to institutionalize and expand a
| perpetual, standardized environment that would surround a single
| vendor's products. This would inevitably serve, as Microsoft would
| of course intend, to extend its monopoly position into the indefinite
| future. The result would be to continue to stifle innovation and
| competition at the office productivity suite product level as well
| (consider the flowering of diverse products that have sprung up since
| ODF gave hope of actual competition to multiple proprietary and open
| source ISVs). Microsoft has stated before that the submission of OOXML
| to Ecma did not mean that anyone could clone Office without being sued
| for infringement – just that it would be easier for people to work with
| it. No such flowering will ever likely exist around OOXML, given
| Microsoft's enormous lead in products based upon that format.
`----
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20070629070544217
Linspire already gets the finger as well.
Ethical dilemma: Should I continue to use the Linspire-sponsored
freelinuxemail.com?
http://www.insidesocal.com/click/2007/06/ethical_dilemma_should_i_conti.html
Related:
Six questions to national standardisation bodies
,----[ Quote ]
| Application independence?
|
| Supporting pre-existing Open Standards?
|
| Backward compatibility for all vendors?
|
| Proprietary extensions?
|
| Dual standards?
|
| Legally safe?
`----
http://fsfeurope.org/documents/msooxml-questions
Packing The Court At The ISO?
,----[ Quote ]
| ...P member countries ('participating member' countries) sending
| representatives, and I am interested to note the majority of
| their representatives are, as individuals, also Microsoft employees.
|
| [...]
|
| How can they not see that OOXML (ECMA 376) is unwanted by anyone outside of
| Microsoft? How about it Brian Jones? Are you really so desperate that you
| have to resort to that?
`----
http://lnxwalt.wordpress.com/2007/03/23/packing-the-court-at-the-iso/
In case you were wondering how big 6000 pages is: OpenXML/OOXML/whatever
,----[ Quote ]
| Take a look at this photo from an OOXML workshop. (Read the blog entry
| too.) [Photo of a pile of 6,000+ pages]
|
| I don't know what your job is, but imagine your boss came to you and
| said "read this, fully understand it, implement it perfectly, and make
| sure that it fully interoperates with the software being produced by
| anyone else doing the same." Translate this statement to your own job
| and stare again at that photo. What do you conclude?
|
| * You'll have lifetime employment trying to implement the spec.
| * Your boss comes from another wacko parallel universe.
| * This is a joke if not a travesty.
| * Your job evaluation will not be very good next year.
| * There is no way you can fully do the job without
| reimplementing significant portions of Microsoft's product
| portfolio and therefore you will run into intellectual
| property problems. (Don?t think that's a problem?)
| * Microsoft is trying to change the rules on what is a standard
| and who can implement it.
`----
http://www.sutor.com/newsite/blog-open/?p=1634
Q&A: Former Mass. CIO feels 'bittersweet pride' after battles with Microsoft,
legislature
,----[ Quote ]
| As CIO of Massachusetts from February to November last year, Louis
| Gutierrez had to endure most of the brunt of Microsoft Corp.'s political
| wrath over a state policy calling for the adoption of the Open Document
| Format for Office Applications, or ODF -- a rival to the software vendor's
| Office Open XML file format.
`----
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9012760&source=rss_news50
,----[ Quote ]
| Quinn: Almost to a person, to anybody involved or who knows about
| the ODF issue, they attributed the story to Microsoft, right, wrong
| or otherwise. Senator Pacheco may be a bully but I do not believe he
| is disingenious and would stoop to such a tactic. Senator Pacheco and
| Secretary Galvin's office remain very heavily influenced by the
| Microsoft money and its lobbyist machine, as witnessed by their
| playbook and words, in my opinion.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20060119232859729
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