"Why Microsoft's .docx format is a good thing"
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/insideit/story/0,,2107355,00.html
This is not the first time he sidles with the monopoly. Doug likes to debunk
him, you know, but here's PJ's take.
http://www.groklaw.net/newsitems.php
[PJ: The problem with this argument is this, as I see it: Microsoft refused to
work on ODF to make it able to "fully represent the existing base of Word
binary documents" and then came up with its own, and one that allows
proprietary extensions. So if you want a "standard" that keeps you locked into
Microsoft, OpenXML is your choice. But if you want a standard that anyone in
the world can use fairly and equally, then you want ODF, ideally with
Microsoft having to let the world "fully represent" their proprietary, binary
documents. If not, and only Microsoft and perhaps those willing to pay them
for a toxic "patent peace" can do that, in what way is that a "standard"? And
as for having "no issues" with ODF, is that what their lobbyists tell
legislators?]
Just the other day we saw a shill in the press doing the same type of job.
Rick Jelliffe - myths debunked?
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is attempting to roll these two separate issues (the decoding
| problem and future encoding format) into the supposed "magic bullet" called
| MSOOXML.
|
| And once we solve the problem of the decoding of our data ( a problem only
| solvable by the vendor ), I and many National Bodies worldwide wholeheartedly
| agree with the illustrious Mr Rick Jelliffe:
|
|
| "If you want something for interchange and if it is platform neutral,
| then I'd tend to ODF."
`----
http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2007/06/rick_jelliffe_m.html
That's the guy whom Microsoft paid to edit Wikipedia in Microsoft's
favour.
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/1712
Related:
When is a standard not a standard?
,----[ Quote ]
| OOXML's method of dealing with the problem in effect locks out
| all applications that are not Microsoft Office, whereas ODF's
| method keeps the standard vendor neutral and usable by any
| office suite
`----
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/node/2110
Novell's "Danaergeschenk", by Georg Greve
,----[ Quote ]
| So in the case of OpenXML, Microsoft now seems to be using Novell to
| put a pro forma implementation of OpenXML into OpenOffice.org, which
| will make it easier to migrate from OpenOffice.org to Microsoft
| Office but can never be sufficient to read all Microsoft Word Documents.
|
| One reason for this is the sheer size of the implementation; another
| reason relates to the containers used within OpenXML, which make use
| of Microsoft's proprietary implementations instead of industry
| standards such as SVG. Moreover, there is really no knowing what
| kind of hooks Microsoft has put into the specification that people
| will not detect at first reading. Indeed, it is quite possible
| that OpenXML will allow what Bruce Perens refers to as "Predatory
| Pratices" in his definition of an Open Standard.
|
| And while there will be a migration path from OpenOffice.org to
| Microsoft Office, Microsoft avoids opening the inverse path to
| any other ODF-compliant Office program, by neglecting ODF support
| in Microsoft Office.
|
| [...]
|
| Bob Sutor, IBM's Vice President of Standards and Open Source has
| written a good analysis why the specification is more akin to a
| denial of service attack than an Open Standard. OpenXML
| basically represents a change of strategy: Instead of trying
| to hide information by not telling anything about their products
| to anyone, they've apparently now switched to hiding information
| in noise, which is by far the more effective method.
`----
http://groklaw.net/article.php?story=20061208135621706
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/
|
|
