Critics brand OOXML a Microsoft 'marketing tool'
,----[ Quote ]
| The developer of XML and a former International Organization for
| Standardization committee chair have both claimed that Microsoft was
| interested in having Office Open XML accredited as an international standard
| in order to forward the company's wider interests.
|
| Tim Bray, the writer of XML, wrote in his blog on Thursday that Microsoft
| pushed for its Office Open XML (OOXML) standard to be accredited by the
| International Organization for Standardization (ISO) so that the software
| giant could use the accreditation as a "marketing tool".
`----
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39388227,00.htm
As you can see below, he also acknowledged the process was corrupt.
Recent:
ISO Fantasy
,----[ Quote ]
| What OOXML Is · The ISO process, brutal and corrupt as it was, has been
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| covered to death by everyone. Its output, soon to be known as ISO/IEC 29500,
| differs from ECMA-376 in two ways. ¶
|
| [...]
|
| What Microsoft really wanted was that ISO stamp of approval to use as a
| marketing tool. And just like your mother told you, when they get what they
| want and have their way with you, they’re probably not gonna call you in the
| morning.
`----
http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/04/15/OOXML
How Microsoft Will Play the ISO Card
,----[ Quote ]
| One of the arguments adduced in favour of making OOXML an ISO standard was
| that it would place control of the former in the hands of an independent ISO
| group, which was a much better situation than the present one.
|
| Anyone who believes this has clearly learned nothing from Microsoft's history
| of unremitting subversion of practically every independent standard it has
| been involved with. Microsoft will continue to develop OOXML as it wishes,
| taking only token notice of anything the ISO committee says. It will,
| however, bask in the glory of the ISO approval (assuming it stands after the
| various challenges currently being made to it), irrespective of the fact that
| its own products won't support the standard properly.
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/toolbox/open-source/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=713&blogid=14
BE, NL: governments will not use ISO OOXML
,----[ Quote ]
| Asked to comment on last week's ISO approval for OOXML, Fedict's chief IT
| architect, Peter Strickx, said: "There will have to be multiple
| implementations, in order for us not to become dependent on a single vendor.
| It will also have to be compatible with open standards that we already use,
| in this case Open Document Format ODF."
`----
http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7562
DE: German Foreign Ministry will not use ISO OOXML
,----[ Quote ]
| In the weeks prior to the second round of votes last September,
| irregularities were reported in the standard committees in many participating
| countries. These claims continued until after the final discussion, in
| February and March this year.
|
| The European Commission has started an investigation into the allegations.
| The Commission sent a letter to all EU national standards committees in
| Europe, requesting information about the process. Sources at the Commission
| declined to comment, as the investigation is on-going and no official
| position has yet been adopted.
`----
http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7561
Software wars
,----[ Quote ]
| Allegations of committee-stuffing, the outcome of votes overridden by
| political appointees, a final decision that many involved consider tainted:
| this may sound like a discredited election in some third world country. But
| it is actually a description of an ugly fight over international technical
| standards that wrapped up this week. Microsoft came out on top, but at the
| cost of tarnishing its reputation and the credibility of an important
| back-room process that oils the wheels of many global industries.
`----
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c9743360-01a8-11dd-a323-000077b07658,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2Fc9743360-01a8-11dd-a323-000077b07658.html%3Fnclick_check%3D1&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.computerworlduk.com%2Ftool
Microsoft Plummets, Retail Falls While Beauty Gains in CoreBrand 2007 Brand
Power Rankings
,----[ Quote ]
| The annual "CoreBrand Brand Power 100" Branding Index(R) of 1,200 US
| corporations ranks Coca-Cola Company and Johnson & Johnson at #1 and #2
| respectively, unchanged since 2004. Meanwhile, Microsoft's corporate brand
| declined in stunning fashion over the past four years, falling from 11 in
| 2004 to 59 in 2007 Microsoft, a decline of 48 places!
`----
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=834308
Related:
Martin Bryan: we are getting “standardization by corporation”
,----[ Quote ]
| A November informative report of Martin Bryan, Convenor, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34
| WG1 highlights the fallout of the ECMA-376 fast-track process for ISO. He
| says he is 'glad to be retiring before the situation becomes impossible'
|
| [...]
|
| In what is an astonishingly outspoken report, Martin Bryan, Convenor, ISO/IEC
| JTC1/SC34 WG1 has given us insight into the total mess that Microsoft/ECMA
| have caused during their scandalous, underhand and unremitting attempts to
| get - what is a very poorly written specification {i.e. DIS 29500 aka OOXML,
| AR} - approved as an ISO standard. …
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-30107/martin-bryan:we-are-getting-standardization-by-corporation
Dysfunctional ISO - Courtesy of Microsoft
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2007/12/dysfunctional-iso-courtesy-of-microsoft.html
Microsoft accused of stacking ISO committee
,----[ Quote
| In a memo sent following his last meeting as head of the working group on
| WG1, which is handling Microsoft’s application to make the Word format an ISO
| standard as ECMA 376, outgoing Governor Martin Bryan (above), an expert on
| SGML and XML, accused the company of stacking his group.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=1777
EU Commission Investigating Microsoft's MSOOXML Push
,----[ Quote ]
| I hope they think to investigate the smear campaigns that seem to always
| happen to anyone on the other side from Microsoft. What happened to Peter
| Quinn was by no means unique.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080208151410252
Protest in front of Town Hall for Document Freedom
,----[ Quote ]
| The protest organized by FSUG and FCI seems to have attracted a lot of
| deserved attention, despite the hurried execution.
`----
http://hpnadig.net/blog/Protest-for-Document-Freedom
Techies protest proprietary standards; seek policy
,----[ Quote ]
| Ever since the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) vote on April
| 2 adopted Microsoft’s Office Open XML (OOXML) as a document standard, techie
| blogs and websites have been inundated with posts and articles voicing their
| opposition to proprietary software and technical issues with the new
| standard.
`----
http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/15/stories/2008041554380500.htm
|
|
