A Deluge of Facts KOs OOXML (Office Open XML)
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft’s position is hardening as the ISO vote on OOXML (DIS 29500) in
| Geneva approaches at the end of this month. We know more clearly now how
| Microsoft and its proxy group, ECMA, will position Microsoft’s OOXML
| specification in advance of the vote. In short, Microsoft is betting that its
| influence with National Bodies will allow it to push through a specification
| which elevates its own interests over that of truly competitive, open
| international standards. In the end, it will be Microsoft’s own inflexibility
| that will be its undoing, and that undoing means knocking the OOXML out of
| approval for ISO status.
|
| ECMA, a RIAA-like industry group dedicated to advancing its members’
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| interests, published its responses to comments of the ISO National Bodies in
| response to Microsoft’s Office Open XML application for ISO standardization.
| The ECMA proposals will be discussed at a Ballot Resolution Meeting (BRM) in
| Geneva after which the National Bodies may reconsider their original vote.
`----
http://www.fanaticattack.com/2008/a-deluge-of-facts-kos-ooxml-office-open-xml.html
ECMA ruined itself (and its reputation) by liaising with a company that has
such criminal past.
Yesterday:
OOXML: disquiet across the Tasman
,----[ Quote ]
| Christie says that responses have often been of poor quality. "If we were to
| extrapolate (the) poor quality of responses we have seen to the 54 Standard
| NZ comments to those of all the other NBs then we can only conclude that the
| result is probably a worse mess than the document we reviewed last August. Of
| course, that is conjecture because ECMA have yet to release the revised
| document, despite having made assurances that they would have done by now."
|
| [...]
|
| Christie said the delay to release the revised document was causing
| concern. "...MS (Microsoft)... simply appear to be running down the clock.
| They are appearing to engage positively when that seems important (in SNZ
| meetings, for example) but what actually comes out are endless requests for
| more technical clarification from experts like Matthew Cruikshank and then
| very poorly executed responses."
|
| "My personal view is that for a company with Microsoft's seemingly endless
| resources this is a very cynical ploy. The way ISO and the BRM work is to
| focus on one single issue at a time and tick each one off as 'resolvable'
| rather than take a holistic view of the specification.
|
| Cruickshank added: "This isn't an issue of trust (re: promises) it's that the
| ECMA/Microsoft editor continues to introduce new errors into the standard
| because they're not technically minded and because their approach hasn't
| involved the wider document community."
|
| On this side of the Tasman, lobbying efforts by Microsoft are going on apace.
| The company recently got itself invited to meetings of both the Sydney Linux
| User Group and the Linux Users of Victoria (one of two Melbourne-based LUGs)
| where, among other things, it could spruik its case.
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16571/1148/1/0/
Related:
And the award goes to... (top 10 worst Ecma responses)
,----[ Quote ]
| If there are awards to be given to categories of worst dispositions provided
| by Ecma in response to comments by National Bodies for the OOXML balotting on
| 2 September 2007, then the ODF Alliance's list of top 10 (plus 1 bonus!) is a
| good one. The categories are:
|
| 10. Worst Ignored Request
| 9. Worst non-Answer
| 8. Worst use of XML
| 7. Worst Introduction of Security Holes
| 6. Worst 'Back Door' Tactic
`----
http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2008/02/and-the-award-g.html
Give us the password!
,----[ Quote ]
| What is needed now is the public and unconditional access to the works of the
| TC 45. What is needed now is for the Ecma to give the password to their page.
| Give us the password!
`----
http://standardsandfreedom.net/index.php/2007/12/13/give-us-the-password/
A Peek Behind the Ecma OOXML Curtain
,----[ Quote ]
| A particularly contentious issue has been whether Ecma is trying to make it
| as easy as possible, or is trying to make it as difficult as possible while
| still scoring PR points, for interested parties to view proposed dispositions
| of comments, and whether it does, or does not, have the latitude under ISO
| rules to be more transparent. The fairly opaque, and sometimes contradictory
| nature of those rules, has not made the debate any easier, and gives rise to
| the possibility of confusion, at best, and serious mistakes, at worst, as
| Pamela Jones pointed out at Groklaw this morning.
|
| The result is that there will be very little real data available to the
| general public until Ecma opens the curtains on January 19. And the import of
| what little data does become available is usually the subject of instant
| disagreement.
`----
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=2007121304552774
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
About maintenance of MSOOXML should it become an ISO standard... and some
ideas - Updated
,----[ Quote ]
| He writes that ISO is becoming a laughing stock in IT circles and suggests
| standards that are outstanding be sent over to OASIS.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071206131310362
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
GNOME/OOXML podcast shows two sides closer than appears
,----[ Quote
| Both sides are clearly concerned with what's best for free software,
| differing only in how they define their objective. That is a small point, but
| perhaps this realization can finally start to put the issue in perspective.
`----
http://www.linux.com/feature/122784
Microsoft's Stephen McGibbon to represent Ireland at the BRM?
,----[ Quote ]
| There are rumors circulating in Ireland that Microsoft's Stephen McGibbon
| might be part of the Irish delegation to attend the BRM in Geneva. Microsoft
| is already controlling the Portuguese delegation, you can expect that they
| will control half of the table at Geneva. O'MyGod!
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-29606/microsoft-s-stephen-mcgibbon-to-represent-ireland-at-the-brm
Portugal will send Microsoft to the BRM
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft, as president of the Portuguese Technical Committee, is already
| controlling who will be at the BRM for Portugal. The Head of Delegation will
| be... Microsoft!
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-27501/portugal-will-send-microsoft-to-the-brm
Corrupt countries were more likely to support the OOXML document format
,----[ Quote ]
| Is this just a random coincidence? The median of the CPI index of the above
| mentioned 70 countries is 3.95. Of the most corrupted half (CPI index less
| than 3.95) 23 or 77% voted for approval (approval or approval with comments)
| and 7 or 23% for disapproval; 5 abstained. Of the least corrupted half (CPI
| index more than 3.95) 13 or 54% voted for approval and 11 or 46% voted for
| disapproval; 11 abstained - see the table below.
`----
http://www.effi.org/blog/kai-2007-09-05.en.html
Microsoft accused of more OOXML standards fiddling
,----[ Quote ]
| However the 11 new countries are refusing to say how they will vote. These
| include Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Ecuador, Jamaica, Lebanon, Malta, Pakistan,
| Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uruguay and Venezuela. Most people seem to think
| that these have been put there by Vole to make sure the standard gets pushed
| through.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=42106
APEC and OOXML - both pointless and annoying
,----[ Quote ]
| Making just as many headlines as George Bush's travelling circus has been
| Microsoft's failed attempt to fast-track its OOXML document format to the
| status of an ISO standard.
|
| Both these events have been annoying and pointless. Neither has done anything
| but generate a huge amount of FUD (fear uncertainty and doubt).
`----
http://www.zdnet.com.au/blogs/securifythis/soa/APEC-and-OOXML-both-pointless-and-annoying/0,139033343,339281842,00.htm
IBM is still locked out of the Portuguese OOXML meeting
,----[ Quote ]
| In spite of various communications, we [IBM] are still locked out and will
| not be allowed to participate. Microsoft will be there, as well as a special
| Microsoft guest, as will various Microsoft business partners, and others.
`----
http://www.sutor.com/newsite/blog-open/?p=1755
Opinion: Einstein's definition of insanity...
,----[ Quote ]
| But ISO standards have a much more political dimension to them than Internet
| (IETF) or World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards. Every country can vote,
| although not all chose to do so. Over the past few weeks, some strange and
| rather irregular national positions have come to light. My favourites were
| Cuba voting "Yes" to the fast-tracking of OOXML, even though Microsoft is
| prohibited by the US Government from selling any software on the island that
| might even be able to read and write the new format, and Azerbaijan's "Yes"
| vote, even though OOXML as defined isn't able to express a Web URL address in
| Azeri, their official language.
`----
http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=632
Whither OOXML?
,----[ Quote ]
| Strangely, however, Microsoft appears to be soft-pedaling its own standard.
| At GOSCON last week there was a panel on document formats, with reps from
| IBM, Sun, Adobe, and Microsoft present. Each of the company representatives
| got to speak for five minutes and present his company's perspective on
| document formats.
|
| In his presentation, Matusow appeared to be backing away from OOXML as a key
| technology. If you look at the slide he presented...
|
| ...you can see that the positioning now is that the tool is key, and the
| document format secondary, which, to my mind, is a bizarre assertion,
| although it's one that aligns with a positioning that, above all, must keep
| Microsoft's tools in a predominate position.
|
| It appears to me that, having realized that the force-feeding of OOXML into
| an international standards body is problematic, Microsoft is now trying to
| present a soft TCO story which emphasizes sunk costs and pre-existing product
| versions as a reason to stay on the Microsoft path, along with an
| incomprehensible assertion that two document standards would be a good thing
| (this last is the most oddball position of all; how can anyone state with a
| straight face that the world would be well-served by having two incompatible
| editable file formats?).
`----
http://advice.cio.com/bernard_golden/wither_ooxml
Norbert Bollow starts OpenISO
,----[ Quote ]
| What do engineers do when they observe a problem? They start a project to fix
| it. A Swiss standard expert who got annoyed by the "Open XML bug" of ISO
| procedures launched OpenISO.org.
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-18681/norbert-bollow-starts-openiso
Critics Skeptical That Microsoft Will Be Able To Alter Vote On OOXML
,----[ Quote ]
| "I don't believe the votes are later going to go in the other direction,"
| said Zemlin in an interview. Zemlin is sometimes criticized within Linux
| ranks for his repeated admonition that Microsoft must be respected as a
| competitor. But he was unsparing in his assessment of the ISO fast track
| outcome.
`----
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201804282
APEC and OOXML - both pointless and annoying
,----[ Quote ]
| Making just as many headlines as George Bush's travelling circus has been
| Microsoft's failed attempt to fast-track its OOXML document format to the
| status of an ISO standard.
|
| Both these events have been annoying and pointless. Neither has done anything
| but generate a huge amount of FUD (fear uncertainty and doubt).
`----
http://www.zdnet.com.au/blogs/securifythis/soa/APEC-and-OOXML-both-pointless-and-annoying/0,139033343,339281842,00.htm
OOXML is defective by design
http://ooxmlisdefectivebydesign.blogspot.com/2007/08/microsoft-office-xml-formats-defective.html
Microsoft Loses, Spins Open XML Vote
,----[ Quote ]
| ISO issued a statement that makes plain what Microsoft tried to spin as a
| victory.
`----
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2178917,00.asp
Microsoft FUD Watch: OOXML Edition
,----[ Quote ]
| Apparently, there is more than one way to stuff the ballot box.
|
| In all my years working as a journalist, I've never seen any technology
| company spin information the way Microsoft did today. The press release on
| OOXML ratification is a blueprint for spinning semantics, and the stringing
| together of truths and half-truths to seemingly make the outcome of one event
| something else altogether.
`----
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/business_applications/microsoft_fud_watch_ooxml_edition.html?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535
Microsoft spins OOXML loss as a win
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft lost its effort to win “fast track” approval of its OOXML (which it
| calls Open XML) as an international standard, but you wouldn’t know that
| from reading much of the press coverage.
|
| * Microsoft claims global support for Open XML.
| * Microsoft reports victory in preliminary ISO ballot.
| * Microsoft takes big step toward OOXML approval.
| * Microsoft is seen winning an international standard vote.
| * Strong global support for Open XML.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=1382
Lord, what fools these mortals be!
,----[ Quote ]
| No kidding. Microsoft continues to steam-roll the competition, as illustrated
| by its latest attempt to ram acceptance of OOXML through ISO by the blatantly
| rigging the vote. And of course the European's really love Microsoft's
| business practices. Not. No, Microsoft has the DoJ in their hip pocket thanks
| to the "pro-business" stance of the Bush administration, and as long as
| Bushites remain in power and the Democrats remain inept and impotent, it's
| going to stay that way. Which leaves those of use who really believe in a
| free and fair market to fend for ourselves.
`----
http://blogbeebe.blogspot.com/2007/09/lord-what-fools-these-mortals-be.html
,----[ Quote ]
| Just yesterday I was sitting in the relevant meeting of SNV/UK14
| (http://www.snv.ch/), that decides how Switzerland will vote. The
| chairman (Hans-Rudolf Thomann) explained the following rules:
|
| - we are here to create standards, not to reject them
| - if we reach consensus (>=75%) to vote for Microsoft, we will vote
| for Microsoft
| - if we only reach a majority (>=50%) to vote for Microsoft, we
| will vote for Microsoft
| - if we reach a majority to vote against Microsoft, we will vote
| for Microsoft
| - if we reach consensus to vote against Microsoft, we will abstain
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-15521/swiss-cheese
Microsoft’s secretive standards orgs in Former Yugoslavia
^^^^^^^^^
,----[ Quote ]
| Croatian laws keep its national body’s votes secret, so the only way for the
| Croatian public to find out how the process went would be if a board member
| illegally leaked information out of CSI. This is, of course, unlikely to
| happen. And the Serbian national standardization body is not officially
| formed, so those two votes were easy for Microsoft, and probably not only
| ones around the globe.
`----
http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2007/092407-ooxml.html?page=1
Microsoft Tech Ed 2007: OpenXML
,----[ Quote ]
| He was asked "Why did Microsoft push OOXML through the "Fast Track" process
| instead of the standard ISO process? Wouldn't they get less resistance than
| faced now?"
|
| His response was very frank: "Office is a USD$10 billion revenue generator
| for the company. When ODF was made an ISO standard, Microsoft had to react
| quickly as certain governments have procurement policies which prefer ISO
| standards. Ecma and OASIS are 'international standards', but ISO is the
| international 'Gold Standard'. Microsoft therefore had to rush this standard
| through. Its a simple matter of commercial interests!"
`---- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2007/09/microsoft-tech-.html
Evidence of Microsoft Influencing OOXML Votes in Nordic States
,----[ Quote ]
| "This is how a standard is bought," Bosson wrote later. "I left the meeting
| in protest - pissed off."
`----
http://www.betanews.com/article/Evidence_of_Microsoft_Influencing_OOXML_Votes_in_Nordic_States/1188335569
Microsoft Memo to Partners in Sweden Surfaces: Vote Yes for OOXML - Updated
,----[ Quote ]
| He acknowledges that the rules might need to be changed.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070829070630660
|
|
