The Piemen of Erie
,----[ Quote ]
| That is the distortion you get if you look at a standards war through the
| narrow blinders of commercial interest. But if you look at the full market
| impact, the simple economics of it, it becomes a lot clearer. What brings
| greater efficiency, greater fidelity, greater innovation and lower costs?
| Having two incompatible document format standards? Or having a single
| harmonized document format standard? Fighting against economics is like
| fighting against gravity or the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. You are going to
| lose in the end. The piemen of Erie, and their modern counterparts, are on
| the wrong side of economics, and history,
`----
http://www.robweir.com/blog/2008/01/piemen-of-erie.html
Even Microsoft admits that OOXML is just a matter of money (see below).
Related:
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
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