Conflict of interest
,----[ Quote ]
| In the latest demonstration of how broken the process is the US V1 technical
| committee voted on Friday to recommend approval of OOXML in a 17-4 vote,
| where Microsoft and no fewer than 11 of its business partners voted in favor
| of the specification. Am I the only one to see a major conflict of interest
| at play in this?
`----
http://lehors.wordpress.com/2008/03/09/conflict-of-interest/
Microsoft did the same in Denmark, with business partners like Stocholm. He
would try to deny this.
Microsoft: where the only international 'standard' is cheating.
Days ago:
Update: U.S. likely to maintain 'yes' vote for OOXML in ISO
,----[ Quote ]
| As the U.S. delegate to ISO, INCITS had supported OOXML's failed ratification
| last September.
`----
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9067338&intsrc=news_ts_head
Related:
Microsoft Looks for the Big Guns in OOXML In-Fighting
,----[ Quote ]
| Bill Gates has reportedly been making phone calls to the Secretary of Defense
| and the Secretary of Commerce to push the American National Standards
| Institute to ignore the votes of its advisory committees and vote "yes" on
| ISO standardizing Microsoft's Open Office XML (OOXML) format, the one in
| competition with the OpenDocument Format (ODF) pushed by IBM and Sun.
|
| Gates reportedly picked up the phone when the last INCITS ballot failed by
| one vote to support Microsoft.
`----
http://xml.sys-con.com/read/419573_p.htm
How the Game is Played: INCITS V1 Narrowly Votes Down OOXML
,----[ Quote ]
| As significantly, Rob reports that a very dramatic increase in the membership
| of V1 was observed in the months leading up to the vote – most of whom were
| coincidentally were representatives of Microsoft business partners, and the
| great majority of whom voted as a block in favor of advancing the
| specification in a manner that would permit, and against any vote that would
| prevent, final approval as an ISO/IEC standard.
`----
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20070715200544734
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/
OOXML Fails to Gain Approval in US
,----[ Quote ]
| On Friday July 13th, INCITS V1 met via teleconference for 3 hours but failed
| to reach a 2/3 consensus necessary to recommend an "Approval, with comments"
| position on Microsoft "Office Open XML" (OOXML) document specification.
`----
http://www.robweir.com/blog/2007/07/ooxml-fails-to-gain-approval-in-us.html
Probe into votes on Microsoft standard
,----[ Quote ]
| The European Commission is investigating the process under which a key
| Microsoft document format could be adopted as an industry standard - a move
| that would carry significant commercial benefits for the software company.
|
| Officials at the European Commission's competition directorate have written
| to members of the International Organisation for Standardisation, asking how
| they prepared for votes in September and later this month on acceptance of
| Microsoft's OOXML document format as a worldwide standard. Without ISO
| acceptance, Microsoft could stand to lose business, particularly with
| government clients, some of which are becoming increasingly keen to use only
| ISO-certified software.
|
| The ISO process has been widely criticised, however, with some members of
| national standards' bodies accusing Microsoft and its rivals of attempting to
| influence the vote.
|
| Tim Bray, a member of the Canadian national standards body, called the
| procedure "complete, utter, unadulterated bullshit" in a recent blog posting.
|
| [...]
|
| In addition, in several countries, a large number of Microsoft partners
| joined the national standards organisations just ahead of a vote on the issue
| in September.
|
| [...]
|
| Microsoft said it openly encouraged its partners to participate in the ISO
| process, but was not funding any third parties doing so. The company said it
| would cooperate with the European Commission's inquiry.
`----
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/88e570a2-ea56-11dc-b3c9-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1
|
|
