ISO approval: A good process gone bad
,----[ Quote ]
| Allegations have been made that Microsoft encouraged new countries to join
| the JTC-1, or to upgrade their status (from O-status to P-status) to
| influence the vote. Contrary to what has been demonstrated, the JTC-1
| directives say that the “objective in the development of International
| Standards should be the achievement of consensus between those concerned
| rather than a decision based on counting votes.”4
|
| Before an individual country votes in the ISO process, it holds a vote within
| its own national body. An employee of Microsoft Sweden admitted to offering
| incentives to business partners to encourage them to vote for OOXML5, leading
| the Swedish Standards Institute (SIS) to declare its vote in favor of OOXML
| invalid. Critics have speculated that similar practices occurred in Italy,
| Switzerland, Spain, and other countries. Such allegations have prompted the
| EU to launch an investigation into Microsoft’s practices during the ISO vote.
`----
http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2008/03/24/iso-approval-a-good-process-gone-bad/
Cuba Votes No to OOXML - Says It Did So in September, Too - Updated
,----[ Quote ]
| More OOXML news. The Cuban National Bureau of Standards has reportedly sent
| an email to the three names NBs are supposed to notify at ISO, Toshiko
| Kimura, Keith Brannon, and Martine Gaillen, reporting that Cuba votes to
| disapprove OOXML.
|
| But the startling news is that the email claims that Cuba voted no in
| September but that its vote was miscounted.
|
| [...]
|
| If you recall, the public announcement by ISO in September said that Cuba had
| voted to approve, which led to puzzlement. Not so, says the email, which was
| sent on Friday evening and broadly cc'd, including to all the NBs, perhaps to
| ensure there was no confusion this time. Cuba was deeply injured by the false
| report, the email says. Cuba voted no with comments in September. It never
| approved OOXML.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080324121844682
Cuba was also forced to send its comments as *gasp* Microsoft Word files (yes,
to ISO!), so it needed to mail it.
Related:
The Gradual Introduction of Free Software in Cuba Becomes Significant to Go
Ahead in the Crucial Strategy.
,----[ Quote ]
| Without “pushing the boat out”, the gradual introduction of free software in
| Cuba becomes significant to go ahead in the process of incorporating
| informatics into society.
`----
http://www.cubaheadlines.com/2008/02/16/9177/the_gradual_introduction_of_free_software_in_cuba_becomes_significant_to_go_ahead_in_the_crucial_strategy.html
Cuba embraces migration to free and open source software
,----[ Quote ]
| Cuba's Cabinet also has urged a shift from proprietary software. The customs
| service has gone to Linux and the ministries of culture, higher education and
| communications are planning to do so, Rodriguez said.
|
| And students in his own department are cooking up a version of Linux called
| Nova, based on Gentoo distribution of the operating system. The ministry of
| higher education is developing its own.
`----
http://www.cubaheadlines.com/2007/08/02/4878/cuba_embraces_open_source_software.html
Cuba Embraces Open-Source Software
,----[ Quote ]
| Both governments say they are trying to wean state agencies from
| Microsoft's proprietary Windows to the open-source Linux operating
| system, which is developed by a global community of programmers
| who freely share their code.
|
| [...]
|
| Other countries have tried similar moves. China, Brazil and
| Norway have encouraged the development of Linux for a variety
| of reasons: Microsoft's near-monopoly over operating systems,
| the high cost of proprietary software and security problems.
`----
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CUBA_SOFTWARE?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
http://tinyurl.com/29dejf
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