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Does the OSP make OOXML an "open standard"?
,----[ Quote ]
| The main sponsor behind OOXML, the Microsoft Corporation, assured the
| European Commission that they would chose a RF model for their future Office
| format.1 However, their public affairs representatives repeatedly casted
| doubt whether their chosen patent license model would enable implementations
| under the GNU GPL and forcefully lobbied domestic and oversees legislators
| against open standards. The intense struggle has two levels. On one layer the
| question is RAND or RF as appropriate licensing conditions, on a second layer
| the attempt was to redefine the terminology of "open standards" to become
| RAND compatible. A "success" of the lobbying effort was the ITU-T definition
| of "open standards" drafted by a patent attorney working group which made the
| limbo for RAND licensing conditions. As an effect all international standards
| would become "open standards". It comes at no surprise that vendors are
| sceptical about the honesty of the Microsoft patent schemes and are
| suspicious about hidden agendas.
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-96007/does-the-osp-make-ooxml-an-open-standard
Recent:
OOXML: Flogging a Dead Horse
,----[ Quote ]
| But OOXML is not quite dead yet. There is a danger. And one we must all be
| vigilant toward: There is a possibility of Microshaft and it’s Lackeys trying
| to gain control of the maintenance of the ODF standard. Currently this is
| handled by the very open and transparent OASIS organisation. This process
| might end up being transferred to ISO under the guise of a group known as
| SC34. This committee is loaded full of Microsoft puppets - several of whom
| are British and have shown a total disregard for due process to this date.
`----
http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2008/10/07/ooxml-flogging-a-dead-horse/
Where's Rob?
,----[ Quote ]
| To put it in perspective, the US SC34 shadow committee currently has around
| 20 members. Before Microsoft stuffed it we had around 7. Regardless, the US
| SC34 mirror committee typically sends a delegation of 2 or 3 people to
| international meetings. IBM attendance at these meetings has varied from 0 to
| 2. It really depends on where the meeting is being held. If it is being
| hosted by an NB where an IBM employee is a member, then he will typically
| attend. If something is on the agenda that I find interesting, then I'll
| typically attend regardless of location.
`----
http://www.robweir.com/blog/2008/10/wheres-rob.html
ISO offers to take on ODF maintenance
,----[ Quote ]
| The international standards body ISO has offered to help maintain the ODF
| document standard alongside its work on the rival Microsoft-originated OOXML
| specification, saying its creator Oasis is not dealing with defect reports
| quickly enough.
|
| At a meeting in Korea last week, the International Organization for
| Standardization (ISO) committee for document standards, SC 34, issued a
| liaison statement to Oasis, the body that created ODF. It requested
| an "alignment" of maintenance of ODF between the work done at Oasis and that
| within ISO.
`----
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39498926,00.htm
SC34 thanked Microsoft Korea for the dinner
,----[ Quote ]
| The company from Redmond is heavily investing in the ISO SC34 committee.
| Thanks to a brazilian blogger who manage to shed some light on what was going
| on in there, we hear now that Microsoft Korea was paying for dinner.
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-95230/sc34-thanked-microsoft-korea-for-the-dinner
Meeting of JTC1/SC34 in Korea: It is the end of the world (as we know it)
,----[ Quote ]
| At this meeting, Brazil was represented by Microsoft.
|
| I and several other members of our committee protested against this
| indication, but we had our protests silenced by the Director of ABNT
| (Brazilian NB) that said that this decision was not our prerogative and that
| if Microsoft would pay for their own representative’s trip, their indication
| was approved.
|
| Also reminded us that since the beginning of activities of our group at ABNT,
| he tells us about having a “financial fund” provided by the committee’s
| organizations, to cover expenses like this. As we do not have that fund and
| Microsoft has offered to pay their own expenses, their indication was
| approved by him (rather not comment on anything about it, I get stomach ache
| by remembering this sad fact). Just to clarify, the other committee’s
| members did not indicated any representative because we tought that this
| wasn’t an important meeting to spend our time and money with.
`----
http://homembit.com/2008/10/meeting-of-jtc1sc34-in-korea-it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it.html
Opening Up ISO's Can of Worms
,----[ Quote ]
| The point is, the *entire process* should be out in the open: that's how we
| do things in the 21st century, remember - the Internet, open source, Web 2.0,
| that kind of stuff? You know, a collaborative endeavour that draws as widely
| as possible on people who have relevant skills, whoever they may be? If the
| ISO wants to cling to secret squirrel meetings with Terribly Important
| Experts in closed rooms, that's its prerogative; but if it does, it can't
| presume to be a modern global standards body with any credibility, and it
| should make way for others to do the job.
|
| A transparent process should be a badge of honour for the participants, since
| no one can then impugn their actions, and a basic act of respect towards the
| users of that standard, who are not made to feel like peasants receiving
| grace as the holy ISO tablets are handed down from Mount Geneva.
|
| Given the decidedly turbid process that has swirled around the
| standardisation of OOXML, the need for some clarity is all the greater. The
| idea of the ISO suing someone for doing what ought to be one of its primary
| responsibilities, because it might result in a loss of “revenue” - as if the
| whole point of the ISO and national standards bodies were to make money - is
| sad in the extreme.
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/toolbox/open-source/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=1374&blogid=14
ISO's Day of Shame
,----[ Quote ]
| Riiiight: so there was insufficient support among the technical boards for
| their dirty laundry to be aired in public. What a surprise. The fact that
| standards bodies representing the second- and fourth-most populous countries
| in the world were unhappy with the way the standardisation process was
| carried out doesn't matter, apparently.
|
| Time for a new international standards body, methinks....
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2008/08/isos-day-of-shame.html
Related:
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
IBM May Quit Technology Standards Bodies
,----[ Quote ]
| The Armonk, N.Y.-based computer maker is expected to announce the review
| Tuesday, according to company officials. IBM has become frustrated by what it
| considers opaque processes and poor decision-making at some of the hundreds
| of bodies that set technical standards for everything from data-storage
| systems to programming languages, those officials said.
`----
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122211669212064331.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us_business
Not a standard debate
,----[ Quote ]
| First, IBM is threatening to leave organisations that set standards for
| software interoperability over concerns that their processes are not always
| transparent (the ostensible references are to the ISO and Microsoft).
|
| Second, according to sources close to the development, the Bureau of Indian
| Standards (BIS) — which met in New Delhi on the 22nd of this month — is
| reviewing the ISO transparency issue while simultaneously exploring alternate
| standards which emerge from bodies like the W3C and the Internet Engineering
| Task Force (IETF).
`----
http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=335446
HypocrISO and beyond
,----[ Quote ]
| Standards war is fun and HypocrISO makes it fun. Not in all parts of the
| world resource battles are so harmless. The rejection of the HypocrISO
| appeals offers opportunities for another wave of appeals.
|
| [...]
|
| So let me give some points: What can be won through another ISO delay?
|
| * more OOXML uncertainty
| * ISO to expose itself even more and get ready for procedural reform
| * keep the debate in the news
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-82510/hypocriso-and-beyond
Detailed IEC Voting Results on OOXML Appeals
,----[ Quote ]
| As I reported yesterday, the OOXML appeals brought by Brazil, India, South
| Africa and Venezuela have been rejected by the Technical Management Board
| (TMB) and Standardization Management Board (SMB) of ISO and IEC,
| respectively. I have now received the actual voting results for the IEC
| vote, and an indecipherable screenshot of the ISO votes. I'll hope to add
| the ISO votes later on when I get more comprehensible information, but in the
| meantime, here are the IEC results.
|
| In each case, the questions included in the ballot were the same:
|
| a) Not to process the appeal any further
|
| b) To process one or more of the appeals, which would require setting up
| of a conciliation panel
`----
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20080816081402686
Computer experts stage street protest in Oslo against Microsoft document format
as standard
,----[ Quote ]
| OSLO, Norway: Roughly 60 data experts staged a rare and noisy street
| demonstration in downtown Oslo on Wednesday to protest the adoption of
| Microsoft Corp.'s document format as an international standard and against
| Norway voting for the move.
|
| [...]
|
| He claimed the committee ignored the advice of the vast majority of the
| Nordic nation's software experts, was pressured by Microsoft and
| displayed "scandalous behavior."
`----
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/09/business/EU-TEC-Norway-Digital-Demonstration.php
OOXML triggers demonstration in Norway: "Let's throw OOXML out of ISO"
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-52412/ooxml-triggers-demonstration-in-norway:let-s-throw-ooxml-out-of-iso
Demonstration outside ISO conference
,----[ Quote ]
| Steve Pepper, the former Chairman of the Norwegian committee responsible for
| deciding the Norwegian vote on OOXML, is calling for a demonstration to take
| place outside the building where SC34, the ISO committee that has been landed
| with OOXML, is holding its spring plenary.
|
| The demonstration will take place outside Håndverkeren, Rosenkrantzgate 7,
| Oslo, Norway, on Wednesday April 9 at 12.00. Among the slogans are:
|
| * No to ISO approval of OOXML!
| * Defend the integrity of ISO!
| * Microsoft: Support ODF!
| * Ecma: Withdraw OOXML!
| * Norway must say no to OOXML!
`----
http://blogs.freecode.no/isene/2008/04/07/demonstration-outside-iso-conference/
Shenanigans Alleged on Road to OOXML Vote
,----[ Quote ]
| The events leading up to the ISO's decision on OOXML can best be described as
| strange.
|
| Take the case of KT 182, the Polish technical committee responsible for the
| OOXML standardization process, as described on Groklaw: Chairperson Elzbieta
| Andrukiewicz was instructed that KT 182 should abstain from voting if a
| consensus was not achieved. Well, it wasn't, and she said the members who
| were absent could vote by e-mail E-Mail Marketing Software - Free Trial.
| Click Here. -- but if they didn't vote, she'd take their non-response as a
| yes.
|
| Later, when presenting the results of the ballot resolution, she showed a
| slide that claimed 98 percent of the OOXML issues had been resolved during
| the KT 182 meeting.
|
| When reminded this wasn't true, and told that the author of the PowerPoint
| file was Paul Pesch, platform strategy manager at Microsoft Netherlands, she
| threatened to sue anyone who repeated the assertion that Pesch was the
| author.
|
| That slide had been shown at another meeting, and one of the Brazilian
| delegates had complained about it.
`----
http://www.linuxinsider.com/rsstory/62400.html
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