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FR: Advocacy group protests government's approving of OOXML
,----[ Quote ]
| April, a French free and open source
| software advocacy group, is protesting the
| French government's approval of Microsoft's
| OOXML as a government document standard,
| alongside the open document format ODF.
|
| France on 11 November published its
| RÃfÃrentiel GÃnÃral d'InteropÃratibilitÃ
| (General interoperability framework for
| public administrations and local
| governments, RGI). To allow public
| administrators to exchange documents
| without trouble, the RGI recommends they
| use an ISO-approved document format based
| on XML. "Two such office formats coexist
| today, ODF (Open Document Format) and OOXML
| (Office Open XML)."
`----
http://www.osor.eu/news/fr-advocacy-group-protests-governments-approving-of-ooxml
"There is such an overvaluation of technology stocks that it is absurd. I would
include our stock in that category. It is bad for the long-term worth of the
economy."
--Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO
Related:
The AFNOR Affair: Interview with FrÃdÃric Couchet, Ex. Dir. APRIL, on OOXML in
France
,----[ Quote ]
| FrÃdÃric Couchet: ISO standards were traditionally the result of compromise
| between competing players. With OOXML, Microsoft obtained a standard which
| none of its competitors had adopted. The first ISO standard in this area,
| Open Document Architecture (ODA, ISO 8613) was never applied. The second
| standard, OpenDocument Format (ODF, ISO/IEC 26300), was applied but never
| accepted by Microsoft. The third standard, OOXML (ISO/IEC 29500), can help
| Microsoft commercially with governments but brings nothing to the market in
| terms of convergence between competing software products, and thus has no
| added value as a standard.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080419005201783
New OOXML Scandal - A Leaked Email Surfaces in France
,----[ Quote ]
| Le Monde Informatique and LeMagIT are reporting on a leaked email from Marc
| Meyer of the French government agency, DGME, which urges that OOXML be
| quickly added to the official list of formats that can be used by government
| entities, a document titled RGI, and then the finalized v1.0 of RGI be
| quickly published, in effect locking in OOXML, before the appeals process is
| completed. The email and the media reports indicate that the RGI was put on a
| back burner last October, when ODF was already on the list, and now,
| immediately after OOXML is approved, albeit controversially, by ISO but
| before the appeals process is complete, not to mention the format, Meyer
| urges it quickly be added to the list of acceptable formats, hence making it
| hard to remove OOXML from the list later, as a fait accompli.
|
| Worse, the email indicates that work on the document was brought to a crawl
| to wait for ISO approval of OOXML. ODF was already on the list when work on
| RGI was brought to a standstill last October. There were suspicions that the
| slowdown was deliberate, and the email is giving legs to those suspicions.
|
| It seems that politics has reared its ugly head, and just as happened in
| Masschusetts, questions are now being asked about behind-the-scenes Microsoft
| pressure.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080418111340426
Sarkozy intervenes in France to revert the OOXML position
,----[ Quote ]
| Confidential sources say that President Sarkozy has intervened himself in the
| French position on Microsoft OOXML, asking members of the committee to revert
| their position, and support an abstention. Our sources say he was approached
| by a lobbyist during his 3-days trip in England. The intervention has been
| made on Friday.
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-50670/sarkozy-intervenes-in-france-to-revert-the-ooxml-position
The France Shift From No to Abstain -- HP helped Microsoft France do it
,----[ Quote
| Here's the scoop from Les Echos.fr on France's sudden change from its No vote
| to Abstain. Microsoft France's President Eric Boustouller sent AFNOR a
| letter [PDF] in French, of course. He tells a tale about OOXML and ODF
| progressing side by side and how if OOXML is approved, a group will be
| working hard to make the two more interoperable. Attached was a an HP
| statement of support for OOXML. HP sings the same song. And AFNOR?
|
| [...]
|
| Could it be any more cynical? So, now we know that HP is not supportive of
| Linux and FOSS as we thought. Knock me over with a feather. So, they got them
| to change on the basis of promises for the future. I'm sure there's more to
| the story, of course.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080331212042460
Can AFNOR really change the OOXML vote to "abstain"?
,----[ Quote ]
| Having participated within the responsible technical committee of the Swiss
| Association for Standardization and considering the decision-making process
| that has been used to be unsatisfactory, I find it interesting to look at how
| things have been handled in other countries, in order to see what can be
| learned from that. I plan to focus my attention in this regard on countries
| where the primary language is German, English or French, so that I will be
| able to understand any relevant documents which might become available to the
| public or personally to me.
`----
http://adaptux.com/blog/2008-04-02/OOXML/France
Microsoft's ISO win may worsen its antitrust woes
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft may have won a year-long quest to make its OOXML (Office Open XML)
| document format an ISO-recognized international standard, but claims of foul
| play in the voting process may come back to haunt the software giant when the
| European Commission concludes its latest antitrust investigation of
| Microsoft's business practices.
`----
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/04/01/Microsofts-ISO-win-may-worsen-its-antitrust-woes_1.html
France: "Non, avec des commentaires!"
,----[ Quote ]
| Apparently, the French discussion on OOXML broke into something resembling a
| bar-fight.
|
| [...]
|
| Matters soon got out of hand: the shouting seems to have climaxed with the
| Microsoft representative insulting the management of AFNOR, members of the
| Defense Ministry, the Justice Ministry, the Interior Ministry, and two
| members from the Industrial Ministry exclaiming that they were servants of a
| banana republic!
`----
http://fussnotes.typepad.com/plexnex/2007/08/france-no-with-.html
For the skeptical, the final proof: The OpenXML wasnât (and isnât) ready
,----[ Quote ]
| The document N1101/N1168 contains for example, several items in which they
| recognize that there are decisions made in the BRM (BRM resolutions) which
| were not incorporated into the final published text of the standard. In other
| words, even taking almost a year after the aproval of the standard to publish
| the text (yes, approved without reading), there wasnât time/attention or
| anything else necessary to assure that the changes were published in the text
| (most of those changes, âconditionedâ the approval). What makes me much more
| angry about this is that during the BRM I asked about who would be
| responsible for verifying that all these changes would be part of the final
| text and the answer was ITTF (kind of joint ISO/IEC secretariat). When I
| asked if the ITTF would really make this work, I received as a reply the
| intimidating: âYou are doubting the ITTF, kid ?ââ
|
| [...]
|
| I saved the best for the end: document N1187. This one says that OpenXML âas
| isâ contains unintentional errors that may prevent existing documents to be
| fully represented in this new format. It is amazing because the legacy
| support was alleged as the main reason for OpenXML development and approval
| at ISO, and also the reason why several countries supported the development
| and approval of the standard. In this document, they also explain the
| criteria that will be used to specify the changes that will be developed, so
| that they can do it all really quickly (in other words, they go trough the b
| reaches of the JTC1 directives to get these changes incorporated into
| standard already approved without making much noise about it).
|
| Unfortunately I can not put all these documents here, to allow access trough
| the blog, because they should be restricted SC34 documents (yep, zero
| transparency), but I believe that sooner or later they will be published
| somewhere (and of course, NB members should already received those).
`----
http://homembit.com/2009/04/for-the-skeptical-the-final-proof-the-openxml-wasnt-and-isnt-ready.html
South Africa Files Official Appeal Re OOXML - OOXML in Limbo Now
,----[ Quote ]
| I wonder if this is why Microsoft suddenly decided to support ODF, to avoid
| being shut out completely pending the appeal. Might other national bodies be
| considering doing the same thing? Stay tuned.
|
| [...]
|
| So. OOXML is not currently an official standard? I think that is what this
| means. It will take months, at least, I believe, to resolve this. So, to me
| the ODF support announcement by Microsoft yesterday suddenly makes sense. I
| wrote a bit about the appeal process here, if you want to review it. In the
| immortal words of Yogi Berra, it ain't over till it's over.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080523130503456
Has OOXML Broken the British Standards Institution?
,----[ Quote ]
| That the BSI, long the quintessence of standards in this country, should see
| itself dragged through the courts over something as apparently minor as a
| document standard, is truly an extraordinary development. But of course it is
| not a minor issue: at stake is the question of how something as central to
| technology and business as standards should be decided. Unless people have
| complete confidence in the process, the end-result will be deemed worthless â
| truly, little more than a ârubber-stampingâ.
|
| A good start along the road of bolstering confidence would be making the
| standards-setting process completely open, which currently it is not. The
| practice of voting on an open standard behind closed doors borders is simply
| not justifiable in the age of the Internet and of increasing openness in
| general. And as the UK government loves to remind us: if you have nothing to
| hide, you have nothing to fear....
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=753&blogid=14
UK standards body taken to court over OOXML
,----[ Quote ]
| The British Standards Institution has been taken to court by a group of Unix
| users in an attempt to get the standards body to recant its approval of
| Microsoft's Office Open XML document format.
|
| The UK Unix & Open Systems User Group (UKUUG) said on Thursday that the
| British Standards Institution's (BSI's) controversial decision to vote for
| approval of OOXML in a recent International Organization for Standardization
| (ISO) ballot followed a flawed decision-making process.
`----
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39408917,00.htm
BSI faces High Court challenge over OOXML U-turn
,----[ Quote ]
| OSC director Mark Taylor told The Register that the UKUUG and chums
| were "very confident that the BSI has a case to answer". He claimed
| that "they havenât followed procedures and we want them to explain their
| controversial actions".
|
| However, even if legal action against the BSI leads to the UK standards body
| being forced, in the form of mandatory orders, to withdraw its vote to the
| ISO, its impact could be muted.
|
| Taylor agreed: "Should the BSI be asked to remove its vote, that in itself
| probably wonât change the outcome."
|
| He added that the group hopes to see individuals in other countries mount
| similar challenges against national standards bodies in order to force the
| ISO to "sit up and take notice".
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/01/bsi_ooxml_vote_high_court/
EC probes OOXML standards-setting process
,----[ Quote ]
| A spokesman for the European Commissioner for Competition, Neelie Kroes, told
| The Register that regulators were continuing to scrutinise interoperability
| issues related to Microsoftâs products following complaints from the
| Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) group.
|
| As part of that process, the EC formally contacted a number of national
| standards bodies, including the Norwegian Standards Institute (NSI),
| requesting more details about possible irregularities in the OOXML
| standardisation process.
|
| [...]
|
| âIt must be stressed that it is not the Commission's intention to influence
| the outcome of this process, but the Commission considers it essential to
| ensure that European competition law is not violated in the course of the
| standard setting process,â he said in an email to El Reg.
|
| In January the EC began formal anti-trust probes against Microsoft in two
| cases where it was alleged that the multinational firm had abused its strong
| market position. As part of the investigation into the first case, the
| Commission said that it would scrutinise OOXML on the grounds that the
| specification doesn't work with those of competitors.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/04/ooxml_ec_investigation_iso/
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