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Giving the Finger to the DIS 29500 Appellants
,----[ Quote ]
| So the results in the SMB ballot are highly tainted by a poorly written
| ballot question, given to them by the Secretaries General, which clearly
| caused confusion among the SMB votes, and which had a material effect on the
| voting results. My analysis of IEC/SMB shows that like ISO/TMB's vote, the
| results are nearly equally divided, and IEC/SMB should hang their head in
| shame if they persist in denying a hearing to these four appeals because of
| ambiguous results from a poorly written, botched ballot.
`----
http://www.robweir.com/blog/2008/08/giving-finger-to-dis-29500-appellants.html
Recent:
ISO process slammed
,----[ Quote ]
| Rob Weir, co-chairman of the OASIS Open Document Format (ODF) technical
| committee, says the blatant committee backing around the world to have the
| standard ratified was disconcerting. He says in several countries, countries
| voted yes at the last minute and were “heard of no more. It makes a mockery
| of the system.”
`----
http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/software/2008/0806131046.asp?O=FPTOP&S=Legal%20View&A=LEG
Related:
Microsoft influencing partner NGOs to support OOXML in India
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is encouraging its business partners to promote its Office Open XML
| specification (OOXML) to the Indian Bureau of Standards (BIS) and Ministry of
| IT. This move has incensed supporters of the rival OpenDocument Format (ODF)
| who fear that the "soft" Indian state may not be able to stand up to
| Microsoft pressure tactics.
`----
http://www.linux.com/feature/128528
Microsoft India using NGOs to fake support for OOXML
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-44038/microsoft-india-using-ngos-to-fake-support-for-ooxml
Microsoft "persuades" NGOs to support OOXML
,----[ Quote ]
| Our friends at Linux Delhi have put up a copy of the form letters that
| Microsoft has been sending NGOs on the OOXML issue. Apparently, these NGOs
| have been sending copies of these letters to the Ministry of IT and Bureau of
| Indian standards.
`----
http://osindia.blogspot.com/2008/02/microsoft-persuades-ngos-to-support.html
Using NGOs to Push Agendas
,----[ Quote ]
| The extent to which Microsoft can go in its efforts to get OOXML is
| interesting. Microsoft has "persuaded" several non-profit organizations to
| bombard the Indian IT Secretary and the Additional Director General of the
| Bureau of Indian Standards with letters supporting its OOXML proposal. A copy
| of the form letter they have been circulating to NGOs is given below.
| Somebody should interview these NGOs to see how much they really know about
| OOXML and open standards.
|
| The sequence of events leading up to the spamming of GoI? is:
|
| Letter from an NGO thanking Microsoft (name changed to protect their
| identity)
`----
http://wiki.linux-delhi.org/cgi-bin/twiki/view/OpenStandards/MsNgoLobby
IIT Bombay, Microsoft at loggerheads
,----[ Quote ]
| The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, has taken strong objection to the
| fact that despite a "No" to OOXML by a majority of the Bureau of Indian
| Standardsmembers, the software giant "continued to make representations to
| the top Indian leadership (read Ministry of Consumer Affairs), pressuring
| them to change the Indian vote".
|
| The BIS represented India as a participating member of the ISO. Its LITD 15
| committee -- of which IIT-Bombay was a part -- was responsible for examining
| OOXML and deciding on a "No" regarding India's position at the ISO.
`----
http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/may/28iit.htm
Good bye, British Library
,----[ Quote ]
| This is an image from the good old days. Microsoft's Jean Paoli hands over
| the OOXML specification to Jan van den Beld, the general secretary of ECMA.
| And you find Adam Farquhar from the British Library, the bearded person on
| the right. The British Library was instrumental to legitimizing the whole
| ECMA and ISO OOXML standardisation process as an 'independent' participant in
| the committee work. ECMA did a brilliant job to mature the specification text
| to get it ISO fast-tracked. Or as the ISO BRM convenor and recent consultant
| for the British Library Alex Brown reflects1:
|
| Ecma made the road very rocky though, by initially producing a text that
| was so lousy with faults.
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-61777/good-bye-british-library
Ecma - a case study for vendor capture
,----[ Quote ]
| A small network of people of ECMA International dominated the whole ISO
| process around OOXML while technical experts of national ISO members were
| impeded by committee stuffing, rules bending and political intervention and
| the general restrictions of the revamped ISO/IEC fast-track process.
|
| [...]
|
| On the right you find a picture of Jan van den Beld, back then general
| secretary of ECMA international who received the 2000 pages from Microsoft
| represented by its employee Jean Paoli (center). Jean Paoli is probably best
| known for taking the Microsoft credit for the standardization of XML. The
| other person with the beard is Adam Farquhar from the British Library, chair
| of ECMA TC 45. You also find the picture on the right in Adam Farquhar's May
| 07 presentation which advocates for OOXML.
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/ecma-and-vendor-capture
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
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/
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