07.24.07
Buying Support and Buying ISO Standards in Order to Hijack the Industry
Alarming headlines for alarming developments: an attempt to hijack the age of connected computing while shrewdly using rivals to exclude rivals.
In case you thought that OOXML is the principal and last concern to emerge from Microsoft’s Linux deals, be aware that there is more to come. This is not exactly news, but it is worth reiterating and bringing to people’s attention.
Having standards accepted and approved is no easy task. By ‘buying’ the opposition, Microsoft is essentially able to have its technology implemented by ‘the ‘other side’. It is a case of acquiring credibility, based not on technical merits. Novell has already built Silverlight compatibility — however loose it might be — using the controversial Mono. How long will it be before Novell also supports Microsoft’s attempt to replace PDF with a format that Microsoft controls? Never mind Flash, never mind ODF.
Be aware of that fact that Novell’s work on an ‘ODF killer’ and a ‘Flash killer’ is only the beginning. It won’t be long before Novell will further assist Microsoft’s secret plan to hijack the World Wide Web, as well.
An industry coalition that has represented competitors of Microsoft in European markets before the European Commission stepped up its public relations offensive this morning, this time accusing Microsoft of scheming to upset HTML’s place in the fabric of the Internet with XAML, an XML-based layout lexicon for network applications.
Microsoft remains quiet about its long-term plans. It does this for a reason. No company should ever enter a deal that puts the EU’s case against Microsoft in jeopardy, promotes a desktop monopoly (XPS, XAML, OOXML, etc), leads to unsubstantiated claims, and fuels unfounded fear. Microsoft has a pipeline of patented technology on the ‘production line’ for ISO approval. Whether it is more dangerous than fear which Microsoft has spread might be a separate debate altogether.
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.
Stephen said,
July 25, 2007 at 5:24 am
From http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070622-mono-silverlight-implementation-emerges-after-epic-hackathon.html
I think the keywords here are OPEN-SOURCE implementations of MS Silverlight…. Surely that’s better than closed source or Flash?
– snip –
After 20 days of “intense” programming, Novell’s Mono development team has successfully produced a functioning prototype of Moonlight, an open-source Mono-based implementation of Microsoft’s Silverlight rich-media application development framework. In a blog entry, lead Mono developer Miguel de Icaza describes how his small team of globally dispersed developers managed to conjure up their entire Moonlight prototype (almost 25,000 lines of C++ code and over 13,000 lines of C# code) in only 20 days by giving up weekends and working 12 to 16 hours per day in a remarkably epic “hackathon.”
Roy Schestowitz said,
July 25, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Stephen, the main concerns here are patents and control (e.g. of change). This is not an official port, which means that Microsoft will never have an obligation to cater for GNU/Linux.