01.26.08
Why Choose OOXML?
Novell has chosen to support OOXML merely because Microsoft paid it to do so. Microsoft pays many people and companies to do so and sometimes this involves bribery. But let’s be kind to Microsoft, forget all about the misconduct and consider some of the other reasons (never mind persuasion with money) to choose OOXML. Here are 6 reasons to choose it.
If you have second thoughts about OOXML, then you can choose one of the many other applications that already support ODF. OOXML is supported by no applications at the moment, but Microsoft Office 2007 is close to supporting OOXML (it never will). IBM is among those who support OOXML and it claims to have already gone beyond Microsoft Office. The article about which covers this reminds us that:
ODF is now an international standard and being considered or favored by the large customers, notably national governments concerned with long-term archiving of digital information.
If you ever see claims of “industry support” for OOXML, remember this: Novell is being used by Microsoft at the moment in order to brag about OOXML support from “industry”. Novell is mentioned by name. It’s truly appalling but quite not as surprising as seeing the GNOME Foundation selling out in a similar fashion because parts of GNOME are a subset of Novell. Some of this is paid for.
Real standards are earned, not bought. ‘Standards’ which are being bought pass the financial burden off the (single) vendor and onto customers. It’s a question of economics. OOXML would be too foolish to approach. █
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.