03.09.08
Microsoft-influenced INCITS Strikes Again?
Several days ago we mentioned the protest from United States delegates against OOXML, or at least the BRM discussing it. The US voted “No”.
At the time, we also added references that highlight past incidents (pre-September vote) which tell the story of manipulation in the United States. Guess what? It appears to be happening again.
As the U.S. delegate to ISO, INCITS had supported OOXML’s failed ratification last September.
The rest of the article discusses the role of INCITS, which makes a nice deja vu. For those wishing to return to July-September events, here is a reading list:
- How the Game is Played: INCITS V1 Narrowly Votes Down OOXML
- OOXML Fails to Gain Approval in US
- Microsoft Looks for the Big Guns in OOXML In-Fighting
- Packing The Court At The ISO?
The gist of it all is that Microsoft’s pressure may have been the sole cause for flipping a vote upside-down. We saw this in other countries, whose more enlightened citizens were furious at the time. Poland comes to mind, but it’s not the exception at all.
As another hint of dirty play — or perhaps just a convenient coincidence — consider this:
Now that the BRM is over and the information cannot be used to apply changes to the OOXML specification the DIN working group on translation between OOXML and the existing ODF standard kindly published its report.
Well, that’s not very useful then. █
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.