03.18.08
ECMA’s van den Beld + Microsoft’s Lobbying Arm (CompTIA) = Total Sellout (Updated)
Broken process everywhere you look
It never ceases to amaze how corrupt the whole framework of standardisation seems to be. We shall leave ISO aside for the time being (it’s really bad over there) and focus on ECMA, Microsoft’s total control of it and some of the very latest. Watch this interview with ECMA’s van den Beld and pay careful attention to the following gem:
“If people say this whole ISO process is lousy, out of date and doesn’t work anymore or is broken, I challenge anybody to make a new worldwide process,” van den Beld told PC World while in Australia working for the Computing Technology Industry Association.
Working for the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA)? Moses, smell the roses. CompTIA is a Microsoft lobbying arm, but its name is deceiving because it sounds like an umbrella that serves the public at large. In reality, it’s almost as though ECMA was actually sponsored by Microsoft at more than a single level. For some background on CompTIA consider [1, 2, 3].
There are dozens of more examples that we covered here. You know what they say: “Just follow the money.” █
ECMA is sinking itself
Update: Having sent this to Groklaw, there is more information there in an update about CompTIA. The article to which this was appended includes what we’ve already seen plenty of: smear campaigns.
Remember I told you I’ve noticed that people who don’t support Microsoft’s agenda end up the victim of smear campaigns?
The New Zealand Open Source Society is reporting that an employee at Microsoft New Zealand recently sent an email to one of the technical bodies advising an NB involved in the OOXML ISO process, smearing a man’s reputation, Matthew Holloway, apparently to undermine his technical input which was critical of OOXML.
Here is a post about smear campaigns, which was posted the other day.
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.