03.28.08
Quick Mention: Has Korea Just Voted “Yes” to OOXML? (Updated)
Russell has just sent this one in. It’s in Korean, but here is an automated translation:
Gipyowon, MS Open XML an international standard ‘favor’
Microsoft (MS) Office Open XML (OOXML) international standard specifies the voting deadline a day away and representatives of the United States had the right to vote under the technical knowledge and Economy decided to vote in favor of international standardization OOXML KATS is a final cleanup plan.
The text isn’t entirely clear, so judge for yourself. █
Update: Here is another decent (probably out-of-date) breakdown.
Votes
P Members:Canada: No
Czech Republic: Yes
USA: Yes
India: No
China: No
Belgium: Abstain
Germany: Yes
Netherlands: Abstain
Denmark: No
Finland: Yes
Kenya: AbstainO Members:
Brazil: No
Cuba: No
Romania: YesPredicted total result
P Approval: 60.6%, (higher than 66.7% needed).
Overall No Votes: 24.3%, (lower than 25% needed).OOXML Fails.
Also see this.
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.
Victor Soliz said,
March 28, 2008 at 10:31 am
http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/ Seems to be updating quite frequently.
Victor Soliz said,
March 28, 2008 at 10:34 am
Sorry, better link: http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2008/03/the-last-lap.html
I would say certain P countries are likely to change their Yes vote to No. the problem is that the exact opposite event is also likely, with all MS lobbying and deceit, not to mention ents like Durasau throwing disinformation, just note what happened in Finland.
Roy Schestowitz said,
March 28, 2008 at 10:35 am
Yes, I am more interested in snitches to be truly honest with you than in the eventual outcome, which matters not all that much in practice. We need to gather enough evidence to make a strong case exposing Microsoft’s systematical abuses, which I have been watching since the early days in MA.
Victor Soliz said,
March 28, 2008 at 10:36 am
I can foresee MS getting simple majority and still not failing, the next possibilities would be that ISO suddenly decides to change their rules in favor of MS (has already happened before) or MS loses but makes a huge announcement about how the majority of nations support OOXML and they consider themselves an open standard regardless of it…
Roy Schestowitz said,
March 28, 2008 at 10:38 am
Oh, that will happen regardless and we’ll call it what it is.
CoolGuy said,
March 28, 2008 at 10:40 am
Nothing can be said till the last moment…cross my fingers
Roy Schestowitz said,
March 28, 2008 at 10:45 am
Since the whole process has been an “unadulterated bulls*it” (to borrow Tim Bray’s words) I think the outcome does not matter quite as much as the fines Microsoft is likely to face for the sheer abuse.
Let’s keep our eyes open for incidents where the process gets corrupted because there is a huge number of incidents and only a small number of these are leaked, reported, exposed, noticed, or whatever. The more we catch, the better.
CoolGuy said,
March 28, 2008 at 11:25 am
Its just neck to neck.
I think that this battle is lost and OOXML will be a ISO standard.
Voting In Progress:
* Criteria 1: 20/32 = 62.50% (FAIL)
* Criteria 2: 16/69 = 23.19% (PASS)
* Overall Result: FAIL
Roy Schestowitz said,
March 28, 2008 at 11:55 am
That’s just what people including Andy predicted back in September. As Victor said, goalposts can be moved and regardless of the outcome, rest assured Microsoft has already prepared press releases that are highly deceiving and promotional. It’s just waiting to see which one/s to push. Prepare to see many confused journalists getting shoved Microsoft’s disinformation and then heralding erroneous things, which give people the wrong message and impressions. Broken telephone effect ensues.
Victor Soliz said,
March 28, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Only one P member so far changed its vote from Yes to something else, yet reports of P members changing from Disapprove / Abstain to Yes are beginning to flood. Bad news, Norway just did.
Victor Soliz said,
March 28, 2008 at 3:59 pm
http://blog.bureado.com.ve/?p=450
A P member goes from Yes to No. I was expecting this (Venezuela) to happen after Cuba’s change.
Let’s hope this flips the trend.
Roy Schestowitz said,
March 28, 2008 at 8:11 pm
It’s important to find out also /why/ they flip. If they specify no reason, it’s reason for great suspicion. This seems to have been the case in the UK, which was pretty much put in charge of a Microsoft affiliate and flipped upside-down without bothering to say why.