03.28.08
OOXML Irregularities: The Latest from Poland
As background on the situation in Poland consider:
- What OOXML Manipulations Will Microsoft Have in Store for Poland This Time Around? (Updated)
- Deception Everywhere as OOXML Deadline Approaches
- Bill Gates Makes Phonecalls Again (Politics for Derailing ODF)
Be aware that the second report relies on a source that was later called “inaccurate” (only the bits which we cited about Poland), but the rest is perfectly valid. Here is some of the very latest though. You can find the Gory details right here.
Just to remind you, on Thursday’s meeting 12 members voted for OOXML, 10 members voted against it and 2 abstained from voting. As the consensus has not been achieved, Andrukiewicz decided that the voting should continue by e-mail and all the missing members should be allowed to vote. What she did not mention is that if the missing members fail to send her an e-mail with their stance, it will be automatically assumed they vote yes. This is one of the crazy rules of PKN process of opinioning new ISO standards.
That’s just part of a bigger story. Noooxml.org sums up this conundrum as follows:
The Chairwoman of the polish Technical Committee has distributed documentation about the BRM authored by Microsoft. She has also changed the voting rules for the email ballot to “If you don’t vote, it is counted as a YES”, and she has threatened to sue committee members if they spread accusations…
There is a lot more information that you can find out about OOXML in Poland (even in English). Just follow the trail of many links. As we mentioned earlier, the EU Commission is now investigating Poland’s TC, having let the problem slide back in September last year when similar (if not much worse) irregularities were seen and reported. █
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.