04.01.08

Is Microsoft’s OOXML the “Greatest [of] Scam[s] of Computing History”?

Posted in America, Antitrust, Bill Gates, Europe, Formats, Fraud, ISO, Open XML, Standard at 1:21 am by Roy Schestowitz

Once a scammer, always a scammer

Assorted links from 6 months ago:

• Evidence of Microsoft Influencing OOXML Votes in Nordic States
• Microsoft Memo to Partners in Sweden Surfaces: Vote Yes for OOXML
• Corrupt countries were more likely to support the OOXML document format
• Microsoft accused of more OOXML standards fiddling

This is now:

As expected, the Internet is abuzz with furious responses to abuse which affects each and every one of us in merely every country. Here is another set of links, which in turn contain some more links to detailed information. We really need to tidy these up and have material better organised for studying this widespread fiasco, which we earlier likened to a DDOS attack (too much, too fast).

An unanticipated response to this “scam” comes from Charles, whose words are echoed in the title of this one particular post.

If you thought you had seen everything about OOXML with the likes of Rick Jelliffe, committees that have been stuffed by Microsoft and its minions to the point where no other choice than approval would be possible, think again. And do open your eyes to one of the greatest scams of computing history. Below are a few examples of what I’m talking about today. But they are meaningful enough.

To learn about the likes of Rick Jelliffe, start with any of these anchors [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18]. It’s a widespread phenomenon rather than an individual case. It doesn’t make Rick Jelliffe a scapegoat, but rather just a part of an extremely revolting problem.

‘Chaos’ in Norway

The process in Norway was suspended. This ought to help the world realise just how severe the abuse had been.

Some members of the Norwegian committee that participated in the International Organization for Standardization’s Office Open XML vote are calling on Norway’s Ministry of Trade and Industry to suspend the country’s “yes” vote pending an investigation, according to a letter to the ISO from the Norwegian committee’s chairman.

We mentioned Norway on several occasions over the past couple of days alone [1, 2, 3] and summarised some older incidents from Norway here. If you study the abuses in Norway, you will hopefully find these pointers valuable.

Bill Gates and Denmark

“You may wish to know also about the notorious relationship between the Danish Prime Minister (PM) and Microsoft’s Bill Gates.”The coupling of Denmark and Microsoft is a particularly unique one. We put together a heap of links right here and later posted a a gentle complaint about a Danish Microsoft partner, Jesper Stocholm, who was doing an exceptional amount of legwork for that company, even entering Linux forums to defend OOXML. He was not alone.

You may wish to know also about the notorious relationship between the Danish Prime Minister (PM) and Microsoft’s Bill Gates. This goes quite a long way back (quiet visits to his house) and it has given the PM a lot of flak over the past couple of years. Here is the gossip of interest:

Rumors are running that he also lobbied Denmark [on OOXML], where it is well known that he is a friend of the Prime Minister.

Bill Gates’ ‘brave crusade’ for OOXML did not go unnoticed. We covered or at least mentioned the 'Mexico report' and the recent sentimental blackmail.

“Gone” is “Yes” in Polish

Poland was covered recently in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Here is another update from PolishLinux, which shows how the rules got ignored, disregarded. The European Commission already investigates Poland’s TC, for a fact.

* 24 members voted to approve (7 of them without even knowing that, since no vote was counted as a vote to approve),
* 13 members voted against approving the standard (a ‘NO’ vote),
* 4 remaining members decided that Poland should abstain from voting.

Some more background and information you can find right here.

The Cost of Lock-in

Here is a good assortment of links from a knowledgeable CTO.

Clearly, the entire process has become a mockery. It is quite infuriating having to watch this and being unable to change what is so very obviously a process that is now heavily undermined and compromised by vendor interests. ISO is losing credibility as a technical and independent standards gremium.

Why should we care? Nobody forces us to use OOXML, right? One of the posters in the Slashdot discussion wonderfully summed up the situation we will be in:

OOXML will pass, MS Office will use its own, non-standard version of OOXML, governments will claim they are in compliance with laws requiring open standards, and the rest of us will be in the same boat we’ve been in for fifteen years. It’s all quite sick.

Yes, I reckon that’s exactly what’s going to happen, and that - of course - is exactly what Microsoft wants. Sigh…

The post above comes from a blogger who recently wrote a good piece that explains the “anti-Microsoft” label. And again, just to clarify, I don’t hate Microsoft. I hate corruption (who doesn’t?), which Microsoft appears to resort to every day, almost as though it’s a bodily function. Microsoft is very quick and skilled at comparing opposition to corruption to something else, calling critics of corruption “Microsoft bashers” or “anti-Microsoft.” They even tried this against Andy Updegrove (believe it or not!).

As you will find if you search the Web, I happen to slam corruption of all sorts and all kinds of companies get accused. But Microsoft is truly a treasure trove, for its history elucidated the fact that had grown, thrived, and sustained itself in great levels of corruption, sheltered only by media outlets which it owns (sometimes literally) and government 'insiders' that turn a blind eye. Crime can go unpunished when information channels suppress truths or mitigate representation of major incidents. And that’s not even accounting for what happens with Rupert Murdoch in charge… █

Also see (in relation to mislabeling of critics as means of distraction):

• Bruce Byfield at it Again with “Conspiracy Theorists”
• A Look Back at Well-documented Microsoft Briberies
• There is No Community and There is No Communism, Either
• Bruce Byfield Misattributes Quotes (Updatedx4)
• Speaking of So-called ‘Conspiracy Theories’ and ‘Coincidences’
• Fighting Inconveinient Truths Using Labels and Stereotypes.
• Since When Does Microsoft Not Sabotage GNU/Linux?

“It’s a Simple Matter of [Microsoft’s] Commercial Interests!”

–Microsoft’s Doug Mahugh about OOXML in Malaysia

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