04.03.08
Despite Rigging, The World’s Population Said “No” to OOXML
Microsoft is being very coy and dishonest this week. Having ensured that Microsoft itself is ‘representing’ entire countries and stealing the election in the majority of them, Microsoft wants the world to believe that over three quarters of ‘the world’ supports OOXML. Of course, it’s a foolish thing to believe and a lie of very great proportions.
Remind yourself of the truly appalling behaviour of Microsoft in India, including possible bribery and the well-documented ballot stuffing. Then consider China and recall the eye-opening story from a Brazilian delegate. In spite of these abuses, all three countries, the world’s largest populations in fact, ultimately voted “No” to OOXML. And here is an interesting fact:
Brazil, India, and China, which together count for more than a third of the world’s population, all voted against Office Open XML last week.
Joining the protest against OOXML and the abuses of ISO we now see Red Hat.
Red Hat’s legal team published a statement criticizing the ISO fast track process and expressing disappointment with the outcome. “Will the real interoperability standard please stand up?” Red Hat’s legal team wrote. “Red Hat thinks governments and enterprises are not so easily confused. The Open Document Format, which has long been a multiparty-supported ISO standard, will continue to be a force in procurement decisions to be reckoned with. Government and Enterprises are tired of the lack of choice, lack of innovation, and premium rents from vendor lock-in.”
Statements from other key voices and vendors you can find here. █
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.