05.04.08
Has Broken OOXML Faltered Again and Missed an Important Deadline?
from the who-didnt-see-this-comin dept.
Charles wrote about it less than a week ago and now comes the update, followed by some sad homour.
At the time this post is being written, there is still no news of the final version of Ecma 376/DIS-ISO 29500, aka OOXML. I guess we’ll have to wait until midnight, today, Geneva time to have it. Yet some also claim that the deadline was midnight yesterday on the First of April.
What’s holding it back, assuming it remains away from the public eye (scrutiny)? Once again it is shown that ISO and ECMA, which seemingly controls ISO, act very irresponsibly and run away from the public, the most affected stakeholder.
Meanwhile, Peter Judge, whom we consider to be trustworthy, weighs in to extinguish Alex Brown’s latest FUD.
According to engineers at OpenOffice, the problems Alex Brown raises are non-issues - brought about by errors in his tests.
Brown tested the ODF code using a validator without applying an option that disables unecessary checks, says OpenOffice. He also used a version of OpenOffice that saves to ODF 1.1 - a format which is not going to be submitted to ISO - they say.
It is truly shameful to find ODF smears being spread by an ISO member with vested interests in this mess called OOXML (he even admitted it’s deficient). What low level have standards bodies like ISO sunk to? █
“It’s a Simple Matter of [Microsoft’s] Commercial Interests!”
–Microsoft’s Doug Mahugh about OOXML in Malaysia
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.