06.20.08
Renewed Push in the United Kingdom for Truth About OOXML+BSI
“The Norwegian [OOXML] affair was a scandal and we are still pursuing it. We haven’t given up hope of changing the vote back to No, and we hope people who experienced similar travesties in other countries will do the same.”
–Steve Pepper (just days ago)
Had Microsoft played by the rules like a gentleman, then we would only say that OOXML is deeply flawed (which it is), not a deeply-rooted fraud. Some folks are determined to bring justice, but in a world of intellectual insanity and lawyers [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], justice is expensive whereas corruption comes cheap.
The following news report from ZDNet tells British readers how they can fight for the truth in the UK.
A group of UK open-source advocates is seeking donations so it can continue its fight against the approval of Microsoft’s Office Open XML document format.
There is more about this in The Register.
UKUUG claimed in a statement today that Lloyd Jones “was wrong in his reading of papers,” before adding: “The matter will now be heard in open court.”
The group, which is made up of influential open source advocates in the UK, also quoted Lloyd Jones as saying UKUUG’s application “does not disclose any arguable breach of the procedures of BSI or of rules of procedural fairness”, and that it was “in any event… academic in light of the adoption of the new standard by ISO”.
The British press seems to be all over this. Here is the article from The Inquirer.
The standard was being used by Microsoft as a barrier to competitors getting a piece of its market, said the statement. The group is still trying to raise money to fund its action. Microsoft’s standard was given approval in a multinational vote at the International Standards Organisation. Four countries are contesting the award.
List of incidents (mostly misconduct) in the BSI and the UK you can find here, under “United Kingdom”. We assembled this list over a long period of time and it contains heaps of external references. The UK’s story is far from unique; it seems to be representative of the ‘norm’. █
“I have lost my sleep and peace of mind for last two months over these distasteful activities by Microsoft.”
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.