11.21.08
Posted in Formats, Microsoft, FUD, Deception, Standard, OpenDocument, Open XML at 1:23 pm by Roy Schestowitz
Microsoft has already used up some of its usual ‘buddies’, namely IDC and The Burton Group [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24] (among others), to slam ODF and rival office suites. Now it Gartner’s turn and guess where the report turns up first? That’s right — Microsoft. For those who do not know what the Partner Group is, here are places to start:
Venture a guess as to who wrote the report? People can learn about him here. He is one of Microsoft’s well-known mouthpieces, who has already planted pro-OOXML messages in the press. The guy literally spends his life with Microsoft employees.
More recently we wrote about Gartner in [1, 2, 3]. Maybe the likes of Gartner are worth reporting to the FTC for harming business, just like the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT).
The industry would be better off with open formats and choice. A proprietary format can only be described as preferably by those who are foolish or bribed. And we’ve already seen Microsoft bribes in the OOXML saga. Be critical and be very suspicious. █
“Analysts sell out - that’s their business model… But they are very concerned that they never look like they are selling out, so that makes them very prickly to work with.”
–Microsoft, internal document [PDF]
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11.20.08
Posted in Formats, Microsoft, Novell, Standard, OpenDocument, Europe, Open XML, Audio/Video at 9:53 pm by Roy Schestowitz
FFII has recordings of yesterday’s conference. There are over 10 hours of this, which is a lot, but those who care to listen carefully will find Microsoft’s Morasco talking about OOXML in GO-OO, which is Novell’s evil fork of OpenOffice.org [1, 2, 3, 4]. Novell has supported OOXML since 2006 when it signed a harmful patent deal with Microsoft. Novell was a major force in this campaign for vendor lock-in.
There is plenty more among these talks and it would be handy to have the WAV files stored there permanently for future reference. There are nice bits in there, which are worth exploring to realise just how Microsoft mixes specifications like OOXML with patents and Novell. In the afternoon session, Morasco said that even open source software is supporting OOXML. This probably includes former Novell employees.
Elsewhere in the news, Bob Sutor writes about the need for universal standards such as ODF.
For the first time in memory, technology standards have become a discussion topic at legislative hearings, on the U.S. presidential campaign trail and at E.U. regulatory meetings. Why the scrutiny? Shouldn’t we trust that computer companies will always have the public interest at heart? Won’t we always be able to open and read electronic documents?
A committee is already established to manage ODF and enforce conformance.
The Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (Oasis), which fights for open standards for information, has formed a new committee to advance the OpenDocument Format (ODF).
As pointed out very recently, Microsoft’s Web-based office suite is an OOXML and Mono trap and it should therefore be avoided. The following short article is a reminder of the fact that in order to escape Microsoft’s lock-in, ODF or old binary formats are still required. OOXML is no-man’s land, except Microsoft’s.
But the company objective is certainly to retain not only visitor for as long as possible, but also to their market share in Web advertising, and specifically with regards to their new, free online office productivity suite that will compete with Google’s own product, which is currently oriented towards open source document formats such as ODT (Open Document Text), also supported by the OpenOffice.org suite.
It’s best to escape to ODF as soon as possible. Microsoft goes to great lengths to muddy the water with proprietary OOXML, for which it corrupted ISO. █
“Microsoft corrupted many members of ISO in order to win approval for its phony ‘open’ document format, OOXML. This was so governments that keep their documents in a Microsoft-only format can pretend that they are using ‘open standards.’ The government of South Africa has filed an appeal against the decision, citing the irregularities in the process.”
–Richard Stallman, June 2008
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11.19.08
Posted in Formats, Microsoft, Open XML, ISO at 7:50 am by Roy Schestowitz
“ISO is dead for software standards. Do you need an official funeral?”
–Benjamin Henrion, FFII (days ago)
Mischief O’ mischief, how we love thy
Microsoft past our Gates we let be
Proprietary junk, no less than a mule’s load
Surely we must not care how for ISO this will bode
And here we present on this very special day
A bogus format so passionately bribed for
To shows that corruption can truly pay
Hereby we announce with unprecedented glee
Patent-encumbered rubbish, finally you can purchase for a fee █
References:
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10.12.08
Posted in Formats, Microsoft, Standard, OpenDocument, America, Open XML, Africa at 10:58 am by Roy Schestowitz
From the Campaign for Document Freedom
The previous post covered a rather disturbing development. It can probably be explained by the growing momentum of an industry standard, which harms one Microsoft’s few profitable products (and most profitable among them). The latest official adopter of OpenDocument is the Venezuelan government and it’s only one among many.
Venezuela joins a growing list of countries which have adopted the open format as a method for exchanging documents within government and with citizens. These countries include fellow South Americans Uruguay and Brazil, as well as Malaysia, South Africa and Belgium.
The ODF Alliance previously listed 14 national governments and eight provincial governments as having adopted the ODF standard, with Venezuela adding more South American weight to the list.
Here are some more interesting numbers:
Marino Marcich of the ODF Alliance pointed out that there are now organisations from 62 countries represented in his membership, and I’m left with the strong of impression of a growing global community of practice in governments of every kind, both politically and geographically. From small roots ODF has grown to both a global movement and a strong technology, spreading wherever fair-minded people are willing to take a stand. It’s been worth the trip.
ODF Olympid 2008 has also just been announced. It goes under the heading “Towards a Computer Literate Society,” which is symbiotic with the philosophy of a free standard that’s entirely supported by Free software.
We have already covered a lot of the abuse around OOXML. Developing countries suffered a lot from corruption and there are some disturbing testimonies from even professors in India. Some months ago we also wrote about what seemed like a possible bribery of Indian charities by Microsoft. Arnaud Le Hors rightly wonders what kind of people are willing to work for such a vicious company. He cites that story about India charities where he writes:
With all the things that have been reported around OOXML over the last year I’ve often wondered what it must be like to work for a company that appears to be willing to go beyond what most would find acceptable to win.
Why do some people insist that Microsoft has changed? This lie is penetrating social media sites through what Bruce Perens suspects to be marketing people whom he came across before. █
“Microsoft corrupted many members of ISO in order to win approval for its phony ‘open’ document format, OOXML. This was so governments that keep their documents in a Microsoft-only format can pretend that they are using ‘open standards.’ The government of South Africa has filed an appeal against the decision, citing the irregularities in the process.”
–Richard Stallman, June 2008
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10.11.08
Posted in Formats, Microsoft, Novell, Office Suites, OpenDocument, SUN, OpenOffice at 5:27 am by Roy Schestowitz
THE FINAL release of OpenOffice.org 3.0 is scheduled for the 13th of this month and launch parties are already being arranged.
OpenOffice.org is throwing a launch party in Paris on 13 October to mark the eighth anniversary of the popular open source office software suite and announce – it hopes – the release of version 3.0.
It’s bad practice to be hammering on the mirrors prior to an official announcement, but impatient people
already grab their copy and so can everybody else.
OpenOffice.org 3.0 Final has already been uploaded to a variety of mirror download sites ahead of the official announcement Monday 13.
Novell’s Michael Meeks pondersways of measuring the success of OpenOffice.org, which is used by one in four people in Brazil, for example.
Is success measured in downloads, or up-loads ? are bugs filed as good as bugs fixed ? are volunteer marketers as valuable as volunteer developers ? If we have lots of bugs filed and lots of volunteer management material is that success ? is the pace of change important ? Does successful QA exist to create process to slow and reject changes, or by accelerating inclusion of fixes improve quality ? Is success having complete, up-to-date and detailed specifications for every feature ? Is success getting everyone to slavishly obey laborious multi-step processes, before every commit ? Alternatively does success come through attracting and empowering developers, who have such fun writing the code that they volunteer their life, allegiance and dreams to improve it ?
He is taking cheap shots at Sun and we will write about that shortly.
According to a school’s IT professional, OpenOffice.org is more than enough to fulfill the students’ needs. More importantly, it’s Free (libre) software.
For the vast majority of users (students, teachers, and administrators, especially), OpenOffice is more than good enough. The price is certainly right, too.
Here is another new post about OpenOffice.org and other Free software programs in education.
The UK Government, even more so now they have just spanked £500bn propping up the banking system, must start to act and reduce the outrageous and completely wasteful expenditure on proprietary software. Why oh why don’t we just do a nation-wide roll out of OpenOffice.org to EVERY computer in the public sector and especially in Education? It would be a good start, and then we can get rid of that festering boil called Windows later.
* No more extortionate upgrade costs,
* no more public documents created in binary, patent encumbered formats,
* an end to the single vendor lock-in and monopoly,
* no more two-tier children…
Now more than ever (due to the credit crunch in particular), governments must consider OpenOffice.org not just for schools but also for themselves. As the following press release stresses, ODF is essential for presentation Microsoft Office does not support ODF.
2nd Annual Global ODF Conference Convened in South Africa to Discuss Access, Choice in Document Preservation
The South African government, in collaboration with the OpenDocument Format Alliance (ODF Alliance), will host the 2nd International OpenDocument Format (ODF) User Workshop, 9-10 October 2008 in Pretoria, South Africa.
The world could learn a lot from South Africa where freedom is understood better or appreciated much more because it was only recently regained (decades ago). █
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10.06.08
Posted in Formats, Microsoft, Office Suites, Standard, OpenDocument, Europe, SUN, Open XML, Ecma, IBM, OpenOffice, ISO at 11:47 am by Roy Schestowitz
When we last looked at the demise of ISO, as expressed by blogs and evidenced through the mainstream press, there was not sufficient feedback from ISO itself. None of this has truly changed and the near-silence is deafening.
The word about ISO is being spread very quickly at the moment, mainly thanks to diplomacy at Norway, which tolerated the corruption less than anybody else (or any other country for that matter). There is a good roundup of the situation over at ComputerWorld (Boycott Novell is referenced as well) and in InformationWeek’s Microsoft blog, which is understandably apologetic about it.
Last week, 13 of 23 members of Norway’s International Standards Organization (ISO) committee resigned. They were resigning in protest to Norway’s official decision to favor Microsoft’s OOXML document format as an ISO standard, despite a “no” vote by 21 of 23 committee members. (Microsoft and Statoil were the Norway committee’s only two “yes” votes.)
A week earlier, IBM voiced dissatisfaction with the OOXML approval process, and threatened to leave ISO if the organization didn’t protect its decisions from “undue influence.” Now there is some concern that Microsoft is trying to take over the Open Document Format (ODF) process in an attempt to control or destroy its document-format competitor.
As always, the bad news for ISO and for OOXML is coupled by further progress for ODF. OpenOffice.org 3 is set to be released next week (October 14th) and tomorrow Sun will release the fourth release candidate. In addition, SoftMaker supports ODF now.
Not only does it happily read or write Microsoft Office documents in all formats up to Office 2003/ XP (even password-protected Word files), but the suite also reads OpenOffice SXW and OpenDocument ODT files for maximum compatibility with other suites.
ODF awards will be coming soon. ODF is mostly in the hands of OASIS at the moment, so ISO’s (and ECMA’s) gutter-level reputation should have little or no influence — for now. █
“This was horrible, egregious, process abuse and ISO should hang their heads in shame for allowing it to happen. Their reputation, in my eyes, is in tatters. My opinion of ECMA was already very negative; this hasn’t improved it, and if ISO doesn’t figure out away to detach this toxic leech, this kind of abuse is going to happen again and again.”
–Tim Bray
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09.07.08
Posted in Formats, Microsoft, OpenDocument, Open XML, ISO at 2:17 pm by Roy Schestowitz
Here is a new practical example of the harms of Microsoft’s OOXML.
Recently I was caught with three versions of a document to which I needed to make some small changes. I had a printed version, a version saved out of Microsoft Office 2007 (for the record, I made that document on someone else’s computer), and a version saved in the Open Document format (ODF). Unfortunately, where I was, I only had access to Microsoft Office 2003 and no ability to install software. In the end, I had to retype the document off of the printed version. This simply should not be necessary. If there was a single, universally supported document format, this problem would not have occurred. Really, a standard document format is in everyone’s interest, except possibly Microsoft’s.
Instead of one uniform standard, which was the goal of ODF, all that’s left is fragmentation and confusion. Another case of point from the news:
Saving as RTF from Open Office works just as well. The ePub format is based on XML and workflow is possible starting from the Open Document Format. However, at the moment RTF seems an easier option.
Here is why the world ended up this way.
It is bad enough that the brutally-corrupt ISO might infect the IEEE with its bad reputations; now it appears to be happening with the IEC.
The IEEE and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) have agreed to extend their existing cooperation agreement, which describes a procedure for submitting and approving existing IEEE standards to IEC, to include a procedure permitting joint, parallel development of a project in both organizations leading to an IEC/IEEE International Standard.
Martin Bryan, Former Convenor of ISO/International Electrotechnical Commission JTC1/SC34 WG1, wrote: “The disparity of rules for PAS, Fast-Track and ISO committee generated standards is fast making ISO a laughing stock in IT circles.” Convergence with ill-reputed bodies is the last thing the world needs. █
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09.04.08
Posted in Formats, Microsoft, Standard, OpenDocument, Asia, Open XML, ISO at 3:11 pm by Roy Schestowitz
Several officials in several different nations have already called for a possible ISO replacement to serve as a criterion for technical selections. Things appear to be progressing and here are some of the latest reports.
ISO Becomes Irrelevant
The press just can’t leave ISO alone after that latest debacle [1, 2, Can ISO Be Still Saved from Microsoft?, 4]. Those who believe that they have seen the worst of it ought to check out ECT and David Berlind.
The move is prompting some members to question the organization’s very legitimacy.
My post here isn’t to say which ISO standard better or worse: OOXML or ODF. But, with the ISO’s approval of OOXML as a standard for the same thing that the ISO-ratified ODF does, the ISO is now getting outted for the way its practices could plunge it into irrelevancy. ArsTechnica recently published a post under the headline ISO: procedural shortcuts OK, OpenXML appeal denied. Pamela Jones over at Groklaw asks why certain provisos in the ISO’s own directives document are somehow getting overlooked. And there are tons of other posts about the issue amounting to a collective “What the ?” from the Internet community.
At Linux Journal, consensus and transparency are discussed in this context.
But when countries start questioning the entire standardization process, or worse, as is the case with the fight over Open XML, start accusing the standards body of being unduly influenced by corporate concerns, we then have a real issue that needs to be looked at deeper. Standards bodies cannot afford to be even thought of being driving by a corporate perspective, despite the fact that many standards start out that way. Standards bodies, to be of any value must be independent, and must be willing to consider, up to a reasonable point, objections to the standard. If not, then the whole issue of a standard is moot.
It makes the point that if ISO becomes just a ‘front’ for a company, then it’s hardly more ethical or authoritative than the BSA or the RIAA. it’s an illusion of independence and Microsoft’s capture of ISO is a known problem.
Indian Policies Become Incompatible with OOXML
Over in India, claims a reader, “it is a happy moment. One of the demands of FSUG — Bangalore’s campaign for document freedom — was a national policy for open standards.”
“This comes shortly after India’s protest and appeal against ISO’s decision regarding OOXML.”According to the guys who are pushing for change over there, “[t]he government has released a draft version of a Policy on Open standards for e-Governance. It is presently open for Public review.”
“The policy seems to have some really good points,” they argue, citing as examples the following:
5.1) Mandatory Characteristics:
5.1.1)Selected Standard should be Royalty Free for life time of the standard.
5.1.2)Selected Standard should be developed in a collaborative and consensus manner and not led by a single agency or a small closed group of interested parties
5.1.3)Selected Standard should be recursively open; They shall not use unpublished extensions
Here is the policy document [PDF] in its current form.
It’s still open for discussion (here or elsewhere). This comes shortly after India’s protest and appeal against ISO’s decision regarding OOXML. █
From the Campaign for Document Freedom
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« Previous entries ·
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.