Bonum Certa Men Certa

ECMAJavascript and ECMA's OOXML Are a Sign of Things to Come

“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.” --Marie Curie

An anonymous reader contributes the following piece of analysis.




Microsoft benefits from standard bodies, then breaks/drops the standards



This is what Microsoft does, and proof of how much respect Microsoft has for standards and standards bodies: When it best suits its interests, it relies on ECMA (replace ECMA with any standards body) as has been the case with MSOOXML. On the other hand when ECMA standards are supported by the competition (like Mozilla and Javascript/ECMAScript), they try to break them (Extend, Embrace, and Extinguish) or come out with something different and utterly incompatible.

Links of interest:

Microsoft Mozilla Disagree Over JavaScripts Future

Open Letter to Chris Wilson [of Microsoft]

Brendan Eich, the creator of JavaScript, writes:

"The history of ECMAScript since its beginnings in November 1996 shows that when Microsoft was behind in the market (against Netscape in 1996-1997), it moved aggressively in the standards body to evolve standards starting with ES1 through ES3. Once Microsoft dominated the market, the last edition of the standard was left to rot -- ES3 was finished in 1999 -- and even easy-to-fix standards conformance bugs in IE JScript went unfixed for eight years (so three years to go from Edition 1 to 3, then over eight to approach Edition 4). Now that the proposed 4th edition looks like a competitive threat, the world suddenly hears in detail about all those bugs, spun as differences afflicting "JavaScript" that should inform a new standard."


It reminds me too much of the way Microsoft has recently used ECMA in order to advance their competing office format and tried to avoid/derail adoption of the (truly) open standard already approved by ISO: ODF/ISO26300.

”...they will for sure "break" the standard or drop it altogether in order to keep its monopoly...“So, even if the ISO had passed MSOOXML as ISO standard, or if it eventually does so (remember there will be a "political" ballot held in February 2008 in order to decide on MSOOXML being granted an ISO Standard, as opposed to the previous "technical" one, where MSOOXML failed miserably despite Microsoft attempts to stuff the technical committees and other various maneuvers intended to hijack the process) This recent ECMAJavascript example should serve as proof that, should at any time become convenient for Microsoft to disengage from that format in the future, they will for sure "break" the standard or drop it altogether in order to keep its monopoly and lock-in on the application market in question (In ECMA case, it is Internet Browsers, in the MSOOXML case, it is Office Productivity Suites).




Mind the following previous coverages of ours:



The first item shows that Microsoft hasn't strong intentions of sticking to its own 'standards'. The second is another quick analysis involving this recent development that revolves around JavaScript. It was only about a week ago in this Web site that I said I cannot trust Chris Wilson. It finally turns out that these suspicions were justified.

We have covered Microsoft's perversion of Web standards many times before and Novell's role in this mess is made most apparent because of their Silverlight support. They lend Microsoft a hand and essentially serve as a GPL proxy at the same time.

Novell loves the monopoly



When it comes to 'extension' and corruption of well-established consensus, it's not just the Web, let alone OOXML. Think about HD/JPEG. As we have argued in the past, Microsoft will possibly have MS-DRM 'addons' as soon as this direction suits its financial interests. The same goes for XPS, so let's keep our eyes open.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
 
GNOME GUADEC 2022 & Debian Albanian women trafficked to Mexico?
Reprinted with permission from the Free Software Fellowship
Sainsbury's: It Takes Us Up to Two Days to Respond to Customers Upon Escalation (and Sometimes Even More Than Two Days)
It not only does groceries but also many other things, even banking
People Don't Just Kill Themselves (Same for Other Animals)
And recent reports about Boeing whistleblower John Barnett
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day