02.05.08
Rob Weir and Bob Sutor Return to Discussing the OOXML Frauds
Someone has to put it bluntly
In recent weeks, especially after the publication of a damning article from a journalist who had received Microsoft incentives, Microsoft has been constantly accusing IBM. It dares to portray IBM as the ‘bad guy’. But wait! Is Microsoft trying to make us all forget how it orchestrated a takeover of the whole process and pretty much broke the law? Are we supposed to pay attention to IBM rather than realise that Microsoft could actually get sued for its endless OOXML corruptions around the world?
This is all well-documented and it’s not going away. The real story was told and it will continue to be told time and time again. Having IBM come under fire is Microsoft’s idea of diverting attention away from the real felon or attempting to respond like a 5-year-old who sticks his tongue out and says “he does it too” (only in the boy’s wishful mind).
As means of reflection, noooxml.org wrote about this serious issue as well.
It is getting personal. Now Microsoft openly attacks IBM and IBM employees. The accusations against IBM of leading the international effort against office open xml ISO standardization are far from reality. However, the real matter is if that accusation is defamatory for IBM.
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The campaign has to criticize the submitter. IBM clearly prefers a more diplomatic approach. Standard experts as IBM’s Rob Weir provided widely recognized factual analysis. IBM may talk about “small nations that are easily influenced” while a campaign would call them a “banana republic”. Through the debate we got closer and closer to more direct communication. From mostly unreadable marketing language we transformed the language of the submitter into emotional frank statements.
Here is Bob Sutor’s polite response where frauds (pardon the strong word, but you have to call it what it is) are renamed “bad behavior”.
IBM: Microsoft is engaging in “bad behavior”
We spoke to Bob Sutor, vice president of standards and open source for IBM, who responded to Microsoft’s recent claims regarding IBM’s involvement in the OOXML dispute. “IBM believes that there is a revolution occurring in the IT industry, and that smart people around the world are demanding truly open standards developed in a collaborative, democratic way for the betterment of all,” Sutor told Ars. “If ‘business as usual’ means trying to foist a rushed, technically inferior and product-specific piece of work like OOXML on the IT industry, we’re proud to stand with the tens of countries and thousands of individuals who are willing to fight against such bad behavior.
At times when Brian Jones makes cheesy and hostile remarks about IBM employees [1, 2] it becomes rather clear that Microsoft’s new strategy is to accuse others rather than justify its own behaviour (some examples are appended at the bottom, embedded as hyperlinks).
That strategy which revolves around diversion won’t work for Microsoft. People already know (or will soon know) far too well what has happened and they also understand that OOXML is nothing but another proprietary format.
Microsoft hosted four different conference calls last week where officials called its proprietary XML standard essential to progress, and said Microsoft could not possibly support the Open Document Format.
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Blogs like Boycott Novell and Noooxml have gone into fine detail on Microsoft’s takeover of national standards bodies and its attempt to, in effect, transform the ISO into a vendor consortium.
For the time being, you are advised to avoid OOXML at all costs. .docx is used almost nowhere and it’s Microsoft Office-only. Don’t help it spread. There’s already an international standard called ODF. It’s far better, technically and morally. Contrary to what north-western parts of America (and their press) want you to believe, ODF is thriving among software vendors, governments and even businesses. █
Related articles:
- More Irregularities in the OOXML ISO Process Surface
- OOXML in Norway: The haywire process
- Microsoft Hires Programmer to edit Wikipedia Entry For OOXML
- No is no, to OOXML
- What Happened in Germany [OOXML Vote]
- IBM is still locked out of the Portuguese OOXML meeting
- Latest INCITS Voting Results on OOXML; JTC1 Vote Begins to be Stacked
- Microsoft Looks for the Big Guns in OOXML In-Fighting
