03.01.08
Tim Bray: “[OOXML's BRM] Process Irretrievably Broken; Complete, Utter, Unadulterated Bullsh*t”
Yes, we saw that coming [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. If it smells bad to begin with, it will end up stinking the whole place. And that’s just the ECMA/Microsoft congregation actually was.
Tim Bray, a senior who attended the secretive meeting (you could get sued for blogging about it), finally speaks out. It’s loud and clear:
Now that the BRM is over, I feel I can write about it a bit more; there are some restrictions, but I’ll lay them out. Summary: A lot of good work was done, but the process is irretrievably broken.
[...]
What Was Bad · The process was complete, utter, unadulterated bullshit. I’m not an ISO expert, but whatever their “Fast Track” process was designed for, it sure wasn’t this. You just can’t revise six thousand pages of deeply complex specification-ware in the time that was provided for the process. That’s true whether you’re talking about the months between the vote and when the Responses were available, the weeks between the Responses’ arrival and the BRM, or the hours in the BRM room.
Remind yourself of the way Microsoft bullied Tim and his wife. If this is not what they call gangster culture, what is? More details about the BRM will be posted shortly. █
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Victor Soliz said,
March 1, 2008 at 7:41 am
I just don’t get why ISO should have a fast track process at all, perhaps it would be useful for upgrades of standards, but even that sounds like too much.
Roy Schestowitz said,
March 1, 2008 at 8:53 am
I’m far from a standards expert, but you say “why” and we already have an anwwer. Microsoft abused the system like nobody’s business.