Bonum Certa Men Certa

Nokia and Finland: A Mystery Behind OOXML and Silverlight

A concerned reader contacted us as soon as the following news had first made an appearance. You ought have come across some stories about Nokia and Silverlight by now, but if you haven't, here we go.

Herein we present some analysis rather than offering a more superficial breakdown of the news, in which case no new information will be added. From the Inquirer (to be considered as background):

Nokia signs up to Silverlight



[...]

Last year Silverlight announced its support for Linux and Macs. With this latest mobile push, Microsoft is moving toward making Silverlight a main competitor to the likes of Adobe flash.


Again, this is not true. Microsoft never announced such a thing for Linux, but it clearly continues to deceive with Novell's help. Moonlight is not Silverlight, either. It's not even a Flash alternative.

Here is what our reader told us:




Hi, Roy,

Something's going sour in Helsinki:

Five delegations gave default approval to the Ecma comments (Chile, Cote D'Ivoire, Czech Republic, Finland, Norway) http://www.robweir.com/blog/2008/03/art-of-being-mugged.html

Nokia to turn its back on web standards in older phones.

[...]

It's toxic for sure. What have Bruce Perens or Eric S. Raymond (ESR) had to say about this? ESR publicized the 'Halloween documents' which talked precisely about problems like that one, i.e. decommoditization of technologies.




On the issue of OOXML, mind pressure in the potentially-stacked panel in Finland. Follow the links contained in this cross-reference for more information about OOXML in Finland. Nokia was involved in what seemed like misconduct at the time (nepotism and interest/partnership-oriented decisions). More recently we saw the 'donation-as-a-lockin' trick being pulled in Finland, as well.

“Additionally, coming to mind is the recent incident where a former Softie, who now works at Nokia, intercepted Ogg...”It would be interesting to find out if Microsoft's departing head of the Mobile Unit, who recently moved to take charge of Vodafone, is related to this somehow. Can any of the readers help us find out? Additionally, coming to mind is the recent incident where a former Softie, who now works at Nokia, intercepted Ogg, whipping it right out of HTML5. He kept insisting that Ogg is proprietary (even affected by patents) and that DRM is the way to go. Both are lies of course.

Let's not forget Nokia and Qt. The acquisition of Trolltech may have been somewhat malicious [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] and it was soon followed by a flirt with Microsoft. It was about Windows Mobile. There are other deals including one that revolves around Microsoft DRM. To repeat this older news:

Nokia is to support Microsoft's PlayReady content access technology into the Nokia S60 and Series 40 mobile device platforms, starting in 2008.


Silverlight, just as a reminder, is a swing at Google and at LAMP, including of course GNU/Linux. Novell is sadly enough helping with this and I'm arguing with de Icaza over there in USENET at the moment. Me and others give him a very hard time with questions he is unable to answer about Moonlight and Mono licensing, especially when it comes to Novell and patent licensing. Responding to this latter issue our reader adds:




You have to wonder what's going on in the heads of people like him. Advancing the agenda of his movement not only sidelines better technology but causes active harm to the public in many countries.




Further to this, he points out suspicious decisions that relate to our earlier observations:




I would very much like to find out the rational for Finland and Norway moving NO -> Abstain -> YES recently and all in the face of corruption, irregularities, procedural violations, inappropriate constraints, and technical hortcomings.

ISO is not there to *develop* standards and MOOX is very clearly in the *early* stages of development. ISO is there to ratify finished standards. Clearly ISO's relation to Ecma needs to be reexamined.

[...]

It would help if we could get MS reflagged as the noxious and malevolent anti-American movement that it is...

A one-liner summing up the conflict of interests the Microsoft employees are under, would help.




Here is a timely press release from yesterday:



Curl’s RIA Platform Version 6.0 was announced in the fall of 2007 and makes it easier for developers to build enterprise-class RIAs.


Slightly older:



"The decision to release all of the Curl source code above the RTE was made to encourage broad adoption of Curl as a viable enterprise RIA platform and provide all of the components required to support development of Curl applications," Richard Treadway, vice president of product strategy for Curl, told LinuxInsider.




With the proliferation of mobile devices however, HTML browsing will not be available on all these systems, and the iPhone does not have Flash and probably will not have Silverlight either, said Ferraiolo. AJAX, however, is always there and is open and can be counted on, he said.


Those who say that RIA and Free software cannot go hand in hand are simply fulfilling their own prophecy and defend a selfish desire to take the proprietary route. Curl is Apache-licensed.

Some more timely warnings about Silverlight:



Avoid, avoid and avoid Silverlight. Do not allow Microsoft to seize the World Wide Web, which was established and succeeded owing to open standards and no cost barriers like software patents.

Silverlight toilet

Recent Techrights' Posts

Doing My Share to Tackle Online Slop and SPAM
Trying my best to 'fix' the Web
Slopwatch: Fakes, FUD, Duplicates, and Charlatans Galore
The Web as we once know it is collapsing. Some opportunists try to replace it with low-quality slop.
The Register UK Seems to Have Become American and Management is Changing (Microsofter as Editor in Chief)
The Register 'UK' is now controlled by the Directions on Microsoft guy
Microsoft Windows Lost 400 Million Users in a Few Years, Why Does The Register Double Down on Windows With New US Editor?
days ago they hired a new US editor
Links 25/07/2025: NOAA Cuts Endanger Lives, "Europe's Self Inflicted Cloud Crisis"
Links for the day
 
Links 26/07/2025: 50 Percent Tariffs in Amazon, Dying Intel Offloads Network and Edge Group (NEX)
Links for the day
Blaming Programming Languages for Users' and Developers' Bad Practices
That's like blaming cars for drivers who crash into things
Many People Still Read Techrights Because It Says the Truth, Produces Evidence, and Does Not Self-Censor
Unlike so many other sites
The Register is Desperate for Money, According to The Register
I decided to check how they're doing as a business
Microsoft Finally Finds a Use Case for Slop?
Create low-quality chaff to shift the media's attention?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 25, 2025
For Libel Reform One Must First Bring (or Raise) Awareness to the Issues and Their Magnitude
I myself know, from personal experience
Links 26/07/2025: Rationed Meals in the US and TikTok Repels Investments (Too Toxic)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: "Bloody Google" and New People in Geminispace
Links for the day
Response to Solderpunk (Father of Gemini Protocol) About the Gemini Community
Solderpunk responds to non-sequitur
HTML and the Web Used to be Something a Child Could Learn, "Modern" Web is a Puzzle of Frameworks, Bloat, and Worse
When the Web was more like Gemini Protocol
New US Editor in The Register is 84% Microsoft/Windows Booster
It'll be worrying if it carries on like this
Links 25/07/2025: Slop Blunders and China Has Code of Conduct for Lawmakers in HK
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/07/2025: Some Books and Babies and Capital
Links for the day
They Try to Lecture Us on Ethics
They even removed "master" from Microsoft GitHub
The Future of the Web is One Rendering Engine or 'Flavours' of Chrome
The future of the Web does not look bright at all
Best Sites Are Not Optimised for Any Browser, They Work Equally Well With All of Them
Red Hat (IBM) is making rubbish sites
YouTube is a Spamfarm, Slopfarm, and Clickfarm (a Lot of Numbers There Are Fake)
Those who don't fake look unpopular and unimportant
We Don't Do JavaScript and Pages Are Small
Thankfully Gemini Protocol has nothing like JavaScript
'Tech' is Not Technology
Some people use terms like 'Old Tech'
IBM's Debt Rose by Almost 10 Billion Dollars in the Past 6 Months Alone
The "hey hi" circus is coming to an end
Yes, Master
Gaslighting by actual racists
Microsoft Bribes and Buys Politicians to Tell Europe What to Do About Free Software (Which It's Attacking)
Microsoft: we speak for the thing that we are attacking! Follow the money...
Making Backups Quickly and Reliably
Backups are imperative, more so in an age of uncertainty, unpredictable weather, and worsening standards (quality of products going down while prices go up)
Techrights Investigation: Estimating the Point in Time LinuxIac Turned Into LLM Slop (Part of the Time)
Bobby Borisov got lazy
10th Month, Ten Weeks From Now, at Ten AM
In Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 24, 2025
A Nadella Memo Distracts From Microsoft's Cheapening Of the Workforce
Right now the "MSM" (mainstream media) is flooded/overwhelmed by garbage pieces that relay lies for Nadella
Vanishing Faces of GNU/Linux
Free software projects do not depend on any one person or company to still exist
Microsoft Says It Lost 400 Million Windows Users, Now It's Waiting for GNU/Linux to Stop Booting on 'Old' PCs
When it comes to Windows, Microsoft is fully aware of the issue and statements it made earlier this summer suggest it lost 400 million Windows users
Slopwatch: LinuxTechLab, linuxsecurity.com, LinuxIac, and More
Also: The Register's Microsoft agenda (new editor)
Gemini Links 25/07/2025: Gemtext Aware Titan Editor and Gemini Protocol Comeback
Links for the day
Links 24/07/2025: Convicted Felon Quits UNESCO, "Vibe Coding Goes Wrong", and Signalgate Gets Worse
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/07/2025: Forgejo Woes and Smolnet Directory Week
Links for the day
Misinformation is Not Intelligence
It's low-grade plagiarism and it fails to show any signs of intelligence
Links 24/07/2025: Storage Tapes Still Kicking, Windows TCO 'on Steroids' (Microsoft-Induced Catastrophes)
Links for the day
Bobby Borisov (LinuxIac) Has Apparently Begun Experimenting With LLM Slop, So We Cannot Trust LinuxIac Anymore
So did LinuxIac become a slopfarm? Maybe not yet, but it's getting there
Informa TechTarget's ITProToday is Becoming a Slopfarm Generated by Microsoft Chatbots
Busted.
'Tech' Gimmicks Are for Advertising, Not for Usability
In the case of Microsoft, they latched onto slop
BetaNews Sacked Brian Fagioli and Deleted His Comments, But He Still Tries to Use the "BetaNews" Brand for Self-Affirmation
Fagioli takes the work of other people
[Meme] Hard to Be a Better Person?
Sooner or later they'll realise that for each pound I spend they need to spend about 1,000 times more
The LLM Con Artists Are Highly Destructive
Who will ever be held accountable for this scam?
Too Bribed by Microsoft to Move to Free Software?
Microsoft lies and Microsoft bribery (in politics)
New US Editor for The Register is a Microsoft Booster
"Avram Piltch has served as US editor for The Register since July 2025."
Microsoft Hiring European Politicians is Another Form of Bribery; There Should be a European Investigation
When Microsoft bribed people in Europe for OOXML (there's no denying this!) a European government delegate said that Microsoft operated like a cult
Reda Demanded That FSF Removes Its Founder, Now Reda Works Directly for Microsoft
A sellout and a traitor, first working for GAFAM, now Microsoft
PCLinuxOS is Raising Money to Support Development After Fire Incident at the Host
PCLinuxOS has not had announcements lately
Speed of the Site Should be Better Now
The "bot attacks" impact the speed of the sister site too
Getting More From AnalogNowhere
Recently we used many images from AnalogNowhere
Microsoft, Microsofters and 'Secure' Boot Shills Already Storming the LWN Report About Expiring Certificate, Shooting the Messenger
LWN has clearly stuck a nerve
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Disable "Secure" Boot Today (the Only Better Time to Do So Was Yesterday)
Don't trust anything Red Hat tells you about security
Links 23/07/2025: Windows Killed Company After 150+ Years, US Government Mimics Russia's Attacks on the Media
Links for the day
Freedom Generally Wins at the End, History Shows (But It's Constantly Attacked, Too)
At the moment people realise "Linux" (e.g. Android) isn't enough to guarantee any freedoms
Over 3 Months Later Brett Wilson LLP Still Unable to Recruit a Media Lawyer?
"Immediate start", but not found... still unfilled