"What he [Vint] said."

For those in the audience who continue to believe that OOXML's opposers are just IBM and Sun or that the SFLC is their "front", here is yet another protester, joining the likes and the ranks of many more.

Speaking in favour of something is almost natural (just watch the impressive lists of ODF supporters), but speaking against something, as opposed to keeping silent, is another. InternetNZ has just found it important enough to openly express its sentiments against OOXML. [via Bob Sutor]

InternetNZ (the Internet Society of New Zealand Inc) strongly supports calls from Internet pioneer Vint Cerf opposing Microsoft’s proposed OOXML (Office Open XML) document standard.

[...]

Vint Cerf, widely regarded as the “father of the Internet”, was recently quoted, “If OOXML is adopted, it leads to a problem of duplicate formats for document exchange. That duplication is bad for interoperability. In the Internet world standards-makers work hard on agreeing one way to do things, and then evolving it - We don’t reinvent the wheel”.

InternetNZ fully supports Cerf’s assertion, and is also concerned about the technical quality of Microsoft’s OOXML standard.

While on this issue of multiple standards (or a real standard versus a vendor-specific de facto spec/implementation/filter/standard), watch this bit of news about the impact of Microsoft's Internet Explorer deliberate deviation from Web standards.

Internet Explorer 8 Could Break Applications, Gartner Warns

[...]

That's because many Web- or intranet-facing applications used in business were built to work with previous versions of Explorer, in which Microsoft often favored its own protocols over universal Web standards.

It is only natural to expect the consequences. Microsoft decided to go its own separate way and now it is paying the price. Everyone is paying the price.

The problems introduced by Internet Explorer 8 were already discussed in:

1. Microsoft Pretends to Obey Web Standards While Novell+Microsoft Phase Web Standards Out
2. Microsoft and Novell Pull Another Netscape Using Silverlight, OOXML
3. Quick Mention: Microsoft's Web Standards Abuse May Incur the Wrath of Europe
4. Does Internet Explorer 8 Have a Web Hijack Plan in Store? If So, Does Novell Help It?
5. Suspicious OOXML Fanboyism, Clues About IE8's New Engine
6. A Quick Look at Microsoft Latest strategy Against GNU/Linux
7. Microsoft's 'Interoperability' Already Broken on All Fronts

Microsoft has already broken the Web. It intends to continue this destruction, which Google warned about just a few days ago. Don't let Microsoft to continue to ruin a path to nirvana of document exchange between different platforms and different applications. To Microsoft, money -- not ethics -- is a top priority. Lock-in means money. Real standards mean no lock-in. ⬆