04.04.08
Microsoft’s Press on OOXML: Admission of Misconduct
Almost right from the horse’s mouth…
The following find has been highlighted elsewhere, but a reader sent us a tip under the subject line “Microsoft partner channel openly (bald faced) celebrates corruption…”
To quote the body of this message:
“It’s a pity this probably won’t be enough proof for a jury, but I am sure the press will be delighted about it, and maybe the competition authorities as well…
“Source: http://rcpmag.com/blogs/weblog.aspx?blog=2075
“P.S.: I printed it to a PDF file in case they make the article offline in order to try to do the damage control… (I am sending it attached to you)”
From the article at hand (essentially in Microsoft’s own press):
“Of course, we’re sure that Microsoft, uh, strongly encouraged a few delegates from a few nations to change their votes — which lots of delegates did. And, really, OOXML’s acceptance isn’t all that big of a deal for partners and users, practically speaking; after all, Microsoft document formats are also de facto standards.
“But now, all of those government agencies charged with implementing standards-based computing are free to turn away from open source and run back to sweet mama Microsoft if they so choose. And whatever momentum open source had gained by taking the standards route in IT departments has certainly slowed — if not come to a screeching halt.”
Thank you, RPC, for this one shiny gem. It will prove handy as a reference for future posts. To use the words of Fred Astaire, “they can’t take that away from me.” █
Tomas de Torquemada said,
April 5, 2008 at 3:13 am
There you have it, all the proof you’ll ever need – except for one small issue.
RCP is not a Microsoft owned publication, it belongs to 1105 Media Inc., whoever they are. They claim to have no legal affiliation with Microsoft whatsoever in their FAQ, and I’m guessing it would be illegal for them to claim that if it was not true.
So, it isn’t exactally “from the horses mouth”, just a noise from a horse with a similar sounding name.
Roy Schestowitz said,
April 5, 2008 at 5:40 am
That’s why I wrote “Almost right from the horse’s mouth…”
From Microsoft itself (the ‘horse’) we have already heard that it’s “a simple matter of Microsoft’s commercial interests.”
SubSonica said,
April 5, 2008 at 5:54 am
In a second read the article seems to have a rather ironic tone, but nontheless what is true is that “turn away from open source and run back to sweet mama Microsoft ” is exactly the sole purpose of MSOOXML an the whole ISO charade. Legal relationships aside, that channel partner publication is, no doubt, 99%+ aligned with Microsoft interests.
Roy Schestowitz said,
April 5, 2008 at 10:45 am
Well, just watch that headline… Return of the Champ. Here is a good comment:
“April 03, 2008 | comment by Sean Keeney from Cheltenham, UK
This isn’t a football game, it’s a decision that will affect the archiving of a huge lump of our society’s documents for years to come. Quit with the cheer leading idiocy. Also, I seem to remember George W proclaiming victory after a week of ‘shock and awe’. Remind me how that turned out again? Microsoft have bought the battle, it doesn’t mean they’ll win the war.”
PJ says:
“My, I hope the EU Commission reads that. You mean the goal of OOXML wasn’t interoperability after all? It’s for anticompetitive purposes? My stars. Who’d a thunk it?”
I have never seen RPC heckling Microsoft and I’ve been through literally hundreds of articles from there.