Bonum Certa Men Certa

OOXML/ISO Watch: Microsoft May Have Broken Antitrust Laws

Another antitrust reason for the DoJ's shopping basket

Andy Updegrove, whose persistent coverage of this topic is admirable, has used subtle language to share his assessment of Microsoft's OOXML affairs.

Appeals Court Rules that Deceptive Conduct in Standard Setting can Violate Antitrust Laws

While many of us have been preoccupied with the OOXML vote, the rest of the world has naturally been continuing to go about its business. One piece of business that took an interesting turn in the last few days is a ruling by a Federal Appellate Court in the United States that breaks new ground in protecting the integrity of the standard setting system. The ruling may also have relevance to the regrettable conduct witnessed in the recent OOXML vote.


Andy's calm assessments have also got the attention of the German press, which is not too shy to alienate some large global organisations.

Bloggers like Andy Updegrove, who have been keeping a close eye on the ISO process for some time, have criticised the voting procedure. He complains that the irregularities reported from some countries have cast a shadow over the credibility of the ISO process. For the standards organisation, it is therefore of particular importance to demonstrate the validity and integrity of the final result, otherwise it threatens to damage the whole system. Updegrove also accuses Microsoft of failing to take the time to produce a decent specification in the first place.


There is a nice new assessment of the specification itself [PDF]. One truly needs pass on such information. Complaining about the briberies, the lies, and vote stuffing leads to nothing but distraction from the main issue, which is the large number of deficiencies in OOXML. Here is another technical take whose conclusion is as follows.

Seriously how can anyone even use this specification? I sure wouldn't save my documents OOXML files. As a technical person (system administrator) I just can't believe someone ever thought this would make it as a standard?!?


As you may be aware, our site does not receive many inbound links because of its controversial name and its divisive goals. However, yesterday we received a link from C|Net. It came from Matt Asay's essay whose headline is "If corrupt, vote for OOXML". What a wonderful title, which we justified yesterday.

There is no place for corruption in a voting process and once corruption is detected, it absolutely must be addressed. Why should people be furious because no action in taken to reverse the problem or repair the broken system somehow?

Damn I’m infuriated by this. Technical decisions should be based on merit, not on depth of pocket. But now it’s not time to get mad — it’s time to get even.


ITPro has another nice article on the double standards for Microsoft and OOXML.

Related articles:

Recent Techrights' Posts

Links 23/11/2024: Press Sold to Vultures, New LLM Blunders
Links for the day
Links 23/11/2024: "Relationship with Oneself" and Yretek.com is Back
Links for the day
Links 23/11/2024: "Real World" Cracked and UK Online Safety Act is Law
Links for the day
Links 23/11/2024: Celebrating Proprietary Bluesky (False Choice, Same Issues) and Software Patents Squashed
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 22, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, November 22, 2024
Gemini Links 23/11/2024: 150 Day Streak in Duolingo and ICBMs
Links for the day
Links 22/11/2024: Dynamic Pricing Practice and Monopoly Abuses
Links for the day
Topics We Lacked Time to Cover
Due to a Microsoft event (an annual malware fest for lobbying and marketing purposes) there was also a lot of Microsoft propaganda
Microsofters Try to Defund the Free Software Foundation (by Attacking Its Founder This Week) and They Tell People to Instead Give Money to Microsoft Front Groups
Microsoft people try to outspend their critics and harass them
[Meme] EPO for the Kids' Future (or Lack of It)
Patents can last two decades and grow with (or catch up with) the kids
EPO Education: Workers Resort to Legal Actions (Many Cases) Against the Administration
At the moment the casualties of EPO corruption include the EPO's own staff
Gemini Links 22/11/2024: ChromeOS, Search Engines, Regular Expressions
Links for the day
This Month is the 11th Month of This Year With Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (So Far It's Happening Every Month This Year, More Announced Hours Ago)
Now they even admit it
Links 22/11/2024: Software Patents Squashed, Russia Starts Using ICBMs
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 21, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, November 21, 2024
Gemini Links 21/11/2024: Alphabetising 400 Books and Giving the Internet up
Links for the day
Links 21/11/2024: TikTok Fighting Bans, Bluesky Failing Users
Links for the day
Links 21/11/2024: SpaceX Repeatedly Failing (Taxpayers Fund Failure), Russian Disinformation Spreading
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Earned Two More Honorary Doctorates Last Month
Two more doctorate degrees
KillerStartups.com is an LLM Spam Site That Sometimes Covers 'Linux' (Spams the Term)
It only serves to distract from real articles
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 20, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, November 20, 2024