Bonum Certa Men Certa

ISO Reform Demanded, OpenISO Formed by Norbert Bollow (Updated)

Having witnessed a great deal of corruption, some people decided that it was time to give the ISO a lesson. Microsoft had people lose trust in their authorities, which were often 'bought', and the OSI's reputation took a dive as the impact of the complaints grew. Norbert Bollow seems to have given up on (a reform in) the ISO. He started his own project, which he calls OpenISO.

What do engineers do when they observe a problem? They start a project to fix it. A Swiss standard expert who got annoyed by the "Open XML bug" of ISO procedures launched OpenISO.org.


[sarcasm]Since we already have an OpenSUSE, how about an OpenNovell? [/sarcasm] Meanwhile, an open letter to ISO was dispatched as well. From the letter:

Norway - originally a process decided by unanimity but altered on the fly Sweden - voting seats bought and the result thus hijacked Switzerland - process rigged in favor of the vendor, the chairman excluded the option of voting “reject” or “reject, with comments” Portugal - process skewed by blaming on lack of available chairs Malaysia - two committees voted unanimously “rejection with comments” and mysteriously overturned by the government to “abstain”


OOXML in Malaysia, India, and Large Nations



With so much going on around the world simultaneously, we have not covered this last story about Malaysia (cited in the open letter above). The only time that we mentioned Malaysia, we pointed out Malaysia's selection and embrace of ODF.

"3.2 billion people voted 'No' on OOXML"One other country whose decision remained curious is India. We had to carefully check and see what India did at the end. Days after it's "No" decision (and just before the final vote), Microsoft unloaded a lot of 'charity' money onto the government. This triggered an orange light. India, being a large country, was an important voter to Microsoft. China and Brazil also. Remember that at the end, despite Microsoft's attempt to hijack votes (sometimes resorting to bribery), 3.2 billion people voted 'No' on OOXML as a fast-tracked ISO standard. Fast-tracked or not, even our favourite Microsoft apologist believes that OOXML will continues to fail its approval attempts.

"I don't believe the votes are later going to go in the other direction," said Zemlin in an interview. Zemlin is sometimes criticized within Linux ranks for his repeated admonition that Microsoft must be respected as a competitor. But he was unsparing in his assessment of the ISO fast track outcome.


Spillover



Another article of interest uses this somewhat political analogy to talk about OOXML.

Making just as many headlines as George Bush's travelling circus has been Microsoft's failed attempt to fast-track its OOXML document format to the status of an ISO standard.

Both these events have been annoying and pointless. Neither has done anything but generate a huge amount of FUD (fear uncertainty and doubt).


In case you wish to point out the technical flaws of OOXML (never mind 'politics' and corruption) , be aware that Stephane has finally tidied up his long essay.

Update: here is another new article about the failures in the ISO.

If the ISO ignores the need for a reform, it will be rendered irrelevant. A single company was able to corrupt it using some criminal minds. Microsoft craves ISO certification and ISO's blessing because more and more governments adopt policies that require open standard for successful procurement. The same goes for OSI, which explains Microsoft's motives in that other department.

These malicious plans had the ISO impose no penalty or resort to any intervention. This resulted in no litigation and severe punishment, despite antitrust laws. There is evidence to suggest that the ISO was biased in favour of Microsoft. Microsoft says it was all within the rules, but bribery (as in Sweden) is NOT within the rules. There are many other examples where rules (even laws) were broken. Enough solid evidence is also available to back this.

To summarise, there appear to be at least two vectors of response at the moment:

  1. The 'replace' solution. One is OpenISO, established by one who was betrayed in Switzerland.


  2. The 'fix' solution. The second is the Open Letter, which points out incidents of corruption.


The ISO would be hard to tame. Just like nations that accepted Microsoft bribery (in one form or another, or contrariwise -- extortion), the ISO appears to be moved by Microsoft's manipulative hand. In other words, there is direct impact as well.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Weaponisation of For-Profit Dockets - Part I: Hiding Behind Lawyers (or Guns for Hire) After Abusing Many People and Even Strangling Women While Microsoft Paid Salaries
This whole thing is very typical of the Microsoft and Bill Gates mindset
From EPO to "MAGA Regime": A Shift Away From Reality to Fake News and False Metrics
Disbelief in itself isn't a bad thing; but the problem is that people are taught to believe rich people in suits more than they believe others
Skype is Officially Dead Today and This is Why People Should Use Free Software Instead (Goodbye, Microsoft)
It's also a good reminder of why people should move to GNU/Linux
'Simple Articles' in MyGemini Just One of Many New 'Sites' in Geminispace
Geminispace has grown fast lately; it's turning 6 next month
 
Thanks for listening. How can this Morse feed be further improved?
Right now any and all feedback on the audio would be helpful
statCounter: Bing's Market Share Lower Right Now Than It Was When LLM Hype Began (With "Bing Chat")
If anybody gains at Google's expense in search, it is BRICS' alternatives such as Yandex
Gemini Links 06/05/2025: Failure and Proxmox Cluster
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 05, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, May 05, 2025
Links 05/05/2025: TikTok Still a Romanian Woe/Foe, Signal Perils Showing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/05/2025: Debian and GNOME and a "Welcome to Simple Articles"
Links for the day
Links 05/05/2025: US Economy Shrinks, US Presidency Spreading Deepfakes
Links for the day
Links 05/05/2025: Breaches, Environment, and Conflicts
Links for the day
SUSE the Company Now Uses LLM Slop to 'Write' Its Blog, What Does That Tell Us About SUSE?
There are many giveaways
Richard Stallman is in Alicante Today to Give a Talk, Czech Republic in Two Days (Wednesday)
Of course he can deliver the talk in Spanish
Gemini Links 05/05/2025: XL Bullies and Luddites
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 04, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, May 04, 2025
Links 04/05/2025: Science, Conflicts, and Monopolies
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Above 7% in Bulgaria, Rising Just Like in Most of Europe
Up to 7%, not counting Chromebooks
Data Shows Largest EU Economies Shifting to GNU/Linux
all-time highs
statCounter Says Only One in 6 Web-Connected Clients in Hungary Are Using Windows, iOS Almost Bigger Than Windows Now
Hungary is a cautionary tale in the world of European (or Russian) politics
Many Reports About Microsoft's Financial Report/Performance Are False, Fake News, Churnalism/Parroting, and LLM Slop (Machine-Generated Lies)
Even if you see a thousand sites saying that Microsoft is performing well ask yourself why the company is rushing to fire tens of thousands of workers and cancelling datacentres
Links 04/05/2025: FCC Turning Into MAGA’s Censoring Machine, SEC Pressured to Delist Chinese Companies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/05/2025: Historical Artifacts and Date Calculations in POSIX Shell
Links for the day
In the First 3 Months of 2025 GAFAM Debt Rose by More Than $14.4 Billion
That's based on their official statements
10-Step Strategy to Get BRETT WILSON LLP ("Gun for Hire"), Microsoft's Serial Strangler, and the Serial Defamer to Compensate Techrights and Tux Machines for Years of SLAPPs and Abusive Litigation
There's no room or capacity for forgiveness here; enablers and protectors of crime need to be scuttled and pay up in full
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 03, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, May 03, 2025