OpenDocument Foundation != ODF Advocates

It was less than a week ago that we complained about a pattern in eWeek. This pattern apparently continues to live on unaltered. Journalism is biased and unbalanced, so this ought to make everyone worried.

To be fair, the latest FUD comes from different directions, not just eWeek. This time it's OpenDocument format which grabs the spotlight and it's actually a site dedicated to squashing FUD that rebuts.

So to sum up - really, Mr Gilli [should be "Galli"], stop trying to make out there’s a major controversy and massive fighting amongst the Open Document Format advocates, because in reality there is none. The only thing which has happened is that a from what I can tell extremely minor participant in the Open Document Format committees has basically gone away in a hissy fit because they didn’t get their own way - that’s how I personally see it anyway.

An observation has just been made and it is particularly interesting. Quotes from Microsoft (on ODF) are aligned against the words of the Foundation as though they are conflicting and peer-balancing views. They are not. The Foundation wants funding from CIOs. Bashing ODF is one possibility for achieving this. Microsoft wants to maintain a proprietary format which is nothing but a matter of its financial interests (by its own admission). At the end of the day, as far as standards go, it's all about the money. It is neither about the consumer's needs, nor is it about the requirements set by governments.

Image from Wikimedia