All of this was expected (and even scheduled). Just as Miguel de Icaza, as (now former) President of the GNOME Foundation may have had GNOME associated with OOXML through ECMA presence, de Icaza, now wearing his Novell hat (mind the listings in the event) defends OOXML.
Who is Novell fooling? As far as attendant of the XML 2007 conference are concerned, Novell, represented by de Icaza in this case, opines that OOXML is needed.
During the XML 2007 interoperability panel — sponsored by Microsoft and of which Rajagopalan was a part — the ongoing battles that have raged for the past couple of years between Microsoft and the backers of ODF were a mere sidenote.
Comments
Jeff Waugh
2007-12-04 22:18:09
As noted in my post about GNOME and Novell, and in the GNOME Foundation's plans to fix our chairman/president naming issues, Miguel was entirely inactive in that role, and had no influence on the Board regarding these issues (or any others).
I know you're going to keep bringing it up because you think it's amusing, but just so your readers know: This is precisely the behaviour that makes "Boycott Novell" look foolish, and stops it from serving the community in a positive way.
Just get over it Roy, and do the right thing for a change.
Roy Schestowitz
2007-12-04 22:36:57
The main purpose is this post is to point out that Novell is out there supporting OOXML, even if it's only a one-man crusade. That man happens to be a representative. A sole representative.
You need to stop attacking the messenger and actually address some burning issues. These are issues that were brought up before, but none of you dared to challenge them.
Jeff Waugh
2007-12-04 22:45:30
No, it seems not. You're still making these insinuations, despite their irrelevance to either the truth, or the immediate story.
Roy, if you have questions, my door is open. But you're not interested in doing any research, particularly with the relevant and knowledgeable stakeholders (even though GNOME is utterly irrelevant to this story)... You only have sensationalist insinuations and conspiracy theories.
Do the right thing, Roy.
Roy Schestowitz
2007-12-04 23:39:40
For me, this issue was never entirely resolved (I think that you already know this). From where I stand I see a president stepping down amid times when GNOME (Foundation) is criticised for its OOXML stance/actions. It is very clear how Miguel feels about OOXML. Trying to deny his influence in GNOME is fine (it makes things much better), but it's akin to someone apologising for poor authorities (WoMD come to mind), which cannot improve the image of a nation as a whole. OK, this is a poor analogy for various reasons, but the point worth making here is that saying "Yes, my president has the high chair, but he doesn't do much" is reasoning so difficult to defend.
How independent from GNOME is Miguel? Evolution comes with GNOME in quite a few GNU/Linux distributions and it seems clear from his blog that there is still involvement -- however indirect it might be. Separating GNOME desktop from Evolution, for example, is not like separating car from carpet; It's more like separating Java from JavaScript.
Jeff Waugh
2007-12-04 23:51:53
Roy Schestowitz
2007-12-05 00:18:17
Jeff Waugh
2007-12-05 00:24:55