Bonum Certa Men Certa

Setting the Record Straight on OOXML and Silverblight [sic]

Could Vote Rigging Get Any More Obvious Than This?



Many shameless deniers -- spearheaded primarily through disinformation, which is notably disseminated by Microsoft -- are out there continuing to rewrite history, badly. Let it be reiterated that the OOXML saga was so abundantly filled with corruption that setting up a page summarising it all is nearly impossible. There are literally hundreds of separate scandals that come to mind. One interesting new find is this one.

Microsoft Puppet countries are leaving the P membership. Lebanon, Turkey, Cyprus, and Trinidad & Tobago have already dropped out. All those countries voted Yes without comments to OOXML.


Let's clarify what we see here. Andy Updegrove was astounded (he even publicly complained) around August last year when several nations suddenly joined in to vote for 'no apparent reason' (it was obvious to a prudent observer that knows all about OOXML).

MicrISOftThe countries stayed there not only for the September 2007 vote, but for the second one at the end of March 2008 too. Now that it's all over, just a month after the announcement from ISO, suddenly they drop out again ("back to normal, business as usual"), having just accomplished their mission, so to speak. Assignment completed.

It's mildly amusing actually because Microsoft's puppet don't even try hard enough to cover their tracks by lingering on and sticking around for a while longer. It's very revealing. Don't believe us? Ask the man who was in charge before being replaced by another Microsoft puppet. Here is what he said:

"This year WG1 have had another major development that has made it almost impossible to continue with our work within ISO. The influx of P members whose only interest is the fast-tracking of ECMA 376 as ISO 29500 has led to the failure of a number of key ballots. Though P members are required to vote, 50% of our current members, and some 66% of our new members, blatantly ignore this rule despite weekly email reminders and reminders on our website. As ISO require at least 50% of P members to vote before they start to count the votes we have had to reballot standards that should have been passed and completed their publication stages at Kyoto. This delay will mean that these standards will appear on the list of WG1 standards that have not been produced within the time limits set by ISO, despite our best efforts.

The disparity of rules for PAS, Fast-Track and ISO committee generated standards is fast making ISO a laughing stock in IT circles. The days of open standards development are fast disappearing. Instead we are getting “standardization by corporation”, something I have been fighting against for the 20 years I have served on ISO committees. I am glad to be retiring before the situation becomes impossible. I wish my colleagues every success for their future efforts, which I sincerely hope will not prove to be as wasted as I fear they could be."

--Martin Bryan, ISO 'Escapee'
Formerly Convenor, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34 WG1



Speaking of ISO being hijacked, we mentioned this earlier today and it needn't be doubted anymore. Many other strategic 'forts' got hijacked by Microsoft. Yes! Obey Microsoft or be bullied, even if you are a distinguished professor or a government official (probably several).

flickr:2401273308



Another Clarification: OpenOffice.org Does Not Support OOXML



We stressed this before, but Microsoft and its apologists -- even a few who are deceived inside the FOSS world unfortunately, trolls in this site included -- continue to repeat the self-justifying nonsense. Let's just say that again: OpenOffice.org does not support OOXML. Put more clearly:

Some others take a more pragmatical approach, but even that one is very much telling about the whole OOXML farce. In this category, we find the OpenOffice.org project. Despite what Microsoft will tell you, OpenOffice.org does not and will not provide OOXML €« interoperability €» . It will however provide an import filter that users will be able to use in order to import documents formatted in the format used by Microsoft Office 2007 and 2008 that bears the name of Microsoft Office Open XML(OOXML). What this means is that the OpenOffice.org project has to work directly on the files edited and created by MS Office 2007 and 2008 in order to provide compatibility and does not use the OOXML specification, as it is not implemented by MS Office 2007 and Microsoft Office 2008. So much for interoperability. The jury is still out, by the way, on the search for OOXML implementations. The ones that exist are either broken or else very limited (even the famous Novell plugin).


Once again you can hopefully see the role of an OOXML villain called Novell, which did a big favour to Microsoft in exchange for cash. Speaking of which, Mary Jo Foley disappointed yesterday with a headline suggesting that "Silverlight for Linux" is now available. There is no "Silverlight for Linux" and therefore it's an inaccurate and deceiving headline that gives Web developers the wrong impression. Microsoft refused to support GNU/Linux, so instead it used Novell to make a clone that's always behind and requires patent 'protection'. It's the perfect arrangement for Microsoft, which even Miguel de Icaza has denounced by now. Appended below are some new bits of information about Flash.

Why JavaFX (Maybe Flash) and Not Silverlight



Regarding Flash versus Silverlight, we have discussed this before.

In today's news you might discover that Adobe was kind enough to finally treat GNU/Linux like a first-class citizen, at least as far as the Flash player goes (it made such promises back in 2006 but only in vain):

Once piece of welcome news is that Adobe is releasing the Flash Player 10 beta for all major platforms — Windows, Mac and Linux. Adobe has even upped the Linux ante with a new installer specially tailored for Ubuntu users. Barclay says that Adobe considers Linux a major platform and will continue to make all Flash releases simultaneous across platforms.


This is important because the Web is increasingly becoming a semi-replacement for some native applications. Here is a new article about this trend, with focus on Adobe AIR.

Twhirl is built on Adobe AIR, which has a lightweight client library that allows Web developers to use familiar tools and languages to build first-class desktop applications. Software created with AIR is fully interactive and network-enabled, with a rich UI. But unlike traditional Web applications, AIR apps gain the immediacy and user engagement that come from running outside the browser window.


Also recent is the following article which suggests that an open source Adobe Flash player might be inevitable: (colouring in red is ours)

Both Otte and Savoye do see some limited good coming out of the Open Screen Project. Otte suggests that the growing openness of Adobe might help to reduce the reservations in the free software community about working to reproduce proprietary technologies, as well as "the general 'flash is evil' attitude" that prevails in the community."

Moreover, both Otte and Savoye see the announcement as a hopeful sign. "I think Adobe will open up Flash in the end, or at least the Flash player," Otte says.


It refers to the following recent announcement:

Software maker Adobe announced Thursday that it would drop many of the licensing requirements attached to its Flash technology, which is used to display video and audio content on the web.


Let's not forget that Adobe is now in the Linux Foundation, but there's still work to be done.

I would hope that Zemlin will encourage Adobe to now treat Linux as a first class citizen as opposed to an afterthought for release after Windows.

I hope Zemlin will pressure Adobe to finally actually make Flash -- not just the player -- but Flash CS3 Professional, (the core Flash development tool) available for Linux as a fully commercially available and supported product. It is somewhat ironic in my opinion that Adobe can join the Linux Foundation, claim to support Linux and yet not offer its flagship Flash development tool on Linux.


Last but not least, as far as RIAs go, be aware that JavaFX is GPLv2-licensed. It's probably the one to promote at the moment.

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