Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Fights OpenOffice.org and ODF Using FUD, Technical Problems (Updated)

[Update (19/06/2008) : We have supplementary screenshots in this follow-up post.]

It is already known that Microsoft fought ODF like fire. It even ran a Get the Facts-type campaign against it. It's easily provable because it is all well documented.

In the IRC conversation below (a fragment from Monday), you will find some of the latest examples.




<Eruaran> Currently if you attempt to open a .odt document for example in Microsoft Word, you get assailed by dialogues that say the document is corrupted, asks you if you want to 'fix' it, and it insinuates you shouldn't trust it or the source it came from. <schestowitz> Remember DR-DOS? <Eruaran> I know there are many people who will think negatively about ODF because of this kind of flat out BS in Microsoft products. <Eruaran> yes <schestowitz> http://boycottnovell.com/2007/08/03/do-dos-odf-microsoft-sabotage/ <schestowitz> http://boycottnovell.com/comes-vs-microsoft/text/msg00083.html <schestowitz> http://www.boycottnovell.com/comes-vs-microsoft/text/msg00194.html <Eruaran> I love this one: "If Microsoft says you’ve got five fingers on each hand, many people will insist on an independent count." <schestowitz> Microsoft: "what the guy is supposed to do is feel uncomfortable, and when he has bugs, suspect that the problem is dr-dos and then go out and buy ms-dos, or decide not to take the risk for the other machines he has to buy for in the office." <Eruaran> Even if they tell the truth, nobody trusts them, such is their history and reputation. <Eruaran> yes, they are up to the same old tricks <schestowitz> "Concerns have been raised that DR-DOS incompatibilities and flaws are being overlooked by reviewers. [...] We recommend that we *informally* plant the bug of FUD in their ears. “Have you heard about problems with DR DOS?” <Eruaran> I decided to try and open an open document in Word one day just to see what happened... what I saw simply disgusted me. * PetoKraus (n=Peter@host-77-247-224-25.isper.sk) has joined #boycottnovell <Eruaran> Have you seen the clip on YouTube where a guy attempts to use Vista's voice regognition with OpenOffice ? <PetoKraus> :D <Eruaran> He tries it out with MS Word, then word pad and it all works fine <schestowitz> http://www.odfalliance.org/resources/BurtonGroupResponseFinal.pdf [PDF] (Microsoft's Burton puppet: "ODF is simplistic" (bad word). Beat in mind that Pete O'Kelly later had contracts with Microsoft. Lots of money. <Eruaran> Then he tries it with OpenOffice and Vista's speech recognition suddenly develops selective deafness and an inability to comprehend basic speech patterns. <PetoKraus> Eruaran: got vid? <PetoKraus> *link <schestowitz> Yes, please. <Eruaran> yes, just a sec PetoKraus (and hello) <PetoKraus> i'd even launch firefox to see that :) <schestowitz> That;s something to write about. Also your easrlier observation., <Eruaran> If you like I could take some screenshots tomorrow at work <Eruaran> of the dialogues MS Word gives you when you try to use and ODF document <schestowitz> Please do. The error message. I can make an Ogg from YouTube vids. <schestowitz> Yes, a screenshot would be good. <PetoKraus> schestowitz: how do you do that, anyway <Eruaran> I was disgusted when I first saw them because I knew that Microsoft knows damn well what a .odt is <schestowitz> akf told me about a service that allows you to download the flvs. I used to have PyTube working, but Google broke its functionality.




It ought to be pointed out at this stage that Microsoft claims to have become 'buddies' with ODF [1, 2, 3, 4]. Not quite, eh? Later on came the video, which we have produced an Ogg Theora version of.

Ogg Theora



As embedded Flash, for those who prefer it in this form:



This conversation then continued:




<Eruaran> Vista speech recognition refusing to work with OOo: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=5sVQlphmqsU <Eruaran> One commenter says: It is a demonstration of how Vista speech recognition is deliberately crippled with a non-Microsoft piece of software. * mark_antony_ken1 (n=user@host86-152-103-82.range86-152.btcentralplus.com) has joined #boycottnovell <PetoKraus> LMAO <schestowitz> Wow. <schestowitz> The "Wow" starts.... now. <Eruaran> yes * mark_antony_ken2 (n=user@ellandroad.demon.co.uk) has joined #boycottnovell <schestowitz> So we can conclude from this that Notepad is better than OOo <PetoKraus> sure! <Eruaran> oh yeah ;) <PetoKraus> it has more useful features




In conclusion, Microsoft hardly changed its way. The predatory nature of the Beast lives on to this date.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Inviting the Founder of GNU/Linux to Events (It Only Costs His Travel Expenses) and Recalling the True Origins
It's reassuring to see belated recognition
The Microsofters Have Just Shared Privileged Trial Data With Microsoft
There are serious ramifications for liability accountability as Microsoft salaries sponsor these SLAPPs
Trolls With LLM Slop Are Disrupting Communications About Mass Layoffs at IBM
LLM slop to drown out the signal
 
Links 17/05/2025: Microsoft Kills "Surface Laptop Studio" (More Canceled Products/Units), Groups Caution About Harms of Social Control Media
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/05/2025: Sympathy Algorithm and SSH on Alternative Ports
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Microsoft's Anti-Linux Propaganda and Cover-up, Slopfarms Clogging Up Google News
slop-tracking activities that observe googlebombing of "Linux"
AstroTurfing by IBM in thelayoff.com is Highly Risky (and Likely Outsourced)
Microsoft did this in Reddit (and got caught), so why won't IBM too?
Links 17/05/2025: Stabber of Salman Rushdie Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/05/2025: Happier on Gemini and Manipulating Reddit
Links for the day
ComEd and Microsoft: A Mess of Spaghetti Held Together By Circus Clowns
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, May 16, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, May 16, 2025
Links 16/05/2025: Microsoft Sacks Pregnant Women, People Fired on Their Birthday; Adobe Censorship Failing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/05/2025: "Repairing Our Way out of Commodity Fetishism" and Pre-librebooted Computers
Links for the day
[Video] IBM Shakes Hands of Prince Mohammed bin Salman
handshake of loyalty
The SLAPPs From Microsofters Distract From Serious Copyright Infringement by Microsoft and Apparent Business Crimes
Aside from other issues, such as strangling women
Enshittification is Everywhere: You Pay More, the Services Get Worse
"Enshittification" is a term coined by an online friend; I increasingly use this term to describe what's happening even outside the realm of technology (which it was adopted to describe)
Microsoft Reduces Office Space Ahead of More Waves of Mass Layoffs
"The Gerstnerisation of Microsoft"
Anti-Linux FUD Produced by Microsoft LLMs to Blame "Linux" for Microsoft's Own Failures
We call out some of the worst culprits
Gemini Links 16/05/2025: Hoking GPS, Grabovac, and Tanana
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, May 15, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, May 15, 2025
Microsoft WARN Notices Proliferate in the United States
From what we've seen, this wave was more than 3% (a lot more) and the next wave/s will be even bigger (possible as imminent as weeks from now), based on insider leaks
Links 15/05/2025: Google Betrays Publishers Again, Openwashing by Sysdig
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Still Respected by Many in the Libre Graphics Community
Richard Stallman and Professor Moglen never harmed anyone
If You Read Techrights, Then You Probably Want to Read Tux Machines as Well
That site is more active than this one
Gemini Links 15/05/2025: Forced Music in Publicly Accessible Space and ~silv is Online
Links for the day
Links 15/05/2025: KOSA Censorship (USA Becomes More Like KSA) and More National Cuts
Links for the day
Bing Might Shut Down - Just Like Skype Did - Some Time in the Coming Months/Years (Parts of It Already Shut Down)
they try to bring the losses under control
Your Real Ally Would Not Defend the Company of SLAPP and Strangling of Women
who's left to tell us what's true?
Breakdown of Microsoft Layoffs Shows It's About Cost, Not Performance or Hype (Like "AI")
MSN (Microsoft) reposted this with some unnecessary spin
The Lawyers Working for the Serial Strangler From Microsoft on SLAPPing Techrights Have Apparently Lost Their Voice
the moment we mentioned that their media lawyer is leaving they went all quiet in social control media
At IBM, Relocation Can be a Trick or a Trap (IBM Gets Rid of Staff Under the Guise of "Relo")
IBM is not being honest with employees
Microsoft Rumours: This Week's Scale of Layoffs "Higher Than Reported" and More Coming Soon ("A Lot More Severe" Than May's)
The "3%" figure is false
Slopwatch: Sloppy Brian, Brittany Slop, and General Observations
Creative people don't need slop; there's just nothing good about it, slop appeals to lazy people careless about quality
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Beyond Mass Layoffs at Microsoft: Entire Units Shut Down for Good
And it's far from over
Links 15/05/2025: Crikvenica, Analog Computer, and Slop 'Hallucinations'
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, May 14, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, May 14, 2025