Quick Mention: Microsoft is Hijacking ODF
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2008-10-02 14:20:24 UTC
- Modified: 2008-10-02 14:20:24 UTC
So we were right
all along. Details
in Groklaw:
Guess what the SC 34 committee, the ISO/IEC committee responsible for OOXML, is up to now? I call it a takeover attempt of ODF, according to my reading of the published notes of the most recent meeting held yesterday, October 1st, and starring a document titled "Request to JTC 1 for alignment of OASIS and JTC 1 Maintenance Procedures." Uh oh. That sounds polite, but it is what it is. An attempted coup. They have already sent a "Liaison Statement" to OASIS. Surrender or else, what? SC 34 asks JTC 1 "to establish with OASIS a synchronised mechanism for maintenance of ISO/IEC 26300 and to inform SC 34 of the outcome." I gather they think they can do a better job of maintaining ODF than OASIS. What will JTC 1 do, do you think? You doubt they will hop on to this wonderful plan?
I gather the hope is, if the takeover were to succeed, that SC 34 would get to maintain ODF as well as Microsoft's competing parody "standard," OOXML. How totally smooth and shark-like. Under the guise of "synchronised maintenance", without which they claim SC 34 can't fulfill its responsibilities, they get control of everything. So utterly Microsoft. Microsoft yearns for interoperability, it seems. More like yearning for ODF's air supply to be ... well, you know.
[...]
Why do I say Microsoft, when this is SC 34? Look at this, will you? It has a list of participants in the July meeting in Japan of the SC 34 committee. The committee membership is so tilted by Microsoft employees and such, if it were a boat, it would capsize. In fact, I'd say it already has. Of the 19 attendees, 8 are outright Microsoft employees or consultants, and 2 of them are Ecma TC45 members. So 10 out of 19 are directly controlled by Microsoft/Ecma.
[...]
Mr. Durusau, Mr. Brown, and all you guys, listen up, please. That isn't the goal. Microsoft being "more open" isn't the appropriate end goal. If it's your goal, you have utterly failed. The goal is a standard that anyone can use equally, a truly open standard, available to both proprietary folks and FOSS. Microsoft being "more open" but not really fully interoperable and always a little bit ahead of everyone else in its ability to use a "standard" is by no means enough. We've lived in that kind of Microsoft world a long time now. We don't need "standards" that replicate it.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Five (or Three) Years Without Social Control Media
- Glyn Moody quit X (Twitter)
- Why GNU/Linux is Growing
- There's growing interest in GNU/Linux right now because people do not fancy buying a new PC just to 'upgrade' (more spying) Windows
-
- Microsoft's 'Lawsuit Diplomacy' (SLAPPs Riding UK Libel Law and Piggybacking UK GDPR, Inapplicable!) Will Only Give a Worse Image to Microsofters (and Microsoft), Give Exposure to Even More Suppressed Facts and Scandals
- Microsoft came to dominate some sectors because of (or owing to) crimes; Microsoft won't just go away without some more crimes.
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 19, 2025
- IRC logs for Saturday, April 19, 2025
- Electronics in People's Bedrooms
- Modern technology not only blurred the gap between "functions" of rooms
- Gemini Links 19/04/2025: Contingencies, GTD, and Old Computers
- Links for the day
- Links 19/04/2025: Economic Races, Charm Offensives, and USB-C Rants
- Links for the day
- Links 19/04/2025: "Infantilization at Big Tech" and LLM Slop Abused in Defiance of Workplace Rules/Policies
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 19/04/2025: Palm Addiction and Real Experts
- Links for the day
- Egypt is Controlled by Google, Not Microsoft
- Moving from Microsoft to Google is not the answer
- Microsofters Say They Cannot Find a Job (That They Want) Because of Techrights, But Techrights Merely Reported on Their Behaviour
- Quit pointing the finger at people who are recipients of abuse or merely mention the abuse
- Free Software and Standards - Not Marketing Blitz - Needed Amid Growing Severity of Dependency on Hostile Suppliers (or Another Country's Sovereignty)
- ZenDiS can be described as the "Center for Digital Sovereignty of Public Administration"
- When It Comes to the Web, Google is Evil and It Destroys the Web's Integrity With LLM Slop
- Even academia, which is meant to keep standards high, is being lured into LLM slop
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 18, 2025
- IRC logs for Friday, April 18, 2025
- Links 18/04/2025: "Fentanylware (TikTok) Exodus Continues", Chinese Weapons Allegedly in Russia Already
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 18/04/2025: Price of Games and State of Tinylog
- Links for the day
- Sounds Like IBM is Preparing for Mass Layoffs/Redundancies in Red Hat, Albeit in "PIP" (Performance Improvement Plan) or "Relocation" Clothing
- This isn't the "old" IBM; they're applying pressure by confusion and humiliation
- Gemini Links 17/04/2025: Role of Language and Back to Mutt for E-mail
- Links for the day
- "Sayonara" (さよなら), Microsoft
- Windows had fallen below iOS in some countries
- Links 18/04/2025: Layoffs at Microsoft Infosys and Qt Becoming Increasingly Proprietary (Plus Slop)
- Links for the day
- Google News is Dying
- treating MElon's algorithmic/biased site as a source of verified news
- Microsoft's Attack Dogs Have Failed. Now What?
- It would be utterly foolish to assume that Microsoft has any intention of changing
- All Your "Github Projects" Will be Gone One Day (Just Like Skype)
- If you have code you wish to share and keep, then start learning how to do so on your own
- To Understand Who's Truly Controlling You Follow the Trail of Censorship (or Self-Censorship)
- Do not let media steal and steer the narrative; CoCs are not about "social justice", they're about corporate domination
- Fedora Already Lost Its Soul Under IBM
- Fedora used to be very strict compared to many other distros and it had attracted very bright volunteers
- Microsoft is Still Attacking GNU/Linux and the Net
- Microsoft bribed the government using money that did not even exist
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 17, 2025
- IRC logs for Thursday, April 17, 2025
- Gemini Links 18/04/2025: Pinephone Pro and Linux is too Easy
- Links for the day