Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Microsoft Crowd Uses the Word Verdict to Throw FUD at ODF, More Spin Comes from Denmark

Microsoft dirty tactics



Summary: Contrary to abundant FUD out there, ODF is not at risk due to the i4i lawsuit

OUR PREVIOUS posts covering i4i vs Microsoft [1, 2, 3] have concentrated solely on OOXML/Office simply because there is unique history to this case. i4i did not specifically target OOXML (or document formats in general) as some people wish for this to seem. For details, have a look at older posts such as:

  1. Microsoft Accused of “Willful and Deliberate” infringement and “Discovery Misconduct” in Another Patent Case
  2. XML Patents, Microsoft Aggression, and ODF Hostility
  3. Microsoft is Again Paying the Huge Price for Wanting Anti-Free Software Laws
  4. Reader Explains “Microsoft Innovation”


Microsoft is now ordered to pay $300 million and the lesson to be learned can also be attributed to Mahatma Gandhi.

So, is someone playing tit-for-tat or an-eye-for-an-eye? Mahatma Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." In the weird, wonderful world of digital technology where greedy corporations can convert standards (that should rightfully belong in the commons) into private property, anything can happen.


As BNET points out, this dispute is not over ODF and other writers agree. This never prevented the Microsoft-funded 'analysts' from suggesting otherwise in order to cast a shadow on ODF.

ODF Not Implicated In i4i Suit



[...]

That contradicts assertions by Burton Group analyst Guy Creese, who told Visual Studio Magazine that the patent could spell trouble for the next version of ODF because “ODF 1.2 will move to a similar custom schema that OOXML has.”

Likewise, Gartner analyst Brian Prentice told CNET that the fallout from the lawsuit may “also impact ODF.”


Need it be said that the Burton Group is in Microsoft's pocket and also a prominent opposer of ODF for years? As for the latter, Gartner's Brian Prentice is a big lobbyist for software patents and apparent promoter of Microsoft, based on his writing history that we documented in recent months [1, 2, 3, 4]. That's not even to mention Garner in general [1, 2, 3, 4]. Here is the source of the FUD and here is IDG linking to Ziff Davis (eWeek), both of which have business relationships with Microsoft [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. Here is Kolakowski fueling Gartner's FUD:

“If the validity of the patent is upheld then the immediate question is whether this will also impact ODF [OpenDocument Format],” Brian Prentice, an analyst with Gartner, wrote in an Aug. 12 blog posting. “If so, then this turns out to be a significantly more important issue and one which will crystallize the fury of the anti-patentistas.”


What may not be known to most readers is that the author, Nick Kolakowski, is also running eWeek's Microsoft site, where almost every post is an advert for Microsoft, so it's essentially part of that large network in the mainstream media whose only purpose it to create buzz and increase presence of Microsoft, a marketing company to a great degree. IDG did the same thing in other languages and Matt Asay, who is not too familiar with the matters at hand, took the bait and passed it on via CNET's wires. He was soon corrected (with the correction appearing only at the bottom).

Update: See Sean Michael Kerner's post, suggesting that two particulars (i4i is not a patent troll and i4i and Microsoft had a business relationship) suggest that the open-source world has little to fear from this suit.


Why is CNET passing misguided blog opinions as news, even though the writer is hardly familiar with the document formats debate? There is also a good deal of anti-GNU/Linux passing via CNET/Gartner [1, 2]. Then, like in a broken telephone effect, Lora Bentley parroted Asay (before his correction was made). Sooner or later, the whole Web got saturated with disinformation, creating an atmosphere of fear of OpenOffice.org and ODF (one person says: "Indeed, but it makes me worry about ODF and OO.org").

The fear is substanceless in this case as the real issue is Microsoft's patent aggression and XML patents. i4i sued Microsoft because Microsoft stabbed them in the back (see links at the top) and in a similar vein, it is Microsoft which suffers from ODF the most, so to grind an axe with ODF is only expected from Microsoft, whose XML patents we wrote about in:



In better news today, OpenOffice 3.1 gets a pretty decent review from PC Pro while OpenOffice.org 3.1.1 Release Candidate 1 is announced.

OpenOffice 3.1 brings some welcome new features and some much needed polish, says Simon Jones

OpenOffice.org has recently released version 3.1 of its eponymous software suite, a minor upgrade that brings some welcome features and some much needed polish to the nearest thing Microsoft Office has to a competitor.


The document debate in Denmark is also heating up (mostly articles in Danish), but Leif Lodahl drops some information in English by stating that the "Danish Competition Authority; Public purchase of office software should also in the future support either OOXML or ODF"

“How does making several mutually-incompatible formats actually beneficial through competition?”Also he added (his English is not so strong): "Danish Competition Authority; to select ODF as the one standard will not increase competition"

There is another conversation there where Christian Lanng is corresponding with a proven Microsoft proponent about the subject. He argues that "The Danish Competition Authority rule that choosing ODF or OOXML alone would be limiting for competition" and that "only by choosing both formats can we INCREASE competition."

This makes no sense. How does making several mutually-incompatible formats actually beneficial through competition? We saw the same pattern of deception earlier this month in India and last year in Malaysia. It is classic spin where competition between office suites is suddenly recast as a preferred competition between formats, which would be destructive to people's data and work flow. Here is the article in Danish. One has to wonder whose strings are bring pulled and by whom?

"37 letters with exactly the same words. Some of the senders didn't even care to remove the 'Type company name here' text.
Simular letters has been circulating in Denmark as an e-mail from the Danish MD Jørgen Bardenfleth to customers and business partners.
I call it fraud, cheating and disgusting. If I wasn't anti-Microsoft before, I am now. Disgusting !"

--Leif Lodahl

Recent Techrights' Posts

In defence of JD Vance, death of Pope Francis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Three Years in Prison for Disney Employee’s ‘Menu Hacking’: The Economic Fallout of Digital Menus
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Approaching 10,000 Articles/Pages Since Going Static
Trying to silence or derail the site was always a dumb strategy
Microsoft is Shedding Off Loads of Staff and That Can be Dangerous Too
Working for Microsoft is a choice; nobody forces you to do it
Richard Stallman and the Unix Philosophy
When asked about systemd people must remember that RMS speaks as an active Board member of the FSF and also the founder of the FSF
Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
Slop is a disease on the Web
 
Links 26/04/2025: Facebook Layoffs Again, Remembering What's Real, and Say No to Mass Surveillance
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: NOAA Budget Cuts and "Dog Days Ahead"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 25, 2025
Links 25/04/2025: Slop Fatigue and Patent Judges Flocking to Fake, Unconstitutional and Illegal Kangaroo Court (UPC, Captured 'Justice')
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Night Manager and Devuan in Hosting
Links for the day
Windows Falls to New Lows in Nicaragua, Now Below a Quarter (It Used to be Almost 100%)
Another all-time low for Windows
The Cost (to Linux) of LLM Slop
Slop 'artists' like Fagioli are far from harmless
Links 25/04/2025: Ubisoft Spyware, Hegseth Fails at Tech on Every Level
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Food Forest Update and Facebook Destroying the Net
Links for the day
Streaming Apps Are “Investor Fraud” That Kills the Planet
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
IBM's Debt Ballooned by 8.5 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months!
Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
Big Trouble in GNOME
even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
Slopping the Trough: Disney Plus Loses Billions and the Decline of Physical Media in America
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025
Links 24/04/2025: GAFAM Problems and No Peace (or Ceasefire) in Sight
Links for the day
Slopfarms on the Web Almost Always Generate Anti-Linux FUD When They Produce "Linux" Output
Welcome to the dying Web
Richard Stallman's Oxford Talk Has Just Ended, Here Are Some Photos
he might hop over to another European country
Gemini Links 24/04/2025: Birthday and Good Work of Academia in Esotericism
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2025: EU fines Apple and Facebook, Another Microsoft GitHub Security Blunder
Links for the day
New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
Congrats to the management!
In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
"I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
Links 24/04/2025: IBM Loses Many Contracts, Intel to Lay Off Over 20% (Not Counting Those Who Leave 'Voluntarily')
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025