Openwashing has been a key ingredient of Microsoft's strategy as of late, pretending that its privacy violations and patent racketeering are somehow outweighted by some kind of goodwill. This is something that not only Microsoft does but also the (partly) Microsoft-owned Facebook is doing quite a lot these days. It is truly disturbing.
"When the press is trying to insinuate that Microsoft (Office) and Facebook are open there is clearly something wrong with the press."So once again they are using "Open Source" to promote proprietary lock-in. This is not a novel concept, Microsoft did this with Novell (converter). Phoronix says: "This work may benefit some open-source document editors / office suite software, with more commentary being available from Michael Meeks' blog."
How is being reliant on OOXML beneficial to anyone but Microsoft shareholders? This is a trap. We need to reject this format. Google too should stop its unhelpful backing of OOXML, which is getting more detrimental by the day (more of it in the company's latest event was disclosed, affirming Google's lack of commitement to document standards).
As noted by some bloggers and writers for the European Commission's Web site: "To ensure preservation of digital assets, it is essential that specific file formats are implementable in open source software, concludes Björn Lundell, associate professor at the University of Skövde in Sweden. He recommends this should be made a requirement for digital asset strategies of public administrations, thus minimising the risk of losing control over these assets."
Well, there are patents in OOXML and complexity which shows that it's really just designed around one implementation in a proprietary form (Office). OOXML should be rejected, especially in the public sector. There is nothing open about it. It's a massive lie.
Nicholas Miller from VentureBeat and others play a role in a similarly-disturbing campaign that seeks to paint Facebook as "open". With press release-oriented 'journalists' out there it has been quite easy. The Facebook openwashing that we recently wrote about is further promoted by pro-Facebook sites that use semantic jokes to get across this illusion.
When the press is trying to insinuate that Microsoft (Office) and Facebook are open there is clearly something wrong with the press. These are systematic and very persistent (especially this year) openwashing campaigns that everyone should push back against because these deceive and help derail real Free software. ⬆