03.26.08
OOXML: What Happened in the Czech Republic?
A new report found in LinuxWorld says that the Czech Republic votes “Yes” to OOXML, but it says very little beyond it.
The Czech Standards Institute (CSI) has voted to make Microsoft’s Open Office XML format a standard, the organization said Tuesday.
Let’s look back again at stories we have gathered over the past year. The CSI is not to be confused with another CSI that goes by the same acronym. The Croatian Standards Institute (CSI) is not the Czech Standards Institute (CSI), but the story from the neighbors at Croatia was appalling. Be sure to read it.
Another report from last year adds little credibility to the whole ‘political’ side of the situation: Microsoft’s man in Europe carries communist-era baggage
That report sparked a flurry of speculation in Czech media and online chat rooms about Muehlfeit’s role under the communist regime, and it elicited a public statement at the time from Microsoft, which supported Muehlfeit’s integrity.
The story is probably a distraction at this stage, but a more descriptive item is this one which contains dead links to expired items.
Just recently, Pavel Janik from Czechoslovakia together with some friends also printed out the specification. In this case, they printed it one page per sheet which resulted in this towering stack; 6 bindings of 1000 pages each. This was for a workshop on MSOOXML at ČNI (Czech standardisation institute), the equivalent of SIRIM in Malaysia.
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This is probably the reason why Microsoft continually seems to be sending non-technical people (to Malaysia and Czech ) to these workshops probably to try to convince us of the merits of the specification not on a technical level, but on a “political” level.
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Judge for yourself if Czechoslovakia’s recommendation back in February 2007 still seems like a practical request:
“Open documents, generally open standards, are very important for global information exchange and therefore they need very broad discussion of all interested parties.
For this reason the Czech Republic suggests using the standard procedure for the development of ISO/IEC standard from the document ECMA-376.”
The most information you can probably find here.
Can you imagine better way to spend 4 hours of your Friday afternoon time than discussing OOXML problems with non-techies from Microsoft?
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I simply can’t believe that developers and or TC45 members from Apple, Barclays Capital, BP, The British Library, Essilor, Intel, Microsoft, NextPage, Novell, Statoil, Toshiba, and the United States Library of Congress actually read the final document. I can’t believe it. If I ever write such document, I surely won’t sign it by my name. Why?
It is very simple and I wrote it several times. I do not like to look like idiot. After reading few pages of the specification, I think TC45 members simply like it OR they never read the specification OR something else ($$$$$)…
It’s a long and very memorable journal item. Be sure to read it if you are curious. Microsoft has a track record of manipulating and corrupting many countries for their “Yes” vote, so suspicion is muchly justified here. █
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CoolGuy said,
March 26, 2008 at 10:56 am
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1454056082
what an ass..
The bottom line is that OpenDocument, among others, will lose if OpenXML loses. … Passage of OpenXML in ISO is going to benefit OpenDocument as much as anyone else.”
Chris has worked at the News Service since October 2007. Previously, he served as news editor for Redmond Developer News, a magazine and Web site aimed at enterprise software developers working primarily on the Microsoft platform.
Roy Schestowitz said,
March 26, 2008 at 11:13 am
The confusion over Durusau’s role is a pile of baloney, as some ODF experts have said over a week ago. Durusau is on the same panel which was stacked aggressively by Microsoft in order to approve OOXML.
I published an item about it just a couple of minutes ago. Added were 4 references that shed light on Durusau’s role and situation. I hope this clarifies things.
This is a multi-billion-dollar question to Microsoft. It never plays nice and it gets even worse (behaviour turned most aggressive) when deadlines loom. Expect more before Monday.
Peter Kraus said,
May 26, 2008 at 4:22 am
It’s Czech Republic and Slovakia. Not Czechoslovakia.Since 1993.Slap the guys at Openmalaysia.