04.24.08
Posted in Asia, ECMA, Europe, GNU/Linux, Interoperability, Microsoft, Open XML, OpenDocument at 10:01 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
There is a lot happening in Europe at the moment, but that’s not the only subject of this post. Herein you’ll find a grouping of more good news for real open standards (like ODF) and Free software. The OLPC debacle may have eclipsed the good news, but it’s actually a wonderful time and another major tipping point for GNU/Linux.
As far as FOSS and ODF go, some weeks ago we saw big success stories in Germany [1, 2, 3]. This wave is not over yet and here is some of the latest.
According to this German article, the City of Munich and the German Federal Foreign Office have started to collaborate on the implementation of their open source and open standards strategies.
Germany intends to gain more independence (practical and financial) with Free software and Microsoft does not sit idly. Microsoft’s OOXML misconduct in Germany was last summarised here, however partially.
Over at the Commission, which already has Microsoft on probation, questions about OOXML as a procurement option arose. We last wrote about procurement and misconduct just a day ago. Here is the latest:
THE EUROPEAN Commission has started investigating Microsoft’s OOXML standard under procurement rules instead of the old competition statute with which they usually bash the software giant.
The Danish Unix User Group (DKUUG) complained to the EC’s competition regulators in February about a Danish government mandate on the use of software standards. But the Competition lot didn’t want to know about it.
The European Commission confirmed today that its Internal Market people had taken up the complaint. They were examining it to see if it constituted an infringement of procurement rules.
[...]
It was based, as originally, on the idea that Ecma International, the standards body that backed OOXML, had specified that the standard was to be implemented “in a way that is fully compatible with the large existing investments in Microsoft Office documents.”
This meant that it was designed to give Microsoft documents an advantage, said, Simonsen, in the same way a television manufacturer might have an advantage over its rivals if had designed a signal that was tuned to operate special features on its own sets.
The EC’s procurement police are now considering whether this puts the Danish government in breach of procurement rules, despite the moves Microsoft has made to make its standard acceptable.
It seems clearer that unless Microsoft considers implementing or officially supporting ODF (and properly so), Microsoft Office could become irrelevant and excluded from government procurement. The Microsoft Spin Machine appears to be well lubricated though. Watch what it emits in the Malaysian press:
It’s not about choosing, but about having a choice.
Yes. Try to understand that fantastic quote from Yasmin Mahmood, Microsoft Malaysia’s (current) Managing Director. This was reported by Tech&U, which is currently leading the pack as the most reliable source of Microsoft propaganda. What’s wonderful is that they quote Yasmin word for word without questioning what she really means. It makes hilarious reading.
This type of spin was seen before. Of course it’s a matter of choice. It’s a matter of choosing applications but without unification inside standards there is hardly an ability to choose between applications. Microsoft is, as always, preying on ignorance.
As shrewdly pointed out by the same blog a few days ago, in reference to South Africa's decision on document formats:
This goes to show that certain Ministries of Science and Technology can stand up for the interests of their citizens, and not have to feel pressured by a single foreign multinational. If only this independence was more prevalent around the world.
Brendan Scott, who has covered some of the OOXML fiasco, wrote a very long essay about it this issue. He explains how governments became agents of monopolisation, anti-Commons.
Misapplication of “value for money” requirements when purchasing software results in poor value for money – Government purchasing policies for software tend to support the creation of monopolies.
Government purchasing has effects on the price paid by citizens for the product purchased. In some cases purchasing produces volume which permits scale discounts and therefore a net benefit to citizens who also purchase the product. However, in the case of lock in software* Government purchasing can create a monopoly in the software which leads to increased costs for citizen purchasers and a net detriment for society as a whole. It is not appropriate for value for money policies to be assessed on a per acquisition basis when software is being acquired. Doing so will almost certainly create net costs for the community when considered in the aggregate.
[...]
Government procurement can both create and reinforce a monopoly in goods and services which it is acquiring. Anecdotal evidence suggests that bureaucrats look at “value for money” type formulae and assess it against the cost to Government on a purchase-by-purchase basis. This approach is fine in respect of goods and services which are easily substitutable (such as hammers, screws, cars etc). In respect of goods which are specifically designed to prevent substitutability – eg devices which are not designed to be interoperable it is an extremely hazardous approach. If those goods also tend to be a natural monopoly (such as software in general, but particularly that which is designed not to be interoperable) this approach is absolutely the wrong one.
Microsoft must be baffled, scared and therefore merciless at the moment. Add all the above to recent news about dropping profits and large-scale GNU/Linux migration. Some lobbyists from Microsoft must already be packing up suitcases to make unplanned visits worldwide. This is a time to watch Microsoft’s behaviour carefully because Microsoft won’t give up easily. The Microsoft Unlimited Potential programme, aka the “anti-Linux dumping budget”, is one to keep an eye on for sure. Deep pockets make room for disruptive intervention. █
“Microsoft looks at new ideas, they don’t evaluate whether the idea will move the industry forward, they ask, ‘how will it help us sell more copies of Windows?’”
–Bill Gates, The Seattle Weekly, (April 30, 1998)
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in Courtroom, ECMA, Fraud, ISO, Microsoft, Patents, Standard at 1:59 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
The heat is still on for ISO, ECMA, Microsoft and other shenanigans who are responsible for mockery of international standards. Noooxml.org has a good summary of posts. It is showing the contrast between the side of the self-serving deniers and realists who merely quote those who admit their own faults, notably Alex Brown.
Alex Brown’s little test report was must read for me but I did not found it really newsworthy. Alex Brown, convener of the BRM, validated existing Microsoft 2007 files against the OOXML schema and generated 200 000(hu!) invalidity messages. His objective, despite curiosity, may have been to show how much the ISO process changed the format.
Why did I ignore the story? Because it was known to us that ECMA OOXML was not identical with the Microsoft 2007 format which comprises “tags not found in the spec”, a viral phrase. Or OOXML burnout? Or because you lose respect for an impartial BRM chairman who consults the British Library and supports OOXML?
This is not the only case of abuse in standards at the moment because another one involves Rambus (last mentioned a couple of days ago), which is reportedly lying just like Microsoft did.
DC Circuit Ct of Appeals: Deceit Doesn’t in Itself Constitute Monopolization
[...]
I hope this gets appealed. To hear a court uphold deceit as a concept is… disturbing. And I’m sure you can imagine the damage that will ensue if this stands. There are sufficient threats to the integrity of the standards process already, without endorsing deceit by monopolists. The damage that flows from allowing software patents to issue continues to mount. And then there is the idea of patents on a standard.
The above might sound like it talks about Microsoft, but it doesn’t. Based on one case, however, one can learn valuable lessons and apply them to another similar case. Rambus is already at the stage of directly abusing rivals, just just the standards-setting process. As such, abuse must be end early on, at ISO-level. Don’t let Microsoft get away with the finely-documented corruptions that revolved around OOXML. █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
04.22.08
Posted in ECMA, Formats, GNU/Linux, ISO, Kernel, Microsoft, OLPC, Standard at 12:19 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“My opinion of ECMA was already very negative; this hasn’t improved it, and if ISO doesn’t figure out away to detach this toxic leech, this kind of abuse is going to happen again and again.”
–Tim Bray, 2008
It ought to be no secret by now that ECMA damages the credibility of standards bodies as a whole. As we mentioned before, Microsoft is fully set and positioned to benefit from this, no matter the eventual outcome (it’s not over yet).
According to the following report, the assertions above can be further validated [via]
The report applies the Brinkburn Analysis™ to evaluate the validity of Ecma’s privileged status within ISO, one not enjoyed by any other Consortia, and criticises ECMA for having “virtually no representation for many points of view” and “no outreach and no liasons with other consortia”. Most damning of all is the conclusion in respect of OOXML – “It is a breach, almost, of common sense. Ecma, through its members, has created, with the exploitation of a loophole, a precedent that may well enable the breakdown of the formal standards process”.
The sadder development lies in the fact that ISO seems to be getting cozy with the IEEE at the moment. It could do to the IEEE what ECMA did to ISO and what Microsoft probably did to ECMA ( "you are well paid, shut up").
“Trying to help ISO rather than slam it is probably the way to go, but it’s hard.”Trying to help ISO rather than slam it is probably the way to go, but it’s hard. Alex Brown denies or defends problems he knew about all along, for example. He is probably trying to save himself from being sacked, having attempted a hideaway. Other in ISO lied as well.
Similar situation and solutions might as well apply to the Linux Foundation, but in a very different context. OSDL’s ‘successor’ is important. Let’s try to mend it, not slam it. It can be used against GNU/Linux otherwise (the civil wars routine), but it’s not quite the same case with ECMA and ISO, whose significance is greater to standards, not source code. █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
04.21.08
Posted in ECMA, ISO, Microsoft, Open XML, Patents at 3:38 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
It has been no secret that Microsoft will never support OOXML. It was all just a hugely expensive routine done for marketing purposes, as Tim Bray rightly put it. In fact, many people knew this all along and ISO was warned. ISO was also warned about patent issues in OOXML. Did it listen, or did it ignore?
ISO’s damage control is becoming a little embarrassing if not totally shameful because they begin to admit their own mistakes and then try to justify these.
You can now find a saving-face blog entry from Alex Brown, who is already in big trouble with people calling for him to be sacked for conflicting interests at the very least. This can’t just be swept under the rug anymore. Here is a ZDNet article about the latest round of face-saving.
Word documents generated by today’s version of Microsoft Office 2007 do not conform to the Office Open XML standard under development by the International Organization for Standardization, according to tests run by a document standards specialist.
[...]
Commentators, including Tim Bray, the inventor of XML, have suggested that Microsoft is unlikely to bother to keep conformant with the OOXML standard as it develops within ISO, but Brown was more optimistic: “Given Microsoft’s proven ability to tinker with the Office XML file format between service packs, I am hoping that Microsoft Office will shortly be brought into line with the [ISO/IEC] 29500 specification, and will stay that way,” he said. “Indeed, a strong motivation for approving 29500 as an ISO/IEC standard was to discourage Microsoft from this kind of file-format rug-pulling stunt in future.”
Here is what Groklaw said:
Microsoft Office 2007 Fails OOXML Conformance Tests, Alex Brown Admits, Hopes For the Best
[...]
Color me surprised. Say, France, you might want to slow down adding this “standard” to your list until it actually works. All you folks who voted for it need to tell us why you accepted it before it was done. Because what this means is that OOXML was just approved as an ISO standard, on the allegation that it was necessary for interoperability with Microsoft documents, and it turns out it doesn’t even do that. It also means no one can interoperate successfully with Microsoft Office 2007 except Microsoft. Neato. Back to Go. Do not collect $200. Isn’t the Fast Track supposed to be for already *implemented* standards?
I know. After ISO was captured by Microsoft, nobody cares about rules any more. Brown hopes Microsoft will be a good doobie and fix this.
For the curious, or for those researching these questions, Alex Brown was also mentioned previously in:
To be fair, there are others at ISO whose credibility was lost. Roger Frost is one example. If ISO was captured by a vendor, which it was, according to Martin Bryan, then ISO should come clean rather than become Microsoft’s accomplice. What is ISO so afraid of? █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
04.19.08
Posted in ECMA, Europe, ISO, Microsoft, Open XML, Standard at 1:07 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Good riddance to bad rubbish
We have just laid out Norway's scandal, but it doesn’t quite end there.
We have recently been ‘squirting’ portions of the story about ISO [1, 2]. We will, by all means, continue to do this. There is plenty more ugly stuff where that came from. People who are both independent from stakeholders and the European Commission investigators seek to fulfill their curiosity and equipped with the wealth of information available on the Web, everything soon comes together.You can glue and piece together isolated stories, then seek feedback for verification and additional information. It’s all just a matter of time.
Now comes France’s turn again. The story has been translated to English and told by Groklaw. You will find it right here and below are the just the opening paragraphs of what seems rather nasty, yet familiar.
Le Monde Informatique and LeMagIT are reporting on a leaked email from Marc Meyer of the French government agency, DGME, which urges that OOXML be quickly added to the official list of formats that can be used by government entities, a document titled RGI, and then the finalized v1.0 of RGI be quickly published, in effect locking in OOXML, before the appeals process is completed. The email and the media reports indicate that the RGI was put on a back burner last October, when ODF was already on the list, and now, immediately after OOXML is approved, albeit controversially, by ISO but before the appeals process is complete, not to mention the format, Meyer urges it quickly be added to the list of acceptable formats, hence making it hard to remove OOXML from the list later, as a fait accompli.
Worse, the email indicates that work on the document was brought to a crawl to wait for ISO approval of OOXML. ODF was already on the list when work on RGI was brought to a standstill last October. There were suspicions that the slowdown was deliberate, and the email is giving legs to those suspicions.
It seems that politics has reared its ugly head, and just as happened in Masschusetts, questions are now being asked about behind-the-scenes Microsoft pressure.
If you do not know the story of Massachusetts, start with this rough overview and follow the external links as you see fit.
“Stay away from OOXML at all costs; advise family, friends and colleagues to do likewise.”Microsoft is really pushing it. At this current pace, it could soon see the embargo plan approved or at least considered (revisited) more frequently.
As a gentle advice (or reminder) to readers, don’t support or use OOXML. Stay away from OOXML at all costs; advise family, friends and colleagues to do likewise. ISO doesn’t know what’s about to it hit, but I personally have a rough idea. People think that ISO has gone through a storm that has quieted down, but might it be just the calm before the storm? We have information that suggests the latter is more likely.
OOXML is likely to lead to unprecedented riots and we have until June to intercept that abominable pile of useless paper. Truth seekers should be patient and optimistic because more nasty stories are bound to be accumulated and also used (not just put up for display).
To say more about France, we have already discussed the role of the French president in this decision. Unsurprisingly, as always, he served his friends at Microsoft. H-P did the very same thing in France. It’s all about money, nepotism, favours, exchange of influence and power or whatever you wish to make of it. It’s nothing technical at all. Until ISO regains (as in earns) some respect, it deserves to be seen for the dysfunctional brothel (pardon my French) that it has become. Being Microsoft’s gardener (custodian proxy) for OOXML is nothing to take pride in. Shame on you, ISO, shame on you. █
Recent articles (external):
From September 2007 (keyword: “barbrawl”):
Update: More details about OOXML in France you will find in this new long interview. Teaser:
Frédéric Couchet: ISO standards were traditionally the result of compromise between competing players. With OOXML, Microsoft obtained a standard which none of its competitors had adopted. The first ISO standard in this area, Open Document Architecture (ODA, ISO 8613) was never applied. The second standard, OpenDocument Format (ODF, ISO/IEC 26300), was applied but never accepted by Microsoft. The third standard, OOXML (ISO/IEC 29500), can help Microsoft commercially with governments but brings nothing to the market in terms of convergence between competing software products, and thus has no added value as a standard.
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in ECMA, Europe, Fraud, ISO, Microsoft, Open XML, Standard at 12:24 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
A post-mortem, one fiasco at the time: first the BRM in Geneva and now Norway…
It has been just over a week since the scheduled large-scale protests against OOXML in Norway. These were soon followed by considerable problems for Microsoft in Europe and some more protests elsewhere, culminating in more damning accounts of possible misconduct in the ISO helm.
One of the most senior people in Norway seems to have had enough. He unlashes the real story, which is long and outraging. Here is just a snippet.
But lo… at this point, the “rules” were changed. The VP asserted that “Ecma has clearly made steps in the right direction.” The most important thing now was to ensure that OOXML came under ISO’s control so that it could be “further improved”. However, the committee was not allowed to discuss this.
The VP thereupon declared that there was no consensus, so the decision would be taken by Standard Norway.
Halfway through the proceedings, a committee member had asked for (and received) assurance that the Chairman would take part in the final decision, as he had for the DIS vote back in August. It now transpired that the BRM participants had also been invited to stay behind. 23 people were therefore dismissed and we were down to seven. In addition to Standard Norway’s three, there were four “experts”: Microsoft Norway’s chief lobbyist, a guy from StatoilHydro (national oil company; big MS Office user), a K185 old-timer, and me. In one fell swoop the balance of forces had changed from 80/20 to 50/50 and the remaining experts discussed back and forth for 20 minutes or so without reaching any agreement.
The VP thereupon declared that there was still no consensus, so the decision would be taken by Standard Norway.
The experts were dismissed and the VP asked the opinion of the Secretary (who said “Yes”) and the JTC1 rep (who said “No”).
The VP thereupon declared that there was still no consensus, so the decision would be taken by him.
And his decision was to vote Yes.
So this one bureaucrat, a man who by his own admission had no understanding of the technical issues, had chosen to ignore the advice of his Chairman, of 80% of his technical experts, and of 100% of the K185 old-timers. For the Chairman, only one course of action was possible.
[...]
The meeting was a farce and the result was a scandal. But it’s not over yet, and one thing is clear: the “little one” is unfit to represent the interests of Norwegian users.
For an overview of OOXML misconduct in Norway (March 2008 and September 2007), start here. Pepper concludes with the words “it’s not over yet” and he is absolutely right. We will continue to write about this and gradually show just how much trouble ISO is in. █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
04.18.08
Posted in Deception, ECMA, Europe, Formats, ISO, Microsoft, Open XML, OpenDocument, Standard at 6:31 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“The disparity of rules for PAS, Fast-Track and ISO committee generated standards is fast making ISO a laughing stock in IT circles. The days of open standards development are fast disappearing. Instead we are getting “standardization by corporation”, something I have been fighting against for the 20 years I have served on ISO committees. I am glad to be retiring before the situation becomes impossible. I wish my colleagues every success for their future efforts, which I sincerely hope will not prove to be as wasted as I fear they could be.”
–Martin Bryan, ISO
Former Convenor of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34 WG1 (OOXML)
We have been hearing that more legal action might be on its way, but it is too early for details to be revealed. As you may recall from yesterday, the credibility of the BSI and ISO was put to the task. They face new challenges as conflicting interests continue to be found.
You can probably still remember that ISO’s FAQ was pointless at best, if not plainly outrageous [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. The BSI's FAQ was self contradictory. The response was consistent in fact and by no means equivocal, although Updegrove used sarcasm to get the point across. some folks went as far as doing scientific rebuttals that should make ISO blush for deceiving the public. Here is the conclusion from Rob Weir:
For ISO, in a public relations pitch, to blithely suggest that several thousand page Fast Tracks are “not unusual” shows an audacious disregard for the truth and a lack of respect for a public that is looking for ISO to correct its errors, not blow smoke at them in a revisionist attempt to portray the DIS 29500 approval process as normal, acceptable or even legitimate. We should expect better from ISO and we should express disappointment in them when they let us down in our reasonable expectations of honesty. We don’t expect this from Ecma. We don’t expect this from Microsoft. But we should expect this from ISO.
Watch the figures in the page. A lot of work must have gone into producing them and they illustrate just how statistically impossible it is for OOXML to go through, unless something rotten was happening.
Criticism of ISO — despite its great reverence — is not something which only a few bloggers and 'courageous' journalists are willing to do. In fact, there are many comments from the public which support this. For example:
Re: ISO calls for end to OOXML ‘personal attacks’
To accept OOXML is to live in the dank slimy hell of bureaucracy. To shaft ourselves. To fight it and push for clean and implementable standards is to boldly and generously begin an adventure into a brighter successful and enormously more effective future.
“It’s time to chuck OOXML back at ECMA and Microsoft, both of which view this as a global game of money and power.”There are many more comments just like this. Heaps in fact. The small portion of the public that actually understands these matters has gone very vocal. Remember Norway and other street protests? When was the last time you saw people getting so passionate over standards, let alone about technology?
You may also wish to look back at the fiasco in India, where Microsoft’s business partners are still being slammed for supporting the monopoly that suppresses many people. One of our readers, CoolGuy, lives in India and in light of Microsoft-enslaved (also slavery-imposing) companies voting blindly in favours of OOXML he warned about the reality behind such companies. They are reportedly misusing their workforce and the following brand-new article from India Daily says more about this.
Wipro Microsoft alliance is a shame for all Indians – alliance or slavery?
[...]
The alliance uses Microsoft technologies instead of challenging Gates in his own game. Wipro is just a servant of Microsoft facilitating Indian cyber slavery under the American corporate banners.
Remember that Wipro is among those who voted in favour of OOXML. Is there any crumb of decency and ethics left in such companies? It sure makes you wonder who makes decisions ‘on behalf’ of entire nations, whose government departments and academia vote more sensible (insistence on unilateral “No” to OOXML, at least in India). Look back at the beginning of this post and ponder the famous “follow the money” meme.
It’s time to chuck OOXML back at ECMA and Microsoft, both of which view this as a global game of money and power. And lest we forget Jan "you are well paid, shut up" van den Beld from a Microsoft lobbying arm. ISO should do the right thing. It still can. It is a moral obligation. █
ODF as the only
ISO standard: this battle
is not over yet
Permalink
Send this to a friend
04.17.08
Posted in ECMA, Europe, ISO, Microsoft, Open XML, OpenDocument, Standard at 7:57 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“There will always be ignorance, and ignorance leads to fear. But with time, people will come to accept their silicon masters.”
–Bill Gates
A newly-appointed patent bomb gardener, better known as ISO, is unlikely to get much rest. Standards experts continue to have it harshly criticised, but they are gentle and polite. Andy Updegrove uses some sense of humour in response to ISO’s horrific FAQ [1, 2, 3, 4]. He writes:
What could make more sense? ISO has issued a brief FAQ explaining why nothing is wrong, and nothing to worry about, in light of the OOXML experience. My favorite Q&A is the last one, which, if paraphrased to air safety, would sound like this:
Q: Following eye-witness reports that the the wings of the 747 fell off just before landing in Geneva, will the FAA launch a thorough investigation?
A: No. The vast majority of flights land safely. This suggests that the safety inspection process is credible, works well and is delivering the results needed. Of course, because continual improvement is public safety is an underlying aim of standardization, the FAA will certainly be continuing to review and improve its inspection procedures.
ISO appears to be adopting the low standards of ECMA and lobbyists such as Jan "you are well paid, shut up" van den Beld. It’s sad, but those who have followed this saga for a year or even for much longer will know that it has been dirty business right from the very start. As a result of this mess, some already make the distinction between free formats and open formats. This one tells the story very briefly.
Free Formats vs. Open Formats
[...]
And you likely already know about the whole OOXML debacle. How Microsoft got so afraid of OpenDocument (ODF) that they invested millions and millions on a 6000 page pile of — let’s face it — crap. Pure, pointless crap. To beat another office format. And they bribed every ISO jurisdiction they could. To beat another office format. Because it would mean everyone would use a single format and make Microsoft’s office suite obsolete. No way, ese!
This isn’t anymore about closed vs. open formats, and you don’t need me to rub it in your face. It’s time to leave those non-free formats behind and look forward for a world of interoperability, a world of doors free to trespass in whatever way you want, and where no one will be able to take that freedom away from anyone else.
Behind the scenes, more ‘smoking guns’ against the BSI and the patent bomb-gardening ISO are being accumulated at the moment. It’s not over until the fat lady sings, as the old saying goes. Prepare for more unpleasant findings to come. Stay tuned and please do inform us of reports we have missed.█
Permalink
Send this to a friend
« Previous Page — « Previous entries « Previous Page · Next Page » Next entries » — Next Page »
Content is available under CC-BY-SA