03.27.08
Posted in Deception, Microsoft, Open XML, OpenDocument, Search at 3:00 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
World Wide Web for documents lock-in or against it?
Thanks to one reader, we have just become aware of a story told by another reader. It was published in noooxml.org and it speaks about the latest trick that involves anti-ODF manipulation on the World Wide Web. Here is the gist:
In March 26, 2008, was celebrated around the world the first Document Freedom Day (http://www.documentfreedom.org/). Notice the site’s name: Document Freedom dot org.
While refusing all around the world to participate in a celebration towards the promotion and usage of open standards, Microsoft even goes to the point of issuing a press release in Portugal against ANSOL’s Document Freedom Day announcement.
Meanwhile, anonymous supporters of OOXML use Domains by Proxy registar in order to register a site with a very similar address of Document Freedom Day’s. The OOXML support site is Document Freedom Day **dot com** and redirects to a well known astroturf site which pretends to be a community of OOXML supporters.
It is worth emphasising again that we saw or at least suspected such things in the not-so-distant past. Examples include:
The reader who send us the pointer to this adds: “A blatant astroturfing maneouver from the borg. What concerns me is that it can be used to ruin documentfreedom days in successive years. Also they try to silence every criticism to OOMXL.” █
“It just tells you how desperate Microsoft is for a competitor that they’re holding up a software box produced by 100 guys in the hills of North Carolina. Who are they trying to kid?”
–Robert Young, CEO of Red Hat at the time
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Posted in Deception, Europe, Microsoft, Open XML at 2:47 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Vampires and all being just a familiar metaphor, of course
A couple of breaking reports could not just escape without immediate attention. Remind yourself of what is said to have happened in Romania very recently. Romania was by no means the exception, but it is one place where we see representative behaviour which may or may not apply elsewhere (and go unreported).
Romania votes “Yes”, but the more detailed story appears here. Here are some fragments:
For months, OOXML and Microsoft have taken over any other subject on this forum. The pro and con debates were heated, numerous and lengthy.
In all this time, OOXML supporters have utterly failed to offer any solid argument for OOXML’s adoption, while opposing arguments were abundant. The only coherent pro-OOXML statements boiled down to the same tired FUD that Microsoft has put together, repeated ad-nauseam, in spite of all the rich and detailed counter-arguments.
[...]
Therefore I feel justified in believing that “ballot-stuffing” was performed by Microsoft-friendly entities with the purpose of swaying the vote to an OOXML-favorable outcome.
[...]
It will come as no surprise that many of the other recent members are Microsoft business partners.
Therefore I feel justified in believing that “ballot-stuffing” was performed by Microsoft-friendly entities with the purpose of swaying the vote to an OOXML-favorable outcome.
I will stress, for the sake of clarity, that there has been neither public nor official statement so far regarding the CT210 members. We’re not supposed to even know who they are, officially.
[...]
I repeat: there’s a total lack of transparency. So far, the way I understand it (and I Am Not A Lawyer) ASRO seems to put its internal regulations over the laws of the state, one of which states: “the following basic principles must be followed in national standardization: […] transparency and public availability”.
If I am wrong and ASRO’s position holds water, it will mean that the Romanian states is confortable entrusting its standardization to a body who can act in a completely opaque manner should it choose so. A very strange and disturbing notion, but there you have it.
3. The conclusion
The public debate on TIC-Lobby in the months leading up to the March vote have shown a staggering amount of arguments against adopting OOXML as a standard. There were links, tehnical details, technical experiments.
The counter-arguments have been weak, obstinate and often repeated. Even when begged to do so, OOXML supporters have failed to put together even the smallest document containing arguments for their position.
In the end, CT210 fell victim to ballot stuffing and ASRO is currently refusing to disclose any information other than the vote distribution.
The next quick item will speak of another nasty little trick that follows a recognisable pattern. █
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Posted in News Roundup at 12:45 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
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Posted in Bill Gates, Deception, Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, GPL, Microsoft at 12:08 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Yesterday we commented on Microsoft's attendance at OSBC, which was tactless and unnecessary. It gave Microsoft a lot of positive press, despite its real intentions. This really ought to stop, but this has got to start somewhere. Groklaw response to Microsoft’s talk at OSBC was interesting. PJ says:
Now that they built a monopoly before there were software patents to hinder them, they believe in a well-functioning — for them — patent system that excludes GPL software. Nice doubletalk.
Remember this old quote:
“If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today’s ideas were invented, and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete standstill today… some large company will patent some obvious thing… take as much of our profits as they want.”
–Bill Gates
Bill is not quite the same guy anymore. Secured in the comfort of the fort (or Cathedral), Microsoft has other things on its agenda.
“Other than Bill Gates, I don’t know of any high tech CEO that sits down to review the company’s IP portfolio.”
–Marshall Phelps
“If seems unfortunate if we do this work and get our partners to do the work and the result is that Linux works great without having to do the work. Maybe there is no way Io avoid this problem but it does bother me. Maybe we can define the APIs so that they work well with NT and not the others even if they are open. Or maybe we could patent something related to this.”
–Bill Gates [PDF]
Well, yeah. It figures. It was last acknowledged by Microsoft only weeks ago that GNU/Linux is the company’s #1 competitor. Can’t Microsoft compete like a gentleman? █
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03.26.08
Posted in Antitrust, Formats, Microsoft, Novell, Office Suites, Open XML, Standard at 11:56 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“We’ve got to put a lot of money into changing behavior.”
–Bill Gates
This type of comparison which involves Web and document standards was made in this Web site several times in the past. One of the things that we study here is Novell’s work on Moonlight, which helps Microsoft 'steal' the Web with an alternative to HTML, AJAX, among other technologies, even rivals like Google who rely on Web pages being trivial to parse.
In our past writings we summarised some of Opera’s antitrust complaints about Microsoft’s deliberate abuses against Web standards (c/f [1, 2, 3, 4]). Not much has changed other than the volume of public relations stunts.
Very timely is this announcement about another “dump Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) campaign”. This was covered by The Register.
While Hudin acknowledged that two people can have the same idea, he noted that he kicked off his campaign – End 6! – last year and registered the domain name in October 2007.
“It does this by design, in order to facilitate a monopoly based on a de facto standard…”Needless to say, the most obnoxious characteristic of IE6 is that it encourages breaking the Web. It does this by design, in order to facilitate a monopoly based on a de facto standard (a single proprietary application, which is bound to a platform). Needless to say, it’s hard to believe that documents are (or will ever be) the exception. In fact, watch this remark from Microsoft’s Brian Jones:
“It’s hard for Microsoft to commit to what comes out of Ecma [the European standards group that has already OK’d OOXML] in the coming years, because we don’t know what direction they will take the formats. We’ll of course stay active and propose changes based on where we want to go with Office 14. At the end of the day, though, the other Ecma members could decide to take the spec in a completely different direction. … Since it’s not guaranteed, it would be hard for us to make any sort of official statement.”
–Brian Jones, Microsoft
Also in the news, watch how Microsoft’s Web sites apparently derail competitors.
Microsoft Web sites and Adobe’s Flash sending Safari off course?
[...]
Though many are finding the free browser touted by Apple to be both faster and more accurate at displaying Web pages, not everyone is happy.
About a month ago, loud complaints were made about Microsoft’s online services that snub GNU/Linux almost as a matter of principle (capability is certainly there, but Microsoft sniffs HTTP headers). Some spoke about violation of antitrust laws.
Also in the news, it is now reported by Opera that is passes the Acid3 test. Have a look:
We have some excellent news! Lars Erik Bolstad, the Head of Core Technology at Opera Software, sent me the following information to share…
Internet Explorer remains by orders of magnitude the worst Web browser when it comes to standards complaints (w.r.t. Acid3). It was shown very recently that IE8 (beta) is not much of an exception. Just as one might worry about Microsoft’s intentions with its document format (OOXML), one should watch what Microsoft does to the World Wide Web. It won’t play nice. Remember what happened to Ogg after the involvement of a former Microsoft employee. █
“It’s a Simple Matter of [Microsoft’s] Commercial Interests!”
–Microsoft’s Doug Mahugh About Microsoft’s OOXML (Fast Track)
“We’re disheartened because Microsoft helped W3C develop the very standards that they’ve failed to implement in their browser. We’re also dismayed to see Microsoft continue adding proprietary extensions to these standards when support for the essentials remains unfinished.”
–George Olsen, Web Standards Project
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Posted in Asia, Deception, ECMA, Europe, Formats, Microsoft, Open XML, Standard at 11:18 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Open standards activists? A dying breed, according to Rob Weir. Yesterday we wrote about Durusau quite briefly, having raised the issue on several occasions before, e.g. in [1, 2, 3, 4]. Here is Weir’s conclusion, extracted from his latest long writeup:
I’m looking forward to the day, soon, when I can search Google for “open standards activist” and not find a paid Microsoft shill among the listings on the first page.
In yesterday’s last roundup we also mentioned Malaysia, not just that “European standards expert”, who is actually a Microsoft lobbyist (quite newly-appointed in fact). It all comes together now. Malaysia married the words of that so-called "standard expert", who does a lot of legwork nowadays.
I dont know what the attraction is, but somehow we all love the morbid fascination of Zombies in action. First, Microsoft^H^H^H^H^HCompTIA hires Mr Jan van der Beld, Ex-Ecma Secretary General, to fly all the way here in KL, for an event supposedly about “good multiple standards”. There he challenges us to find a better way to Fast Track large, immature vendor dependent specifications. The answer is of course: “Don’t do it.” Later on that same day, like a man possessed, he turns up at a PIKOM meeting only to rant and thump tables.
Then today, in our fantastic broadsheet turned tabloid “The New Straits Times” features a “Comment” by our so called “cooler head” Datuk Dr Mohd Ariffin Aton entitled “Walking the Talk on neutrality policy”. If you’ve forgotten about him, you may be forgiven, but he is or rather WAS the CEO if SIRIM Bhd.
It’s rather fascinating how far Microsoft has gone in its recruitment of voices. It’s truly like seeing a highly-polished propaganda machine. Those who are not in Microsoft’s pocket (or blinded by those who are) still hold a very consistent stance.
If the discussion on OOXML was purely technical I don’t think there would be much debate. Apart from Microsoft employees and a few lost souls, for whom we can only wonder about their real motivations, I have yet to meet any technical person arguing that OOXML is a good specification.
A classic quote that springs to mind is this one:
“If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good.”
–Bill Gates
What Microsoft has achieved here is a textbook example of a Big Lie, a case of manufacturing consent. Microsoft is buying the perception that a naked emperor is no longer so naked.
That, along with factors like ballot-stuffing, has people truly believe that they vote in favour of something good.
For those curious enough about the situation at the moment, Peter Judge has published somewhat of an overview based on Ditesh's research.
Lobbying has intensified ahead of Saturday, 29 March, the deadline for Microsoft to convince the world that its Office Open XML specification should be accepted as a formal standard.
The specification is still short of the two-thirds majority required in a vote of national standards bodies on whether to approve Office Open XML (OOXML) as an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard.
Judge says that “lobbying has intensified.” Boy, that’s one heck of an understatement. █
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Posted in Asia, ISO, Microsoft, Open XML at 10:52 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Image from Wikimedia
It has been only one week since Microsoft's OOXML was defeated in India, but Microsoft soon proceeded to lying and spinning. It turned out that only Microsoft’s close friends (seat-warmers) actually voted "Yes", having already realised that bribery was possible too. Any way you look at it, the OOXML situation in India looked ugly and the mainstream press hardly tells the full story (no surprise there).
Here is the latest very disturbing story. Microsoft is now targeting individuals in India, not just the process, whose outcome Microsoft is unhappy with.
At the meeting held on 20th March 2008, we were informed that Microsoft has complained to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and to the apex office of the country about the constitution of the committee and also cast aspersions on the impartiality of the chairperson of LITD15, Mrs. Neeta Verma. The chairperson was furious and offered to step down from her post. She pointed out that the committee has met numerous times and Microsoft never brought this issue up in front of the committee nor did they check the facts with her or her organization before complaining to the apex office.
Yoon Kit, referring to his recent summary of Microsoft's abuse patterns, likens what we find here to at least two strategies, namely:
# If you don’t get your way at a certain level, lobby the superior above. Dont stop! Go all the way to the head of the nation if you think you can!
[...]
# Question Question Question everything (process, fairness, the system, members) when things dont go your way
As a delegate himself, Yoon Kit must be seeing India abused in the very same way that Malaysia is being abused (more on that in the next post). Here is what he wrote about it. He concludes with:
Well done to the Bureau of Indian Standards for standing firm against this raging bully. Hopefully one day the bully will learn how to play fair and contribute positively to the standards process, and not try to manipulate its way in.
Truly despicable behaviour. Shame on you, Microsoft, yet again. How will we ever trust you?
How many more smear campaigns [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] can one find? █
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Posted in Deception, Europe, ISO, Microsoft, Open XML, OpenDocument, Standard at 10:28 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“Where’s that damn fox and what’s it doing inside the hen house?”
Yesterday was Document Freedom Day but not in the UK. As Glyn puts it, BSI celebrated this day totally chained to Microsoft.
The British Standards Institute (BSI), the body responsible for voting on the OOXML fast-track in the UK, is rumoured to be taking the Beijing Olympics’ official flag of five interlocked handcuffs to heart by changing from its initial “No” vote to “Yes”, thus condemning millions of innocent documents to their patent-implemented chains. If confirmed, this would be a black day for both the BSI – henceforth known as the British Anti-Standards Institute – and for British computing.
There’s a lot of missing information there. Let’s go back in time for a bit. BECTA is said to be responsible for Britain’s last vote, but as often one finds, it’s a decision which is bound to turn upside-down the second time around (playing hard to get, Rick Jelliffe style!). At the time, BECTA was under tremendous pressure (it still is) for its intimate affairs with Microsoft. Complaints were even made to the European Commission. Like the BBC, BECTA needed to fake impartiality, at least temporarily.
Later on we came to find that BSI had been stuffed. From what we wrote at the time:
Britain will be essentially represented by a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, having rejected OOXML several months ago. This apparently comes after a reappointment.
It has always seemed like an inside job. So here is the latest: UK to fly the flag for OOXML
The British Standards Institute (BSI) looks set to reverse its position on Microsoft’s Office Open XML (OOXML) file format by approving it as an international standard.
[...]
…it’s not known why the group has had an apparent change of heart after disapproving the Office 2007 format last autumn.
No reason? That alone ought to raise suspicion. Perhaps the only reason is increased attendance of Gold-certified Microsoft partners. Even ISO has admitted such a failure.
For those wishing to know more about Document Freedom Day, here is the place to look.
Today is Document Freedom Day: Roughly 200 teams from more than 60 countries worldwide are organising local activities to raise awareness for Document Freedom and Open Standards. To support the initiatives surrounding the first day to celebrate document liberation, DFD starter packs containing a DFD flag, t-shirts and leaflets have been sent to the first 100 registered teams over the past weeks.
What is truly needed now is Corruption-Free Day. █
Update: You can find some more information about this in the discussion area of LinuxToday. Additionally, here are bits of interest from a skeptical summary.
My impression so far was that the BSI applied the highest standards in the review process. Even secrecy made sense in the BSI culture. Also the convenor of the BRM, Alex Brown, is from BSI who mastered the mission impossible to get the BRM through. The United Kingdom is a p-member, so one of the nations to become pivotal to the adoption of Open XML as an ISO/IEC standard in its current state.
We will only find out what the situation in the Uk is really like after the vote as the confidentiality holds. Politically an approval would probably lead to institutional damage to the standard system.
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