Bonum Certa Men Certa

OOXML Publicity Stunts Continue Whilst New OOXML Flaws Get Widely Publicised

Making a difference while we still can, for 1234.1233999999999 reasons

Things may seem to have quieted down a bit several days after the BRM in Geneva had ended [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]. It is not entirely true however. One just needs to look underneath the surface to identify a great deal of activity which is done more discreetly. Microsoft's lobbying attempts -- however gruesome and unethical they may be -- have not ground to a halt.

OOXML is badMicrosoft New Zealand apparently has what's called a "director of innovation" who gets somewhat of a media placement in the national press. Very promotional and unnecessary. It also deceives.

There is also the strategic announcement of an SDK (putting the carriage before the pony). Don't get too excited because it's all .NET-dependent on the face of it. OOXML is a 'standard' candidate from Microsoft, only for Microsoft to control and implement. It is hardly surprising that Novell and the Boys chose to implement OOXML 'translators' in C#, bringing to mind the technology which Microsoft "reserves the right to sue" over.

So far in this post we have discussed:

  1. The legal issues of OOXML
  2. The ownership issues of OOXML
  3. The deception surrounding OOXML


We have not yet discussed the corruption which ushered the race for ISO-isation of OOXML.

On we proceed to an actual technical breakdown. The following example is by no means new, but it is probably more detailed than several previous reports. Just consider this serious deficiency in what Microsoft strives to make an international standards. It is one among many other examples. Above all, pay attention to Microsoft's tactless response. [many thanks to a reader for the pointer]

I dashed off an email to the Microsoft UK PR team asking how Microsoft felt justified in seeking ISO standard status for OOXML when it wasn't even capable of storing numbers correctly. Go back a few issues for the full blood and gore on this matter, but suffice it to say here that a number such as 1234.1234 is a problem for Excel because of the way the IEEE floating-point number system works.

Type 1234.1234 into Excel and it displays as 1234.1234 correctly. However, save the file as XML and a nasty little secret gets revealed: Excel actually stores it as 1234.1233999999999 in the XML file. I understand that Excel has to deal with IEEE quirks, but I'd like the XML file to interoperate without requiring me to fudge the issue manually, thank you.

No less than the great Jean Paoli replied to my email...: "Excel does have the ability though to store 1234.1234 as 1234.1233999999999 or as 1234.1234 and Open XML of course allows both."

Woah, holy smoke, Batman. Open XML allows both?


If you believe that OOXML is deficient (which it is), then according to this new page you are encouraged to focus mostly on legal and technical issues found in OOXML, in case you contact your national body. [via Andy Updegrove]

I was at the OOXML BRM in Geneva on behalf of my national body.

[...]

If you have strong feelings about the procedures used in the voting (e.g. the O members vs P members debate, or the voting on issues that were not individually discussed):

* Contact your national body * Describe your concerns (with reference to the appropriate directives, if possible) * Allegations of corruption are unlikely to convince anyone of anything * Ask your national body to investigate, and to raise an objection to the process if they are not satisfied

I suspect that most national bodies will prefer communication via email - it's easier for the NB to distribute it to any relevant committee members. But some people feel that emails are cheap and easy, and sending a letter on paper carries more weight: if you agree, then just be aware that there isn't very much time before the decision on voting is due.


One thing to point out is the incompatibility of OOXML with the number one rival of Microsoft. Not surprisingly, Gray Knowlton is playing dumb in light of the not-so-accidental exclusion of the GPL, but we have known the truth about this deliberate legal maneuver for quite time time, even before the SFLC had it properly articulated.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Brett Wilson LLP Sent Over 5 Kilograms (or Over 12 Pounds) of Legal Papers! Because Writing About Microsoft Abuses is 'Illegal'.
How do you guys sleep at night? On a big pile of Microsoft money?
Extremism as a Weapon Against GNU/Linux (Microsoft Lunduke)
He ought to know the Halloween Documents. Wasn't he a Microsoft employee when these came out?
 
Microsoft-Sponsored Propaganda Site Has Removed False 'Hit Piece' About Dr. Stallman (With Fake and Misrepresented Imagery) But Only After 4 Years
So they only removed that page some time around 2025, i.e. about 4 years after it had been published
Always Check Your Inputs
Garbage in, garbage out. Or wrong assumptions, wrong corollary.
Dan Neidle Said That Tax Evasion Facilitator Mr Zahawi (Working to Silence Bloggers Through Brett Wilson LLP) Targeted Not Only Him (But The Others Kept Quiet)
"Mr Neidle said after repelling Mr Zahawi he was contacted by bloggers and tweeters who had received similar threats. They deleted their work “and in most cases never commented publicly on anything again”."
SLAPP Funding Transparency Urgently Needed in the UK and Elsewhere (in Practice, Not Just in Theory)
Writing about crime - including Microsoft crime - is not a crime
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 09, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 09, 2025
Elodie Bergot Still Doing Illegal Things at the EPO, Based on the Local Staff Committee Munich
They keep taking away from the staff while compelling the staff to do illegal things
Gemini Links 09/07/2025: Extreme Testing and Golang Documentation in Geminispace
Links for the day
Vice President of the European Patent Office (EPO) Complains That Techrights Gives Visibility to Legal and Technical Issues at the EPO
"Follow-up on enquiries relating to Dir. 1218 and 1001"
Slopwatch: linuxsecurity.com and Various Slopfarms That Lie About "Linux" and Are Promoted by Google News
Google does not seem interested in tackling this problem
Links 09/07/2025: War Updates and Microsoft Moving to India to Cut Costs
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Was Always a 'Movement' of Inclusion of Tolerance
Even the licences themselves remove access barriers
Links 09/07/2025: "Subprime AI Crisis" and "OpenAI May Be in Major Trouble Financially"
Links for the day
Huge Piles of Legal Papers ('Paper DDoS') Do Not Impress Judges and Regulators
they just make judges and regulators even more suspicious of the eagerness to resort to 'paper DDoS'
Lunduke Isn't Even Hiding His Anti-Linux Agenda (From "Linux Sucks" to "Linux is Pedophiles")
just trying to make a lot of trouble
Some People Use Computers to Get Actual Work Done
Tolerance and inclusion must extend to acceptance that some people don't agree with you, might never agree with you, and imposing what allegedly works for you on them is unreasonable
Example of "Old" Things That Still Work
The notion that something being "old" implies it must be discarded is typically advanced by those looking to sell more of something
Some Scheduled Maintenance Later Today
Typically the most vulnerable service during short interruptions is IRC
Computers Are Just a Tool
People don't get married because they love weddings, folks don't join the army because they love war, and most drivers don't drive to work because they love cars
Apple Way Past Its Prime
Apple deserves a decline
The FSF's SysOps Team Recovered From Serious Hardware Issue Within Hours
About half a day ago I noticed that all/most GNU/FSF sites were not reachable and thus reached out to a contact for any details
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 08, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 08, 2025
Slopwatch: Turning Bugs Into FUD About "Linux", Getting Basic Facts Wrong
all the screenshots are of fake articles; we don't want to link to any
Technical Reasons, Not Politics: With Wayland "it feels a lot like Linux from 20-25 years ago, which is horrendously frustrating, because it feels like we wasted one or two decades of progress and stability"
Lately, quite a few benchmarks were published to show Wayland compares poorly compared to what we had
PCLinuxOS Recovering From Fire
It looks like a nightmare scenario, where even backups onsite get destroyed
Links 09/07/2025: More Heatwaves, Officials Culled in Russia
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/07/2025: XScreensaver and Resurrection
Links for the day
Links 08/07/2025: "Cyberattack Deals Blow to Russian Firmware" and "Cash Remains King"
Links for the day
FSF40 T-shirt message
by Alex Oliva
Gemini Links 08/07/2025: Creativity, Gotify with NUT Server, and Sudo Bugs
Links for the day
More on "Lunduke is Actually Sending His Audience to Attack People"
"pepe the frogs"
Links 08/07/2025: Sabotage of Networking Infrastructure, Microsoft XBox Game Pass Deemed “Unsustainable”
Links for the day
Dalai Lama Succession as Evidence That Determined, Motivated People Can Reach Their Nineties
And we need to quit talking about their death all the time
Many Lawyers (for Microsoft) and 1,316 Pages to Pick on a Litigant in Person Who Exposed Serious Microsoft Abuses
Answers must be given
Gemini Links 08/07/2025: Ancillary Justice and Small Web July
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 07, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 07, 2025