04.03.08

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When You Know That Microsoft Has Formally Hijacked Open Source

Posted in Asia, Deception, Free/Libre Software, ISO, Microsoft, Open XML at 7:59 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Holy Macaroni! At first, when viewed in the feeds reader, the following article seemed like humour, but it’s not (it’s from April 3^rd, not April 1^st). The Times of India, a respectable publication, has just published an article with the headline: “MS says it won open source war.” This refers only to the OOXML fiasco. So, what on earth is “open source” here (mind another hijack of this term) and what makes this a win, let alone a “war”? It’s only an isolated step, which was taken using sheer corruption that remains under investigation with an appeal. OOXML won't ever be implemented and whatever strives to implement something close to it is not open source, it’s proprietary. OOXML itself is proprietary.

Can you see how Microsoft hijacks the team “open source” and puts it up for display in mainstream papers, claiming that it “won the open source war”? As in defeated others at an open source game, using proprietary formats? What would an innocent non-techie reader think? The term “open source” is being artificially diluted here and this dilution serves no-one but Microsoft. Remember Aras?

On a brighter note, if you want some OOXML humour, Groklaw has some. █

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4 Comments

Victor Soliz said,

April 3, 2008 at 8:38 am

Dear MS: You can get OOXML approved by ISO 1000 times, I still will not ever think of it to be at the same level as ODF, PDF or HTML.
CoolGuy said,

April 3, 2008 at 11:27 am

OOXML is like a rich school kid who passes out of exams by copying, bribing and cheating all the way through top and then claims that he has passed his exams…

If someone complains he will call him names and use his money and power to sue anyone in his way including teachers, classmates, principal, school – he has to have his own way and will cross all boundaries to do that…
PeterKraus said,

April 3, 2008 at 2:50 pm

Well, that’s exactly why I like FSF more than OSI (one of the points). It’s very easy to use “opensource” on … almost anything. But free software? Can you imagine title like “MS says it won free software war”? Well…
Roy Schestowitz said,

April 3, 2008 at 5:19 pm

“Open source” jumped the shark a while ago, it’s struggling to regain its original identity, but these remarks from Microsoft which were brought to the headline by the journalist do some more damage. Microsoft would gladly do this because it serves it well.