Bonum Certa Men Certa

Anti-symbiosis: ODF, OOXML, Mono, GNOME, and OpenOffice.org

OpenDocument format (ODF) adoption is still rising quite sharply. As evidence of this consider:

In total, there are now more than two dozen ODF-supporting text, spreadsheet, and presentation applications announced in the past three months


Recent additions include a component of Apple's new operating system, which was release on Friday. Where does Novell stand? Well, it's mildly complex. Novell seems to be having a small conflict of interests although ODF remains its priority. Novell insists on it.

The following news bits brought back memories of the fact that Novell separates OpenOffice.org for Windows and OpenOffice.org for Linux because of its 'special' edition. Ron Hovsepian explained that part of his deal with Microsoft involved such a condition. It was a side effect of restrictions. Novell was allowed to add certain features to OpenOffice.org for Windows, but not for Linux. At the time, it certainly sounded like Microsoft wishes to divide OpenOffice.org and make Windows the more attractive option, even for open source software such as OpenOffice.org. From the short article:

Some of the OpenOffice.org-based variants that you can opt for instead include IBM’s Lotus Symphony Suite http://symphony.lotus.com) and Novell’s OpenOffice Windows edition at www.novell.com.


"Windows edition" is bad news because it means fragmentation. It's "OpenOffice on steroids" and it's likely to be bound by poor limitations that are similar to Moonlight's. As part of Novell's path of getting standards replaced by 'interoperability' Novell has already made OpenOffice.org incompatible with itself. Need the forking issues be mentioned at all? These concerns no longer escape everyone's attention. Consider the following newly-published open letter.

Having Gnome team members promoting the [OOXML] agenda of its main opponent, however, is not only counter-productive but also reflects negatively on the project and its credibility. GNOME is supporting its main opponent by explicitly participating in the official Ecma / ISO process; by participating informally at the conferences; and, presumably, by participating inside of actual [OOXML] development. It seems that Gnome is becoming Microsoft’s catspaw to damage and slow down open source and open standards.


I exchanged some E-mails with Jeff Waugh and I can confirm that GNOME developers are implementing OOXML. In fact, Microsoft has already used Gnumeric as an illustration that OOXML is allegedly supported by other parties. Rob Weir rebutted this argument very quickly by showing many examples from Gnumeric (we covered this here). He proved that Gnumeric is engaged in the task of achieving the impossible. The GNOME team is, sadly enough, helping the Microsoft agenda. It's an agenda of lock-in -- a digital dark age.

"Novell was paid to earn nothing and lose everything, unless its selfish ego is the only thing that counts."The open letter moves on to addressing another issue. As you probably know by now, this site is very concerned about Novell's direction with .NET/Mono and particularly the nature of its deal with Microsoft, which uses Mono as a divider (only Novell receives Mono 'protection', but it it is excluded from other patent deals). See [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33]. Yes, there are many of previous writings on this topic and you can get a taste by hovering over the links with JavaScript enabled. Because of patents and visibility of code (Novell gets to see Microsoft source code), patents and SCO-like claims emerge as a concern in both OpenOffice.org and Mono. The two issues are almost interchangeable in this context and let's not forget that C# gets introduced where OpenOffice.org converters get implemented and added. Novell was paid to earn nothing and lose everything, unless its selfish ego is the only thing that counts.

OOXML and OpenOffice.org can be used as dividers as well -- the dividers that set apart different Linux distributions -- those that pay Microsoft and those that do not (or those that are permitted to interact with Windows and those that are forbidden access to protocols).

The open letter addresses this issue.

For example, one high profile team member can cause a lot of trouble for Gnome, especially when promoting proprietary technologies in opposition to open source and open standards. Quotes like, “Time to play with C#, ASP.NET and some nifty toys (you can make almost Windows feel like Linux now)” seem to be promoting themes advanced by bloggers at Gnome’s (and open standards’) main antagonist, Microsoft.


Miguel de Icaza and GNOME are still conceptually inseparable. It is unfortunate to find that we end up this way.

Mono is Novell

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

99.99% Uptime in First Half of 2025
Since January there was only one noticeable outage
When People Call a Best/Close Friend of Bill Gates a "Serial Rapist"
Good thing that the Linux Foundation keeps the "Linux" trademark ("Linux Mark") clean
Microsoft Bankruptcy in Russia, Shutdown in Pakistan, What Next?
It seems possible that in 2025 alone Microsoft will have laid off over 50,000 workers
What Matters More Than "Market Share"
The goal is freedom, not "market share"
Credit Suisse collapse obfuscated Parreaux, Thiébaud & Partners scandal
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
UK Media Under Threat: Cannot Report on Data Breach, Cannot Report on Microsoft Staff Strangling Women
The story of super injunction (in the British media this week, years late)
 
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity.com Slopfarm and Slopfarms Propped Up by Google News
"As LLM slop is foisted onto the WWW in place of knowledge and real content, it now gets ingested and processed by other LLMs, creating a sort of ouroboros of crap."
Links 18/07/2025: Weather Events and Health Hazards
Links for the day
Microsoft's All-Time Low in Finland
Microsoft is in a freefall
Security: Shane Wegner & Debian statement of incompetence
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 17, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 17, 2025
Gemini Links 17/07/2025: "Goodreads for Gemini" and Defence of "The Small Web"
Links for the day
Links 17/07/2025: Anger and Morale Issues at Microsoft, Wars and Conflicts Get Digital
Links for the day
CALEA / CALEA2 is the Real Problem, Not Chinese Operatives Exploiting CALEA / CALEA2 (as Any Other Nation Can)
CALEA / CALEA2 is more of a front door than a back door
Nils Torvalds and Anna "Mikke" Torvalds (née Törnqvis) Hopefully Use GNU/Linux by Now
"Torvalds Family Uses Windows, Not Linus’ Linux"
Attack of the Slopfarms
FUD-amplifying bots with slop images, slop text (LLM slop)
Not My Problem, I Don't Care
Context/inspiration: Martin Niemöller
Honest Journalism About the European Patent Office Ceased to Exist After SLAPPs and Bribes to the Media
The EPO is basically a Mafia
Life Became Simpler When I Stopped Driving and I Don't Miss Driving When I See "Modern" Cars
Gee, wonder why car sales have plummeted...
Why I Believe Brett Wilson LLP and Its Microsoft Clients Are All Toast
So far our legal strategy has worked perfectly
EPO Jobs Are Very Toxic and Bad for One's Health
Health first, not monopolies
Response to Ryo Suwito Regarding the Four Freedoms
the point of life isn't to make more money
Microsoft's Morale Circling Down the Drain
Or gutter, toilet etc.
Tech Used to be Fun. To Many of Us It's Still Fun.
You can just watch it from afar and make fun of it all
Links 17/07/2025: "Blog Identity Crisis" and Openwashing by Nvidia
Links for the day
Greffiers and the US Attorney of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft
The lawsuit can help expose extensive corruption in the American court system as well
The People Who Promoted systemd in Debian Also Promote Wayland
This is not politics
Victims of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Alex Balabhadra Graveley, Wanted to Sue Him But Lacked the Funds (He Attacked Their Finances)
Having spoken to victims of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft
Links 17/07/2025: Science, Hardware, and Censorship
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/07/2025: Staying in the "Small Web" and Back on ICQ
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 16, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Under the Guise of "MIT Technology Review Insights" the Site MIT Technology Review Posts Corporate Spam as 'Articles'
Some of the articles aren't even articles but 'hit pieces' against Free software and some are paid advertisements
Brett Wilson LLP Has Track Record in Scam Coin Cases (e.g. Craig Wright and More), Now It Works for 'Crypto' Scam Purveyors
But wait, it gets worse
Exclusive: corruption in Tribunals, Greffiers, from protection rackets to cat whisperers
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Will Brett Wilson LLP Handle Its Own Winding Up Petition or be Struck Off for Overt Abuse of Process?
Today we sue not only the first Microsofter
Links 16/07/2025: Chip Bans and Microsoft’s “Digital Escort” Program
Links for the day
Ubuntu Becomes Microsoft GitHub, Based on Decision Made by British Army Officer
You're hopeless, Canonical
Revolving Doors: One Day You're a Judge, the Next Day You're an Attorney Paying Public Officials and Working for Violent and Dangerous Microsoft Employees
how the US justice system works
Sharing Code and Recipes
It helps explain the triviality of software freedom
Slopwatch: Noise, Plagiarism and Even Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering/Dramatisation
What are we meant to do to prevent a false association or misleading connotations? Game the LLMs? No. Boycott slopfarms.
How Many Women Has Microsoft's Alex Balabhadra Graveley Already Strangled and Where Does That End?
If you too are a victim of this man and wish to share information, contact us
Gemini Links 16/07/2025: BaseLibre Numerical System and Simple Web Browsing with TLS
Links for the day
Links 16/07/2025: Fascist Slop Takes "Intelligence" Clothing, New Criminal Case Against MElon
Links for the day
"We Might Save Somebody's Life"
I follow the example of my father
Why I am Suing the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Alex Balabhadra Graveley, in the UK High Court This Week
Out of respect to the process and to the Court, I shall not share any pertinent details about the case
Links 16/07/2025: China’s Economy Grows Steadily, France Takes Action Regarding Harm to Children by GAFAM and Fentanylware (TikTok)
Links for the day
It is Not About Politics
Beware the people who try to make this about politics
Good Journalism Saves Lives
a shocking number of women die or get seriously hurt every day due to violence from a partner
Recognition of Women's Contributions to Free Software
Being passive is not an option when bad things are happening
Slopfarms Are Going to Perish Because Public Opinion is Changing
Many slopfarms will simply go offline
19 Years of Standing Up for Justice, Equality, and Truth
This week we shall take it up a notch
Gemini Links 16/07/2025: Tmux and OCC25 Working TLS
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 15, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 15, 2025