Bonum Certa Men Certa

OOXML Against ODF a Case of Microsoft Against the Rest of the Industry

OOXML: by Microsoft, for Microsoft

The ODF Alliance has some new documents, including this one from Oracle [PDF] [via Groklaw, Bob Sutor]

There are a number of fairly large scope changes that are the result of proposed changes from Ecma. Worse yet, the actual changes will not be known until some time after the BRM (when the editor releases the final draft), and will not be available for in time for national bodies before they must make a final decision on the specification.


Oracle is not the only company which protests against OOXML at the moment. Other large companies speak out and this includes Google, which comes to show that ODF is not a case of just Sun and IBM (no matter how much the likes of Dennis Byron want it to seem that way). In fact, merely all support for OOXML is paid for by Microsoft. This includes Novell. It's pseudo-support. It's manufactured consent.

Out comes Red Hat with its latest protest against OOXML.

As the March 29th voting deadline on OOXML approaches, Red Hat has announced its support of Open Document Format (ODF) instead of Office Open XML (OOXML).

[...]

Regardless of the complexity of the specifications, it is thought that OOXML is not currently defined enough to be fully implementable by those without access to inside information. ECMA, for example, acknowledges that additional information is necessary for compatibility with legacy application settings, and promises that the information will be made available. While it’s helpful to acknowledge the limitations of OOXML, we think it is unfair to ask the nation bodies, as members of ISO, to approve an incomplete standard. Given the lack of interoperability and inadequate review, Red Hat is asking members of ISO to vote “No” to OOXML this month.


Mind the fact that Red Hat, Oracle and Google don't bother to even mention the corruption surrounding OOXML (e.g. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]). They concentrate on technical aspects alone. So does IBM's Rob Wier in this latest writeup of his.

I sometimes hear it said that OOXML, or ODF for that matter, are simply XML serializations of particular applications' native representations. This is said, seemingly, in an attempt to justify quirkiness or outright infelicitous file format representations. "We had not choice. Office 97 did it that way, so OOXML must as well". This variety of technological determinism indicates poor engineering judgement, laziness or both.

An easy counter-example is HTML. Does HTML reflect the internals of NCSA Mosiac? Does it represent the internals of Netscape Navigator? Firefox? Opera? Safari? Are any faults in HTML justified by what a single browser does internally? Applications should follow standards, not the other way around.

[...]

What is the engineering justification for this [OOXML] horror? I have no doubt that this accurately reflects the internals of Microsoft Office, and shows how these three applications have been developed by three different isolated teams. But is this a suitable foundation for an International Standard?


This rhetorical question should only be answered by those who are not paid by Microsoft -- either directly or indirectly -- to respond or to vote.

OOXML data vacuum

Recent Techrights' Posts

GNOME Foundation is in Reliable Hands (Executive Director)
Growing some good in one's garden
'Confidential Computing'? More Like a Giant Back Door.
CacheWarp AMD CPU Attack Grants Root Access in Linux VMs
 
Links 03/12/2023: New 'Hey Hi' (AI) Vapouware and Palantir/NHS Collusion to Spy on Patients Comes Under Legal Challenge
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, December 02, 2023
IRC logs for Saturday, December 02, 2023
Links 03/12/2023: CRISPR as Patented Minefield, Lots of Greenwashing Abound
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news
Professor Eben Moglen: In 1991 Richard Stallman Thought GNU/Linux Was Doomed Due to Software Patents
Back when Linus Torvalds was about to release Linux Prof. Moglen and Dr. Stallman had already spent years developing GNU and refining its licence, the GPL, which Linux would later adopt
Montana’s TikTok Ban Was to Protect Free Speech and the United States' First Amendment
TikTok does not embrace Free speech
GNU/Linux Surges to Almost 4% Worldwide on Desktops/Laptops, 2% in Latest Steam Survey (Ubuntu Not the Top Distro)
We've fortunately bet on a winning platform
Links 02/12/2023: ChatGPT Drowns in Bad Press, Censorship Worldwide Increases Some More
Links for the day
Cybercrimes and Online Abuse From Extremists and Militants on a VPN/Tor
A straitjacket or lobotomy won't solve this issue
Links 02/12/2023: Pfizer Sued for Lies About Efficacy, Censorship of Scientific Dissent, More Pfizer Layoffs
Links for the day
Selling Free Software
by Richard Stallman
[Meme] Screenshots of Web Pages (Relevant to One's Article) Are Not Copyright Infringing Anywhere in the World
bullying and hate crimes
IRC Proceedings: Friday, December 01, 2023
IRC logs for Friday, December 01, 2023
A Year of Doing Techrights 'Full Time'
been a year!
Microsoft and Its Boosters Worsen Linux Security
The circus goes on and on
Links 01/12/2023: Facebook Infested With Malicious Campaigns by Imposters, ACLU Gives Advice on Doxxing and Online Harassment
Links for the day
Just Like Its Budget Allocation, the Linux Foundation Devotes About 3% Of Its Latest Newsletter to Linux, Devotes More to Linux's Rivals
It's just exploiting the brand
Links 01/12/2023: Google Invokes Antitrust Against Microsoft
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news
UK Government Allowing Microsoft to Take Over Activision Blizzard Will Destroy Jobs
Over 30,000 fired this year? More?
It's Cheaper to Pay Bribes (and Produce Press Releases) Than to Pay Fines (After Lots of Negative Publicity)
Does the UK still have real sovereignty or do corporations from overseas purchase decisions and outcomes?
November 2023 Over With GNU/Linux at All-Time Highs According to statCounter
ChromeOS+GNU/Linux combined are about 7% of the "market"
New Report Provides Numerical Evidence That Google Hired Too Many People From Microsoft (and Became Malicious, Evil, Sociopathic)
"Some 12,018 former Microsoft employees currently work for the search and data giant"
Google: Keep Out, Don't Save Your Files, and Also Let Us Spy on Everything You Do
Do you still trust "clown" storage?
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 30, 2023
IRC logs for Thursday, November 30, 2023
Links 01/12/2023: Many Suppressions in Hong Kong and Attempts to Legitimise Illegal and Unconstitutional Fake Patent 'Court' in EU (UPC)
Links for the day