Bonum Certa Men Certa

Is Microsoft's OOXML the “Greatest [of] Scam[s] of Computing History”?

Once a scammer, always a scammer

OOXML is fraud



Assorted links from 6 months ago:



This is now:

As expected, the Internet is abuzz with furious responses to abuse which affects each and every one of us in merely every country. Here is another set of links, which in turn contain some more links to detailed information. We really need to tidy these up and have material better organised for studying this widespread fiasco, which we earlier likened to a DDOS attack (too much, too fast).

An unanticipated response to this "scam" comes from Charles, whose words are echoed in the title of this one particular post.

If you thought you had seen everything about OOXML with the likes of Rick Jelliffe, committees that have been stuffed by Microsoft and its minions to the point where no other choice than approval would be possible, think again. And do open your eyes to one of the greatest scams of computing history. Below are a few examples of what I’m talking about today. But they are meaningful enough.


To learn about the likes of Rick Jelliffe, start with any of these anchors [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18]. It's a widespread phenomenon rather than an individual case. It doesn't make Rick Jelliffe a scapegoat, but rather just a part of an extremely revolting problem.

'Chaos' in Norway



The process in Norway was suspended. This ought to help the world realise just how severe the abuse had been.

Some members of the Norwegian committee that participated in the International Organization for Standardization's Office Open XML vote are calling on Norway's Ministry of Trade and Industry to suspend the country's "yes" vote pending an investigation, according to a letter to the ISO from the Norwegian committee's chairman.


We mentioned Norway on several occasions over the past couple of days alone [1, 2, 3] and summarised some older incidents from Norway here. If you study the abuses in Norway, you will hopefully find these pointers valuable.

Bill Gates and Denmark



“You may wish to know also about the notorious relationship between the Danish Prime Minister (PM) and Microsoft's Bill Gates.”The coupling of Denmark and Microsoft is a particularly unique one. We put together a heap of links right here and later posted a a gentle complaint about a Danish Microsoft partner, Jesper Stocholm, who was doing an exceptional amount of legwork for that company, even entering Linux forums to defend OOXML. He was not alone.

You may wish to know also about the notorious relationship between the Danish Prime Minister (PM) and Microsoft's Bill Gates. This goes quite a long way back (quiet visits to his house) and it has given the PM a lot of flak over the past couple of years. Here is the gossip of interest:

Rumors are running that he also lobbied Denmark [on OOXML], where it is well known that he is a friend of the Prime Minister.


Bill Gates' 'brave crusade' for OOXML did not go unnoticed. We covered or at least mentioned the 'Mexico report' and the recent sentimental blackmail.

"Gone" is "Yes" in Polish



Poland was covered recently in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Here is another update from PolishLinux, which shows how the rules got ignored, disregarded. The European Commission already investigates Poland's TC, for a fact.

* 24 members voted to approve (7 of them without even knowing that, since no vote was counted as a vote to approve), * 13 members voted against approving the standard (a ‘NO’ vote), * 4 remaining members decided that Poland should abstain from voting.


Some more background and information you can find right here.

The Cost of Lock-in



Here is a good assortment of links from a knowledgeable CTO.

Clearly, the entire process has become a mockery. It is quite infuriating having to watch this and being unable to change what is so very obviously a process that is now heavily undermined and compromised by vendor interests. ISO is losing credibility as a technical and independent standards gremium.

Why should we care? Nobody forces us to use OOXML, right? One of the posters in the Slashdot discussion wonderfully summed up the situation we will be in:

OOXML will pass, MS Office will use its own, non-standard version of OOXML, governments will claim they are in compliance with laws requiring open standards, and the rest of us will be in the same boat we've been in for fifteen years. It's all quite sick.
Yes, I reckon that's exactly what's going to happen, and that - of course - is exactly what Microsoft wants. Sigh...


The post above comes from a blogger who recently wrote a good piece that explains the "anti-Microsoft" label. And again, just to clarify, I don't hate Microsoft. I hate corruption (who doesn't?), which Microsoft appears to resort to every day, almost as though it's a bodily function. Microsoft is very quick and skilled at comparing opposition to corruption to something else, calling critics of corruption "Microsoft bashers" or "anti-Microsoft." They even tried this against Andy Updegrove (believe it or not!).

As you will find if you search the Web, I happen to slam corruption of all sorts and all kinds of companies get accused. But Microsoft is truly a treasure trove, for its history elucidated the fact that had grown, thrived, and sustained itself in great levels of corruption, sheltered only by media outlets which it owns (sometimes literally) and government 'insiders' that turn a blind eye. Crime can go unpunished when information channels suppress truths or mitigate representation of major incidents. And that's not even accounting for what happens with Rupert Murdoch in charge...

Also see (in relation to mislabeling of critics as means of distraction):



"It’s a Simple Matter of [Microsoft’s] Commercial Interests!"

--Microsoft's Doug Mahugh about OOXML in Malaysia

Recent Techrights' Posts

Generation Chaff - Phase V: Censorship of Dissent (Painted as Harassment or Terrorism)
Censorship is all around us now
Generation Chaff - Phase IV: Apps Only Few Companies Decide On
Tools are being collectively confiscated, under the premise or false prospect of "security"
Why We Support Richard Stallman and You Probably Should Too
It's not about being "Richard Stallman fan", it is about maintaining the right to hold positions (on technology) like his
Some Large German Media Covers Richard Stallman's Talks in Germany Earlier This Week
LLM-based chatbots are just "bullshit generators" (as he has long called them)
Trouble in Red Hat/IBM and a Retreat to Ponzi Economics in Search of Wall Street Market Heist
Would you invest your life savings in this kind of crap?
Who Asked Software in the Public Interest (SPI) for a Refund? ($100,000, Resulting in Losses of $267,201 in 12 Months, Highest-Ever Losses)
The IRS does not reveal who or what's tied to this refund (or the cause/reason)
 
Coping With the Site Going More Mainstream
Fame is no laughing matter
They Never 'Put Down' Corporations
There are "pests" that are traded in Wall Street
21 Pages in Less Than 7 Hours is No Joking Matter
We've become a lot more effective and efficient
Correct Information is a Valued Asset in the Age of Slopfarms and Public Relations (PR) or Spin
Publishing suppressed facts is never easy
The Register MS Continues to Bag Money to Promote a Ponzi Scheme, Even Money From China
Today in the front page
analytics.usa.gov: The Only Supported Version of Windows (This Past Week) is Only Used by About 13.9% of People in the US, the Home Base of Windows
Even Vista 7 is still used more
Rust is Very Secure
If only Rust itself is secure
Who Will be Held Accountable for Breaking Ubuntu by Imposing Rust on Otherwise-Functional Programs, in Effect Replacing GNU With Proprietary Microsoft (GitHub)?
they're practical people who merely point out that a bunch of buffoons not only ruin Ubuntu but also every future distro based on Ubuntu
Generation Chaff - Phase VIII: In Summary
Like "Science" with a capital "S", what we see here commercial interests usurping everything
Generation Chaff - Phase VII: Curtailing Alternative Media
There was always an obligation - a collective duty of sorts - to uphold independent journalism
Generation Chaff - Phase VI: Centralisation of Information (X, Cheetok/Fentanylware)
Would you trust information when controlled by such people?
Generation Chaff - Phase III: Slop and Plagiarism
A lot of the current so-called 'economy' is built upon false valuations
Generation Chaff - Phase II: "Cloud", Blockchains and Other Hype
For those of us who turned down those propositions there was a struggle; we needed to justify not having skinnerboxes or "social" accounts in some site run by a private company
Generation Chaff - Phase I: Social Control Media
IRC predates the Web
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 23, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 23, 2025
More Clues Shed on Collapse of Microsoft XBox
XBox is basically circling down the drain as Microsoft implements 2-3 waves of layoffs each month
'Vibe Coding' Doesn't Work
In a lot of ways, so-called 'Vibe Coding' is already considered vapourware or a passing fad promoted in the media by managers who try to justify mass layoffs, especially ridding companies of "very expensive" software engineers
Links 24/10/2025: Microsoft's Killing of XBox Connected to Revenue/Profit Problems, "How Elon Musk Ruined Twitter"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/10/2025: 86,400 Seconds and "Society's Task"
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Google News and Slopfarms That Relay Nonsense From LLMs
Google News, which once prioritised or used to care about provenance and quality, is feeding slopfarms
Links 23/10/2025: More Health Concerns Over Dumb Chatbots (LLMs) and "Talking Cars" as Latest Buzz
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/10/2025: Daylight Savings Time and Duration Shorthand
Links for the day
Links 23/10/2025: LLM 'Hallucinations' (Defects) in Practical Code 'Generation', China Becomes More Economically and Technologically Independent
Links for the day
Linux Foundation Uses LLM Slop to Promote Microsoft in Linux.com (Again), Rendering It a Linux-Hostile Slopfarm
Openwashing with slop by "Linux.com Editorial Staff", which basically seems to be a bot
Links 23/10/2025: Windows TCO Galore and "The Internet Is Going to Break Again"
Links for the day
Social engineering attack: Debian voted to trick you on binary blobs
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Techrights Will Always Stand for Women's Rights
We even invest money - personal savings that it - in our principles
Certified Lawyers Should Know Better (Than to Intimidate Us With Man Who Drives on Motorcycle Through a Really Bad Storm Between Distant Cities, Then Collects Photos of Our Home)
Mentioning someone was in prison for bad things isn't a crime, it's a public service
The "AI" (Slop) Bubble is Already Imploding
"ChatGPT Usage Has Peaked and Is Now Declining, New Data Finds"
The So-called "Sexy" Buckets (AI, Quantum) Cannot Save IBM From Reality, Shares Tank
"No matter how much financial hocus-pocus they use to reclassify revenues to land in the "sexy" buckets (AI, Quantum), it still smells old and musty - just like this company."
Paul Krugman is Wrong About the Scope of Mass Layoffs in the United States
A few years ago society was accelerating its journey towards feudalism, boosted by COVID-19
Links 23/10/2025: Proprietary Blunders and CISA's Latest Disclosure of Holes
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/10/2025: Fast Past (F1), 99.9% Uptime
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 22, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Slopwatch: Google News is Promoting Fake 'Articles' About Fake Xubuntu, Fake Articles About Replacing Windows With GNU/Linux
The quality of the Web deteriorates and unless someone cleans up the mess, real sites will lose an incentive to produce anything
When "AI Layoffs" Mean Layoffs Due to the "AI" Bubble Popping
many people that are laid off by Microsoft claim to be specialists in "AI"
Mysterious grant forfeited, $100,000 from Software in the Public Interest accounts 2023
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Evidence: bullying, student union behaviour: Armijn Hemel's FSFE resignation
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Evidence: psychological abuse, stalking, Galia Mancheva, Susanne Eiswirt ignored by FSFE judgment for Matthias Kirschner
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Helping FSFE scam victims and conference organisers
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Nigerian fraud in FSFE constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Worrying and Amusing Stories of "Clown Computing" Gone Awry
Many of these disasters could be avoided
Links 22/10/2025: Amazon Plans to Replace Workers With Robotics, AWS and Clown Computing in General Ridiculed
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/10/2025: Niri Completely Changes Multitasking and Overview of Diff-ers
Links for the day
Links 22/10/2025: Study on Misinformation by Slop and Heavily Debt-Sabbled Microsoft OpenAI (ClosedSlop) Uses "Browser" as Gimmick/Distraction
Links for the day
They've Already Spent Close to a Million Dollars on Lawyers and Sent Us About 50 KG of Legal Papers (Sponsored by Mysterious Third Party) to Try to Censor Techrights, Without Success
They try to overcompensate with sheer volume for a lack of solid, clear arguments (we are the victims here)
12 Months Ago the 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI' Officially Went 'Tag-Team'
We're actually sort of flattered or proud that such despicable people are so desperate to censor us
"Cloud Computing" Was Always a Joke, But This Week Was the Punchline
Maybe stop following tech trends and fashions
"Cloud Computing" Does Not Mean Safety
Fault tolerance is related to the notion of software freedom
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 21, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 21, 2025
The Fall of Windows: From Something to Nothing
Of course Microsoft will pretend everything is fine and "just trust the hey hi" (AI)