Leaked document shows that old tricks may be back as Microsoft seeks control over formats

Microsoft is being very coy and dishonest this week. Having ensured that Microsoft itself is ‘representing’ entire countries and stealing the election in the majority of them, Microsoft wants the world to believe that over three quarters of ‘the world’ supports OOXML. Of course, it’s a foolish thing to believe and a lie of very great proportions.

Just to state or perhaps even emphasise the obvious, OOXML is a very large stack of proprietary Microsoft technologies, which directly contradict and antagonise existing standards, and not by coincidence. Microsoft has always established itself separately from the rest of the industry...

“It looks like the hoops to jump through for OOXML include speed bumps for open formats like ODF. Could that a main reason Apple held back for two years on ODF?”

Microsoft’s position is hardening as the ISO vote on OOXML (DIS 29500) in Geneva approaches at the end of this month. We know more clearly now how Microsoft and its proxy group, ECMA, will position Microsoft’s OOXML specification in advance of the vote. In short, Microsoft is betting that its influence with National Bodies will allow it to push through a specification which elevates its own interests over that of truly competitive, open international standards. In the end, it will be Microsoft’s own inflexibility that will be its undoing, and that undoing means knocking the OOXML out of approval for ISO status.

Although Microsoft publicly testifies from every available pulpit of their deep longing for multiple document formats, a quick glance at reality shows that this love remains unrequited in their products. For example, what new formats does Office 2007 include out of the box?

It is reassuring to find that Microsoft’s over-the-line and above-the-law actions may have all been in vain. High-profile countries across Europe are seemingly apathetic at the sight of Microsoft buying a rubber stamp by collapsing entire committees, lying, bullying and involving personal favours with heads of nations.

BECTA is once again seen praising Microsoft and allowing it to abuse its monopoly.

MICROSOFT PLANS an open source project to write a translator from binary document formats into Office Open XML (OOXML) formats.