The normally boring world of international standards has turned into a bloody fist fight between the most brutal monopolist of modern times, and the Community. Just the name, “Office Open XML” makes my head spin, and when I start to read Microsoft’s so-sincere explanations that “users demand multiple standards”, my blood begins to boil. But before I turn green and rip off my shirt, let me take a deep breath and look calmly at how Microsoft is trying to do to ISO what Borat wanted to do to Pamela.
Read more »Fighting OOXML
The normally boring world of international standards has turned into a bloody fist fight between the most brutal monopolist of modern times, and the Community. Just the name, “Office Open XML” makes my head spin, and when I start to read Microsoft’s so-sincere explanations that “users demand multiple standards”, my blood begins to boil. But before I turn green and rip off my shirt, let me take a deep breath and look calmly at how Microsoft is trying to do to ISO what Borat wanted to do to Pamela.
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Join No OOXML Club
Self-explanatory. The organisation is particularly concerned with the situation in Australia;
Read more »Open standards beat Microsoft 13 to 4 in South Africa
Microsoft's plans of having its OOXML document format accepted as a national standard were thwarted by the South African Bureau of Standards in a conclusive vote against the move in a meeting yesterday.
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Notes from Portugal on the July 16th Meeting on Ecma-376
"We've seen now reports from Italy and Portugal of what some are describing as a kind of ballot-stuffing on the part of Microsoft and supporters to get Ecma-376 approved as an ISO standard. Trust me when I tell you that you haven't heard the half of it yet. I feel safe in saying that you will never hear the phrase "fast tracking" again, without remembering what you are about to read."
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Open XML Suffers a Setback on the Road to ISO Ratification
Microsoft has suffered a setback in the quest to have its Open XML document format approved as an ISO standard. A vote on July 13 by the committee established to formulate the United States' position on whether or not to support the application for ISO approval failed to achieve the two-thirds majority necessary to approve the move.
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The converter hoax
Just like the UK National Archives fell for the myth of better archival through MS-OOXML, which has been analysed in more depth in a recent followup article in the BBC Technology news, influential groups like Gartner have swallowed the converter claim hook, line and sinker.
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OOXML Fails to Gain Approval in US
On Friday July 13th, INCITS V1 met via teleconference for 3 hours but failed to reach a 2/3 consensus necessary to recommend an "Approval, with comments" position on Microsoft "Office Open XML" (OOXML) document specification.
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Critic bashes Massachusetts on Open XML proposal
"With about a week remaining to collect comments on a plan to adopt Ecma’s Open XML standard, Massachusetts is mum on how the issue is fairing, but some who disagree with the action are already voicing their opinion publicly."
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About Massachusetts... Updated
"You know how I always tell you when I make a mistake? Well, it looks like I made one when I told you that I didn't think Massachusetts would care what you said in any emails about Microsoft's OfficeOpen XML specification (now Ecma 376) being proposed as an addition to their list of usable "open standards". I'm hearing that they are reading the emails and will take them seriously."
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Linspire releases Open XML translator
Linux vendor Linspire on July 11 said that the new Open XML translator is now available for use in its latest Freespire and Linspire distributions. The Open XML translator enables bi-directional compatibility, so that files saved in the Microsoft-created Open XML format can be opened by OpenOffice.org users, and files created by OpenOffice can be saved in Open XML format.
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The Formula for Failure - More OOXML shortcomings
It has been a boast for around around 6 months now. Microsoft's OOXML fully defines spreadsheet formulas, and ODF doesn't.
OOXML's spreadsheet formula is worse than missing.
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TurboLinux joins Microsoft's push for XML-ODF
"TurboLinux has joined the Microsoft-funded but community-led Open XML-ODF (Open Document Format) translator project. Microsoft is enlisting Linux distributor TurboLinux to help translate documents between Open XML and ODF file formats for Japanese and Chinese users."
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My Comments to the Mass. ITD on OOXML
"As I reported recently, the Massachusetts ITD has announced its intention to add Microsoft's OfficeOpen XML specification (now Ecma 376) to its list of approved "open standards," subject to a very short comment period that will expire on July 20."
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Sun finalizes Open Document Format translator
Sun has released the final version of its Open Document Format (ODF) plug-in for Microsoft Office, designed to allow the ODF standard to better compete with Microsoft's dominant Office formats.
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