Slashdot Mirror
Is Microsoft Paying To Influence UN Standards?
PizzaFace writes "Microsoft is reported to be spending strategically to influence the United Nations' standards for business data exchange. A UN standards-setting body, UN/CEFACT, and an industry-standards group, OASIS, had developed an open standard format for data interchange, called ebXML. Microsoft hired two people from UN/CEFACT, and a few months later the body decided to stop working on ebXML and instead to work on a Business Collaboration Framework for web services, promoted by Microsoft and IBM. Microsoft then paid for three UN committee members to travel to six countries to promote the BCF."
WIPO Pressured to Kill Meeting on Open Source
Regardless of who it is, any big buiness that has the funds will try to manipulate things in order to assist their growth and locking out competition..
Normal operating procedure.. why act suprised?
---- Booth was a patriot ----
His take seemed to be that this standard was complete in name only, just to have something to show for their efforts. But most of the specialists stopped contributing to it after the MS mess became known.
He understood Microsoft's desire to influence the standards, but most lobbying is done explicitly. I think they reacted so negatively because they were obviously trying to hide their influence, yet pretend to be having an open and impartial standards setting group.
Most of the technology people involved were primarily concerned with making the standard open to even the smallest and poorest businesses and countries worldwide, and when they found out about this they just weren't happy at all.
Correction, the name should have been Andy Bowers, not Bob Garfield. Apologies.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
UN/CEFACT works on standards for business documents. There's something called EDI (Electronic Document Interchange) which has 2 major forks - in North America a group called DISA has an X-12 committee to create and maintain the standards. Everywhere else in the world uses EDIFACT standards, which are made and maintained by UN/CEFACT.
So when you go to Wal-Mart or JC Penney or even Dell and buy something, the whole business process behind that revolves around electronic documents. An electronic Purchase Order is created by Company X, which sends it to it's supplier, Company Y. Company Y acknowledges it and eventually sends back Ship Notification and an Invoice electronically. Saving both companies money.
ebXML was a proposed format to replace a lot of the old standards by using their own flavor of XML and their own comms stuff.
The details:
A Dutch member of parliament has a salary of 7100 euro gross per month. The Socialist Party (SP) politicians give that to the party.
The SP will return a part of the money to the politician: 1900 net plus 100 euro expenses per month.
The site is sponsored by a group called Public Citzen, a 30 year old organization established with Ralph Nader that among other tracks the funding of all canidates, regardless of party:
Microsoft is on the list of contributors to the Bush reelection campaign.
Steve