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If This Was a Month Ago, OOXML Would Be Over

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the games-of-corporate-chess dept.

Andy Updegrove writes "Public announcements of how Participating members of ISO have voted on OOXML are now rolling in one at a time, and the trend thus far is meaningfully weighted towards 'No with comments.' By my count, there are now four announced Yes votes, with comments, two abstentions, and seven public No with comments votes for OOXML in ISO/IEC JT1. Korea has reportedly voted no as well, and I expect at least Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom to announce 'No with comments' today or tomorrow. There will be more no votes on the roster when the final results are announced in a day or two. But even if the 11 votes I know of now were the only votes, the vote would now have failed — but for the 11 countries that upgraded their status from Observer to Participating member status in the last few weeks. Without those extra 11 'P' countries, it would only require 10 votes to block OOXML from immediate approval. If most or all of those additional 'P' members vote 'yes' as expected, it will confirm suspicions that Microsoft has promoted extra votes in favor of OOXML not only within National Bodies, but within ISO itself."

4 of 230 comments (clear)

  1. Elegy for *BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Elegy For *BSD

    I am a *BSD user
    and I try hard to be brave.
    That is a tall order
    *BSD's foot is in the grave.


    I tap at my toy keyboard
    and whistle a happy tune
    but keeping happy's so hard,
    *BSD died so soon.


    Each day I wake and softly sob
    Nightfall finds me crying.
    Not only am I a zit faced slob,
    but *BSD is dying.

  2. Re:Help me out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    "EMACS was distributed on a basis of communal sharing, which means all improvements must be given back to me to be incorporated and distributed." -- RMS.

    Relicensing BSD code as GPL is hypocritical and contrary to the intent of the GPL. (Don't bother bringing up Apple, Microsoft, or close-source software. Closed source software is inherently wrong and they can "steal" GPL code just as easily as they can "steal" BSD code.) Richard Stallman has said many times that other "semi-free" licenses shouldn't be used, but it is acceptable (and preferred) to distribute code back under the original license.

    People that relicense BSD code as GPL don't understand the point of FREE software.

  3. subjunctive mood by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Shouldn't the title be "If This Were a Month Ago..."?

  4. Re:who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Did I tell you to yap?! Shut up and keep sucking.