Weigh In On the OOXML Issue During Live Debate

lisah writes "Linux.com's Robin 'Roblimo' Miller will moderate a live debate today, Wednesday, December 5 at 1pm US EST (GMT -5), between the GNOME Foundation's press officer Jeff Waugh and fair competition advocate Roy Schestowitz. Both have strong — and opposing — points of view regarding GNOME's involvement with Microsoft's OOXML standard and vehemently defend their positions, so getting them together in the same virtual room ought to prove quite interesting. Although the broadcast will be archived as a podcast and available for free download, you can listen live as it's recorded and also call in to participate and ask questions."

Comments

Fun, fun, fun

[cthulu_mt]

This should be like the youtube debates, only more asinine.

Which Side Will Say This First?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Look, GNOME and Microsoft are both in the business of restricting what users can do with their computers - we just have different approaches. So let's work together!"

It's things like this that bug me about GNOME

[cozziewozzie]

Without trying to stir up a flamewar, it is things like this one that bug me, and have always bugged me about the GNOME project. Far more than the technical issues, as the project has clearly been producing a lot of high-quality software.

I see no reason why a project which was started as a direct response to another project perceived not to be completely Free (which was quite justified at that time) should have anything to do with certifying obfuscated formats made by monopolists or support their proprietary software platforms (see Mono) and pushes by some people within GNOME to make them a central part of the GNOME infrastructure. I don't understand experiments like Eazel, with big industry hotshots coming in to design proper interfaces for the masses who don't understand them, and there are other confusing examples. GNOME was originally a project with a political goal, so I don't understand how its politics have become so bizarre.

As an external observer who doesn't use much GNOME technology, but values the contributions that the project has done to the Free Software landscape, I have to wonder what the hell some people in there are thinking. I realise that there are many different viewpoints within the GNOME project and that this issue is likely not as grave as some are trying to make it, but there is simply no excuse for supporting OOXML in my eyes. None.

Re:It's things like this that bug me about GNOME

[R_Dorothy]

GNOME was originally a project with a political goal, so I don't understand how its politics have become so bizarre.

The clue to the second clause lies in the first.

Re:It's things like this that bug me about GNOME

[cloricus]

What does it all have to do with GNOME anyway? Why is my desktop of choice even entering into a debate on OOXML. If the chap is supporting OOXML because he happens to think that Microsoft has struck gold in their waste land of creativity then that's fine. However if he (and others) are supporting it in the name of GNOME or its community then some thing really needs to be done to decouple this situation from my desktop.

I think GNOME is the best thing since sliced bread and I defend its design chioces. I think OOXML has nothing to do with GNOME and therefor I ignore it completely (in this context). What is different between those on this bandwagon and myself?

Re:No point.

[IBBoard]

.Net? No. OOXML? Yes.

For the developer who wants to spend his time developing applications rather than worrying about memory management then .Net is a great framework. The fact that it is cross-platform (as long as you're careful with windowing toolkits) is also a bonus. Microsoft purposefully released specs for the framework and it seems to be fairly well specified based on the amount of support in Mono.

OOXML is a bit stranger for Gnome to get involved in. Surely it's something that apps like Open Office should be concerned about, not the desktop people? I'd rather they were putting their effort into improving some of the tools they do have rather than working in things they don't have to directly support.

.

Disclaimer: I use Linux, I even use Gnome (have done since Redhat 7.3), I enjoy the freedom and power of open source, and I do dual-boot Windows XP. I code my own projects in C# and don't hate things purely because they're MS, just because they're generally not as well specified or obviously flawed compared to alternatives.

Ad Hominem

[cerberusss]

I'll be listening in and I'm really hoping for a lively debate with lots of ad hominem attacks.
Jeff: "... and the document size is excellent!"
Roy: "Yeah, but tell me one thing: why should we believe someone who cheats on his wife?"

As a carnivore

[Hatta]

I'm going to eat 3 animals today in your honor.