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Microsoft Bids To Take Over Open Document Format

Posted by kdawson on from the pinching-the-oxygen-feed dept.

what about sends in a Groklaw alert warning that, by PJ's reading, Microsoft may be trying to take over ODF via a stacked SC 34 committee. The article lists the attendees at an SC 34 meeting in July and gives their affiliations, which the official meeting materials do not. (The attendees of the October 1 meeting, which generated a takeover proposal to OASIS, are not known in full.) "Why do I say Microsoft, when this is SC 34? Look at this ... list of participants in the July meeting in Japan of the SC 34 committee. The committee membership is so tilted by Microsoft employees and such, if it were a boat, it would capsize ... Of the 19 attendees, 8 are outright Microsoft employees or consultants, and 2 of them are Ecma TC45 members. So 10 out of 19 are directly controlled by Microsoft/Ecma ... [I]f the takeover were to succeed, SC 34 would get to maintain ODF as well as Microsoft's competing parody 'standard,' OOXML. How totally smooth and shark-like. Under the guise of 'synchronized maintenance,' without which they claim SC 34 can't fulfill its responsibilities, they get control of everything." A related submission from David Gerard points out that BoycottNovell has leaked the ISO OOXML documents, which ISO has kept behind passwords.

7 of 256 comments (clear)

  1. Super slimy. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Let me get this straight:
    Sit pouting on the sidelines during ODF standardization
    Complain that ODF lacks all kinds of OMG Necessary! features
    Hack together your own bloated abortion of a format.
    Lie, cheat, and steal your way to its ratification as a standard, never mind that it duplicates functionality of an existing standard, and is of severly troubled quality.
    And now: Demand to be placed in charge of maintaining the first standard?

    Anything I missed?

    1. Re:Super slimy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Maybe when Linux actually works well for basic desktop use (it currently doesn't, though I like it on my servers), this would be a reasonable stance to have. As it is? Fuck you. When you don't offer an alternative that, quite simply, does not suck, you don't get to bitch and moan.

      For my use (programming, surfing, writing documents, creating websites...) Linux works significantly better in desktop use than Windows XP ever did and orders of magnitude better than the Vista I have in my laptop for the occasional use.

      Not only do I get the normal benefits (no need for antivirus program, etc.) but I can't stand the functionality Windows is missing. For example, no ability to choose any window to be always on top? What's up with that?

      For the last few years, Linux has been very suitable for desktop use. The main problem are drivers (Getting sounds, 3d acceleration, etc. to work can sometimes be a pain for a regular user). However, if buying two thousand computers for organizational use, knowing the OS you'll be using beforehand and making sure that the hardware is supported and installing all to be exactly identical... There isn't such a problem.

  2. Re:Slashdot looks like complete asshole in IE 6 no by ZERO1ZERO · · Score: 5, Funny

    maybe you clicked goatse?

  3. Re:Slashdot looks like complete asshole in IE 6 no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Slashdot looks like complete asshole in IE 6 now
    why is this?

    I might be able to shed some light on this. Rob -- CmdrTaco -- Malda asked Netcraft, here's a transcript of the conversation:

    NETCRAFT: We're confirming that we have answered the phone.
    TACO: Hi, Rob Malda here. How's it hangin', still skewing your server figures in favour of Microsoft?
    NETCRAFT: Our shit is good, Netcraft confirms it! Netcraft also confirms that we're still counting GoDaddy parked domains and MySpace accounts as full sites, IIS FTW!
    TACO: Errr, ok. I was actually phoning to ask a question: is it worth developing for IE6, or should we dump it like a rotten BSD category?
    NETCRAFT: IE6 is dead, Netcraft confirms it! So is BSD!
    TACO: Thanks a lot, I think. Bye.
    NETCRAFT: This conversation is over, Netcraft confi ... *click* *whhhrrrrrrr*

    So you see, IE6 is dead. Netcraft confirms it! And the winner of the award for "Most Roundabout Way of Repeating a Tired Slashdot Meme" is ...

  4. Re:Yes, you missed the excuse used in first place. by Bert64 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Being involved with a format is one thing, microsoft are already members of OASIS, and have been invited to join the ODF committee many times over the past few years and always refused, tho they may have joined it more recently...
    Trying to take control of it is quite another matter, as the format should remain neutral and not be controlled by a single for-profit corporation.

    --
    http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
  5. Re:Hypocritical by ElBeano · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Adopting it as a standard and taking it over and subverting the standard are two different things...

  6. ODF2, ODF 2009, ODF-2010, etc. by wonkavader · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Duh. The reason they want to control the standard is so they can force it to change, again and again.

    The reason MS doesn't like open standards is not because they're crazy or evil (which actually they might be, but that's not the reason, here) but because file formats are the key to upgrades.

    When you can change a file format so that older versions are incompatible, you can create a situation where 100 million people with word 2009 start getting new files from 1 million people with word 2010. The 100 million people cannot read them. They complain, they gripe, then THEY UPGRADE.

    A file format which stays the same breaks this model, and that would reduce MS revenue by a colossal amount. They can't allow that. So they need to control ODF so that they can keep changing it.