That'll work as well as Flash (which is pretty good and your idea has merit) but it would be better if it were integrated into the browser so that we could do like we do in Firefox/Safari/Opera and use SVG with HTML.
GPL promotes free (as in $0) software, while condemning anyone that makes an income off software as greedy and immoral.
Eh? I make GPL software -- when people sell it (and they do) I don't care. I just hope that I'll get more users and I'll get more contributions (and typically I do).
Umm, what freedom? You didn't create the software so you don't own it and don't have the right or the freedom to change and share it.
Well I'm giving users that right, so they wouldn't have it otherwise, and I see it as giving them confidence to use it because I can't change the rules on them.
Have you been following the appeals? National Bodies should have received a text by now (as pointed out by South Africa, Brazil). They should have received a final text by the end of March, and they still don't have it. South Africa wrote in their appeal,
Clause 13.12, last bullet point: "In not more than one month after the ballot resolution group meeting the SC Secretariat shall distribute the final report of the meeting and final DIS text in case of acceptance."
Up to date of writing, neither the final report of the BRM meeting or the revised FDIS text has been circulated by the SC Secretariat. The only communication to NBs (other than press releases) has been 34N1015, which was the result of the revised voting during the 30-day period subsequent to the BRM. There is no indication when the final DIS text might be expected, but has not been distributed within the one month period prescribed.
This requirement to distribute a final DIS text privately (within ISO and NBs) is quite different to publishing it publicly (for purchasers).
Here's my take on it, as copied from my blog (which is down right now but check back in 24 hours if you want the links)
The ISO Standardisation of OOXML in 17 Easy Steps
We have had over 15 years of secret file-formats changing with every version of Microsoft Office in order to stifle competition and force annual upgrades to compatible software (the upgrade treadmill),
It's a principle of government that they should be vendor neutral. If a government said "All Ford trucks can drive 20 kilometres faster than all other cars" there would be outrage! In the late 1990s governments all around the world realized that web sites shouldn't favour Microsoft Internet Explorer, and that they must use vendor-neutral standards.
This argument is then extended to Office Suites and their secret file-formats. For vendor-neutrality/competition some governments propose moving away from Microsoft Office's format to a new standard called OpenDocument (ODF) which is used by OpenOffice.org, KOffice and many others. ODF was approved by ISO under the 'PAS' process.
Microsoft are concerned that they'll lose their government sales because their Office Suite doesn't use a standard. If government start using a competitor and putting money into them then maybe something like Firefox will spring up to take them on in Office Suites. Their Microsoft Office cash-cow that earns them (something like) 3.8 billion every 3 months is under threat!
Microsoft respond not by supporting ODF but by proposing a competing faux-standard, OOXML (Office Open XML). They hurriedly rush through some poorly written documentation with hundreds (if not thousands) of mistakes that can't be implemented in full. This is good enough for Ecma International, who approve it as a standard called ECMA-376. ECMA-376 is a complete mess -- inconsistent, buggy, inflexible, ugly (non-mixed content model, OLE, DEVMODE).
ECMA-376 is submitted to the ISO under the 'Fast Track' process, and is now given the name DIS-29500. It's not a normal process that allows time for improvement, it's a brief 9 month review of 6000 pages (that's a lot).
Lobbying begins internationally. To stereotype the process into two camps, it's the people who want to get out from the monopoly Vs those who benefit from the monopoly (Microsoft and business partners).
Every country gets a vote in the ISO, so New Zealand is as big as the United States, China, India... and each country has 9 months to comment on OOXML. The proposed standard is soon recognized as being technically awful, broken, not-cross-platform, designed to confer the appearance of standardisation but without the detail necessary.
The ISO doesn't necessarily decide on technical merit, there's a lot of non-techies who are open to all kinds of arguments other than the quality of the standard. They're not the ITTF either, they don't need implementations to prove the standard. The 'Fast Track' can just approve stuff.
Process irregularities come out in favour of Microsoft. There are accusations of corruption. They're caught stuffing the ballot in Sweden. Lots of small African nations suddenly sign-up and favour Microsoft. Public perception is that the ISO process itself is quite hackable.
Microsoft lose the late 2007 vote, but there's another final chance.
Microsoft make some changes to OOXML in response to national comments, but a 9 month review has only touched the surface of the problems within OOXML.
They probably will win this current vote (March 2008) and gain ISO approval for OOXML.
A lot more accusations of process irregularities, some by people from within the process.
If OOXML gains approval then the ISOs reputation will be in tatters within the technical community.
The backlash against Microsoft and the ISO will be strong. This Slashdot post sumarises this well: Slashdot: Microsoft's Miscalculation.
All we really need, then, is an ACID test for ODF, in which we can show that OpenOffice, KOffice, Google Docs, and even isolated projects like AbiWord and Gnumeric do better than Office, thus shaming Microsoft into doing it right. That assumes they don't get it right the first time, although that does seem unlikely.
That some sexual rules only apply to Buddhists is like saying that sexism is ok within the Catholic church. Sexism and homophobia are as unreasonable as racism in that it's not about judging the individual. If the Buddhists said that black people couldn't be members of the faith there would be outrage, and reasonable people are equally as offended by Buddhism.
And how do you argue with that? They have faith that there is one true path that restricts certain behaviour -- regardless of whether it's harmful or not, or whether it's beneficial to people. In some cases this faith may be prohibitive to the greatest good to the greatest number of people.
The only specific cultural and historical context in which oral, manual and anal sex is taboo is a primitive culture. Let's move on and concentrate on taboos that are actually harmful (rape, murder, war... invisible friends that tell you what sex is correct).
And why does their spiritual leader claim this is the truth path? Faith. And that's the same problem -- how do you change someones mind that homosexual repression is equally as wrong as black repression, or that having sex in the day is acceptable? Sure we all have some beliefs in our lives but beliefs are generally unhelpful things, for adults.
The arguments about the Flying Spaghetti Monster and the Pink Unicorn and Russel's Teapot are all good responses to that.
For example, I'm going to claim that pink unicorns did it and that you're wrong. How is your theory any better than mine? Where the evidence?
In your response please do keep in mind that unicorns are pretty and they can do anything they want.
...which isn't a good fix at all. By adding complexity rather than removing it they're increasing the barrier to market entry. There are hundreds of these so-called fixes that just add more complexity and variation and so you need to implement a lot more code than is necessary.
Thanks but I'm not really maintaining a list, those are only examples and I made that document as part of New Zealands ISO process. New Zealand and Canada voted No.
They've either documented or removed those 'behaveLikeWW8' style flags. As engineering criteria however the documentation hasn't been reviewed to see whether it accurately describes Microsoft Office, and it was added late in the process (early 2008, I think).
What remains however are Microsoft OLE references without documentation or patent coverage, accessibility problems, and huge areas of OOXML entirely without documentation that mean that ISO OOXML promotes defacto standards.
Read my blog for a few posts on how no one voting on OOXML saw a final specification.
OOXML isn't open due to the poor quality of the specification. Where the specification is vague or completely undefined it means that defacto standards will step in and that's how Microsoft Office maintains its monopoly. Here's my list of example remaining problems in OOXML that will result in the ISO promoting a defacto commercial application, Microsoft Office.
Slashdot Mirror
Wireless keyboard eh?
You should do it like Missle Command and ignite the atmosphere with explosions that can be OCRed from your moon computer's webcam.
That'll work as well as Flash (which is pretty good and your idea has merit) but it would be better if it were integrated into the browser so that we could do like we do in Firefox/Safari/Opera and use SVG with HTML.
Eh? I make GPL software -- when people sell it (and they do) I don't care. I just hope that I'll get more users and I'll get more contributions (and typically I do).
Well I'm giving users that right, so they wouldn't have it otherwise, and I see it as giving them confidence to use it because I can't change the rules on them.
Haiku
In case you're wondering what the parent is about see this google video
My .sig's link should work now
Sorry, I'm having some DNS problems. I'll respond to your post again when it's fixed.
Entirely correct but the good news is that it's now been made true: Brazil Formally Appeals OOXML!
That's great news! Mod this up! I wonder if the homembit.com guy will join or be asked to join the standards group again.
The US technical committee INCITS V1 was stacked. Check that site for a graph of late joining members who suddenly voted for OOXML.
...or maybe the Nokia N810 with the keyboard.
Sorry, my mistake I had misread this post on Rob Weirs blog.
So there's what you ask from MS Office.
Personal choice is fine, telling others how to live based on unreasonable and unchangable faith is not.
HAIL XENU (slashdot lameness filter will want it lowercase)
That some sexual rules only apply to Buddhists is like saying that sexism is ok within the Catholic church. Sexism and homophobia are as unreasonable as racism in that it's not about judging the individual. If the Buddhists said that black people couldn't be members of the faith there would be outrage, and reasonable people are equally as offended by Buddhism.
And how do you argue with that? They have faith that there is one true path that restricts certain behaviour -- regardless of whether it's harmful or not, or whether it's beneficial to people. In some cases this faith may be prohibitive to the greatest good to the greatest number of people.
The only specific cultural and historical context in which oral, manual and anal sex is taboo is a primitive culture. Let's move on and concentrate on taboos that are actually harmful (rape, murder, war... invisible friends that tell you what sex is correct).
And why does their spiritual leader claim this is the truth path? Faith. And that's the same problem -- how do you change someones mind that homosexual repression is equally as wrong as black repression, or that having sex in the day is acceptable? Sure we all have some beliefs in our lives but beliefs are generally unhelpful things, for adults.
In your response please do keep in mind that unicorns are pretty and they can do anything they want.
...which isn't a good fix at all. By adding complexity rather than removing it they're increasing the barrier to market entry. There are hundreds of these so-called fixes that just add more complexity and variation and so you need to implement a lot more code than is necessary.
Thanks but I'm not really maintaining a list, those are only examples and I made that document as part of New Zealands ISO process. New Zealand and Canada voted No.
Hi,
They've either documented or removed those 'behaveLikeWW8' style flags. As engineering criteria however the documentation hasn't been reviewed to see whether it accurately describes Microsoft Office, and it was added late in the process (early 2008, I think).
What remains however are Microsoft OLE references without documentation or patent coverage, accessibility problems, and huge areas of OOXML entirely without documentation that mean that ISO OOXML promotes defacto standards.
Read my blog for a few posts on how no one voting on OOXML saw a final specification.
OOXML isn't open due to the poor quality of the specification. Where the specification is vague or completely undefined it means that defacto standards will step in and that's how Microsoft Office maintains its monopoly. Here's my list of example remaining problems in OOXML that will result in the ISO promoting a defacto commercial application, Microsoft Office.