Standards Expert — "Microsoft Fails the Standards Test" 177
levell writes "Alex Brown, Convenor of the Ballot Resolution Meeting on OOXML, has written a blog post saying that Microsoft is failing the standards test. Mr. Brown notes: 'In its pre-release form Office 2010 supports not the approved Strict variant of OOXML, but the very format the global community rejected in September 2007, and subsequently marked as not for use in new documents — the Transitional variant. Microsoft are behaving as if the JTC 1 standardisation process never happened, and using technologies (like VML) in a new product which even the text of the Standard itself describes as "deprecated" and "included... for legacy reasons only"...' He also says that defects are being fixed very slowly and that 'Looking at the text, I reckon it is more like 95% that remains to be done, as it is still lousy with defects.' It's an insightful look at what has happened with OOXML since ISO approved it from someone who was not opposed to its becoming a standard."
Microsoft not following a standard that they set? (Score:2, Interesting)
I just posted this comment on TFA: (Score:5, Interesting)
Many previous posts said it was unrealistic to expect microsoft to implement proper support in Office 2010. I think what is unrealistic is expecting microsoft to implement any kind of standards.
The only time they will implement anything that is standards compliant is when they have no choice. Think about IE. It took 15 years to get them to implement standards in IE (In IE9) and they only did so because Mozilla, Apple, Opera and Google forced them. Only after they lost significant marketshare against this companies that they implemented HTML5. And, remember, embrace, extend, extinguish. IE9 is only phase1 (Embrace). In a year or so, we'll see IE9 marketshare grow, and the proprietary extensions will start rolling. In a few years, It'll be 2001 all over again. IE15 will be as incompatible as IE6 was.
This is microsoft. That's what they do. They won't change. They are the most hostile company I've ever seen. They blatantly attack the rest of the industry, and as long as people put up with it and buy their products, they have no reason to change their tactics. They've worked well for them for almost 3 decades.
I hope the EU and government sue (Score:4, Interesting)
For each and every project that specified that a standardized format should be used, they can now be hold liable. Lets hope that they get sued to bits over it. I'm not holding my breath though, the EU seems to have some random rights and wrongs they pursue.
I stopped reading when I got to this nugget (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I just posted this comment on TFA: (Score:3, Interesting)
It makes you wonder about all those promises that Microsoft has made to GNOME, Mono, and Linux to not sue. I don't buy any olive branch that Microsoft bares. Microsoft is evil, they will do everything to make it look like they want standards and interoperability, and then do everything in their power to make their product the only product. Seriously, anybody who believes any offer of friendship from MS is seriously gullible.
Agreed. I'm deeply worried about the future of Gnome. Specially since they had that stupid fight with the FSF. I spoke with Richard about it, and told him that it was important to keep Gnome close, since it was in danger. Here's what he had to say: (This is an extract from a very long email exchange)
Lots of fellow hackers and developers condemn the ideals of free
software. That has been true for 20 years or more. I wish
everyone agreed with the free software movement, but they don't.
We can't convert them. We can refuse to let them convert us.
We must, above all, refuse to be a coward like Obama who will make
whatever concession is necessary to avoid the appearance of short-term
defeat. That road leads to total failure.
So, we are between the FSF (Who, at the time, is more important than ever, but still acts like a zealot and drives people away) and Microsoft (That, as usual, acts like your average pedophile, lurking in kids with candy, and then raping them).
Many projects need a parent organization that protects them and helps them organize. Microsoft and their army of corporate trolls and other puppets is a very dangerous choice.
Re:Alex Brown gets heart broken (Score:4, Interesting)
He's still in denial and lashing out at people who dast say "I told you so" too early for his liking.
Re:and this is new news why? (Score:4, Interesting)
Fortunately, not all governments have fallen for the ploy. Recently, the Socialdemocratic-Socialist opposition forced the Conservative-Liberal government in Denmark to pass a law, requiring the state to use truly open formats. One major battle were exactly if OOXML should be considered an open standard. This battle were won by the opposition, as it managed to force the government to make a series of criteria for for what an open format is, where only ODT were included, and it is highly unlikely that the OOXML version including deprecated functionality will meet the criteria.
Microsoft Office Open XML
Are you sure that is the official name? If so, why isn't the abbreviation MOOXML?
Re:and this is new news why? (Score:1, Interesting)
From the Copenhagen Post
State dumps Microsoft
Thursday, 04 February 2010 10:47 RC
Software giant Microsoft has lost out to ODF in the battle to serve as the state’s open source document provider
After years of deliberation, parliament has voted to stop using Microsoft’s Open Suite file format and switch to ‘Open Document Format’, reports financial daily Børsen.
Already in 2006, parliament had voted to abandon common Microsoft document programmes such as Word in favour of open source documents. But the choice at that point came down to using Microsoft’s own OOXML open source format or ODF, whose specifications were originally developed by Sun Microsystems. The ODF standard was created by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards.
MPs voting for the change said the new format will be cheaper than Microsoft’s and of a higher quality. They have allowed, however, for the future use of OOXML documents within the system.
The new format will take effect on 1 April 2011.