Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Employees Secretly Endorse Slashdot !?! (microsoft.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In the PDF File For Webslices You'll See Slashdot Right Along Side The Video Highlights Oh And Speaking Of the new acid3 test IE 8 Scores a pitiful 16 and it Still Doesnt Properly Render the acid2 test
Microsoft

Submission + - MS censors comments on Singularity blog

Submitted by
Tracy Reed
Tracy Reed writes: "I found out about Singularity via programming.reddit.com a day before it appeared on slashdot. I was the second post on the singularity site. Right after the current first post: "I'm glad Singularity has been released. When I first read about the project a year or so ago, I wondered what would become of it." I said that this isn't open source and that this is why I prefer Free Software and that the confusion of Free as in freedom vs free as in cost is better than the confusion over open source you can't actually do anything with. They have deleted my post. Bastards. The current second post which says "Please do not worry about the "free software" demands. I'm very pleased to see the source of the (hopefully) next windows kernel." was in reply to my post about free software. Sleezy. Just sleezy. And this is why I don't do business with them."

Microsoft Singularity Now "Open" Source 392

Posted by CmdrTaco from the it-pulls-me-in dept.
Alex_Ionescu writes "Microsoft's Singularity operating system (covered previously by Slashdot) is now open to the public for download, under a typical Microsoft academic, non-commercial license. Inside is a fully compilable and bootable version of what could be the basis for the future of Windows, or maybe simply an experiment to demonstrate .NET's capabilities. Singularity, if you'll recall, has gained wide interest from researchers and users alike, by claiming to be a fully managed code kernel (with managed code drivers and applications as well), something that would finally revolutionize the operating system research arena. The project is available on CodePlex."
Microsoft

Submission + - Brussels to probe votes on Microsoft standard

Submitted by spectrokid
spectrokid writes: Officials at the European Commission's competition directorate have written to members of the International Organisation for Standardisation, asking how they prepared for votes in September and this month on acceptance of Microsoft's OOXML document format as a worldwide standard. Without ISO acceptance, Microsoft could stand to lose business, particularly with government clients, some of which are becoming increasingly keen to use only ISO-certified software.
Microsoft

Submission + - EC are looking into the OOXML process.

Submitted by Landreth
Landreth writes: It seems the the European Commission are getting interested in how the International Organisation for Standardisation are handling the entire OOXML process. The EC has sent the ISO organisation a letter asking "how they prepared for votes in September and this month on acceptance of Microsoft's OOXML document format as a worldwide standard" according to Financial Times. This comes also days after that ISO made a fast track on accepting suggested changes that delegates have submitted the the ISO organisation.

Clearly the EC have no interest of Microsoft getting their foot into the documents business due to the recent fine that Microsoft has to cough up.
Microsoft

Submission + - Why Legacy Documentation Won't Help OOXML (robweir.com)

Submitted by
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes: "It seems that some people have gotten the idea that the recent publication of some of Microsoft's binary formats makes it acceptable for OOXML to preserve old bugs in the form of application-defined behavior. But IBM's Rob Weir points to the 'Carolino Effect' for why that just won't help. For those wondering, Pedro Carolino was a man who tried to write a Portuguese/English phrase book when he didn't know English. Instead, he had a Portuguese/French phrasebook and a French/English dictionary, so he 'faithfully' translated each French word in the phrasebook into English with the dictionary. Which is, unfortunately reminiscent of the way Microsoft seems to think that implementers will be able to 'faithfully' represent these legacy-feature bugs in OOXML. So if you ever see an OOXML document filled with the XML equivalent of 'Here that it rouse. let aim it! let make fire him!' or 'Me, i have failed it; my gun have miss fixe,' you know who to blame."
Microsoft

Submission + - Tim Bray's list of reasons for and against OOXML

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: "I [Tim Bray] hadn't really planned to become well-informed about OOXML, but I have. So I thought I'd build my own personal list of reasons for and against OOXML becoming an ISO standard." This story requires a RTFA call since Bray copyrighted his blog post and excerpts are not allowed (except the one given). I guess too much manipulation and misquotes has spun around in the OOXML at ISO BRM aftermath. Are you dizzy? Then read Tim Bray on OOXML.
Microsoft

Submission + - OOXML changes granted without discussions

Submitted by
Landreth
Landreth writes: "Chaos seems to be the word on everybody lips when it comes to summarize the ISO Geneva meeting last week. OS2 World writes:

"How do you go through 6000 pages in one week; well you don't and this has been proven by the ISO-organisations themselves. So what do they do then? Well, the next best seems to just take the formal decisions to accepting the suggested changes without any discussion — this ought to be good enough for everyone shouldn't it?"

After the meeting, the 87 national delegations attending will have until March 29 to adjust their positions, giving Microsoft another shot at a two-thirds majority.

It's time to get busy to make sure that OOXML goes down the bin!"
Patents

Submission + - Comparison of IBM, Sun, Microsoft patent covenants (nyud.net)

Submitted by harlows_monkeys
harlows_monkeys writes: Here is a side-by-side listing of Microsoft's patent covenant for their XML document formats, Sun's patent covenant for ODF, IBM's patent covenant for ODF, and Microsoft's Open Specification Promise. The corresponding sections from each are colored the same, to make comparison of exactly what each grants and does not grant easier. There's been a lot of talk about some of these licenses recently, and whether they are safe or not. Hopefully, this side-by-side comparison will make it easier for people to figure out for themselves what the licenses mean and whether or not they are safe.
Government

Submission + - Microsoft standing firm on OOXML ISO vote (fanaticattack.com)

Submitted by
christian.einfeldt
christian.einfeldt writes: "Microsoft has responded via the industry trade goup ECMA to some of the thousands of criticisms of its submission of Office Open XML (OOXML) as an ISO standard. Open standards advocate Russell Ossendryver takes a look at those responses to see if Microsoft has made significant changes in either the substance of OOXML or the manner in which the OOXML specification will be maintained going forward. Ossendryver concludes that Microsoft's position has not siginficantly changed, but only hardened in place in advance of the Ballot Resolution Meeting which is to occur from February 25 through 29 in Geneva, Switzerland. While no one can say for certain whether Microsoft will succeed in having its OOXML specification win the nod from the international community, Ossendryer thinks that Microsoft's firm stance will actually backfire."
Government

Submission + - Nations and Organizations that Adopted ODF in 2007 (odfalliance.org)

Submitted by
christian.einfeldt
christian.einfeldt writes: "The ODF Alliance has released a report on 3 January 2008 detailing the state of global adoption of ODF as a governmental policy and in deployments of software applications. The 15-page report (PDF warning) says that 2007 'ended on a high note,' with the Netherlands and South Africa joining 10 other nations that had already adopted the ODF standard, formally known as ISO/IEC 26300:2006. There are now 40 software apps supporting ODF, with dozens of those coming in September and October alone. The ODF Alliance itself now claims just under 500 member organizations in 53 countries."
Government

Submission + - NY State could shape the global OOXML - ODF debate (fanaticattack.com)

Submitted by
christian.einfeldt
christian.einfeldt writes: "As was reported first here on Slashdot on 18 December 2007, the State of New York has opened a Request For Public Comment (RFPC) on whether it should adopt ODF (the current ISO standard) or Microsoft's OOXML as a standard for electronic documents for the State's government agencies. The public comment period will end on 28 December 20007. In response to that Slashdot article, open format advocate Russell Ossendryver has updated a previous open letter that he had penned to the National Boards of the countries eligible to vote in the upcoming February Microsoft OOXML ISO contest. In the update, Ossendryver urges New York State CIO Melodie Mayberry-Stewart to consider the impact that her report could have on the subsequent ISO vote: Says Ossendryver,

'The timing of the due date for the release of the report, 15 January 2008, places New York State in a position to have an impact on the international vote in late February, a mere 40 days or so later. The eyes of the world will be watching you, New York! '
Scroll to the bottom of the page to see that update."
Software

Submission + - Dutch government adopts open code and standards (google.com)

Submitted by
christian.einfeldt
christian.einfeldt writes: "The Dutch government has set a target date of April 2008 for its agencies to start using open standards-based software, the Netherlands Economic Affairs Ministry said Thursday, according to a 14 December 2007 Associated Press article by Toby Sterling. Government organizations will still be able to use proprietary software and formats but will have to justify it under the new policy, ministry spokesman Edwin van Scherrenburg said. Microsoft Netherlands spokesman Hans Bos claims that Microsoft's Office productivity suite will still be used widely in the Dutch government until April, and that Microsoft Office will comply with the new Dutch rules once Microsoft's so-called "Open Office XML" standard is approved as an international ISO standard in February, as Microsoft sees it. The Dutch policy directs government organizations at the national level to be ready to use the Open Document Format to save documents by April, and at the state and local level by 2009, according to the AP's Sterling."

Slashdot Top Deals

Crazee Edeee, his prices are INSANE!!!

Close