[ossig] ODF, OOXML, Open Source - Links To Articles

Thu Aug 2 22:29:17 MYT 2007

(Also at: http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2007/08/odf-ooxml-open-.html)

With thanks to my colleagues who have been compiling related articles on
these, here's a digest of 23 pieces of news and articles on ODF, OOXML and
the open source scene over the last one month from 05 July 2007 to 26 July
2007.

26 July 2007
Office Open XML ISO certification process grows even murkier for Microsoft
By Jeremy Reimer
The general trend among non-US countries is for rejection of the Office
Open XML fast-track proposal, with many nations voicing objections to the
process and some to the file format itself."  Events in South Africa and
Portugal ("a comedic farce," according to the reporter) are described.
ARS Technica:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070726-office-open-xml-iso-certification-process-grows-even-murkier-for-microsoft.html

25 July 2007
ODF: The inevitable format
By T. Colin Dodd
"Opponents of the ODF devote considerable resources to lobbying
legislatures and executive branch IT advisory boards in an attempt to
convince them that the adoption of the ODF actually limits choice..."
Red Hat Magazine:
http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/07/25/odf-the-inevitable-format

25 July 2007
Microsoft: INCITS standards committee will approve Open XML
By Elizabeth Montalbano
Correspondent Liz Montalbano takes Microsoft to task for falsely claiming
that an advisory committee for the U.S. national body had approved ooXML.
Bob Sutor is quoted, calling for more openness in revealing how Microsoft
is influencing ISO national body deliberations.
InfoWorld:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/07/25/standards-committee-undecided-on-Open-XML_1.html

24 July 2007
Now It's Spain and OOXML - More Standards Highjinks?
By Pamela Jones
The Andalusia region of Spain has "sent an official letter of protest to
the president of the technical committee deciding whether or not to accept
OOXML as an ISO standard, denouncing what it called an attempt by Microsoft
to manipulate the process by selectively quoting from a letter from the
Andalusian government back in January as if it were an endorsement of OOXML
as an ISO standard today."
Groklaw: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070723235113424

24 July 2007
World awaits crucial votes on Microsoft's Open XML
By Martin LaMonica
An ANSI committee confirmed that it had not yet reached a recommendation on
how the US standards body will vote on ooXML.  A passage from a recent Bob
Sutor's blog post is quoted:  "The fundamental question is whether a large
company with a lot of money and business partners will essentially be able
to stack committees so that they are out of balance and therefore buy an
ISO standard. I, for one, do not think this is appropriate. I doubt ISO
does either."
CNet: http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9749069-7.html

24 July 2007
Double standards
By Leslie D`Monte
India may be inclined to disapprove of OOXML as an ISO standard.  Reasons
cited include threats to sovereignty and the confusion of a duplicate
document format.
Business Standard (India):
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?leftnm=lmnu9&subLeft=&autono=292022&tab=r

23 July 2007
Update on the US Vote on OOXML (and What Happens Next)
By Andy Updergrove
"I conducted an extensive interview over the weekend with an individual
that is a member of both the V1 Technical Committee as well as the INCITS
Executive Board in order to learn the steps that have been agreed upon to
finalize the US position, so that we may all make the best sense of what we
read and hear between now and the conclusion of the comment period."
Stadards Blog:
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20070723044713169

23 July 2007
A computer battle that could change the world as you know it
By Jeremy Howard
The case for a single, neutral document standard, and the elimination of
Microsoft's maketplace domination, is made forcefully here.
Parliamentary Brief (requires subscription):
http://www.thepolitician.org/articles/a-computer-battle-571.html

23 July 2007
Study: Red Hat Benefiting from MS-Novell Deal Fallout
By  Peter Galli
A survey found that deployments of Red Hat Linux have grown twice as fast
as those for Novell SUSE Linux since Novell signed its agreement with
Microsoft.  The survey also found that governments were leading Linux
adoption in Europe, while in the US, corporations led.
eWeek: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2161500,00.asp

20 July 2007
Proprietizing Standards
By Pamela Jones
Microsoft is misleading India's national body around the OOXML issue, and
is being exclusionary in Portugal.  Meanwhile, Google is saying no to
OOXML.
Groklaw: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070720073215943

20 July 2007
Patrick names MIT exec to Mass. CIO role
By Catherine Williams
"Gov. Deval Patrick has named MIT and Harvard technologist Anne Margulies
as the state's new CIO."
Massachusetts High Tech:
http://masshightech.bizjournals.com/masshightech/stories/2007/07/16/daily39.html

19 July 2007
Open standards beat Microsoft 13 to 4
By James Archibald
"Microsoft's plans of having its OOXML document format accepted as a
national standard were thwarted by a conclusive vote against the move in a
meeting yesterday."
Tectonic (South Africa): http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1641

19 July 2007
Microsoft Faces Petition To Defeat Office 2007 Standard
By Paul McDougall
The Foundation For Free Infrastructure Information says that more than
20,000 people have signed a petition opposing ooXML.

18 July 2007
Open XML - US V1 Committee Vote and IBM Motivations
By Jason Matusow
In the comments section of this blog post by Microsoft's Jason Matusow,
IBM's Rob Weir asks Jason Matusow:  "You also say that, 'Rob seems
determined to question the motivations behind national body membership in
Spain, Portugal and Italy as well.'  Where in the post do I do that? In
fact, I'm not even aware of a problem in Spain.  Should I be?"
Matusow's Blog:
http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonmatusow/archive/2007/07/18/open-xml-us-v1-committee-vote-and-ibm-motivations.aspx

18  July 2007
OOXML End Game: Things Start to Become Interesting
By Andy Updergrove
Irregularities are being reported in Italy and Portugal as ISO national
bodies prepare to vote on OOXML.
Standards Blog:
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20070718060228231

18 July 2007
Microsoft faces renewed EU scrutiny on Word, Excel dominance
Bloomberg News
"The European Commission in Brussels has sent a second questionnaire to
rivals of Microsoft asking them for additional details on how the company
may crimp competition by withholding technical data on Word and Excel...The
Court of First Instance is to rule Sept. 17 on Microsoft's appeal of a
record €497 million, or $685 million, fine for breaking EU antitrust
rules."
International Herald Tribune:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/18/business/msft.php

17 July 2007
Microsoft tripped en route to world domination (and dev doom)
By Richi Jennings
"Microsoft has suffered a setback in the quest to have its Open XML
document format approved as an ISO standard."
ComputerWorld: http://www.computerworld.com/blogs/node/5857

17  July 2007
Microsoft twists and turns over ODF
By Nick Farrell
Microsoft is "claiming it is a poor struggling company being stomped on by
these nasty open saucers (sic) who hold a monopoly and are trying to
squeeze it out of the market."
The Inquirer (UK): http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=41055

17 July 2007
OOXML Under the Microscope at the Royal Society
By Sam Hiser
"Amid reports of ballot-stuffing, door-locking, committee body-checking &
general argy-bargy in Portugal, the BSi [British national body],
cusky-corked up in Blighty, has been doing yoeman duty actually looking at
the OOXML standard specification."
PlexNex: http://fussnotes.typepad.com/plexnex/2007/07/ooxml-under-the.html

11 July 2007
Questions for Microsoft on open formats
BBC News
"Only last week BBC News reported on Mr. Gordon Frazer, managing director
of Microsoft UK, who voiced concern that customers could lose their own
data: 'Unless more work is done to ensure legacy file formats can be read
and edited in the future, we face a digital dark hole.' This is a
surprisingly honest statement from a company that is the largest provider
of incompatible and undocumented legacy file formats in the world."
BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6291124.stm

09 July 2007
How open is "open" when Microsoft say it?
By David M Williams
"Microsoft is deviously using Ecma to ratify as standard a set of document
file formats that co-operate with each other but are distinctly Microsoft
owned and driven and inter-related - and moreso, the standard must align
with the product, not the other way around."
ITWire (Australia):
http://www.itwire.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13391&Itemid=1054

09 July 2007
Novell To Press On With Microsoft Alliance, With Or Without Microsoft
By David M Williams
"Novell plans to continue to distribute the latest versions of open source
software to customers who purchased its Linux product through Microsoft,
even though Microsoft itself has decided to make parts of the software
unavailable, a Novell spokesman said."
InformationWeek:
http://www.informationweek.com/software/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201000521

05 July 2007
Denmark to test Open XML, ODF next year
By Jeremy Kirk
"Denmark's government agencies will be required to handle two competing
document format standards, the Open Document format (ODF) and Microsoft
Corp.'s Office Open XML, during a one-year test period that will begin next
year."
ComputerWorld:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=desktop_applications&articleId=9026277&taxonomyId=86&intsrc=kc_top
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