[odf-discuss] Ecma Approves Office Open XML

[Christian Einfeldt]

On 12/8/06, Pete Harlow <peter.harlow at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Ecma International Approves Office Open XML as Worldwide Industry
> Standard.
>
> http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/12-07-2006/0004487682&EDATE=
>
>

Will someone please give me a reason to be hopeful and not blow my brains
out over this news?  I'm being facetious, of course, but geez, I just didn't
need bad news like this.  I sometimes feel that O'Brien, the bad guy in
George Orwell's "1984" novel was correct when he said that, "The future is a
boot stepping on a human face forever."

To sort of answer my own question, of course ODF is probably way ahead of
MOOX in adoption.  And of course GNU/Linux continues to progress steadily.
The Zune is just not selling.  The X-box is only barely profitable.
Microsoft continues to endure on the basis of selling software as a product
(Windows and Office) and their entire empire is built on a business model
which will be disrupted by SaaS.  And yet the borg just has so much money.

And here's what scares me the most:  The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
(BMGF).  BMGF was just a genius stroke on the part of the Borg.  1)  it's a
huge PR score.  2)  It allows the Borg to dump useless licenses on the
developing world, thereby 3) getting a tax break in the USA, at least, 4)
thereby increasing its profitability, 5) and occupying space at the low end
of the market, where the Borg was most vulnerable and FOSS was strongest.

Sometimes the future just looks so dark to me.  Will someone please give me
some hope?

Thanks
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