[odf-discuss] India to vote NO

[Jean Hollis Weber]

Christian Einfeldt wrote:
> Wow, this really seems to be good news.  I recommend that everyone read 
> it.  Not only is the second largest nation in the world not going with 
> Microsoft, there are many other nations who either will be voting 
> against Microsoft or abstaining.  This is starting to look like a mini 
> digital tipping point all its own.  I know that ODF is already an ISO 
> standard, and that definitely was a digital tipping point, but now it 
> looks as if we will be able to prevent Microsoft from confusing people 
> with its false "open" format.
> 
> On 8/23/07, *Russell Ossendryver* <worldlabel at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/Software/India_throws_Microsoft_open_format_out_of_the_window/articleshow/2305780.cms


Well, India may be good news, but other things are happening that 
aren't so good. The article also says "the US government on 
Thursday said the it will abstain from voting" and "Belgium, 
Finland, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Singapore, Korea, France and 
Australia are likely to abstain from voting." Abstentions are 
better than voting "yes", but a blog post dated 22 August from 
Andy Updegrove suggests other trickery:
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20070822150743399

"I am also told that two countries in recent weeks have upgraded 
themselves in ISO to "P" status (there were c. 30 P members 
previously). And I have heard rumors that more countries may, at 
the last minute, upgrade their status. The voting rules in JTC1 
are very confusing and complex (I will describe them in a future 
post), but suffice it to say that modest changes to the 
composition of the P membership can have a profound change on the 
final outcome."

In that article, Andy also responds to a Q&A in The Economic 
Times of India, in which a Microsoft spokesperson makes blatantly 
false comments about ODF.

--Jean