[odf-discuss] Response from a GNOME Foundation board director

[M. Fioretti]

On Fri, Nov 02, 2007 05:51:49 AM -0400, Jody Goldberg (jody at gnome.org)
wrote:

> > Again, think people, think emotions, think perception not
> > technical details. This is about human and community
> > relationships, not coding or legal analysis.
> 
> As an implementer I disagree with those priorities.  
> This is about technical details, not perception.

Yes, this aristocratic, ivory-tower point of view and attitude from
many FOSS developers is exactly why FOSS and open formats are still in
a corner. Almost nobody, starting from those who make decisions,
thinks like you or geeks in general. Even if you were technically
right in this particular case, of course.

> As much as I enjoy Gnumeric, the notion it is going to materially
> alter the decisions by the national bodies in ISO seems ridiculous.

OK, then: what about the notion that Gnumeric/Gnome work _for_ OOXML
helps MS to alter the perception of those who decide, enough to make
them go for Office 2007 anyway, since they can't be fired for chosing
software which even FOSS guys are helping to clean it, which (the
larger and larger base) would help to make harder to refuse ISO
approval etc...?

This is the side-effects that worry me and others, I think. If the
world worked with the same processes with which geeks think, there
wouldn't be any need for this list at all, now would it?

Marco
-- 
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