[odf-discuss] OOXML: The next step

[Pete Harlow]

On 03/04/2008, Inge Wallin <inge at lysator.liu.se> wrote:
>
> Ok, so we lost the battle this time. But where do we go from here?  I
> cannot
> imagine that just because we lost one battle, although a big one, the
> whole
> war is lost.
>
> One idea would be to start lobbying for a conformance test for the ISO
> OOXML
> standard and try to make it mandatory that the test be performed for
> vendors
> that say that they adhere to the standard.  That would have the effect of
> exposing MS tactic to define a standard and then not follow it themselves.
>
> If possible it would also be good if the test could show how much of OOXML
> that a certain tool implements so that it is more difficult to say things
> like "200 applications support OOXML" when in reality they only support 2%
> of
> it.
>
> Thoughts?


What I suppose will happen now is that the first attack will be based on
'Now we have approval, no need to continue with ODF, you can have an ISO
approved standard from us', the idea being to slow uptake of ODF whilst
conveniently forgetting there is no compliant version of Office available.

There is already misinformation circulating that OOXML is in wide use - as I
noted yesterday the shills have been primed:
http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/ibm-responds-to-iso-ooxml-decision-297574
"and OOXML has become widely used not only by
Microsoft<http://www.microsoft.com/en/us/default.aspx>but also the
likes of
Apple <http://www.apple.com/uk/>, Novell
<http://www.novell.com/home/index.html>and, in the near future,
Corel<http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/gb/en/Content/1150905725000>
."

Another opinion I saw in the comments to
http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2008/03/24/iso-approval-a-good-process-gone-bad/
was that damaging ISO during the OOXML debacle might have been a deliberate
part of the ploy, as generally speaking having standards works against
Microsoft.

I certainly agree about the need for a conformancy test, and we now need to
make the distinction between OOXML (as implemented by Office 2007) and ISO/IEC
29500 as there will invariably be attempts to confuse one with the other.
Whilst I disagree about the "wide use" statement above, it has to be
remembered that the OOXML documents that *are* out there are not ISO/IEC
29500.

Regards,
-- 
Pete Harlow
Catnip Corner - Photography by Pete Harlow - http://www.catnip.co.uk/
http://www.catnip.co.uk/wallpaper/
"La couleur est l'enthousiasme de la vie." (Vincent Van Gogh)
Please use ISO 26300 format (.odt - .ods - .odp - .odg) to send me documents
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