[odf-discuss] Singapore OOXML - Fear of MS pulling out

[Lars Noodén]

Ian Lynch wrote:

> If a country is afraid of a single company pulling out, it simply shows
> how dangerous it is for any country to become over dependent on a single
> source of supply. ...

Or specifically how dangerous that particular vendor is already, should
one persist in pretending it is only just a vendor nowadays.

However, if it were to pull out from Singapore, that would give
Singapore an unfair competitive advantage.  I would posit that most, if
not all, of the productivity gains brought to us starting with Apple II+
Visicalc and then IBM + Lotus 1-2-3 have been neutralized.  The harm is
done by platform-specific design, maintenance, usability,
interoperability and security issued.

The ubiquity of a platform based on a single-process, no-network
architecture that can be said to be designed to spread malware is only
harmful.  A secondary effect is related to the browbeating and marketing
necessary to make bad engineering acceptable.  Acceptance of bad design
then spreads to far more than just the desktop and server room.

If that vendor were to pull out, then Singapore would be forced to
ignore psychological barriers to migrating to modern, low-maintenance
systems.  After a few months of technical problems followed by a few
months more of psychological adjustment, things would progress rapidly
as time is spent *using* the computers rather than fiddling, maintaining
or working for them as is the case now.

-Lars