Open Standards, OOXML | Comments (3)
The fact is, nobody outside the Ecma and probably ISO knows how OOXML looks like now. It is particularly cumbersome, not so much because that could amount to one more irregularity against the JTC1’s SC 34, but also because it creates yet one more precedent in the long story of anti-competitive practices by Microsoft. At […]
Charles @ May 5, 2008
At the time this post is being written, there is still no news of the final version of Ecma 376/DIS-ISO 29500, aka OOXML. I guess we’ll have to wait until midnight, today, Geneva time to have it. Yet some also claim that the deadline was midnight yesterday on the First of April. The situation […]
Charles @ May 2, 2008
As the deadline of the 2 nd of May is drawing near, I thought it useful to clarify some of the actual concerns surrounding the standardization of OOXML. Perhaps this piece will help dispelling some myths.
So what is going on , and what is left to be done before OOXML gets its now more than […]
Charles @ April 22, 2008
Open Standards, OOXML | Comments (0)
Ah, I see you were expecting me to comment on the olympic catastrophy induced by the race for the flame around the world. No. Today I am going to tell you about a protest that has taken place in Norway at the occasion of the ISO SC34 meeting, where odd decisions about standards were taken. […]
Charles @ April 10, 2008
OOo Postings, Open Standards, OOXML, Free Software, OpenDocument Format | Comments (7)
I shall not complain that much about what happened with OOXML. In fact, the act of standardizing OOXML has not really brought any significant advantages to OOXML. ODF is an ISO standard and so is OOXML. That’s what I call a draw, and Microsoft has been battling hard for a bloody draw, as in the […]
Charles @ April 7, 2008
OOo Postings, Open Standards, OOXML, OpenDocument Format | Comments (3)
It is now certain that OOXML has been approved by the national standards organizations. France finally abstained after an interesting last minute intervention by Microsoft. Odd things happened and the final announcement by the Afnor today would have been a farce if it had not been official.
It is always easy to claim you could […]
Charles @ March 31, 2008
OOo Postings, Open Standards, OOXML, OpenOffice.org, OpenDocument Format | Comments (2)
Today the Easter Bunny (that means me on this blog), who’s very early because it’s Good Friday but also the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad and the first day of Spring, is bringing you some links for you to read this week-end.
- Rick Jelliffe gets a cold shower by the SQL standard guru. Boy, that […]
Charles @ March 21, 2008
In the course of the last two days, two major aspects of the OOXML standardization efforts have been revisited by renowned experts. Unfortunately, what sounded like gestures of goodwill by Microsoft is being seriously challenged on a legal and technical point of view.
The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), the legal arm of […]
Charles @ March 13, 2008
That’s right, OOXML actually got a little bit better in Geneva. Not slimmer, not faster, not anymore standards compliant nor open. No. It just got weirder. See what one delegate from Brazil has to say about it. Now, there is even weirder : New rules seemed to have been written on the fly during the […]
Charles @ March 7, 2008
Open Standards, OOXML | Comments (2)
Update: I think the article from CIO says it all. The Head of Delegation of the ANSI (USA) explains what went wrong. I think it’s a pity that the BRM ended up like this. In a nutshell, the whole idea of the BRM was to discuss the proposals from Ecma and the comments made by the delegations, […]
Charles @ February 29, 2008