The MS-OOXML Standard
Venezuela appealed OOXML as well, following the lead of South Africa, Brazil and India. Norway has also filed a letter of protest.
Though the news is interesting, what I find even more interesting is that it seems that even discussion of OOXML usually leads to Microsoft and/or Office.
The reason why I find this interesting is that no other companies are ever mentioned as direct benefiters beyond Microsoft. If the standard is truly a standard, why is only one company's name attached to it.
It's true that Microsoft created the standard, but why is Corel or Apple — supposed backer of the standard — never mentioned? Why are so many headlines along the line of 'Microsoft looses OOXML war?'
I don't know about you, but that tells me that there is only one company that stood to win from OOXML, and that's Microsoft. Let's face the fact: Microsoft did not create OOXML out of the goodness of their heart, or with inter-compatibility in their mind. OOXML was simply another tool in their lock-in arsenal.
Though ODF, MS-OOXML's so-called competitor was created originally with OpenOffice in mind, it has grown and evolved thanks to their own standardization process. Companies like IBM, Novell, Sun Microsystem and Google all participate to the development of ODF.
In the case of OOXML, who gets to participates in its future development?
Here's a hint
This is one of the many reasons I cannot support any Microsoft-controlled technologies or standards. No matter how 'open' they claim to be, Microsoft develops in secrecy, and announces specific features as they are getting close to completion. This ensures that any competing project continuously have to play catch-up with Microsoft. The standards controlled by Microsoft are pegs in the sand, and it's Microsoft that chooses where to put those pegs.
Who wants to play a game against an opponent who is also the referee?
Though the news is interesting, what I find even more interesting is that it seems that even discussion of OOXML usually leads to Microsoft and/or Office.
The reason why I find this interesting is that no other companies are ever mentioned as direct benefiters beyond Microsoft. If the standard is truly a standard, why is only one company's name attached to it.
It's true that Microsoft created the standard, but why is Corel or Apple — supposed backer of the standard — never mentioned? Why are so many headlines along the line of 'Microsoft looses OOXML war?'
I don't know about you, but that tells me that there is only one company that stood to win from OOXML, and that's Microsoft. Let's face the fact: Microsoft did not create OOXML out of the goodness of their heart, or with inter-compatibility in their mind. OOXML was simply another tool in their lock-in arsenal.
Though ODF, MS-OOXML's so-called competitor was created originally with OpenOffice in mind, it has grown and evolved thanks to their own standardization process. Companies like IBM, Novell, Sun Microsystem and Google all participate to the development of ODF.
In the case of OOXML, who gets to participates in its future development?
Here's a hint
This is one of the many reasons I cannot support any Microsoft-controlled technologies or standards. No matter how 'open' they claim to be, Microsoft develops in secrecy, and announces specific features as they are getting close to completion. This ensures that any competing project continuously have to play catch-up with Microsoft. The standards controlled by Microsoft are pegs in the sand, and it's Microsoft that chooses where to put those pegs.
Who wants to play a game against an opponent who is also the referee?
Labels: iso, microsoft, odf, ooxml, openoffice
posted by J-F Bilodeau at
3:47 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home