Mark Kent wrote:
> Roy Schestowitz espoused:
>
>> Linux Foundation adds ace open-source attorneys to team
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>| Updegrove is a partner and founder of Gesmer Updegrove in Boston, and
>>| is best known for blogging about open source and open standards on his
>>| Standards Blog on the Consortiuminfo.org Web site he created and
>>| manages. Updegrove has received particular notoriety for his criticism
>>| of Microsoft in its quest to make its XML-based document format, Open
>>| XML, an international standard.
>> `----
>>
>> http://news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20070808/tc_infoworld/90853
>>
>> A standards expert who simply fights for real standards. He covered
>> Microsoft's corruption in Massachusetts very well.
>
> As per the posting I made just moments ago, having principles is
> something increasingly alien to most people, even those people who
> inhabit this group.
Here is something from a link posted by Mr. Updegrove, which I found to be
rather interesting:
http://www.pressportal.co.za/content/view/666/52/
[quote]
“Consumer choice essential” says Microsoft
Submitted by Microsoft SA
Saturday, 04 August 2007
[Pressportal.co.za] Computer users worldwide know the frustration of
trying to send a document to someone who works on an Apple mac or other
operating system – incompatible file formats. An attempt by Microsoft
and other contributors to resolve this is causing great controversy
amongst the computer industry to the detriment of the consumer, claims
Paulo Ferreira, representative of Microsoft South Africa. Microsoft has
created a document format called Office OpenXML which can be read and
edited by any other operating system as well as be used by anyone not
using a Microsoft based computer. Microsoft and other industry
organisations, is aiming, through the International Standards Authority
(ISO) and the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) to standardise this
file format much like A4 paper has been standardised worldwide.
[/quote]
What I find disturbing about Microsoft's "consumer choice essential", is
choice is essential if it is only Microsoft, not Apple or the other
operating system (Linux, Solaris, BSD, etc.) This is not open. It is a
way to retain the incumbent by maintaining its standards. ODF is a format
more like A4 than OOXML.
Japan for example, has chosen Open Document Standard:
http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/15/0120202
[quote]
"Japan has adopted a policy under which government ministries and agencies
will solicit bids from software vendors whose products support
internationally recognized open standards. Japan thus becomes the first
country in Asia to embrace open software standards (PDF), the OpenDocument
Format Alliance says in a press release. ODF managing director Marino
Marcich is quoted: 'By giving preference to open software formats such as
ODF, it is saying that information should be competitively priced,
innovative, and easily available to the widest range of people, now and in
the future. We hail Japan for its diligence and vision.' The new
guidelines are available (in Japanese) from Japan's Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry."
[/quote]
Remember, Microsoft made this statement against a competitor back in
February:
http://news.com.com/Microsoft+calls+IBM+hypocritical+on+document+
standards/2100-1012_3-6159305.html
or http://tinyurl.com/278uym
Microsoft calls IBM hypocritical on document standards
Redmond publishes open letter accusing Big Blue of blocking ISO from
considering Office Open XML as document standard.
By Martin LaMonica
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: February 14, 2007, 8:45 AM PST
[quote]
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is in the
process of evaluating Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML)--the default
document formats in Microsoft Office 2007--as a standard. Such a
ratification would be significant, particularly to governments that favor
ISO certification for digital documents.
IBM and other Microsoft competitors favor OpenDocument Format (ODF), a
format that has been standardized at the ISO. Government customers,
including Massachusetts and some European countries, back ODF.
Microsoft contends that IBM is trying "to force ODF on users through
public procurement mandates," which would have a negative effect on
customers and the marketplace.
[/quote]
[quote]
In the past, IBM representatives--and other Microsoft foes--have called
OOXML technically flawed and not fully "open" because it is controlled by
Microsoft.
[/quote]
The ODF plug-in was already made available for Microsoft Office, however,
it goes to show how Microsoft is intent to push only its agenda:
http://www.investintech.com/resources/blog/archives/36-XPS,-OOXML,
-And-ODF-A-Look-At-Things-To-Come.html
http://tinyurl.com/23aon8
[quote]
But, after an 8 month project, version 1.0 of an ODF-OOXML translation
plug-in was just released last week. The plug-in allows ODF documents to
be opened, worked on and saved as ODF within MS Office applications. It
was published, not developed, by Microsoft and made available via
SourceForge.net. Just one example of how Microsoft is pushing its
interoperability campaign, no?
And when it comes to XML, the portability and universality is due to the
way in which XML specifically describes only the content of your data.
Yet, the Office Open XML used in XPS documents is, at its core, influenced
by Microsoft’s tech design; that “limits” the openness of it. The
OOXML is a container format for XML-based markup languages that reference
the individual applications of the MS Office suite.
[/quote]
To me, openness means choice, independence from a particular vendor and
ability to be read by any. OOXML is one vendor trying to drive the
standards industry rather than the industry driving the standards. Just
as you state, it is getting harder to find principle and integrity.
This article very well sums it up:
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS9526259887.html
[quote]
When all is said and done, the real reason why Microsoft is "winning" in
China and has won elsewhere is that Microsoft is willing to break the law,
pay the fines, dump products on the market at far below cost, and continue
on in the belief that in the long run the costs of doing business the
Microsoft way will win out over the higher quality, security and features
of Mac OS X and the Linux desktop.
[/quote]
You may wonder why in UK, other EU nations and prospering countries
(including Singapore) must pay a higher premium for Microsoft products is
well summed up in the next statement:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/07/23/
100134488/index2.htm
or http://tinyurl.com/yo5szq
[quote]
Fast-forward to 2007 and what do we find? Fortune reports that Windows is
used on as many as 90 percent of China's 120 million PCs, because of
piracy and because Microsoft's own prices have dropped so low that a
student can now buy a combination package of Windows and Office for $3.
[/quote]
As the EU put it, because of Microsoft's "near monopoly", they charge very
well what the please, figuring the market will support such costs. When
there was choice in the market over 10 years ago, the competition between
vendors such as WordPerfect Corp. & WordPerfect, IBM & Lotus Smartsuite,
Claris Works, and etc. helped to keep Office suite pricing competitive.
One thing I noticed is as soon as competition was eliminated, Microsoft
increased the pricing of their Office suite.
I am not a fan of CNN, but I found this interesting:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/07/23/
100134488/index.htm
or http://tinyurl.com/38yv96
[quote]
By 2001, Microsoft executives were coming to the conclusion that China's
weak IP-enforcement laws meant its usual pricing strategies were doomed to
fail. Gates argued at the time that while it was terrible that people in
China pirated so much software, if they were going to pirate anybody's
software he'd certainly prefer it be Microsoft's.
Today Gates openly concedes that tolerating piracy turned out to be
Microsoft's best long-term strategy. That's why Windows is used on an
estimated 90% of China's 120 million PCs. "It's easier for our software to
compete with Linux when there's piracy than when there's not," Gates says.
"Are you kidding? You can get the real thing, and you get the same price."
Indeed, in China's back alleys, Linux often costs more than Windows
because it requires more disks. And Microsoft's own prices have dropped so
low it now sells a $3 package of Windows and Office to students.
[/quote]
Page 2:
[quote]
Microsoft's China strategy is clearly paying off. More than 24 million PCs
will be sold this year, adding to the 120 million already in place.
Although the company's China revenues average no more than $7 for every PC
in use (compared with $100 to $200 in developed countries)
[/quote]
At expense of the Western world, "improved" Eastern and Far Eastern
world countries (like Singapore) have been used to serve the Far East.
This practise has IMHO, basically worn out these Microsoft users. This
practise coupled with the rash of lawsuits, licensing practises, .net
initiative, "proprietary but open" OOXML and the disappointments with the
new Vista operating system has been a precipitate toward galvenising
alternates.
The press overall, being controlled by wealthy few appears to have done a
good job in attempting to suppress the truth. However, bits and pieces
have managed their way out.
As I observed in:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.advocacy/msg/f64d7fc58ae09cd3
the "Software Babel" will be toppled. Increased displays of Macintosh
computers in stores and news of governments implementing Linux and open
source solutions in their offices and computer rooms indicate this
toppling has already started.
--
HPT
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