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[News] Malaysia Government Dumps Microsoft Office, Chooses ODF

OpenOffice.org and ODF adoption in Malaysia - thumbs up!

,----[ Quote ]
| Now, you can hold them to their word, as they update a Wiki page, informing 
| you about how many agencies are moving to OpenOffice.org. Big wins, once all 
| of the Malaysian government related agencies are on OpenOffice.org (open 
| source software in general). Again, read OpenOffice.org and ODF Adoption!   
`----

http://www.bytebot.net/blog/archives/2008/04/27/openofficeorg-and-odf-adoption-in-malaysia-thumbs-up

This is actually pretty major. Microsoft has abused and corrupted the country
like nobody's business over the past year. The Open Malaysia blog has a lot of
the fine details and stories.


Recent:

Reports: Malaysia unmoved in OOXML vote

,----[ Quote ]
| Minister ignored objections
| According to Open Malaysia, the Malaysian Industrial Standards Committee for 
| IT (ISC-G) took a vote on Mar. 27 to decide the country's stance on the 
| OOXML-ISO vote, with 13 disapprovals, five abstentions and only three 
| approvals.   
| 
| By eventually taking the decision to abstain in the OOXML ISO ballot, Maximus 
| Ongkili, who is two weeks into the job as Minister of Science, Technology and 
| Innovation--following the country's Mar. 8 general elections--appeared to 
| have ignored the ISC-G's majority "disapprove" vote.    
`----

http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0,39044164,62039739,00.htm


Return of the Living Dead - Brainless Attack on MoSTI - Part Deux!!!

,----[ Quote ]
| I dont know what the attraction is, but somehow we all love the morbid 
| fascination of Zombies in action. First, Microsoft^H^H^H^H^HCompTIA hires Mr 
| Jan van der Beld, Ex-Ecma Secretary General, to fly all the way here in KL, 
| for an event supposedly about "good multiple standards".  There he challenges 
| us to find a better way to Fast Track large, immature vendor dependent 
| specifications. The answer is of course: "Don't do it." Later on that same 
| day, like a man possessed, he turns up at a PIKOM meeting only to rant and 
| thump tables.       
| 
| Then today, in our fantastic broadsheet turned tabloid "The New Straits 
| Times" features a "Comment" by our so called "cooler head" Datuk Dr Mohd 
| Ariffin Aton entitled "Walking the Talk on neutrality policy". If you've 
| forgotten about him, you may be forgiven, but he is or rather WAS the CEO if 
| SIRIM Bhd.     
`----

http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2008/03/return-of-the-l.html


How to Royally Annoy National Bodies

,----[ Quote ]
| Guide to future monopolists on how to alienate yourself from National Bodies:
| 
|    1. Waste NBs time in reviewing monstrous draft specifications
|    2. Claim that these specs can do everything for anyone by standardising 
|    marketing material 
|    3. If you don't get your way at a certain level, lobby the superior above. 
|    Dont stop! Go all the way to the head of the nation if you think you can! 
|    4. Leak press stories to journalists to pressure Ministries to make a 
|    decision. Quick! 
|    5. Try to shut down TCs if actual technical work is done revealing issues 
|    with your plan 
|    6. Question Question Question everything (process, fairness, the system, 
|    members) when things dont go your way 
|    7. Otherwise create another TC with friendly experts
|    8. If the NB allows new members just by paying membership fees, encourage 
|    your business partners to join with marketing funds. Stack-stack-stack it 
|    high!  
|    9. Stalk decision makers, even if it means traveling around the globe with 
|    them 
|   10. Refuse changes in the spec especially if it breaks your product which 
|   you released prior 
|   11. Have private interviews with TC members in the guise of funding for 
|   their new projects/research grants/interoperability initiatives and 
|   conveniently talk about their position on your spec.  
|   12. Get your Business Partners to write in form letters. Some don't even 
|   bother to change the templates 
|   13. Attend TC meetings uninvited by fabricating business cards
|   14. Send Lawyers in to Technical Committee meetings who prefer not to 
|   engage in "high-school" debates 
|   15. Make rude and inaccurate statements against TC members in public
`----

http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2008/03/how-to-royally.html


The Elephant in the Room - with a calling card.

,----[ Quote ]
| But to pass off a foreigner as a Malaysian organisation's representative? 
| That's really stretching it, dudes. It's not as bad as having someone from 
| Senegal representing another country, but it's still not particularly ... 
| appropriate.   
| 
| [...]
| 
| Which is also why there was an uneasy silence when Doug came back into the 
| room to remove his computer, and he gruffly said, "I think it's best that I 
| leave." I thought that was noble of him, and a great way to exit with 
| whatever dignity he had left. I don't think he would normally bend his ethics 
| to represent an organisation's national branch which he does not belong nor 
| contribute to, but we must all understand, that employees at Microsoft are 
|                                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| all facing a really stressful time now.       
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| 
| They are fighting like their jobs depend on this, and unfortunately for 
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| Microsoft as a brand, they are killing themselves. Bending their morals,
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
| burning their bridges which they have built so long and hard over the years, 
| and hurting so many people and organisations over this silly matter of a File 
| Format.    
`----

http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2008/03/the-elephant-in.html


Can I Have A Light, Doug?

,----[ Quote ]
| Here goes:
| 
|    1. Doug, you are claiming that you wanted a technical debate with YK and 
|    yours truly. You never contacted us prior to the PIKOM meeting and never 
|    told me that you would be present at TC4. How can you claim that you 
|    wanted a technical debate when you never bothered to get in touch with the 
|    people you wanted to debate with? Your logic simply does not compute[4].    
|
|    2. Your blog post says "they threw me out before the meeting started". 
|    Well, no shit sherlock. If you turn up at a meeting without giving due 
|    notice of your nomination as an alternate representative of IASA, you 
|    really can't be surprised if they weren't too happy, eh? There are proper 
|    processes to follow in Malaysia's standards body and IASA flagrantly 
|    violated them.     
| 
| [...]
| 
| There you go. I'm not going to pursue this any further (but Doug, do feel 
| free to write another scathing post, I've got /dev/null all prepped up and 
| ready here). I just felt folk reading Doug's blog and OpenMalaysiaBlog should 
| be able to see this from another perspective. Specifically mine. Either that 
| or this is just another excuse for more sandiwara (translation: drama).    
`----

http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2008/03/can-i-have-a-li.html


Doug Mahugh really dislikes me. Boo hoo.

http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2008/03/doug-mahugh-rea.html


The Pikom Meeting About Microsoft's OOXML ... No! (bangs the table) Ecma 376!

,----[ Quote ]
| Doug noted that the guys on the opposite side of the table from Microsoft 
| (and (BANGS hand on table!) Ecma!) did not discuss any of the 23 comments 
| made by Malaysia for the BRM ... and he's right, we didn't. Again, speaking 
| for myself, prior to the meeting, I was sceptical that the "pro-OOXML" gang 
| would actually just concentrate on that. This was mainly because I didn't 
| know who would be attending on their side. I certainly did not expect that 
| Microsoft would bring Doug Mahugh, Oliver Bell, Dave Welsh and (BANGS hand on 
| table!) Jan van de Veld, former Sec-Gen of Ecma International. I fully 
| expected Microsoft to apply the Chewbacca Defense strategy, and therefore  
| figured that I must concentrate on my own Wookie-based defense.        
`----

http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2008/03/the-pikom-meeti.html


Related:

Dissecting the "Malaysian Halal Hub Open XML System"

,----[ Quote ]
| So is it Malaysianising Microsoft, or is it Microsofting Malaysia? 
| Microsoft's paranoia and drive to make MSOOXML an international standard may 
| just be its own demise.  
`----

http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2008/01/dissecting-the.html


Malaysia warms to OOXML ... ?

,----[ Quote ]
| With great "wins" like this, I always wondered why the Microsofties did not 
| trumpet these case studies of wonderful "industry acceptance" of MSOOXML any 
| louder? Its a gold-mine to announce that independent system vendors have 
| wholly adopted their spanking new specification? This is further proof that 
| ISO should ratify MSOOXML immediately with this worldwide support.    
| 
| So is it "Well done, Microsoft Malaysia?" or is a timebomb just waiting to 
| explode ala Sweden? 
`----

http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2008/01/malaysia-warms.html

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