OOXML Questions Microsoft Cannot Answer in Geneva
Here is a great summary of the stuff that Microsoft cannot or will not deal with for Geneva’s BRM.
OOXML Questions Microsoft Cannot Answer in Geneva
Written by Charles H Schultz, Russell Ossendryver and Lars Nooden. Spread the word and let your NB’s take a look before they go to Geneva.
How to force users to upgrade – the Microsoft Way.
For those of you who thought that Microsoft really did have your best interests at heart and believed my constant harping on about their terrible OOXML spec was just the ranting of a sad old geek; well, I think they have just proved my point for me…
A couple of months ago, Microsoft released one of their admirably named Service Packs: SP3 for Office 2003. Apart from fixing (I assume) a number of bugs, this particular SP introduced a great new feature – it disabled access to about 24 previously supported file formats! Microsoft themselves suggest that this is for your own security and benefit, but unsurprisingly, many users do not seem to agree with this. And Rob Weir’s analysis demonstrates just how bad Microsoft are at lying yet again..
Taken from this computerworld article
Among the blocked files are older Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint formats, as well as older formats used by Lotus 1-2-3 and Corel Corp.’s Quattro Pro — a pair of ancient and ageing spreadsheets — and Corel Draw, an illustration program. Word 2003 with SP3, in fact, blocks a staggering 24 former formats, according to Microsoft, including the default word processing file format for Office 2004 for Mac, the currently available edition of Microsoft’s application suite for Mac OS X.
Although for me, the final proof is here:
In a posting to a company blog yesterday, Tarpara recommended that rather than monkey with the registry, users convert documents in bulk to the OpenXML format — Office 2007’s default format — using the tools in the Office Migration Planning Manager (OMPM) kit, which can be downloaded from Microsoft’s site. “OMPM is great because it doesn’t overwrite the original files at all, it simply makes a copy of the file in the new file format so there is no risk,” said Tarpara.
So, let’s get this straight… Microsoft release a service pack that renders your application useless with 24 file formats which it was O.K. with before you applied the pack. You can’t uninstall the Service Pack. The “fix” is dangerous and not supported by Microsoft. Their “solution” is to migrate all your documents to their new Office file format which – guess what – is the default for Office 2007! Hows that for trying to cajole people into spending more money on yet another application?
And let’s not forget that Microsoft are still trying to force their new OOXML spec through the ISO and that currently, ECMA are marking whole swathes of the specification deprecated so those areas do not have to be published or publicly documented as part of the ISO standard. Also, M$ have said before that they might not even implement what ECMA manages to get passed ISO (if it passes) but stick to their own proprietary format. So when Office 2010 comes out you’d better get your wallet ready; for once Service Pack 3 appears for Office 2007 you’ll need to upgrade…
Microsoft now owns the ISO JTC 1
Rob Weir replied to a couple of comments to an article he wrote about the plans for maintenance of OOXML should it become an ISO standard. His comment is very insightful, quite scary but ultimately pretty accurate I think…
It is a scary proposition. I don’t think people understand how much Microsoft now owns JTC1 in a very real and tangible way. Absolutely owns.
Consider that it requires 2/3 approval of JTC1 P members to approve a standard. Microsoft, by various means, has managed to achieve very close to that number. They are only 5 short. If they achieve that 2/3 then they can ram through whatever standards they want.
But that scary part is that with even 1/3 of P-members, a number they clearly outright own, they can block anyone else’s standard. It probably hasn’t sunk into your realization yet,but Microsoft can essentially already erected toll bridge in ISO and demand payment or other concessions from anyone who wants to work with International Standards. If ISO rules get in the way, Microsoft can change them. If ISO administrators get in the way — no worry. With this number of NB’s Microsoft can control directives, staffing, paychecks, etc.
They’ve raised an army. You don’t think they will use it?
Is this the sort of company you want to trust your IT too? It isn’t mine.
SC34 Tastes Danger in Japan
Alex Brown, the chap who has the unenviable task of convening the forthcoming BRM in February for Microsoft/ECMA’s OOXML document specification, has posted a few first snippets from the initial meeting of the body called the ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC34 – Document Description and Processing Languages. This is the ISO body that must try and either create a workable standard from ECMA-376 (DIS29500) or throw it out.
In his most recent blog post, covering the opening meetings in Kyoto Japan of the SC34, there are some interesting titbits. I was struck by the list of individuals resigning their posts or stepping down. It’s quite a few people. I don’t know if it is common to lose so many in one go, or how many they represent as a percentage of the total. But still, I found it odd that 4 senior figures all decided to go at the same time. The last one he mentioned is the now famous Martin Bryan:
Finally, my own working group convenor Martin Bryan is stepping down in anticipation of his retirement next year. Martin has been something of a mentor to me, guiding me along some of the more Byzantine passages of the ISO/IEC process. At the plenary Martin spoke to his paper which has been the subject of some comment in the blogosphere (and which was never intended for public circulation). You could have heard a pin drop as Martin described how in 20 years of ISO involvement he had always enjoyed working with people who, although they might disagree violently, came to meetings as themselves. It would be a great shame, he said, if we got to a state where people came to meetings not as individuals with ideas, but as corporate representatives with positions.
So, Martin’s report was not intended to be public. I’m very glad it was. It has basically given credence to what many of us have been saying since this whole farce began; Microsoft has corrupted this ISO process to such an extent that many believe it is now fundamentally broken.
The other point of great interest for me was this:
… It is not Ecma’s responses themselves which are sensitive, but the National Body comments to which they are attached. These are, by ISO/IEC rules, confidential and should not be republished in public. Now, as a matter of fact these comments were published in public for several weeks anyway, but this was an aberration (the current SC 34 web site is not password protected; before the current controversies privacy through obscurity was enough to keep documents confidential). Ecma simply have to follow the rules. And they should have applied to ballot comments on ODF too.
Wow, that’s really interesting! The NB’s comments are supposed to be confidential, but before Microsoft’s attempt to brute-force this particular specification through ISO, come-what-may, it has never been an issue… I wonder why? Anyhow, you can read all the NB’s comments and perhaps help the SC34 by tagging the comments so they may concentrate on the areas of real controversy at: http://www.dis29500.org
And finally, Alex clearly has a sense of humour…
Dicing with Death
Following the opening plenary, JISC very generously treated officers of SC 34 to a delicious banquet, and one of the many course was – somewhat to my surprise – fugu. After some initial reservations (“this restaurant isn’t owned by Microsoft or IBM, is it?’) we tucked in. I must agree with the view that the taste of fugu is itself unremarkable, and I was not aware of an toxin-induced tingling sensation, but eating is does have its own special frisson …
Let’s hope that the Fugu was as well prepared as the SC34 needs to be next February.
“Commiserations to my successor” – OOXML Strikes Again!
In what is an astonishingly outspoken report, Martin Bryan, Convenor, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34 WG1 has given us insight into the total mess that Microsoft/ECMA have caused during their scandalous, underhand and unremitting attempts to get – what is a very poorly written specification – approved as an ISO standard.
This year WG1 have had another major development that has made it almost impossible to continue with our work within ISO. The influx of P members whose only interest is the fast-tracking of ECMA 376 as ISO 29500 has led to the failure of a number of key ballots. Though P members are required to vote, 50% of our current members, and some 66% of our new members, blatantly ignore this rule despite weekly email reminders and reminders on our website. As ISO require at least 50% of P members to vote before they start to count the votes we have had to reballot standards that should have been passed and completed their publication stages at Kyoto. This delay will mean that these standards will appear on the list of WG1 standards that have not been produced within the time limits set by ISO, despite our best efforts.
These people, who do such important work in developing and specifying globally useful standards – that ultimately benefit all of us – are usually very circumspect with their choice of language in any public communication.
For Martin to write:
The second half of 2007 has been an extremely trying time for WG1. I am more than a little glad my 3 year term is up, and must commiserate with my successor on taking over an almost impossible task.
and even more:
The disparity of rules for PAS, Fast-Track and ISO committee generated standards is fast making ISO a laughing stock in IT circles. The days of open standards development are fast disappearing. Instead we are getting “standardization by corporationâ€, something I have been fighting against for the 20 years I have served on ISO committees. I am glad to be retiring before the situation becomes impossible. I wish my colleagues every success for their future efforts, which I sincerely hope will not prove to be as wasted as I fear they could be.
is really quite amazing.
Being the sceptic I am, I did wonder about the longevity of this article at its original location. So, for historical record, here it is.
I really can’t believe that Microsoft can be allowed to get away with this any longer.
We got /.ed
Sorry if this site is running a bit slowly today.
Rather unexpectedly, our OOXML comment discussion site: www.dis29500.org got on the front page of Slashdot last night (and at 10:30am this morning it still is).
This is great news in terms of traffic and raising awareness, but bad news for the other sites we run on our Virtual Machine.
Thanks to Bytemark (our hosting company) for being on the ball and providing some more RAM at very short notice.
