not good news for ODF :(

[Ted Roche]

Chris wrote:
> http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/08/15/ap5329380.html
> 

I don't really think it's bad news for the Open Document Format; ODF was
established first, it has several reference implementations, and it has
a rich community of third party apps and libraries that can read, write
and manipulate the format. One of the many complaints about Microsoft's
so-called "OpenOfficeXML" is that MS can't show that even MS Office
implementations are reference standards. Approving an un-implementable
standard makes a joke of the entire process.

The real, and very sad, story here to my mind is the weakness of the ISO
to hold themselves above the fray. The fact that a single vendor's dirty
tricks could be allowed to sully the process of establishing a
"standard" has brought into question the value of all standards and
standards organizations. The process was sleazy from start to finish,
with many organizations making last minute membership application,
hundreds if not thousands of legitimate objections being ignored,
processes being subverted, 'fast tracking' used to bypass legitimate
deliberation, and valid objections passed over.

That the process was so bald-faced, arrogant and obviously flawed has to
make anyone who would care about such criteria question what Microsoft
was so desperate to accomplish that they would destroy the very approval
they were seeking. In gaining their standard, they destroyed the
credibility of the process that created it. How dumb is that?

-- 

Ted Roche
Ted Roche & Associates, LLC
http://www.tedroche.com