-------- Original Message --------
This is the KEI Statement on the expected ISO approval of the OOXML standard. Jamie
"It appears as if OOXML will be approved by the ISO. If so, we are disappointed. Microsoft's control over document formats has destroyed competition on the desktop, and the fight over OOXML is really a fight over the future of competition and innovation.
At this point, few software programs can implement the OOXML standard, and it is likely that Microsoft will use this standard as a weapon against its competitors, by introducing various obscure elements of the standard into MS Word and PowerPoint documents, so that only their products can be trusted. They have been doing for this decades already.
The TransAtlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) will meet with European and US trade officials next week and likely recommend procurement policies that would look at the practical implementation of document formats. Specifically, they will ask that procurement be limited to software programs that support multiple effective implementations for word processing on at least each of the three leading operating systems for consumers. This is a test that OOXML does not meet."
Jamie
-- _____________________________ James Love, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) http://www.keionline.org, mailto:james.love@keionline.org voice +1.202.332.2670, fax +1.202.332.2673, US mobile +1.202.361.3040, Geneva mobile +41.76.413.6584
When everyone thinks the same, no one thinks. Bill Walton remix of Walter Lippmann
_______________________________________________ A2k mailing list A2k@lists.essential.org http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/a2k