OOXML Vote
 

Irregularities in Germany & Croatia and a Call for an Investigation of Norway :huh:

Excuse me, but...huh? :huh:

Well, Microsoft is trying to establish their Office OpenXML (OOXML) as ISO standard (International Standards Organisation).
Becoming an ISO standard means usually that all public services should use it.
I find it completely unfair.

Isn't .odt (openoffice standard) already an ISO standard?
That should be the right way...

I see. Well, that is certainly unfair and rude, yes.

I've not really made up my mind 'bout this yet.
As always there is a lot contra but also a lot pro to say about it.
Interchangability of data and/or formats is in my opinion only a plus.

More questionable is if it should be MS that decides what formats are/or not acceptable to become standard. And if a format is adopted, will it really be OpenSource minded?

MS seems to be really pushy about the XML standard. Sun and StarOffice certainly are with MS (->$$$$$$$$), but not all the others agree.

Still more questions than real answers.

After giving it some thought, I decided to be undecided. Yeah, that sounds retarded.

At first I was like "woah, Microsoft deciding ISO standards? NO WAI!!!", but then again... it might not be such a bad idea. I mean MS is THE biggest computer company on this planet, millions (if not billions) are using MS products, be it the Office family or simply Windows (pirated or not). If already that many people use the MS standard, its not far fetched to make it official. As I see, there is nothing wrong with that format, so why not.

But then again, I'm strictly against corporate takeovers, and I'm against Microsoft's open plans to take over the entire PC industry. So I really can't decide on this one.

Heck, just as long they will:
1)Support it.
2)Make it free for all Windows users.
3)Release it as open source once it becomes dated.
4)Will not **** with other alternatives.
Everyone should be happy.

That's a big part of the whole issue, isn't it?

But that would be forcing a producct onto a costumer, which I don't think is legal.