OOXML: decision time is nigh

Sam Varghese
Thursday, 27 March 2008 21:42

Opinion and Analysis

From New Zealand too, there comes a tale of Microsoft trying to smear an individual , in this case Matthew Holloway, a standards adviser to the New Zealand standards body. An unnamed Microsoft employee wrote to the Trinidad and Tobago Computing Society, claiming that Holloway was biased against OOXML.

The company has subsequently apologised for its actions.

How many times have we seen similar behaviour? From Malaysia comes a report of an incident where Microsoft clearly thought it was above the government of that country. Doug Mahugh , a Microsoft employee who was involved in what can only be characterised as boorish behaviour, has copped plenty of flak for trying to bend people to the company's view on OOXML.

It's amazing - hasn't this company learned that such tactics always backfire?

The good folk in Malaysia have shown an admirable sense of humour and created a list of things a multinational can do to "royally annoy national bodies."

And then, of course, we have the strange case of one of the editors of the ODF standard who visited Seattle ostensibly for a religious conference and ended up getting religion about OOXML...

At times one does wonder - is it desperation or arrogance? Why does a company which commands over 90 percent of the world's desktop computer market have such a degree of paranoia?

The acceptance or otherwise of OOXML as an ISO standard will have little to do with technical merit. It is all about lock-in, all about being bound to a standard to which even Microsoft's own Office 2007 does not adhere. By the end of March, we will know more about Microsoft's ability to influence such votes through crude methods than anything else.

One glimmer of hope comes from the European Commission - which is reported to be finding out whether Microsoft's efforts to rally support for OOXML among its members were done by the book.