What the OOXML fiasco can teach us

By Sam Varghese
Thursday, 03 April 2008 05:33

Opinion and Analysis

The late Charles M. Schulz, the genius behind Peanuts, could make a much more telling comment on human foibles through one of his cartoon strips than many a writer can in 1000 words.
One of my favourites is the one where Lucy is attempting to persuade Charlie Brown to kick the pigskin while she holds it down. From the conversation one is able to gauge that she has done this numerous times and always pulled the ball away at the last minute, so that Charlie Brown lands flat on his back.

Charlie Brown protests that she will do the same thing again but Lucy waxes voluble, using arguments similar to "where's your faith in the human race", "you must trust human nature", "you can't lead people unless you trust them", and so on. Finally, he gives in and comes running up and aims a mighty kick, only to find himself flat on his back again as she pulls the ball away at the last minute. And then she walks away muttering words to the effect, "Charlie Brown your undying faith in human nature is an inspiration to us all."

Microsoft's promises about changing its skin (becoming more "open") fit this patterm very well. But after the company, using methods that can only be described as dubious, muscled through its Office Open XML document format as an ISO standard, no-one will ever be able to claim that it has changed in any way since it was set up in 1975.

It has always used tactics like this - winning is important and it doesn't matter how one does it. There are plenty of promises at the start but then when it comes down to the knuckle-duster stage, the ugly side of Redmond manifests itself and it's a win-at-all-costs game. After that, we get pious statements.

There are many people who try and make believe that Microsoft has changed - indeed, Novell chief executive Ron Hovsepian went on the record recently claiming that Novell had contributed to Microsoft being more "open." See the first three paragraphs of this piece, Ron.

Hovsepian would do well to learn the history of the personal computer industry. My advice to all those who talk about change at Microsoft is to buy a copy of Accidental Empires, the seminal work by Robert X. Cringely, the grand-daddy of all of us tech journalists. (And Bob, remember my commission when sales take off again).