Micro$oft Reportedly Rolls the ISO on a Standard for Data Formats
by T. Colin Dodd
So far as I can tell, this is not an April Fools’ day joke.
According to reports (1,2, 3) from the European and technical press, Microsoft has succeeded in reversing an earlier vote rejecting a proposed standard on data formats called OOXML. The voting is by the International Organization for Standards, known as the ISO.
This is not just a technical issue. Microsoft uses its effective control over the OOXML standard to continue its monopolistic dominance of software applications for word processing, spreadsheets and presentation graphics. Our statement on the ISO/OOXML vote is here.
James Love is the Director of Knowledge Ecology International, a non-government organization with offices in Washington, DC, London and Geneva.
April 26th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Why do people always seem to like using the “$” sign whenever the name Microsoft appears.
Yes, I don’t like them too. But this is just too childish. People change other people’s names in order to humiliate them, but we shouldn’t forget that those people are always immoral and “uneducated”, i.e. haven’t grown up — ever.