A Microsoft spokesperson debunks Andy Updegrove:
"…Andy seemed to be saying that Open XML has only a single implementation - Office. When in fact there are more than a dozen implementations from folks other than Microsoft, so people can be using Open XML whether they're running Windows, Linux, Mac or Palm platforms."
<no>ooxml shares a different view:
2. There is no provable implementation of the OOXML specification: Microsoft Office 2007 produces a special version of OOXML, not a file format which complies with the OOXML specification;
Open Standards, "open" as in ACT
Finally, Blafkin argued that if Massachusetts had to choose an audio/video encoding standard … it would have to exclude Ogg Vorbis from consideration since it has yet to be accepted as a standard by the IETF… The state would also have to exclude the Free Lossless Audio Codec… because it's not an open standard.
Who is Mark Blafkin? He works for Jonathan Zuck, ACT, Association for Competitive Technology, you know, SMEs urgently need software patents. An ACT member who asks the right questions:
Does the Free Software Foundation Have Brilliant PR People…or Stupid Ones?
So, as a "PR guy" I find today's timing very interesting. Given the importance of this announcement, why would they bury it on the Friday before (for all intents and purposes) a holiday weekend? And isn't there something else kinda important going on today???
Important? Today?
Oh yeah, and on the same day as the biggest news story to hit the tech industry in years. The day when every single tech reporter in the world is covering something else!!! A day where Steven Levy was nearly mugged for his iPhone on LIVE TV!! The day that will go down in history,… as the day that the proprietary iPhone revolutionized the mobile phone world.
Brilliant PR People…or Stupid Ones?
PR People. Brilliant PR People.
Blafkin's point boils down to questioning why a format has to be a standard in order to be accepted. He did not provide any further examples with regard to possible open applications formats that would be excluded from Massachusetts' consideration by virtue of their lack of ratification by a standards body.
History tales of ACT
It all started many years ago, when Ralph Nader teamed up with Scott McNealy, Jim Barksdale and other captains of industry to lobby against Microsoft. … It's really nice of Nader to make sure we have good air bags, but teaming up with the software billionaires was a clear sign that Ralph had lost touch with his roots.
Several of my fellow developers shared my feelings, and we decided to rent a room at a hotel in Washington DC, right across from the Nader conference, and hold our own press conference. It was great… we had "Ralph Nader Doesn't Speak for Me" buttons (he claimed to speak for all computer users), and there were cameras from NBC, CNN, and others. Unfortunately, Sadam invaded Iraq around that time… The experience was exhilarating, and I started the organization called the "Association for Software Competitors". I later renamed it to the "Association for Competition and Technology", because non-software companies wanted to join, too. It started with a small website, but it soon snowballed.
