Did I urge you to keep blogging about what's going on? Inside-IT.ch/Maurizio Minetti writes:
Schweizer "Polit-Skandal" wegen Open XML? — Swiss political scandal because of Open XML
Auch in der Schweiz ist es mittlerweile brisant geworden. Die deutsche 'Computerwoche' schreibt heute, dass in der auf Neutralität bedachten Schweiz Microsoft zum Auslöser eines "politischen Skandals" werden könnte. — In Switzerland it is getting hot meanwhile. The German Computerwoche writes today that Switzerland with its neutralility principles may launch a "political scandal".
Hintergrund ist der Blog-Eintrag des Open-Source-Experten Mathias Stürmer vom vergangenen Mittwoch. — background is a blog entry from open source expert Mathias Stürmer
What are his allegations according to Inside-IT.ch:
- in the last ten days 20 gold partners of Microsoft joined SNV to vote for Open XML
- standardization is not about technical issues anymore but became political.
- For the SNV it is about financial income.
What is surprising about this?
What I find suspicious are the answers of Microsoft Switzerland which categorically denied the allegations and the fact that I was unable to trace the original comment on Stürmer's blog.1 In fact as you can see Stürmer just links to other sources and "stole" our image. None of the allegations above can be found in his blog article.
According to the inside-IT.ch article:
- Rungwerth (MS) denied that Microsoft suggested his partners to take part in the vote
- Microsoft also did not suggest them to "to vote for Microsoft".2
- Homburger (SNV) says the committee has 57 members who will vote a second time
- The article comments and interprets the role of partners in the committees.
Es dürfte keine Überraschung sein, dass unter den 57 Mitgliedern einige Microsoft-Partner zu finden sind. Sie haben wohl auch ein eigenes Interesse, dass der Standard anerkannt wird. / It is hardly a surprise that among the 57 members also some Microsoft partners can be found. They most likely pursue their own interests in the approval of the standard.
Damage control? Stürmer as a strawman? What is this inside-it-ch service btw.? A least the Swiss vote is getting interesting. Let's see what the 57 members will do. Another vote is expected on Sunday.
