The <NO>OOXML initiative will be present at the 24th Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin next 30th December (Saal 3, 11:30 to 12:30):
<NO>OOXML - A twelve euros campaign against Microsoft's Office broken standard
Microsoft is currently trying to buy an ISO stamp for their flawed Office OpenXML (OOXML) specification.
While there is already another ISO standard for the same purpose (ODF or ISO26300), Microsoft has decided to not implement it, and push for its own standard instead. Doug Mahugh, Microsoft's Open XML campaign leader, clearly explained the Microsoft's motivations: "Office is a USD$10 billion revenue generator for the company." When ODF was made an ISO standard, Microsoft had to react quickly as certain governments have procurement policies which prefer ISO standards. Ecma and OASIS are "international standards", but ISO is the international "Gold Standard". Microsoft therefore had to rush this standard through. Its a simple matter of commercial interests!