20090701 Microsoft's Corruption of Wikipedia Draw More Complaints

From s5h.net

How I think Wikipedia works

I have a mental model of how Wikipedia works and behaves. This may not reflect reality, but it is how I, as an end-user, expect Wikipedia to behave. I think these are reasonable expectations regarding things like standards of proof and balance and that if the real Wikipedia differs substantially from these expectations, then we have a problem. [...] Does anyone know whether the above statements have any basis in the aspirations or actual practice of Wikipedia editors and admins? Sadly, my recent reading of some articles suggests that these reasonable expectations are routinely flouted and bear little resemblance to reality.

http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/06/how-i-think-wikipedia-works.html

Recent

Why Microsoft Hates - No, *Really* Hates - ODF

What this means is that Microsoft is only making big money on its Office suite, for whose luxurious margins it must therefore fight tooth and nail. Which, judging by its behaviour at the ISO, and some more recent stories, is exactly what it is doing in the face of growing pressure from open ODF-based alternatives like OpenOffice.org.

http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=2269&blogid=14

Rob Weir Exposes an Anti-ODF Whisper Campaign

Alex Brown, the convenor of the OOXML BRM, has been editing Wikipedia's article on ODF. That strikes me odd, like finding out Steve Jobs had been editing the Microsoft Zune page. Some things are simply inappropriate. It puzzles me why Wikipedia allows it, frankly. If you read the talk page on ODF, you'll see that there are others there trying mightily to spin the article on ODF more negatively than is factual. And such rudeness! Plenty of smears against Groklaw too, I couldn't help but notice. It does seem to me that there is a marked increase in what I view as a concerted submarine marketing effort. Some of it is subtle. Most of it is not. A fair measure of it is mean-spirited. Some of it is lies, pure and simple. In the good old days, dead people supported Microsoft, if you remember that funny headline about a pro-Microsoft astroturfing campaign, but at least it wasn't a smear campaign, just pro-Microsoft. Nowadays, I think I would have to rewrite the headline to read, "Mean People Support Microsoft." Or worse. You see, Groklaw has been visited recently by several OOXML types, including Alex Brown, Doug Mahue of Microsoft, and Rick Jelliffe, all singing pretty much the same songs, posting on our ODF articles, so I got to watch it close up. I puzzled over it, because they seemed so deliberately rude.

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=2009061001520015

http://markmail.org/search/?q=Alex+Brown&q=list%3Aorg.oasis-open.lists.office-comment

ODF Lies and Whispers

So what is one to do? You obviously can't trust Wikipedia whatsoever in this area. This is unfortunate, since I am a big fan of Wikipedia. But since the day when Microsoft decided they needed to pay people to "improve" the ODF and OOXML articles, they have been a cesspool of FUD, spin and outright lies, seemingly manufactured for Microsoft's re-use in their whisper campaign. My advice would be to seek out official information on the standards, from the relevant organizations, like OASIS, the chairs of the relevant committees, etc. Ask the questions in public places and seek a public response. That is the ultimate weakness of FUD and lies. They cannot stand the light of public exposure. Sunlight is the best antiseptic.

http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/06/odf-lies-and-whispers.html

Microsoft Office tries to break ODF

Just a quick update to our OpenDocument campaign, with news that Microsoft Office has added support for ODF, but in a state that leaves it incompatible with every other ODF capable application out there, including OpenOffice.org and KOffice.

http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/odf-office

Sun ODF Plugin 3.1 for Microsoft Office

A new version of the ODF Plugin for Microsoft Office is available. As I wrote in the last ODF Plugin announcement, the Plugin nowadays uses the same version number like the underlying OpenOffice.org version, so this version is now based on OpenOffice.org 3.1.

http://blogs.sun.com/malte/entry/sun_odf_plugin_3_01

6 Projects We Hope Apple Is Building

2. OpenDocument Format (ODF) support in iWorks ODF is an ISO standard for office document formats, with many government agencies in the world adopt the standard as compulsory interchange format. More organizations would be willing to adopt iWorks if ODF is a supported format. For consumers, it means their files can be saved in a format that is independent of iWorks software version changes.

http://sanziro.com/2009/06/6-projects-we-hope-apple-is-building.html

ODF adoption continues - has it ‘crossed the chasm’?

What prompted me to realize this just today? I receive the ODF Alliance Newsletter regularly in my inbox. Today, I noticed the following: (note that while the URL is in Spanish, the translation can be seen here thanks to Google) ECUADOR CHARTS PATH TO ODF ADOPTION

http://www.michaeldolan.com/1420

Microsoft And ODF: Bad For Everyone

In shocking news, Microsoft’s support of ODF in Microsoft Office is basically unusable in many respects, according to the OpenDocument Format Alliance. This is a real problem for ODF’s adoption, since Office users who try using it, either for opening a document or for sending a document to someone else, will likely blame their issues on ODF, and, thus, avoid it. What Microsoft has done with ODF support seems likely to harm ODF’s acceptance, rather than help it. It’s hard to tell if this move was incompetent or malicious or something entirely different?

http://www.linuxloop.com/news/2009/05/22/microsoft-and-odf-bad-for-everyone/

Microsoft's ODF support is broken, says alliance http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?from=rss_IOLTechHome&iSectionId=2883&iArticleId=4994136

ODF is not the same as ODF?

ODF implemented by one company is not the same as implemented by the other seven products. There's rumble in the web during the last days. And the reason is something to celebrate, but regrettably only for the first look. Microsoft published Service Pack 2 for their Microsoft Office 2007 product and for the first time in history they decided to officially support saving and opening in Open Document Standard (ODF). Really, that's the right step towards a higher level of interoperability! Congratulations!

http://www.osor.eu/communities/openoffice-in-public-authorities/blog/odf-is-not-the-same-as-odf

Microsoft’s ODF support is broken, says alliance

ODF Alliance managing director Marino Marcich said in a press statement this week that “support for ODF represents an important and ongoing test of Microsoft’s commitment to real-world interoperability. Unfortunately, serious shortcomings have been identified in Microsoft’s support for ODF. Putting potentially millions of ODF files into circulation that are non-interoperable and incompatible with the ODF support provided by other vendors is a recipe for fragmentation.”

http://www.tectonic.co.za/?p=4806

Links for the 20th of May 2009

1. I could point to other blogs, but this one comes from Jeremy Allison, author of Samba, now working for the great Satan Google. It’s actually quite interesting because what Jeremy is saying is that all this dispute seems to be based on the impression that Microsoft did the minimum to have ODF work inside MS Office. My take on this is we should first stop getting ballistic at each other, especially inside the ODF TC. What is needed in the interest of ODF and the users, is to have a careful examination not on the ODF conformance in MS Office, but on why, based on experience, the interoperability is severely hampered when using ODF with MS Office. Based on this analysis we should be able to go forward. But don’t let this fool you: this has, I’m afraid, nothing to do with the development of ODF 1.2. # As an interesting reminder, here’s what the European Commission was saying about Microsoft’s announcement on the support of ODF inside MS Office last year.

http://standardsandfreedom.net/index.php/2009/05/20/links-for-the-20th-of-may-2009/

Is OOXML the better standard?

No, it is not in my opinion. But I think that is what Microsoft now tries to make us public authorities think. I know about the facts behind the scenes. I know that this company declines real support for ODF by doing something strange, not aiming at real interoperability, but at a Microsoft implementation of ODF, not compatible with others. So they, as worldwide market leader, can proof the insufficiency of ODF. And they have the solution for us. Use OOXML instead. It implements every function Microsoft Office does. And the next step is, that other interested implementations should improve their products to implement everything OOXML does. Really simple, isn’t it?

http://www.floschi.info/2009/05/is-ooxml-the-better-standard/

Overunderdoing: patterns in Microsoft's interoperability stance

Well, if we're talking about interoperability it has been done. Or tried. We could call it overunderdoing. Here's the algorithm:        1. pick one interoperability concern        2. solve it up to 85% (percentage may vary)        3. wisely choose the 15% to leave out so interoperability can be said        to work but with constant annoyances        4. make a loud announcement to the press        5. profit: everyone will read the announcement but only a small        fraction of such readers will notice the missing bits; despite the        claimable advances over the previous situation it still won't be        practical to make any use of the announced interoperability

http://blog.angulosolido.pt/2009/05/overunderdoing-patterns-in-microsofts.html