New FUD Offensive
It seems Microsoft is gearing up for yet another new anti-ODF FUD offensive, and Brian Jones is leading it. I find responding to every little detail tiresome, so will just address this point about how the standards are developed:
I think the key here is for everyone to just be clear on the goals. The ODF format is based on Sun’s StarOffice, and Open XML was based on the Microsoft Office formats. Both have the goals of being open, both have been submitted to standards bodies, and both have a commitment from the donating companies (Sun and Microsoft) that there will be no licensing restrictions and anyone is allowed to freely use the formats.
This is classic FUD: factually true enough, but false by way of omission.
If you want to understand the goals of ODF, just read the TC Charter. There are a few goals which are notably absent from Microsoft’s, notably friendliness to processing using XML tools and the reuse of existing standards. I happen to think those matter to developers and ultimately users.
FWIW, I am on the ODF TC. But I have also given MS plenty of constructive comments on the way they are implementing citation support in OXML, because my interest is in promoting better solutions in general. I’d rather have two excellent open XML formats, than two weak ones.
Perhaps this will be a good test of how well the two standards processes work? My guess is none of my comments will have any effect on OXML.
