What did the ISO and the IEC say to the anti-OOXML crowd?
“Go away, losers.”
Previous/Related
Microsoft Office 2007
Microsoft Equipt
About time!
With all the talk about alternative office suites out there, Microsoft has been lagging in articulating it’s strategy for delivering a financially-competitive offering in this space.
No longer.
With the announcement of Microsoft Equipt – formerly code-named ‘Albany’, Microsoft is attempting to kill several birds with one stone.
Microsoft Office & the ODF format
Sometimes it is a wonder how the obvious manages to escape the eyes of the supposedly knowledgeable.
Case in point is Microsoft's decision to add ODF and PDF read/write functionality directly into the next service pack of Microsoft Office 2007, this before the ISO 29500-standard is implemented.
Some Good news on the OOXML front
Today, the US INCITS voted to approve the Open Office XML document format specification for fast-track approval to the ISO.
Windows Vista SP1 Review
I have been testing Microsoft Windows Vista™ SP1 for the past several months.
Windows Vista SP1 is a worthy compatibility and optimization pack to Windows Vista. It is NOT a replacement for Windows Vista.
Contrary to the either uninformed writings of some so-called tech pundits, and the unprepared CYA rants of lazy IT administrators, it was NOT necessary to wait for SP1.
Idiocy reigns supreme in the EU
Hurray for Ecma TC46
Ecma international is probably the only progressive standards body out there.
Thanks to them we have Ecma 376, currently submitted to the ISO for certification as a standard, and now, TC46.
TC46, full name TC46- XPS Technical Committee, is a technical committee just formed to develop a standard based on Microsoft's XML Paper Specification.
About time, Microsoft!
I am pleased that Microsoft is pursuing a standards-based certification for this excellent product; excellent even in this first iteration.
As usual, those that cannot, whine! They are miffed that their input was either not solicited, nor required for Ecma 376 (Open Office XML), and might not be for TC46.
I understand.
Dudes, you have been outed as being irrelevant to these processes.
Just go away already.
Sutor, Updegrove, you know who I'm talking about!
Previous posts
- Microsoft Office and the Small Business
- ODF format loses traction
- XPS Essentials Pack
- The Office-less office?
- The XPS document format
- Open XML is on ISO fast track
- Microsoft calls out Blue
- Open XML, your new document standard
- Breaking news: Apple not worried about Zune!
- Microsoft XML schemas proposed as standards
- Mass Govt moves to OpenDocument – III
- Mass Govt moves to OpenDocument – II
- Mass Govt moves to OpenDocument
Open XML is on ISO fast track.
It must not have been a good weekend in Armonk.
Despite all their specious arguments, the ISO, speaking through Lisa Rajchel, informs us that, after consulting with staff at the International Technology Task Force - a grandiose name indeed - she decided to move the application to a fast track status.
Can I get a 'YAY' from the audience?
Isn't Ms. Rajchel several megaparsecs removed in functional processing power than that harridan, Kroes?
I wonder if the headbanging at IBM over this new development has stopped?
© 2007, John Obeto II for SmallBizVista.com®
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4200+ downloads of the Vista Assessment Tools
Coincident with the public release of Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system, Microsoft on February 20, 2007, released a series of Vista Assessment tools, six in number, for partners to utilize in identifying and migrating users to the new operating system and desktop productivity software suite.
Microsoft is reporting that in the eight days since, there have been over 4,200 downloads by (Microsoft) Partners of the tools leading to increased sales and opportunities.
For the record, Microsoft has had over 20,000 downloads of the tools since their beta debut in August of 2006.
As a user of the tools, especially the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) and the Solution Accelerator for Business Deployment Desktop 2007 (BDD 2007), I fully concur on their immediate usefulness, and the ability it gives me to leverage the knowledge gleaned from the generated reports into solid sales.
© 2007, John Obeto II for SmallBizVista.com®
Technorati tags: John Obeto, Logikworx, SmallBizVista.com, AbsoluteVista.com, The Interlocutor, Microsoft, Windows Vista, Vista, Office 2007, BDD 2007
Microsoft calls out Blue
In this post in The Hive, member Waggler comments on IBM's underhanded, yet increasingly vocal opposition to Microsoft's Open Office XML document specification.
IBM's moves in this regard make the cowardly lion in Alice in Wonderland seem most fierce.
How insidious is this wink-wink, FUD-FUD campaign?
However, the following is my reply to the post.
(Edited to allow language not allowed in The Hive.)
Why should we blame IBM?
The culprit here is Microsoft.
Yes, Microsoft!
Listen, you do not go to a gunfight with a Taser®.
Where has Microsoft been all this time?
Even now, the letter and the problem, does not seem to be addressed at the highest levels. I know those guys are, by all indications, very important to the Office dev/mktg team and Microsoft, but to everyone else outside their locus of authority, just who the fuck are they?
For this, you need Bill Gates. You need Steve Ballmer. Heck, I’ll even take Margo Day (Have you listened to that woman speak? After a speech from her, you just want to get out there and move a whole lotta Microsoft stuff!)
You need someone to take a Martin Taylor-like position and slam those donkeys at IBM.
I think Microsoft’s counter attack has to come from the very highest levels; with the executive at Microsoft taking the fight to the leaders of those countries that are trying to lead their cattle people down that path.
It was this sort of belated lukewarm response that allowed the open source tossers the opportunity to gain a foothold in the EU and LDCs because those same asswipes could point to the lack of a fierce response from Microsoft as either arrogance, or worse, indifference.
Every time I come across those same arguments, I kick them down by asking, when was the last time the head of technology assessment for the country looked at source code or expressed a wish to do so. However, the inclusion of such source code as been sold to those fools as a way of equalizing technology. Go figure!
Moreover, the counterattack has to be swift, sufficiently sarcastic, loud, coherent, consistent, and long-lasting.
It is one thing to stand and attack with Apple, since the charisma delta between St Steven Paul 1 and Bill G. is pretty wide to the general public, though not to us in the industry.
It is another thing entirely to lose a PR battle to that invisible, creepy Palmisano.
Are you fuckin' kiddin’me?
That guy is so bland, even CPAs don’t want to hang with him.
So, Microsoft, MSFT has been doing well, please keep it that way and get the VITOs out.
And in full force!
My blog post about IBM’s deceptively named ‘Open Client’ is here.
Notes:
- LDC: Less-developed country, the PC name for 3rd World country.
- VITO: Very Important Top Officer
- Martin Taylor: Where is this dude?
© 2007, John Obeto II for SmallBizVista.com®
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Office 2007 sales up 109% out the door
Where's Gartner?
I'm sure they have an explanation for this 'aberration'.
© 2007, John Obeto II for SmallBizVista.com®
Technorati tags: John Obeto, AbsoluteVista.com, SmallBizVista.com, The Interlocutor, Logikworx, Microsoft, Windows Vista, 2007 Microsoft Office System, Office 2007