Microsoft accuses IBM of an 'ulterior' standards agenda
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Chicken hawk Microsoft is crying foul against IBM in its campaign for fast-track approval of XML Office file formats as an international standard.â¦
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Computer security firms are complaining that a feature in MicrosoftÂs new operating system would cripple their industryÂs innovation.
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At a seemingly routine antitrust compliance hearing in Washington, Microsoft was criticized sharply by government attorneys for a delay in the company's effort to create technical documentation for its Windows interoperability protocols.
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Rather than stacking the vote, Microsoft simply wanted to allow interested organizations to participate in the Open XML standardization process, unlike other rival efforts, a company executive said Wednesday.Critics and supporters of the competing ODF (Open Document Format) have accused Microsoft of stacking votes, particularly a preliminary vote late last year in the International Organization for Standardization regarding standardization of the Open XML format.&quot;We have a very different perspective&quot; on how that process occurred, said Tom Robertson, general manager of Microsoft&#39;s corporate interoperability and standards group, speaking to a group of journalists from around the world in Kirkland, Wash. &quot;There was an increase in participation both from ODF proponents trying to stop this and people who wanted to see it to promote choice,&quot; he said. That meant that more than the &quot;old guard&quot; -- companies such as IBM that typically participate in such processes -- became involved, he said.Microsoft wanted to involve anyone who has a stake in interoperability, including governments, technology companies, academics, and enterprises, he said. &quot;This cannot be a closed-door process,&quot; he said. &quot;Should those who are impacted by this decision have a seat at the table? Absolutely. Should it be restricted to Open XML advocates? No, it shouldn&#39;t be.&quot;Microsoft also defended&#160;its choice of Ecma to initially standardize the technology, rather than another standards body. &quot;It is one of the leaders in standardization in the IT space for decades,&quot; Robertson said.All but one member -- IBM -- of the Ecma general assembly voted to adopt the standard. The general assembly also voted to pass it on to ISO, a worldwide standardization body, for ratification.Despite that progress, critics wonder why Microsoft built the technology in the first place when there was&#160;already an existing open file format, ODF.&quot;It starts with our customers,&quot; Robertson said. &quot;Many say that ODF doesn&#39;t meet their needs.&quot;As an example, the ODF group initially decided not to support spreadsheet formulas, said Gray Knowlton, group product manager for Microsoft Office. &quot;When we look at customers of Excel, we can&#39;t give them a standard that doesn&#39;t recognize spreadsheet formulas,&quot; he said. However, he also noted that ODF later reversed that decision to support spreadsheet formulas.Microsoft is hopeful that Open XML will pass an upcoming ISO vote, but if it doesn&#39;t, it won&#39;t be the end of Open XML, the executives said. &quot;It&#39;s already an open standard and already available to the community,&quot; said Robertson. &quot;The issue here in the ratification is: Does the global community want a voice in the evolution of Open XML going forward.&quot;Also, if individual governments mandate the use of ODF instead of Open XML, Microsoft would adapt, Knowlton said. The company would then implement the missing functionality that ODF doesn&#39;t support. However, those extensions would be custom-designed and outside of the standard, which is counter to the idea of an open document standard, Knowlton said. &quot;Disastrous? No. But definitely not preferable,&quot; he said.
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Among the unmagnificent seven Three of the seven patches Microsoft released on Tuesday earn the dread rating of critical.â¦
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The Department of Justice and state attorneys general are raising questions about changes Microsoft wants to make in the schedule set out for its antitrust compliance.
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IBM (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday its workhorse commercial computers have smashed the industry&#39;s most demanding tests, which analysts said creates
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Hot Swedish XML action Microsoft has been accused of rigging a vote on the ratification of Office Open XML (OOXML) as an international standard at a government body in Sweden.â¦
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Despite an impassioned speech by a group member criticizing its technical merit, Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) document format will receive the United States' "yes" vote before the ISO standards body this weekend.
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Lack of compatibility standards frustrates consumers, panel agrees.
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TechWeb - IBM is pushing industry specialization, while Microsoft is trying to capitalize on its latecomer status with a simpler approach.
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U.S. House members accused IBM and other IT vendors Wednesday of breaking the rules in a much-criticized program designed to help schools and libraries purchase Internet equipment.
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Microsoft's attempt to win over new users with a cut-down edition of Windows comes in for strong criticism.
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A Warped view of history IBM has dashed the hopes of a bunch of software nostalgics by refusing to open source its coulda, woulda, shoulda OS/2 platform.â¦
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IBM Corp is to release a tool that catalogs patterns of suspicious events, or what it terms 'symptoms,' that might indicate a looming data center outage. The ulterior goal is getting a web services standard for providing a common format for symptoms reporting.
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Microsoft last week faced accusations of short-changing its Software Assurance customers following its decision to strip core features from the next major Windows client operating system, codenamed Longhorn.
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Unless you use it to sue Computer giant IBM is handing over a portfolio of intellectual property to any other developers that want to use it in the name of furthering interoperability and open standards.â¦