Re: [xml-dev] Microsoft buys the Swedish vote on OOXML?

[Rick Marshall <rjm@zenucom.com>]

just a mix of alternative strategies - try this, if we get caught 
withdraw with reasonable explanation. would there be an explanation if 
there wasn't complaints? that's the real question - who noticed first?

at any rate even if it is a rogue employee that says too much about the 
internal culture at ms.

for the record my view is that i don't care if there's more than one 
standard - there's often more than one standard for the same job - take 
screw threads for instance - whitworth (the original), af, metric for 
starters.

the important things is we all know what they mean and how to get and/or 
build a tool to do the job with them. i'm more concerned by the attitude 
(policy?) of this is now a standard but we're the only ones who can use 
it. that's not a standard.

the other thing that popped up in this discussion that worries me is 
that ms seems to be publishing new standards for dates etc as part of 
this one rather than using existing standards. this raises lots more 
questions and possible objections.

cheers
rick

bryan rasmussen wrote:
> On 9/3/07, Dennis Sosnoski <dms@sosnoski.com> wrote:
>   
>> Rick, you've asserted:
>>
>> /The other side to the story is that MS discovered and fixed the
>> mistaken/inept email within hours, that they alerted SIS, and that it
>> wouldn't have impacted the vote/
>>
>>     
>
> Ok the thing is there seems to be a number of irregularities that
> happen surrounding the same controversial standard:
>
> 1. lots of companies join iso just before vote and vote ms way
> 2. email is discovered promising marketing for organizations that vote
> in the way that MS wants
> 3. Sweden withdraws vote
>
> That these things are each explained in their turn, the withdrawal as
> a timing issue, that MS says the email was a mistake (and what does
> that really mean?)
> does not lessen the feeling among people of a cynical cast of mine,
> such as myself, that improprieties occurred.
>
> I think that Rick saying each of these things in turn is no problem is
> probably explainable by the simple fact that he has been castigated by
> anti-ms forces on this issue and perhaps is reflexively likely to
> think the anti-ms side is wrong.
>
> Best Regards,
> Bryan Rasmussen
>
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