A, sadly, unsurprising interview that I read at derStandard.at, but alerted from the Boycott Novell blog. de Icaza has been lampooned in the past for his unpopular views on Microsoft, .net, and C#, but this interview really takes the biscuit. The guy comes across as extremely naive, foolish, and also, because of his position, frankly quite dangerous for Free Software.
Posts Tagged ‘Microsoft’
Miguel de Icaza – more foolishness?
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008The myth of multiple “competing” standards
Thursday, May 1st, 2008A cracking post from Rob Weir about the myth that having multiple document standards is ‘good’ for the consumer and that the market should be left to decide. I particularly like this bit:
How many spreadsheet formats does Microsoft use internally for running their business on? Why should governments be denied choice in the same field that Microsoft itself exerts its right to chose?
Microsoft OOXML- why is it so wrong?
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008OOXML; Office Open XML. Even the name is false as it clearly isn’t ‘open’ in the sense of non-discriminatory, particularly against GPLed implementations. It’s not at all clear whether a GPL implementation of OOXML can be done.
Then there’s the specification itself. 6,000 pages at the first round, growing to something like 8,000 after the BRM. The sheer number of technical errors, failure to incorporate other ISO standards in the appropriate places, and downright contradictions should have ruled out the specification from becoming a standard. That Microsoft shoved this standard into the ISO Fast Track by getting ECMA to rubber stamp it shows a complete disregard for the standards process. Technical committees the world over agreed that the standard shouldn’t have been fast tracked.
OOXML is a failure as a “standard”
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008It goes without saying that I’m staggered, and appalled, at the recent events with the OOXML standardisation process. Others, more informed than me, have written extensively on the subject at sites such as Growlaw, <NO>OOXML, Open Malaysia, Bob Sutor, Rob Wier, and Andy Updegrove to name but a few. That it has been provisionally approved pending any appeals is bad enough, but Microsoft’s antics are spectacular in their ruthless disregard of ethics, due process and respect for standards.
The madness of SMC
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008Well I’ve a little bit less hair today due to an ancient SMC 7301TA ISDN router. It seemed like it was going to be a simple job. Configure an ISDN router to DUN1 into a remote system for maintenance. How hard could it be? Pretty hard it turned out.