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Brazil Says NO to OOXML [and India Says NO As Well]

avi.alkalay.net — ...the standards process director had to analyze the audio recording of all the meeting, review some facts, review again all 63+2 comments produced by the technical group about the ECMA specification, and conclude that a NO for OOXML is the correct position for Brazil in ISO Fast Track process.

Who dugg this? Made popular Aug 25, 2007

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  • db113456, on 10/10/2007, -3/+69Quote from the article:
    "I was a member of the technical group that have studied OOXML specification extensively. I learned that it is unbelievable how ECMA (same guys that put together the JavaScript standard!) can think that a wannabe spec like OOXML is ready for submission. It is incomplete (does not provide mappings with legacy standards, since compatibility is OOXML goal), too long (6000+ pages), fully tied to a single product, uses deprecated substandards, promotes bad practices (embedded binary objects), has clear proprietary hooks (like “formatAsWord95″ XML tags), reinvents the wheel all around (date and color formats etc), and most of all does not have a standards-grade look and feel required for a universal and (virtually) eternal document format (doesn’t have to be perfect, but can’t be that imperfect)."

    I guess these are enough reasons to say NO to OOXML ....
  • OBKenobi, on 10/10/2007, -4/+56There is no point to OOXML other than MS trying to extend it's monopoly upon a new generation of victims.

    [quote]In my opinion, the YES-voting countries are not reading the OOXML specification, are making a pure political decision[/quote]

    Like after getting one of those calls from Chairman Gates... "How would you like 10 million dollars, Senator?"
  • aNoble, on 10/10/2007, -4/+40I haven't looked into OOXML too much, I admit, but after dealing with Word's "HTML" format for way too long, I'm going to have a hard time trusting Office with any XML based file format.
  • Jugalator, on 10/10/2007, -2/+33If Microsoft was looking to start using open standards, they would have used OO's OpenDocument format. And if it didn't cover all the features they needed, they would have collaborated with OpenOffice.org on it to help make it cover their needs. That would have been the way to go to help us, the users, because it would leave us with just one big open interoperable format. But no, they have to go make their entirely own format, just like that XPS junk intended to compete with PDF, and innovate their own licenses. :-p
  • gene, on 10/10/2007, -3/+27Here's a tip; This: "Brazil Says NO to OOXML [and India Says NO As Well]" should be something like "Brazil and India say no to OOXML". People don't read the way you talk, lose the cadence.
  • geminitojanus, on 10/10/2007, -0/+22"How would you like 10 million dollars, Senator?"

    Please, try "Keep us happy or we'll make sure you and your party lose the next election."
  • escoz, on 10/10/2007, -1/+19I gotta say.. VAI BRASIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLL !! :)
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+19You did what? Aligning a single word in the center of a document is like 3 page HTML in word. Why would you do such an atrocity?
  • weeble, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11I have had to go through the MS XML standard in detail for mz work, and all I can really say is... wow... it's is a mess. The article author is not kidding... in fact he's being kind. I challenge ANYONE to take this so called open standard and attempt to actually implement it. It is so full of errors and impossible to implement functionality... and missing about 75% of the actual spec that it is completely impossible to use. It is also full of incomprehensible gibberish coding... lots of 1 and 2 letter tags that have no indication of what they are... a total nightmare for anyone trying to use it.
  • weedmonk, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11They're better at it then Americans and do it cheaper. Quit bitching and get of your lard ass and study some more if you want to compete with them.
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9I would gladly take your job biyotch. Its Sad that you Americans no longer stand for ideals but bend over to give corporates easy access to your ass. While American Senators are give the proverbial blow job to MS its up to other nations to fight this stupid format.
  • omababy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9Exactly, the ODF ISO standard *IS* choice in itself, choice for everyone, including m$ themselves. m$'s argument that ppl need more choice thus ooxml is needed is just ridiculous.
  • GliTCH82, on 10/10/2007, -2/+10Programmers that are experienced with objected oriented design, who understand abstract principles and standardized constructs will reject any platform that tends to feel proprietary, and with good reason; they view their work in the applied science/engineering regard, and since this is a skill that they need to devote time and effort to learning and mastering they will absolutely refuse to learn something that feels dated, commercialized, or contains principles that only apply to a single platform. From what I understood of the article, the OOXML draft standard contains specifications that are merely quick and dirty shortcuts and hacks that make it feel like deprecated language to begin with. How useful would a tag that applies specifically to Microsoft Word 95 formatting be 10 years from now? Hopefully, not very, and that's why it should not exist.
  • questionable, on 10/10/2007, -4/+11India is open to consideration and the vote is nonbinding. Read: Bribes.
  • x2wenty4x, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7microsoft just getting what they deserve in this situation...
  • ruiacp, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Good news, but in the wrong topic. The topic is Linux/Unix when it should be microsoft.
  • marcz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Dugg for mentioning India. We try.
  • knsmr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Japan says 'no with comments' as well.

  • HairyPoter, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2So, I guess it is NOOXML!
  • Atomic1fire, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2And since the document format is open
    they could reconfigure it to their needs and just release the changes under whatever license the format is under
  • Alequisandro, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3In ABNT we trust! (and ODF!)
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Getting bribes from local companies is no biggy but any politician caught with his pants down with a foreign company will get his ballz ripped out.
  • manitoba98xp, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I don't think that's an issue (docx files tend to be smaller than equivilant doc files), but my issue is that Microsoft should just use OpenDocument, so that everyone uses the same format. At the very least, they need to clear up the discrepancies in OOXML. Too many things aren't explicitly defined, just things like "Align layout like Word 2000". Since they never published any of those things, that makes their "standard" almost impossible to implement.
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -4/+6Let me be the first one to say : "IN YOUR FACE HAHAHAHA" (though the battle is far from being over)
  • cannonballtrane, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1What's this - an American doesn't like the consequences of capitalism??!?

    Maybe you should persuade your government to stop trying to impose this on the rest of the world, then?
  • MeneerR, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Well, actually part of India is pretty ***** corrupt. They still have slaves. Not by the government or in the cities. But half the people working on the land, growing our tea, coffee and cacao have this kind of contract: "work or i'll kill you, leave and i'll kill your family". Certain organisations are actually free-ing these people. But they too have to bribe the government to actually send some 'cops' or 'troops' to clean out such an area. The big ***** corporations just buy the cheapest. Even when they know that price means slave labor was involved. So let's just assume Microsoft is well capable of bribing the right people to make this happen.
  • ChileanGoD, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3So this is good or bad?
  • Phlosten, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2ODF all the way baby. Vote No against this Microsoft trash and support the current ISO approved standard.
  • badboys213, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3I was just thinking, anyone remember that movie Brazil by Terry Gilliam? My god, I've got to watch that again now.
  • icsbase, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Atleast there are some smart people out there making the decisions. There are only 3 in germany and the rest 14 voted yes :(
    I see no reason why thos should be a standard. It's not even open system despite the name and Microsoft just wants to rip cash for theirselves from licences.
  • hdante, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1And now a quote from OOXML :-)

    "For legacy reasons, an implementation using the 1900 date base system shall treat 1900 as though it was a leap year. [Note: That is, serial value 59 corresponds to February 28, and serial value 61 corresponds to March 1, the next day, allowing the (nonexistent) date February 29 to have the serial value 60. end note] A consequence of this is that for dates between January 1 and February 28, WEEKDAY shall return a value for the day immediately prior to the correct day, so that the (nonexistent) date February 29 has a day-of-the-week that immediately follows that of February 28, and immediately precedes that of March 1."
  • phntm, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1shouldn't category be microsoft (and not *nix)?
  • boran, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2OOXML is just the MS office object model thrown into XML. I'ts a VERY VERY bad standard, and a hell to do anything with.
  • niallabrown, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Why is this under the Linux section? Linux users already know OOXML is a bad thing. Start putting this sort of thing under more general computer categories so that the general public can be exposed to them.
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1What about free market and latins in america ?
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Yep, America requires lot of dwellers to fix problems caused by companies like MS. Just think for one second, instead of wasting manpower and time on reinventing & hindering progress, Why not just use some open standards so that the resources that were freed up could be put to good use ?
  • mixellita, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0you got watch "Tropa de Elite" or "Elite Squad" thats the film that every person in the world should watch !
  • Splinterx, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Last time I looked America is pretty corrupt as well. Lets not go into its history of slavery. Corporations in America bribe the government so why should we not believe that Microsoft dosent have equal power over the US Government as you seem to think it does over the Indian government.
    Lets not forget that every government computer uses microsoft.
  • niallabrown, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0If no other program could implement it MS would love that. It would allow them to maintain vendor lock-in.
  • weedmonk, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0EOM
  • vnkatesh, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0:)
  • KingBunny, on 10/10/2007, -5/+3Most confusing Digg description ever..
  • CSharpSauce, on 10/10/2007, -9/+0I still prefer to work with binary formats... its more complicated, but I feel it can be more efficient.
  • fratboybrian, on 10/10/2007, -14/+2Do something nice for someone.

    Send me a birthday card please :)

    Brian
    PO BOX 8533
    Albany, NY. 12208

    Thanks
  • EvilMoose, on 10/10/2007, -23/+1Oh Noes, India says no? Where will we ship our High-tech jobs to now that India wont adopt OOXML?
    I propose we find another developing nation to underpay workers so we can undermine American workers.

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