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Netherlands to promote Open Source

Sun, 2007-12-16 11:59 — tregeagle

Oh the irony of reading about this on a Microsoft site - link
This bit was particularly interesting -

Microsoft Netherlands spokesman Hans Bos noted that its Word documents were still allowed as equal alternatives to ODF for the moment, and added he expects the company will soon receive approval for its Open Office XML to qualify as "open source."

But he said the company was worried about and opposed other aspects of the Dutch policy.

Specifically, he said, the provision that government agencies should prefer open source was overly proscriptive.

Overly proscriptive?! Now hang on a minute....
The Free Dictionary defines proscribe thus:

pro·scribe (pr-skrb)
tr.v. pro·scribed, pro·scrib·ing, pro·scribes
1. To denounce or condemn.
2. To prohibit; forbid. See Synonyms at forbid.
3.
a. To banish or outlaw (a person).
b. To publish the name of (a person) as outlawed.

Microsoft should be fond of that word. Lets see:

  • Microsoft Digital Rights Management? Proscriptive? I think so.
  • Fixing bugs yourself? Prohibited.
  • Transferring your Microsoft software to a new computer? Outlawed.
  • Sorry did I say, 'your Microsoft software'? No, it still belongs to Microsoft.

 

Comments

Mon, 2008-02-11 13:30 — Matthew Davidson

What's really funny

And the really funny thing is that Microsoft is now claiming their failure to fast-track the standardaisation of OOXML was the result of a conspiracy masterminded by IBM:

"They are doing this because it is advancing their business model. Over 50 percent of IBM's revenues come from consulting services."

So IBM has a business model fitting the realities of the 21st century, and Microsoft's response is "It's not fair! It's not fair! It's not fair!" Microsoft could change their own business model to actually sell something of value, and do very well out of it, but appear determined to go on pretending that there's money to be made in selling people permission to use their own computers.

Mon, 2008-02-11 14:28 — Matthew Davidson

Microsoft may be in denial, but...

Here's a telling article from investment website Motley Fool. A couple of choice extracts:

"All you really need to ask yourself is why you're invested in Microsoft in the first place. Is it because the company's dominance happens to be in the high-margin software space? That palatial estate is toast, my friend. Is it because Microsoft is such a brute that it can make up the distance in emerging growth areas the way it always has with its Web browsers and productivity suites -- by simply bundling them in new PCs? Man, that kind of thinking is as outdated as Y2K.

"[...] Microsoft's cash mattress has shed two-thirds of its green feathers since peaking four summers ago. Chunky dividends, aggressive share buybacks, and overpaying for acquisitions aren't all bad. However, lighting cigars with greenbacks won't make rival products like premium Macs and dirt cheap Linux-powered laptops any less attractive or Google any less threatening"

Mon, 2008-02-11 14:54 — Matthew Davidson

Another business with a clue

From Sun CEO Johnathon Schwartz, on the aquisition of MySQL:

"Where are the revenue synergies?

"The more interesting question is "where aren't the synergies?" Wherever MySQL is deployed, whether the user is paying for software support or not, a server will be purchased, along with a storage device, networking infrastructure - and over time, support services on high value open platforms. Last I checked, we have products in almost all those categories."

 

Wed, 2008-02-13 13:36 — Terry

Reality check

I suspect 'proscriptive' was meant to be 'prescriptive'.

Time will tell whether Open Office developers and free open source office software developers are burying their heads in the sand by not catering fully for ooxml. I hear that people are already having to cope with documents in the new format.

I'm not sure whether Sun's purchase of MySql is on topic but what the heck? Any software Sun touches seems to be or become a shambles. Open Office is unnecessarily complicated and, from what I've seen, so is Java. Open Office is also very buggy. I've just installed version 2.3.1 and immediately ran up against tool bar bugs not present in my old version 2.0.2. I may yet reinstall the latter because the new version appears to have no new well-executed features. My point is that software seems to suffer in the incompetent hands of Sun Microsystems Inc.

Fri, 2008-02-15 13:41 — Matthew Davidson

Re: Reality

Time will tell whether Open Office developers and free open source office software developers are burying their heads in the sand by not catering fully for ooxml.

GNOME is committed to supporting OOXML (in the sense of trying to get it to work, rather than cheering for it), triggering apoplexy among those enjoy being apopolectic; in Australia Pia and Jeff Waugh have donned their flame-retardant suits and are trying hard to find ways to make it work. Not a trivial task when working with a "standard" that's designed to be unimplementable.

I hear that people are already having to cope with documents in the new format.

And it's hitting MS Office users as hard as anybody else. I've personally witnessed a couple of instances where people have unwitting distributed OOXML files, and very shortly afterwards apologised profusely when their mistake has been pointed out to them. I think this is backfiring on Microsoft almost as badly as Vista. Mainstream PC advice columns for grannies are saying things like "there's no reason to upgrade, and if you do, for God's sake don't save files in the default format."

I'm as anxious about the MySQL aquisition as anybody, since practically everything I do at work depends to some extent on MySQL. You could probably say with some justification that Sun's acquisition of Star Office was nothing more than a cynical ploy to kick Microsoft in a sensitive part of their anatomy, but I think they've changed a lot in the last few years, as the freeing of Java demonstrates. I'd be much happier trusting Sun with stewardship of a major free software project than Novell, who ostensibly have the same commitment to working with the free software community, but have made some appalling mistakes in the last 12 months.

I can't really comment on the quality of OpenOffice.org, as I only really use it as a document viewer for MS Office files people send me, but I did try out a pre-Sun version of Star Office way back in the day, and I can't believe that the current OpenOffice is worse than that.

It's pretty surprising considering the resources that Sun have thrown at it, how limited Java's successes have been. It's well established in a couple of niches, but it's hardly the universal "write once run anywhere" platform that Sun intended it to be. I think a major reason for this is that free software developers don't want to depend on a non-free platform. Proprietary software developers may not care, but it's certainly not going to be a selling point. Shutting out the developers who are most likely to contribute to the improvement of the platform was not a smart move, and Sun appears to have belatedly realised their mistake.

One of the very few insightful comments to come out of Eric Raymond was on precisely this point: "You can have ubiquity or you can have control. Pick one." Sun chose control and have hopefully learnt their lesson.

Sun, 2008-02-17 16:55 — Terry

All good fun

Yes, I understand the conundrum. Developers don't want to give currency to the new standard, thereby easing its path to becoming an iso.

I have just installed version 2.3.1 of the Novell build of Open Office, replacing the Sun version 2.0.2. Within a short order of time I ran into two bugs not present in the older version. One has the effect of removing a feature.

I use OO because Gnumeric does not have scripting support and Kspread can't open my spreadsheets. The lack of decent office software is a barrier, I believe, to the widespread adoption of free software.

Perhaps the solution regarding ooxml is to provide a viewer only. Time will tell how widespread it will become.