[kictanet] OOXML: Why Kenya Should Vote NO
Dorcas Muthoni
dmuthoni at gmail.com
Tue Mar 25 16:32:11 EAT 2008
Thanks Eunice,
Coming from the ICT Board, i believe it would be nice to share your comments
with the list.
On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 3:59 PM, Eunice Mueni Kariuki <
eunicekariuki at ict.go.ke> wrote:
> This is excellent interms of educating the public on matters of ICT
> especially those that affect thier daily ICT lives directly or indirectly.
>
I am sure many will agree with you and is indeed inline with the mandate of
the ICT Board.
> However, in the last topic (Why Kenya should say No)
> - point no. 3 - I am not convinced that microsoft has what it takes to do
> what you say they did. I am also not convinced that those responsible for
> forming that committee would fall for this implied trick. Indeed it would be
> sad and they should not be in office.
>
I will refer you to the committee to investigate its composition. KEBS
should give you a list of the membership. It was an issue then and it is
till now.
>
> On point no. 4, it would have been helpful if you provided details of
> actual propriatory rights.
>
There is lots of information on this; A quick reference is
http://www.noooxml.org/patents.
Otherwise I am confused because your email implies that Microsoft also
> compromised the ISO body to approve OOXML as a parallel standard!
>
I just stated things as they are. Its many times that Microsoft has been
found to go about things in a skewed manner. A case in point is for example
the signing of MOUs with government ministries in pursuit of their business
interests. This already happened in Kenya with th Ministry of Education and
i hope the ICT board will objectively look at this matter.
Muthoni
If this were the case then that body does not deserve that office
> Just Keeping an open mind..
>
>
> Eunice
> On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 1:23 PM, Dorcas Muthoni <dmuthoni at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > *What is an Office Document Standard*
> >
> > A standard file format that would allow office documents such as
> > spreadsheets and word processing files to be opened by applications from
> > different vendors.
> >
> > *Why Open Standards
> >
> > *Creating an open office file format suggests that documents created in
> > an application that supports that file format could be opened in other
> > applications that support it as well. E.g. A document written using
> > OpenOffice for example, could be opened in Ms Office without affecting the
> > layout or formatting.
> >
> > With an open standard;
> >
> > - You can choose any operating system or application and still be
> > able to read and edit all your old documents e.g. whether it is
> > Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Unix.
> > - You can collaborate with others regardless of which software
> > they are using e.g. whether it is LotusNotes, OpenOffice, Ms
> > Office, StarOffice, GoogleApps .
> > - You can use any software of your choice to exchange documents
> > within your organization, with your clients, partners, government and
> > everyone else.
> >
> > The goal of an open standard is to free corporate data from proprietary
> > file formats so they can be accessed for years to come no matter what office
> > software a company or government is using. Companies and governments are
> > currently saving data in proprietary file formats, such as those written in
> > Microsoft's Office software (.doc, .xls, .ppt, and lately .docx, .xlsx,
> > .pptx), and locking themselves into using that software indefinitely.
> >
> > A relative example is, we all develop our websites and expect to
> > successfully access them using various browser software (Mozilla Firefox,
> > Netscape, Safari, Internet Explorer etc). We successfully manage to do this
> > because of HTML, XML and Browser open standardization.
> >
> > The same should happen for office documents and hence definition of open
> > document standards.
> >
> > *What is ODF*
> >
> > ODF(OpenDocument Format) an ISO standard created with the aim to provide
> > an open XML-based document file format for office applications to be used
> > for documents containing text, spreadsheets, charts, and graphical elements.
> > ODF is defined via an open and transparent process at OASIS ( The
> > Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards)
> > and has been approved unanimously by the International Organization for
> > Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission
> > (IEC) as an international standard in May 2006. Instead of trying to
> > reinvent the wheel ODF reuses established standards like HTML, SVG, XSL,
> > SMIL, XLink, XForms, MathML, and Dublin Core.
> >
> > ODF leaves space for all present and future vendors do implement it and
> > makes sure that end users won't suffer from any sort of vendor lock-in. In
> > contrast to earlier used binary formats which were cryptic and difficult to
> > process, ODF's use of XML makes accessing the document content simple.
> >
> > ODF guarantees long-term viability. The OASIS ODF TC, the OASIS ODF
> > Adoption TC, and the ODF Alliance include members from Adobe, BBC, EDS, EMC,
> > GNOME, Google, IBM, Intel, KDE, Novell, Oracle, Red Hat, Software AG and Sun
> > Microsystems. Since June 2006 the ODF Alliance has already more than 300
> > members.
> >
> > *What is OOXML*
> >
> > A format proposed by Microsoft that comes closest to ODF in function,
> > but it fails the test for an Open Standard in various ways, including an
> > unclear legal status as well as inclusion of and reference to proprietary
> > technologies. It has all signs of a vendor-specific format that only
> > Microsoft will be able to implement completely.
> >
> > Microsoft, which dominates the office software market with its Office
> > suite, is a member of OASIS and was fully aware of the technical
> > committee that came up with ODF. However, they opted to make Ms Office 2007 heavily
> > reliant on XML and also initiated a parallel technical committee to develop
> > a standard file format the MS OOXML.
> >
> > Ms Office 2007 *does not* support ODF. What Microsoft has done is to
> > push MS OOXML through a fast track process to have the standard certified by
> > ISO. The standard is being reviewed by technical committees (TC) formed
> > through national standards bodies. The TCs pass a vote through a ballot
> > process. The ballot resolutions are then forwarded to ISO, if the outcome is
> > greater support for MS OOXML, then the standard will be passed.
> >
> >
> > *Why should we reject a proprietary standard like OOXML
> >
> > *
> >
> > 1. We live in a digital age where paper documents increasingly get
> > replaced by electronic records. We may even see the day we no longer use
> > paper and pen to keep records. In this situation long-term data becomes
> > critical. This is especially the case for legal contracts and government
> > documents which stay valid and relevant over decades, or even centuries.
> > Just like there were many vendors supplying paper and pens through out the
> > history, and not a single one, so do these formats and applications which
> > are used to make them need to be vendor independent. That is the only
> > guanrantee of long-term access to data, even if companies disappear, change
> > their strategies or dramatically raise their prices.
> > 2. The Kenyan technical committee (hosted by KEBS) reviewing the
> > MS OOXML standard was inappropriately constituted and is highly imbalanced.
> > Microsoft recommended business partners to this committee and the first vote
> > returned a yes resolution because of this imbalance. On March 19th 2008, the
> > committee passed an Abstain resolution which Microsoft is now strongly
> > appealing against.
> > 3. Further, the MS OOXML standard is defined in 6,000+ pages and
> > with the fast track process, it is barely possible to review the standard
> > comprehensively. This standard must be reviewed via the regular standard
> > process.
> > 4. MS OOXML is a proposed parallel standard without a
> > justification.
> > 5. *OOXML has patent issues*
> >
> > For all those with questions, feel free to ask.
> >
> > --
> > Muthoni
> >
> > My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/
> > --------------------------------------------
> > Mahatma Gandhi once said:-
> >
> > First they ignore you,
> > Then they laugh at you,
> > Then they fight you,
> > AND THEN YOU WIN!!!
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> >
>
>
> --
> We have moved to CCK.
>
> Eunice Mueni Kariuki
> Kenya ICT Board
> Nairobi, Kenya
>
> alternative address. eunice.kariuki at hotmail.go.ke
--
Muthoni
My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/
--------------------------------------------
Mahatma Gandhi once said:-
First they ignore you,
Then they laugh at you,
Then they fight you,
AND THEN YOU WIN!!!
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