LWN: Comments on "ISO votes against fast tracking Microsoft's Office Open XML (ars technica)"

Funny that their retraction took a whole day to be published (and even it is strangely biased!)

Cato — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 17:34:03 +0000

It was only PC Pro that seemed to be taking this line - the rest of reports on Google News were accurate. They deserve a little credit for fixing this report, although still a lot of criticism for writing such a bad report in the first place. The updated report is still somewhat pro-Microsoft, and doesn't seem to have quoted anyone else, but looks factually OK.

Funny that their retraction took a whole day to be published (and even it is strangely biased!)

pr1268 — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 17:04:17 +0000

Yeah, but that one-day gap between publishing a delusional, misleading, and horribly distorted account stating that "Microsoft claims big step towards OOXML approval"¹ and its retraction (itself having some misleading content--looks like some pro-MS bias at work) might just be long enough time to give some incredibly naïve PHBs (or worse, legislators!) the wrong impression that MS's OOXML is the Panacea to all document format wars...

¹ That was the actual title of yesterday's article on PC Pro. And to think the story was dated September 4, after the ISO rejection was a foregone conclusion!

ISO votes against fast tracking Microsoft's Office Open XML (ars technica)

smitty_one_each — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 12:22:25 +0000

http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/index_ar...

ISO votes against fast tracking Microsoft's Office Open XML (ars technica)

ludo — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:28:32 +0000

Well, PCPro has rectified the article:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/124064/microsoft-ooxml-propos...

Including:
"PC Pro would like to apologise for any confusion caused by its report of the vote yesterday."

ISO votes against fast tracking Microsoft's Office Open XML (ars technica)

jd — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 00:21:29 +0000

Quoted from the PCPro article:

The NoOOXML campaign, which had predicted a "no" vote, has yet to respond.

Well, if the editor is out, I'd love to know how the campaign is supposed to inform the magazine about any response. Besides, 234 posts on Slashdot and another four or five here surely qualifies as more than a bathtime gurgle.

Payola within journals and newspapers is every bit as corrupt as payola within the music industry, and probably rather more influential. However, I can't see PCPro facing so much as an Advertising Standards Authority inquiry into what is blatant advertising posing as an article, never mind Microsoft ever getting so much as a stern look.

ISO votes against fast tracking Microsoft's Office Open XML (ars technica)

khim — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 21:45:08 +0000

The most impressive thing is that they never even lied: they just took better (for Microsoft) metric (there are two: 66.66% of "P" members should vote "yes" and no more then "75%" of all members should vote "no" so of course) and they said "it's big step" (which it certainly is: Microsoft only need to bribe few more countries and everything will be Ok). Truly great spin...

ISO votes against fast tracking Microsoft's Office Open XML (ars technica)

proski — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 19:40:34 +0000

Impressive! I wonder if PC Pro has hired former Iraqi information minister Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf.

ISO votes against fast tracking Microsoft's Office Open XML (ars technica)

Los__D — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 19:25:31 +0000

Hehe, I tried sending an email about correcting the "obvious mistake" to PCPro's editor. Conveniently, he's out of office until the 11...

ISO votes against fast tracking Microsoft's Office Open XML (ars technica)

Cato — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 18:44:07 +0000

Generally this has been reported quite accurately, but for an entertainingly Microsoft-biased article that makes this out to be a Microsoft *success*, based on Microsoft PR of course, see http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/123978/microsoft-takes-big-st... - great to see such journalism...