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Linux Pipeline Newsletter www.LinuxPipeline.com Wednesday, November 30, 2005 In This Issue: - Microsoft Giving Office XML Format To Standards Group - Browser Makers Band Together Against Phishers - 64-Bit Linux, Windows Both Win Big In Server Market - More News... - Massachusetts OKs Open Microsoft Office Format - GNU Guru 'Foils' U.N. Security With RFID Protest - Hackers Follow The Money -- And Hit Popular Apps To Find It - More Picks... Join InformationWeek for a FREE, OnDemand TechWebCast, From Risk Mitigation to Risk Optimization. This presentation provides Gartner recommendations on best practice industry models and process improvement strategies and Borland will present a new paradigm for risk optimization that is based on these best practice industry models and leverages people, process and technology. Thursday, December 8, 2005 ? 11:00-12:00 AM PT / 2:00-3:00 PM ET "http://www.techweb.com/webcasts/riskmitigation120805" ----------------------------------------- Editor's Note: Hard Times For Hard Lines For a number of years now, there have been two groups within Microsoft with two very different attitudes towards Open Source. One group clearly understands how open standards and Open Source are changing the market, and it's prepared to adopt, survive, and very likely prosper under the new rules. The other group -- the hard-liners -- is willing, even today, to do almost anything to discourage open-source software or even the use of open standards: Witness the company's seemingly interminable battle to prevent Massachusetts government officials from adopting the OpenDocument format for use with state records. Like  the Soviet Union's hard-line leadership in its final years, however, it's increasingly obvious that the new guard is truly in charge, even if the old guard hasn't yet received the news. After weeks of hints that Microsoft would do what it kept saying it would not do, namely support OpenDocument within its Office suite, the company went one better: It will now turn over its XML-based Office document formats to the Ecma group, which will publish and maintain them as open standards.
To continue the Soviet analogy, this won't please Open Source hard-liners who hoped to keep the Cold War going strong -- even if the conflict pleases them far more than it does ordinary users who simply want this stuff to work without making their jobs any harder. And as usual, back-room diplomacy played a key role at bringing together groups who pretend not to speak with one another in public: News reports that state officials changed course and approved Office XML as well as OpenDoc for use with state records don't explicitly connect the dots, but I'll eat this newsletter if Microsoft's handover to Ecma was not part of a quid pro quo to get Office XML back on the state's document-format menu. As a result, Microsoft will now find itself back on higher ground in a debate centered upon the technical merits of its Office file formats, rather than its evil ways as a proprietary puppet-master. This process has been similar in some ways to Microsoft's shift towards standards support in Internet Explorer 7 and, by extension, towards Internet standards in general. Since IE 7 remains in beta testing, the fact that Web standards watchdogs have heaped praise upon the browser hasn't really sunk in yet. In fact, Mozilla developers might soon find themselves in an odd situation: competing against Microsoft -- and, at times, probably trailing -- in a race to see who can provide the best support for Web standards. Consider also Microsoft's plans for a tool aimed at Web developers working with AJAX-based sites. By all accounts, AJAX remains difficult to use, in spite of the power and usability it delivers as a finished product, and the market could use a developer tool that simplifies the process while still adhering to Web standards. Such an announcement, in the past, would have left standards advocates waiting to see what trouble Microsoft planned to make by "extending" the technology with its own proprietary doohickeys. Yet today, tinkering with the standard would leave developers with sites that even IE 7, with its superb AJAX and CSS support, would have trouble rendering. All of this is a far cry from the good old days, when the Cold War raged and the Evil Empire could be counted on for a dirty trick or two, no matter what the occasion. Unlike the Soviet example, however, Microsoft's steady turn towards open standards, while still vulnerable to the occasional hint of old-school idiocy, is a sign that the company still understands how to survive -- and perhaps even to dominate -- in a technology market where so many of the old rules no longer apply. Enjoy the rest of your week.
Matt McKenzie
Don't let future editions of Linux Pipeline Newsletter go missing. Take a moment to add the newsletter's address to your anti-spam whitelist: linuxed@techwire.com If you're not sure how to do that, ask your administrator or ISP. Or check your anti-spam utility's documentation. Thanks. Top Linux News Microsoft Giving Office XML Format To Standards Group Microsoft has submitted its Office Open XML document format to Ecma, allowing the international standards body to begin the process of turning the software maker's proprietary business-document format into an open standard.
Browser Makers Band Together Against Phishers?
64-Bit Linux, Windows Both Win Big In Server Market
CraigslistFounder Backs Online News Venture
Number Of Chinese Bloggers Doubles
Microsoft Hires Cray Researcher, Expands HPC Efforts
Tivo Hopes To Get Under Your Skin -- Literally
Verso Goes Global With Skype-Blocking Software Editor's Picks Massachusetts OKs Open Microsoft Office Format As Microsoft moves to turn over Office XML to the Ecma standards body, the state government of Massachusetts reverses an earlier decision and says it will support the format alongside the open-source OpenDocument and Adobe PDF.
GNU Guru 'Foils' U.N. Security With RFID Protest
Hackers Follow The Money -- And Hit Popular Apps To Find It
Q&A: Microsoft Aims To Make Life With 'Ajax' A Lot Easier
Sony Plays The Blues As Bloggers Turn Up The Volume
Q&A: Bill Gates On Supercomputing, Software in Science, And More Cast Your Vote Now! Google has long been considered a friend and an ally to the open-source community. Today, however, as the company grows from a scrappy upstart into an IT superpower, is it time for open-source supporters to take a tougher attitude? It's your final week to cast your vote on this question! We'll have a new poll, and the results for this one, in next week's newsletter: Cast your vote! Get More Out Of Linux Pipeline Try Linux Pipeline's RSS Feed Linux Pipeline's content is available via RSS feed: Get RSS link. The feed is also auto-discoverable to many RSS readers from the Linux Pipeline home page. Note: RSS feeds are not viewable in most Web browsers. You need an RSS reader, Web-based service, or plug-in to view RSS. Find out which RSS readers the Pipeline editors recommend.
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Join InformationWeek for a FREE, OnDemand TechWebCast, From Risk Mitigation to Risk Optimization. This presentation provides Gartner recommendations on best practice industry models and process improvement strategies and Borland will present a new paradigm for risk optimization that is based on these best practice industry models and leverages people, process and technology. Thursday, December 8, 2005 ? 11:00-12:00 AM PT / 2:00-3:00 PM ET "http://www.techweb.com/webcasts/riskmitigation120805" ----------------------------------------- Manage Your Newsletter Subscription We take your privacy very seriously. Please review our Privacy Policy.
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