May 2008 - Solar-general - lists.ourproject.org

Fwd: [Ooxml-latin] UK standards body taken to court over OOXML
by Diego Saravia 02 May '08

02 May '08

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: David B <davidb_info(a)yahoo.es> Date: 2008/5/2 Subject: [Ooxml-latin] UK standards body taken to court over OOXML To: ooxml-latin(a)ffii.org Just saw this this morning: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39408917,00.htm?r=1 Kudos to the UKUUG, and let's not forget the MSOOXML fiasco: we can still fight on this one (remember the ISO somehow backpedalled on the bad press at the approval and suggested it would be "conditional", anyway we are in the open-to-appeals period) ;-) I paste the piece of news below. Best regards: David B. (Spain): The British Standards Institution has been taken to court by a group of Unix users in an attempt to get the standards body to recant its approval of Microsoft's Office Open XML document format. The UK Unix & Open Systems User Group (UKUUG) said on Thursday that the British Standards Institution's (BSI's) controversial decision to vote for approval of OOXML in a recent International Organization for Standardization (ISO) ballot followed a flawed decision-making process. The UKUUG is also folding in many other complaints about Office Open XML (OOXML), such as unresolved patent issues and a lack of completion in the specification's documentation, and is calling for the High Court of Justice to force a judicial review of the BSI's decision. The UKUUG is hoping a judicial review would find the BSI decision to be flawed and reverse it. OOXML is Microsoft's answer to the OpenDocument Format (ODF), an established ISO standard based entirely on open specifications. OOXML is also theoretically open, but central to the UKUUG's legal action is ISO's fast-tracking of the format into standardisation without properly addressing its many unresolved technical flaws — an issue exacerbated by OOXML's extraordinary length as a specification, at 6,000 pages. Following a highly contentious vote among national standards bodies, ISO announced on 2 April that OOXML was to become an official standard. There is, however, a two-month window following that date, during which the process can be derailed if one of the national standards bodies makes a formal appeal. Serious objections have been raised within the decision-making community about the approval vote — notably in Norway, by the head of that country's technical committee — but none yet have come officially from any country's national standards body. The UKUUG has been in existence for 32 years and is, according to Mark Taylor, the head of the Open Source Consortium (OSC), a "venerable organisation of men with long grey beards". "It is a testament to the feeling of injustice here," he told ZDNet.co.uk on Thursday. "This is the first time they've done something like this." Speaking to ZDNet.co.uk on Thursday, UKUUG head Alain Williams said his group's objection was that ISO and the BSI were "trying to put forward something that is not fit for purpose". "Microsoft is trying to game the standards process because they don't want a standard that can be implemented by other people," he said. "If they had wanted that, they could have gone with the ODF format [but], if they adopt something like that, they begin to lose their stranglehold on the desktop." "Something that had that high a level of contention is not suitable for fast-tracking," Williams added, while referring to Ecma — the industry standards body that pushed for OOXML to be fast-tracked by ISO — as a "Microsoft poodle". Williams claimed the official backing of OOXML would harm not only the UK IT industry, by virtue of perpetuating Microsoft's "monopoly", but the country as a whole by not using an open standard that is guaranteed to be usable into the distant future. "If you're talking about reading documents in one or two hundred years' time, you would have great problems in doing it [with documents based on OOXML]," he said. The OSC's Taylor told ZDNet.co.uk that the UKUUG's action carried with it "prima facie evidence that the BSI's processes have not been complied with or done in a very strange way". "A lot of us believe there are questions to be answered," said Taylor. "The remedy that is being sought is a mandatory order to withdraw the BSI's vote approving [OOXML]. The BSI hasn't followed its own processes. For example, the [claim] that it was unanimously decided to pass [OOXML] — it wasn't. People will be called as witnesses to show there are serious problems with the BSI's processes." Taylor, however, did not express confidence in the ability of the action — if successful — to reverse the ISO vote without similar actions being launched in other countries. "I don't believe the BSI on its own would be sufficient to pull the vote back, but it would certainly make a dent in it," he said. "Should there be others, it would certainly change the percentages [in the ISO tally]." The BSI had not commented on the UKUUG's legal action at the time of writing. http://www.endsoftwarepatents.org ------ ¿Eres un usuario cautivo ó libre? ¿controlas tu ordenador o tu ordenador te controla a tí? Libérate: Usa Gnu/Linux y OpenOffice.org: http://www.obtengalinux.org/windows/ Are you a free user or a captive one? Do you control your computer or does your computer control you? Set yourself free: Use Gnu/Linux and OpenOffice.org: http://www.getgnulinux.org/windows/ ______________________________________________ Enviado desde Correo Yahoo! La bandeja de entrada más inteligente. _______________________________________________ Ooxml-latin mailing list Ooxml-latin(a)ffii.org https://lists.ffii.org/mailman/listinfo/ooxml-latin -- Diego Saravia Diego.Saravia(a)gmail.com NO FUNCIONA->dsa(a)unsa.edu.ar

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Fwd: [l-colibris] tu ¿ya te has migrado a linux?
by Diego Saravia 02 May '08

02 May '08

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Ariel López Date: 2008/5/2 Subject: Re: [l-colibris] tu ¿ya te has migrado a linux? ahora si, pasa que la habia sacado del aire porque teniamos una pelea gramatical, pero ya la hemos aclarado. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ariellopez/2457897127/ ahi esta, que la disfruten :D -- Ariel López -- Diego Saravia Diego.Saravia(a)gmail.com NO FUNCIONA->dsa(a)unsa.edu.ar

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Telefonía. Era: Adios a las telefonicas convencionales
by Javier Castrillo 01 May '08

01 May '08

He leído mucho este thread pero comprendido poco. :-) Disculpen la pregunta newbie pero según entendí la configuración de Daniel debe terminar sí o sí en "algo" que conecte a Internet. Es así?. Bien, si sigo ese razonamiento, podría prescindir de las telefónicas al usar por ejemplo cablemodem. Ahora. En una zona donde no tengo banda ancha cableada (ni siquiera de una telefónica), eso no me serviría. Estoy en la cierto? Pregunto porque tenemos el caso de un centro de nuestra escuela que le está poniendo una garra terrible en una adopción de SL [1] pero tiene el problema que no hay ADSL en el barrio. (Tigre, pcia. de Bs As). Optaron por comprar la banda ancha de CTI móvil pero desde que la compró Claro no tienen señal (?). Y no le dan solución alguna. Lo que comenta Diego es una alternativa válida para esta escuela? (este mismo problema lo tienen varios Centros y la solución podría ser conjunta) Gracias y disculpen la apertura del hilo. [1] http://wiki.gleducar.org.ar/wiki/Proyecto_3 -- Javier Castrillo ========================================================= GNU / Linux User #242275 Blog: http://javiercastrillo.blogspot.com Site: http://carapa.com.ar River: http://siguiendoariver.blogspot.com ========================================================= Usá Software Libre

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Fwd: [l-colibris] tu ¿ya te has migrado a linux?
by Diego Saravia 01 May '08

01 May '08

un afiche para la oficina, del original sovietico: tu ¿ya te has alistado como voluntario? http://www.flickr.com/photos/ariellopez/2455434832/ que lo disfruten -- Ariel López -- Diego Saravia Diego.Saravia(a)gmail.com NO FUNCIONA->dsa(a)unsa.edu.ar

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GNU/Linux para 52 millones de brasileños
by Marcos Guglielmetti 01 May '08

01 May '08

GNU/Linux para 52 millones de brasileños Mientras en México, Argentina y otros países latinoamericanos el programa Alianza por la Educación con la estadounidense Microsoft sigue en pie e incluso la empresa planifica extenderlo a 5 años más, en Brasil se han liberado de la opresión del software propietario y van directo hacia la utilización masiva de software libre. Nada menos que 52 millones de estudiantes utilizarán GNU/Linux... Continuar leyendo http://www.mastermagazine.info/articulo/12917.php -- Marcos Guglielmetti - www.musix.org.ar Decile NO! a la privatización de la educación en Argentina 0. "Plan de alfabetización digital en base a Software Libre" 1. Informate: http://www.mastermagazine.info/articulo/12831.php http://www.musix.org.ar/wiki/index.php/Comunicado_de_prensa http://wiki.gleducar.org.ar/wiki/Razones_para_usar_software_libre_en_educac… 2. Te interesa? Unite! http://groups.google.com/group/alfabetizaciondigital/ 3. Conocés alguien a quien pueda interesarle? Debemos llegar a los gremios docentes, no-docentes y centros de estudiantes --------- Colaboradores en prensa y difusión del software libre en general: http://salta.org.ar/wiki/bin/view/SoftwareLibre/SolarPrensa

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