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B-razi-loggers Rage and Roll Against ISO Approval of Microsoft Standard

Jose Murilo Junior · 20:50

lingua → es · pt

April fool's day this year has brought a bitter taste to the Brazilian open source community. The announcement of the approval of Microsoft's Open XML Format (OOXML) as an ISO/IEC International Standard was, at first, seen as some kind of joke. After all, OOXML had lost a vote on its adoption at ISO in September 2007. The voting members had requested hundreds of adjustments to the standard however it is widely known that today the majority have remained unimplemented. But let's check out why such a drab debate over technical standards has caught the attention of so many bloggers in Brazil.

The open source movement in Brazil, with all its successes and failures, has somehow turned into a cultural trend. In this context, Microsoft's Office suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.) and its proprietary files' format became the very symbol of the monopolistic obstacle against the freedom pursued by free software activists, and also the main target of government agencies' official substitution policies. Where the Linux operating system was still not ready to reign, at least OpenOffice — with it's ISO approved ODF file format standard — could help breaking Microsoft's cultural hegemony. And it worked!

In fact, it seems that the strategy has worked too well. Microsoft started to see its multi-billion dollar Office business model menaced by the rising trend of governments giving preference to open standards in their decisions on software acquisition. The tactical reaction of Microsoft in defense of their monopoly position was to blitz for the sanction of their incompatible alternative format Open XML as a second ISO standard. Bloggers decried that the strategy used to carry OOXML through the ISO fast-track process has damaged the standard's credibility and created serious consequences for the whole concept of open standards. Indeed, Microsoft tactics can bring forth an intense rage among those Brazilians who have worked so long and so hard for open standards, and it is not surprising to see MS portrayed not merely as a monopolist but as a monster.

Deixando-se penetrar por um processo que, embora tenha seguido (ainda mal-e-mal) a letra da norma, foi corrompido por trás dos panos por uma série de questionamentos, irregulariedades, lobbies e afins, a ISO perdeu (ou ao menos manchou) sua credibilidade. Se tal aprovação viesse de um consenso, seja por Fast-Track ou não, a ISO manteria sua credibilidade. Porém, ao aceitar as pressões de Redmond e não questionar como as coisas ocorreram nos países, aceitando passivamente isso, ela deixou essa credibilidade ser maculada (de maneira permanente, potencialmente) e, desse modo, colocou em xeque TODOS os padrões ISO.
OOXML = ISO 29500 - Microsoft Ganha, todos perdemos - Linux… e mais coisas

Although having followed (barely) the procedural norms, ISO has lost (or at least damaged) its credibility by being involved in a process that was corrupted behind the scenes by a series of suspicions, irregularities, lobbies and so forth. If the approval had been reached by agreement, be it through Fast-Track or not, ISO would have maintained its credibility. But by passively conceding to Redmond's pressure, and not checking the decision-making procedures of the various countries, ISO has damaged its credibility in a permanent way — and somehow thwarted all the other ISO standards.
OOXML = ISO 29500 - Microsoft Wins, we all lose - Linux… e mais coisas

The novel twist is this case seems to be that being open has brought a commercial advantage to open source initiatives based on the ODF standard, and Microsoft was forced to adapt to the new situation. As deep-seated rivals, Microsoft and Brazilian officials who were dedicated to open source were not entirely ready to face each other in an open exchange at first.

E para piorar um pouco as coisas, a Microsoft, do alto de sua “auto-atribuída” superioridade, e fazendo uso mais uma vez de sua notória arrogância, chegou a afirmar, em janeiro, quando da ocorrência do “Grupo de Trabalho 2” na CE-21:034.00“, na ABNT, grupo este que tinha por objetivo “analisar as respostas da ECMA ao grupo de comentários enviados ao ISO/IEC DIS 29500“, que “o Brasil não deveria opinar se não conseguisse concluir as análises“. Ora, só de comentários brasileiros eram mais de 2000: seria este um número pouco expressivo?
O OOXML foi infelizmente aprovado pela ISO - Open2Tech

From the heights of its self-attributed superiority, and acting with its well known arrogance, Microsoft has come to declare, at the time of the meeting of the “Work Group 2″ — whose goal was to analyze the … comments delivered to the … [ISO standard's process] … in January — that “Brazil should not present opinions if they are not able to finish their analysis”. Well, the total number of Brazilian comments was above 2000 — is this volume not expressive enough?
Unhappily OOXML was approved by ISO - Open2Tech

It must have been the first time that so many countries have engaged in the debate over a technical standard. From the open source side, the communities are proud of their ODF/ISO-26300 standard, which aroused the giant Microsoft to wage a global war only to make their spec match ODF's status. From the other side, huge commercial interests are at stake when Microsoft-based third-party vendors around the world are at risk of being excluded from contracts because the company has no ISO approved format. National delegations were in charge of the vote, and bloggers are decrying that ‘non-technical' issues have influenced the decision.

Quando lemos em blogs e na mídia especializada o que aconteceu em diversos países, onde grupos técnicos foram contra a aprovação, mas o staff do NB local optou pelo voto SIM ou se absteve, devemos reconhecer e aplaudir a lisura e excelência do trabalho efetuado no Brasil pela ABNT, que foi, sem sombra de dúvidas, um exemplo de comportamento que deveria ser copiado pelos NBs do mundo todo!
OpenXML foi aprovado…e agora? - Movimento Software Livre Paraná

When we read in blogs and in the tech media about what happened in many of these countries, where tech groups were against the approval, but the local NB [national standards body] staff opted to vote YES or absent, we must recognize and praise the excellence of what was accomplished in Brazil by ABNT [Brazilian Association of Technical Norms], showing a behavior that stands as an example to other NBs around the world!
OpenXML was approved… what now? - Free Software Movement from Paraná

Na ISO vimos muitos países, covardes e/ou incompetentes, não votaram, tais como os nossos vizinhos: Chile e Argentina e outros “importantes” países: Holanda, Austrália, Bélgica, França, Itália, Rússia, Espanha, Luxemburgo, Malásia, Siri Lanka, Turquia, Vietnã, Zimbaue e Quênia. Todos esses abstiveram-se. Terrível!!! agora os softwares suites de escritórios ficarão como carregadores de celular, bivolts (com ODF e OpenXML).
(Comentário de Movimento Software Livre Paraná em Open XML: Eles realmente ganharam?)

There were many countries at ISO who, out of cowardice and / or incompetence, failed to vote. Among them were our neighbors Chile and Argentina, and also other ‘important' countries such as Holland, Australia, Belgium, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, Luxemburg, Malysia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Vietnan, Zimbabwe and Kenya. All of these were absent. Terrible!!! Now office suites software will be like cell phone chargers, bivolt (with ODF and OpenXML).
(Comment from Free Software Movement from Paraná at Open XML: Did they really win?)

O Vitorio falou desses países, foi realmente triste. mas o pior é ter constatado distorção em votos importantes como o da Noruega, que chegou a pedir publicamente a mudança de seu voto para Não - digamos que 24 votaram Não, 2 Sim e o voto da Noruega passou como Sim… triste! Fora outras várias irregulariedades como na *Itália*, Portugal, França, Alemanha, Polônia, *Holanda*, Suíça, Suécia e vários outros, incluindo os EUA. Realmente, aquela frase deles “Money Talks” é verdadeira. E imagino como envergonhados muitos técnicos ligados as esses países ondem houve distorção estão. Eles estudam, investigam e concluem que não presta como padrão. Votam contra. E seu voto passa como Sim ou “Absteve”.
(Comment from Movimento Software Livre Paraná at Open XML: Eles realmente ganharam?)

Vitorio has talked about these countries, and it was really sad, but it was worse to be aware of distortions in important votes such as Norway's, whose group has openly asked to change their vote to NO — it was like 24 voted NO, and 2 voted Yes, but Norway's vote came out as YES… It is sad! We won't talk about other irregularities such as in Italy, Portugal, France, Germany, Poland, Holland, Switzerland, Sweden and many others including the US. That phrase they use, “Money Talks”, is true. I can imagine how ashamed are the tech people from these countries who had distorted their votes. They study, research and find out that it does not hold as a standard. They vote against it. But still their vote comes through as ‘Yes' or ‘Absent'.
(Comment from Movimento Software Livre Paraná at Open XML: Eles realmente ganharam?)

A prominent name of this debate is Jomar Silva, General Director of the Brazilian Chapter of the ODF Alliance and member of the Brazilian delegation, who is blogging in Portuguese and in English. His reports are providing an inside perspective on the debate.

Segundo o post do Jomar que esteve no BRM da ISO, um cidadão chegou nele num intervalo e sutilmente pediu para que não levantasse uma questão importante no processo do OOXML da Microsoft virar ou não um padrão ISO: a inexistência do mapeamento entre o formato legado (ex: .doc) e o formato novo (ex: .docx)… Se esse mapeamento não fizer parte da especificação OOXML, seu objetivo primordial é inválido. A especificação é inválida. E a delegação brasileira queria levantar essa bola: cadê o mapeamento ? Mas o barraco aqui é outro. Um cidadão pedir pra ele não levantar essa bola é uma coisa… O que me escapa o entendimento é por que a ISO não deixou o Brasil apresentar esse questionamento ? Só sei que a blogosfera vai desabar sobre esse assunto nos próximos dias e vou acompanhar de perto os blogs do Rob Weir, Bob Sutor, Andy Updegrove, Groklaw e a quantidade de reações que o post traduzido do Jomar recebe. Muitos desses blogs já estão descendo a lenha.
Está rolando um barraco na ISO - Avi Alkalay

According to Jomar, who was at ISO's BRM [Ballot Resolution Meeting], someone came to him during a coffe break and subtlely asked him not to raise an important question in the process analyzing the OOXML request to become an ISO standard: the non-existence of a mapping from the legacy format (ex: .doc) and the new format (ex: .docx)… If this mapping is out of the OOXML specification, its main goal is invalid. The specification is invalid. The Brazilian delegation wanted to raise the issue of: where is the mapping? But here is another point. Someone asking him to not raise the issue is one thing…. What escapes me is why ISO has not allowed Brazil to present this [line of] questioning? All I know is that the blogosphere will be all around the subject in the next few days, and I will follow closely Rob Weir, Bob Sutor, Andy Updegrove, Groklaw and a bunch of reactions that Jomar's translated post is receiving.
Wrangling at ISO - Avi Alkalay

It is worth mentioning that even Jomar Silva, a fiery ODF standard advocate, is among the commenters able to find positive perspectives brought by the whole process. Obviously, Microsoft's retreat from proprietary file formats to open and XML-based (easier to manipulate, produce and consume) file formats is good news. And their commitment to work on translators to support ODF as native file formats in MS Office is something we would not have expected only a few years ago. In the long run, ODF supporters must be in favor of extoling its features and urging the widest use of it as possible and this would not be accomplished by maintaining a fundamentalist anti-OpenXML position in ISO.

Nós, Brasileiros, ganhamos por ter entrado em uma batalha dessas e ter saído por cima (sem dedo no olho e nem golpe baixo). Jogamos segundo as regras do jogo, ainda que alguns interessados tivessem tentado dar a “sua versão” das regras do jogo o tempo todo. Ganhamos ainda, pois saimos fortalecidos. Nunca fomos tão respeitados no mercado internacional de TI e nunca uma discussão sobre padrões abertos fez tanto parte da agenda de tantas pessoas no mundo e portanto, nunca pudemos falar com tanta propriedade a um público tão seleto. Ganhamos por ter unido nessa discussão gregos e troianos e por termos descoberto que empresas rivais no mercado conseguem sentar, discutir e construir juntas. Este é para mim um novo paradigma, que vai logo logo dar frutos a todos os envolvidos.
Open XML: Eles realmente ganharam? - Jomar Silva @ Void Life (Void)

We Brazilians, we have won [as a result of] entering such a battle and leaving it with our heads high (with no finger in the eye or low blows). We played according to the rules of the game, even though there were some interested parties that tried to present their version of the rules all the time. We've won also, because we left the battle strenghtened. We've never been so respected in the IT's international market, and never before has a debate over open standards captured the agenda of so many people in the world. And thus, we have never before had the oportunity to speak to such a select audience. We've won because we gathered Greeks and Trojans in this debate and also because we've found out that rival companies can sit down, discuss and build together. This is for me a new paradigm, which will soon bring results to all involved.
Open XML: Did they really win? - Jomar Silva @ Void Life (Void)

All things considered, it does seem senseless to close anyone's path to openness, and we all must be ready to adapt to new environments.

0 comments · »»

Mexico: Emo Youth Become Targets of Attacks

Eduardo Avila · 19:56

lingua → es

A comment left on an article written by blogger Daniel Hernandez of Intersections wondered, “Is this the Onion? This is too surreal.” The Onion is a popular U.S. satirical newspaper that is best known for providing “fake-news” and the individual must have thought that the news found on Hernandez' blog was taken straight from that periodical. The news story in question revolved around incidents that took place in Mexico, where “emo” youth were the victims of attacks by groups that specifically targeted them.

In addition to being a genre of music, “emo” can also be considered a lifestyle or a form of self-identity. La Plaza, the blog from the LA Times writes:

Suddenly, emos are the talk of the town in Mexico City. For the uninitiated, emos are a category of black-clad teenager known for their marked emotionalism—thus the name—and a sexually ambiguous fashion style that combines the dark look of Goth with childlike touches of pink and other bright colors (think Tim Burton meets Hello Kitty.)

In addition, Wikipedia describes some of the fashion:

Emo is also often associated with a certain fashion. The term “emo” is sometimes stereotyped with tight jeans on males and females alike, long fringe (bangs) brushed to one side of the face or over one or both eyes, dyed black, straight hair, tight t-shirts (sometimes with short-sleves) which often bear the names of rock bands (or other designed shirts), studded belts, belt buckles, canvas sneakers or skate shoes or other black shoes (often old and beaten up) and thick, black horn-rimmed glasses. Emo fashion has changed with time. Early trends included straight, unparted hair, tightly fitting sweaters, button-down shirts, and work jackets.

Photo by Daniel Hernandez and used with permission.

Hernandez followed the news story from the very beginning on his blog and in at the LA Weekly, and has even been interviewed on numerous occasions by the international media interested in this “surreal” news story. How did it all start? Hernandez points to some comments from a popular Mexican TV personality:

In Mexico, emo culture is a butt of many jokes. It is either despised intensely or generally ignored. But it's only the despising sentiment that lately has been getting wide airply. In the above clip, a Televisa on-air personality named Kristoff expresses a serious dose of anti-emo rhetoric and switches to English to say, on network television, “Fucking bullshit” to the emo movement. Some emos I've interviewed point to the Kristoff clip as a defining provocation of the current wave of anti-emo violence. Now check out this clip from another Televisa program where three emos are interviewed about the attacks. At the end, the kid on the left asks if he can say more thing: he directly accuses Kristoff of spreading anti-emo hate.

He also writes about some of the specific early incidents:

The spark came first in Queretaro on March 7. An estimated 800 young people poured into the city's Centro Historico hunting for emos to beat the crap out of. They found some. The next weekend it spread to Mexico City, where emos faced off against punks and rockabillies at the Glorieta de Insurgents, the epicenter of emo social space in the capital. There's also been reports of anti-emo violence in Durango, Colima, and elsewhere.

The incidents led many of the emo youth to become pro-active:

A week ago on Wednesday, emos and their supporters in Mexico City demonstrated in front of the headquarters of the municipal justice department. The action was organized by a Mexico City gay-rights organization, highlighting the contention of some that the anti-emo movement is homophobic, among other undercurrents…

These conflicts have also been drawing a lot more media attention. The LA Times blog La Plaza also covered the story in conjunction with Mexico Reporter and interviewed one of the youth. The video can be found on their blog. Hernandez also writes:

The much-maligned emos of Mexico are now enjoying the world's attention and an outpouring of pity and good vibes from the local government, local rights groups, and the global media. And even D.F.'s well-organized punk movement? Possibly. One rumor I heard today said that on Saturday pro-peace and tolerance punks will rumble with anti-emo punks, once and for all. Could there be a backlash to the backlash?

The Saturday rally ended without violence, as the emos marched under police protection. Beam TV [es] has photos of the groups that assembled to beat up the emos.

However, in the end, Jessica of Vivir México [es] writes about what this shows about her country:

Esto solo es el reflejo de la intoleracia en Mexico y las autoridades tienen que tomar cartas en el asunto antes de que pase a mayores…

This is just a reflection of the intolerance in Mexico and the authorities must take action before something more serious happens….

4 comments · »»

Bulgaria: What Can Force a Minister to Resign?

Yavor Mihaylov · 01:07

lingua → mk · bn · sq · es

On March 18, Ivan Ivanov, deputy director of Bulgaria's special division for combating organized crime (GDBOP), was arrested on charges of corruption and contacts with organized crime groups. The affair flaired up following a hearing of the former GDBOP director Vanyo Tanov before the parliamentary Commission of Internal security and Public Order.

In the course of the hearing it emerged that the minister of the interior Rumen Petkov had also had “unregulated meetings” with alleged members of criminal groups. Minister Petkov dismissed Tanov’s statements as “a bunch of lies.” Later on it became clear, however, that such meetings had indeed taken place.

The inadequate and rude behavior of the minister of the interior at a news conference on March 19 caused widespread indignation. The national TV stations did not air the outrageous footage from the news conference, but it was uploaded on YouTube.com by a journalist who had attended the event.

It was also published on Ivan Bedrov’s blog. The renowned journalist and blogger Bedrov wonders (BUL) whether the minister could have been “high” at the conference.

The public was shocked by the disclosures. Calls on the minister to resign spread on the internet, but for the time being he refuses to tender his resignation.

In this relation, Yovko Lambrev asks (BUL) what else has to happen in the Ministry of Interior and in Bulgaria before we “start kicking out the bad eggs, bad cops and bad governments where they belong …over the board…”

Julian Popov writes (BUL):

One could start a funny business in this country. One could open offices and start taking bets whether Rumen Petkov will go or stay. Whether he will be sacked or not. Whether he will be transfered to a new job or not. Or one could take bets on what is still to happen will actually happen. In a week, month, six months or a year? It is clear to everybody that Rumen Petkov is a grave liability both in the balances of his cabinet and his party [the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party]. However, it is exciting to place bets on when something which is obvious to everybody will become a real denouement. When he actually resigns, work on the definition of a “Petkov quotient” could start. This quotient will measure the time taken to admit in public a truth that is obvious to everybody.

Peyo Popov writes (BUL):

Lately I’ve been feeling like my days are empty if there weren’t a recorded news conference of Rumen Petkov. When I am lucky I watch and laugh in frenzy at taglines like “your bloodthirstiness does not inspire me.” But it is not the vulgarity of the minister that amazes me.”

The blogger admits there is a question he cannot figure out for himself:

What has to happen so that we could see a minister tender his resignation?

This difficult question, still unanswered, inspired Peyo to launch (BUL) a literary contest in the hope that “there should exist in Bulgaria a mind capable in their ingenuity to perceive a series of … events (leading to such a resignation), should it not?”

The participants in the contest are required to write a short story, describing events leading to a minister tendering his/her resignation and to send the text file or a link to the story. The blogger is fundraising for an award for the winner in the contest.

It may seem incredible, but numerous bloggers have already contributed to the award fund and the renowned local blogger Bogomil Shopov has promised that he will make a movie based on the winning story. Nineteen short stories have already been submitted and more are likely to come before the deadline on April 8, while the public is discussing who the winner will be and whether some of the scenarios could come true.

3 comments · »»