Should Microsoft be allowed to buy the OSI open document standard by ballot box stuffing?
“Open source is a development method for software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. The promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in. The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is a non-profit corporation” www.opensource.org As such, the OSI is working with standards committees around the world to vote on and establish document standards to promote the ability to exchange files openly and not be locked into one software supplier (Microsoft). The leading standard had been the Open Document Format (ODF). Naturally Microsoft does not want to lose it’s strangle hold on file formats. So it invented what it pretends is an open document standard they call Office Open XML (OOXML). It had been rejected by Standards orgs around the world because of lack of open exchange ability and massive flaws in it’s structure. Just before votes were to be held, “local organizations” that
