What’s happening in the world of consortia, standards,
and open source software
The Standards Blog tracks and explains the way standards and open source software impact business, society, and the future. This site is hosted by Gesmer Updegrove LLP, a technology law firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. GU is an internationally recognized leader in creating and representing the organizations that create and promote standards and open source software. The opinions expressed in The Standards Blog are those of the authors alone, and not necessarily those of GU. Please see the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy for this site, which appear here. You can find a summary of our services here. To learn how GU can help you, contact: Andrew Updegrove
Hard on the heels of the announcement of the government-targeting ODF Alliance comes the announcement of a new initiative: the ODF Adoption Committee at OASIS, which will work to promote ODF adoption in the broader end user community.
Here are the details on the new ODF Alliance - who's a member, what it means, and whether its likely to succeed or fail.
36 Companies, associations and end-users have announcend the ODF Alliance in an effort to boost Government adoption of the OpenDocument Format
Single standards can do small jobs, but it takes a village of standards (and standard setting organizations) to enable a Digital Home.
Late last week the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) filed a complaint in the EU against Microsoft, alleging anticompetitive behavior. That complaint was kept confidential, but additional details are now being (gradually) released.
Until now, the action on ODF vs. the Microsoft XML Reference Schema has focused on Massachusetts. In the last two days, however, the supporters of ODF have launched an offensive in Europe - making it now a two-front war.
Adobe PDF has tended to be a footnote in the ODF story to date, principally figuring into the saga by presenting a somewhat troubling question: did the Massachusetts Information Technology Division (ITD) draw too fine a distinction in saying "no" to the Microsoft XML Reference Schema (especially after Microsoft agreed to make modifications to its license terms) while saying "yes" to Adobe PDF? But an interview with Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen indicates that Adobe's control of PDF - and now Flash - may give it a far bigger role from the desktop to mobile devices in the future than ODF may give any other vendor.
George Harrison wrote of the "Sue me - Sue You Blues." Rambus, Micron, Infineon and Samsung have been singing that one for years, and today Micron Technologies began a new verse, with its latest suit against Rambus. It all relates to a JEDEC standard setting initiative from the early 1990s, but it has reshaped standard setting.
On Wednesday I moderated a panel at the Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco. Gavin Clark at The Register.com titled his story about the session "Microsoft ignites idea of independent versions of Office" and subtitled it "Rivals Flame Redmond." That's a bit overwrought, but it was an interesting session none the less.
Yesterday I reported on the December 12 promise by the Boston Globe's ombudsman to look into how the story that contributed to the resignation of Massachusetts CIO Peter Quinn, and the fact that nothing had been heard since. Last night I got a response.