From the category archives:

OOXML

Microsoft Office document corruption: Testing the OOXML claims

February 15, 2010

Summary
In this post I take a look at Microsoft’s claims for robust data recovery with their Office Open XML (OOXML) file format.  I show the results of an experiment, where I introduce random errors into documents and observe whether word processors can recover from these errors.  Based on these result, I estimate data recovery rates [...]

22 comments Read the full article →

Asking the right questions about Office 2010’s OOXML support

November 17, 2009

Image via Wikipedia
There is more OOXML controversy in the news, this time in Denmark. I don’t claim to understand all the nuances of the accusations, since I don’t read Danish, and Google Translates makes it sound at times like a discussion about loaves of rye bread or something, but the gist of it, as [...]

18 comments Read the full article →

The Final OOXML Update: Part III

October 27, 2009

This is Part III of an 5-part series on the state of OOXML today. Previous to starting this series, I had not posted about OOXML in over a year. Part I showed how Microsoft, despite their promises that control of OOXML would be handed over to an independent, international committee, have instead stuffed [...]

9 comments Read the full article →

The Final OOXML Update: Part II

October 16, 2009

In Part I of this OOXML update, my first post on the topic in over a year, I showed you how Microsoft maintains strong control over the OOXML standard. Despite their earlier promises that control of OOXML would be handed over to an independent, international committee, a look at attendance records reveals that the [...]

12 comments Read the full article →

The Final OOXML Update: Part I

October 1, 2009

I have not written a blog post on OOXML for well over a year now. My last post on this topic was on August 17th, 2008 and covered the contentious appeals process which followed the DIS 29500 Fast Track ballot. So I hope that one more post, 14 months later, will not seem [...]

19 comments Read the full article →

Where’s Rob?

October 7, 2008

Alex Brown is saddened that I did not attend the JTC1/SC34 Plenary in Korea last week. You can view his photo essay and lament on my absence here.
[A] question being asked along the committee corridors by perplexed NB members is whether IBM has withdrawn its staff from participation SC 34. I have no idea, [...]

14 comments Read the full article →

Giving the Finger to the DIS 29500 Appellants

August 17, 2008

The news broke on Friday, with the ISO press release, and additional coverage and analysis by Andy Updegrove and on Groklaw. But it would be remiss if I did not share a few details on how, true to form, the end of this DIS 29500 process was botched.
First, let’s put this in perspective. [...]

16 comments Read the full article →

Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

July 22, 2008

We are coming down to the last week for JTC1 to decide on whether to hear the four NB appeals concerning various claimed errors in the processing of DIS 29500 (OOXML), or whether summarily to dismiss these appeals without hearing them. The decision lies with two committees, the Technical Management Board (TMB) in [...]

18 comments Read the full article →

What is Rick smoking?

July 17, 2008

Former Microsoft consultant Rick Jelliffe has posted his own particular brand of science fiction/fantasy, this time in his favorite subgenre, a parody of a drug-induced psychosis, where after uneasy slumber Rick awakes in some alternate parallel universe and finds that JTC1/SC34 is open and transparent and OASIS is closed, and decides to write a [...]

11 comments Read the full article →

Toy Soldiers

July 16, 2008

It is interesting to watch the activities of JTC1/SC34 as they go through the motions of processing activities related to OOXML, long after any serious justification for their continuation has ceased. That is the nature of bureaucracy — wind up their clockwork and watch the little soldiers go through their prescribed motions. Come [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries