Re: GNOME Foundation Statement on ECMA TC45-M Participation

[Rui Miguel Silva Seabra <rms 1407 org>]

On Mon, Nov 26, 2007 at 03:16:48AM +1100, Jeff Waugh wrote:
> <quote who="jamie">
> 
> > I can see MS spinning this to their advantage and I believe playing safe
> > here would be better for us in the short term
> 
> Thing is, Microsoft haven't spun it to their advantage. They've mentioned
> that Gnumeric is implementing OOXML, but that actually works against them
> (due to the complexity of the spec and the completeness of the impl).

That's only true for people who understand how writing software works.

To a policy maker, writing software is something little gnomes do when he
asks IT department for some feature. If it isn't a full implementation,
then for him it's okay because we all know software isn't bug-free.

They *are* spinning it to their advantage. Give them a hand, they'll
rip your arm off. They're not people, they are an entity whose moral duty
is to increase shareholder revenue to a maximum.

That they send nice guys to shows and talks is only a means to let you
off-guard.

> They
> haven't spun our membership of TC45-M to their advantage, and they won't,
> because we're not their friends, and won't react kindly if they do. :-)

Not "chalengable" *written forms*...

Rui

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