Comments on: Dancing with the Devil in the pale moonlight http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/01/26/dancing-with-the-devil-in-the-pale-moonlight/ Freedom is the right of all sentient beings Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:54:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: alistair http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/01/26/dancing-with-the-devil-in-the-pale-moonlight/#comment-74 alistair Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:11:40 +0000 http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/01/26/dancing-with-the-devil-in-the-pale-moonlight/#comment-74 Thanks for organising the event, Sridhar - I really enjoyed it. It was a great opportunity for us to understand the FLOSS community a little better and you guys to... well at least listen to us for a while :) DanMan, regarding patents and licensing, I'm not a lawyer, but you can read the OSP yourself at http://www.microsoft.com/interop/osp/default.mspx - even Red Hat believes this is a fair approach and the open source community was consulted and provided feedback incorporated into the wording. OOXML is also has the double whammy of being covered under an additional Covenant Not to Sue. Edward, sorry to hear that you thought our answers were BS. I'm happy to respond to the issues you are having with incompatibility or if anyone else has some *technical questions*. My email address is alistair.speirs@(you know where).com . Please no xbox or zune questions. And as to losing control... I prefer to think of it as opening up. Then again, maybe we are damned if we do, damned if we don't :) Cheers, Alistair (previously mentioned Microsoft guy) Thanks for organising the event, Sridhar - I really enjoyed it. It was a great opportunity for us to understand the FLOSS community a little better and you guys to… well at least listen to us for a while :)

DanMan, regarding patents and licensing, I’m not a lawyer, but you can read the OSP yourself at http://www.microsoft.com/interop/osp/default.mspx - even Red Hat believes this is a fair approach and the open source community was consulted and provided feedback incorporated into the wording. OOXML is also has the double whammy of being covered under an additional Covenant Not to Sue.

Edward, sorry to hear that you thought our answers were BS. I’m happy to respond to the issues you are having with incompatibility or if anyone else has some *technical questions*. My email address is alistair.speirs@(you know where).com . Please no xbox or zune questions.

And as to losing control… I prefer to think of it as opening up. Then again, maybe we are damned if we do, damned if we don’t :)

Cheers,

Alistair (previously mentioned Microsoft guy)

]]> By: Edward G. Howard http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/01/26/dancing-with-the-devil-in-the-pale-moonlight/#comment-73 Edward G. Howard Mon, 28 Jan 2008 05:44:25 +0000 http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/01/26/dancing-with-the-devil-in-the-pale-moonlight/#comment-73 My impression is that Microsoft is desperate to get the OOXML accepted. The fact that it has been rejected by ISO, EU, New Zealand and I believe, though not sure: Brazil; is a situation they cannot live with. This is losing control, which they have always enjoyed holding and now they see it slipping away from them. Their assurance that OOXML will work "smoothly" with all other apps, is a pie in the sky. Experience has shown the incompatibility they have experienced themselves with their own Office products. I personally feel the meeting was very well conducted and of great interest as it is the first time I see a form of direct communication from them. I don't believe them in their integrity and feel there is a lot of BS in their statements and information. In my view, they are starting to get very concerned. Hope this assists Edward Registered Linux User No. 224802 Founder of AACC Australian Associated Computer Club Inc. My impression is that Microsoft is desperate to get the OOXML accepted. The fact that it has been rejected by ISO, EU, New Zealand and I believe, though not sure: Brazil; is a situation they cannot live with. This is losing control, which they have always enjoyed holding and now they see it slipping away from them.
Their assurance that OOXML will work “smoothly” with all other apps, is a pie in the sky. Experience has shown the incompatibility they have experienced themselves with their own Office products.
I personally feel the meeting was very well conducted and of great interest as it is the first time I see a form of direct communication from them. I don’t believe them in their integrity and feel there is a lot of BS in their statements and information. In my view, they are starting to get very concerned.

Hope this assists

Edward
Registered Linux User No. 224802
Founder of AACC Australian Associated Computer Club Inc.

]]> By: DanMan http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/01/26/dancing-with-the-devil-in-the-pale-moonlight/#comment-72 DanMan Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:32:16 +0000 http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/01/26/dancing-with-the-devil-in-the-pale-moonlight/#comment-72 Please post the link to the video once you have it available, and make sure the post shows up on Planet Ubuntu. I'm curious to hear how MS sidesteps the whole patenting and licensing for OOXML issue, because honestly, nothing's open until those issues are resolved. And by resolved, I mean patents on xml and binary layouts are proven unenforceable in a higher court of law, and licensing for a spec that's reverse engineered is likewise unenforceable. Please post the link to the video once you have it available, and make sure the post shows up on Planet Ubuntu.

I’m curious to hear how MS sidesteps the whole patenting and licensing for OOXML issue, because honestly, nothing’s open until those issues are resolved. And by resolved, I mean patents on xml and binary layouts are proven unenforceable in a higher court of law, and licensing for a spec that’s reverse engineered is likewise unenforceable.

]]> By: Catfacts http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/01/26/dancing-with-the-devil-in-the-pale-moonlight/#comment-71 Catfacts Sun, 27 Jan 2008 17:13:24 +0000 http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/01/26/dancing-with-the-devil-in-the-pale-moonlight/#comment-71 I to am glad that people did not go crazy at SLUG. I live in the US but as soon as I read the headline of Microsoft as a Linux conference I about laughed. But I am glad that the community showed enough sense to act respectable. Being childish just shows people that linux is a "garage experiment" versus a real product. I to am glad that people did not go crazy at SLUG. I live in the US but as soon as I read the headline of Microsoft as a Linux conference I about laughed. But I am glad that the community showed enough sense to act respectable. Being childish just shows people that linux is a “garage experiment” versus a real product.

]]> By: Robbie http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/01/26/dancing-with-the-devil-in-the-pale-moonlight/#comment-70 Robbie Sat, 26 Jan 2008 22:35:29 +0000 http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/01/26/dancing-with-the-devil-in-the-pale-moonlight/#comment-70 Thanks for the round up. I would have really liked to have turned up, but I totally forgot about it. Sounds like you guys did really well. Thanks for the round up. I would have really liked to have turned up, but I totally forgot about it. Sounds like you guys did really well.

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