David Fletcher

UK

Software engineer and Linux enthusiast

I think this is a sign of a company in decline.

Microsoft is, in my opinion, becoming more frightened by open source software with every passing day. It feels that the only way to maintain market share is to use Bully Boy tactics to try to force computer users to continue to pay tribute to them.

The only way to defeat a bully is to fight back, and for this reason I loudly applaud the ISO for the ratification of the Open Document Format.

What I really detest is statements that imply that a file format is a standard just because microsoft has invented it. It's not a standard - it's a proprietary format specifically designed to lock computer users into paying fees for future upgrades to microsoft.

What's needed is greater public awareness of what is freely available, such as the png format, a lossless graphic file format that is free for all to use, and is implemented in Paint Shop Pro, the GIMP, and many others I suspect.

If I was to walk down any street and ask shoppers if they had heard of the microsoft word format I bet 90% of people would know about it. Unfortunately I reckon hardly anybody would know about the Open Document Format. That's a big problem, for both economic and freedom reasons, for everybody.