OOXML vs ODF - the stakes are high

Currently, Microsoft is trying to get their OOXML format to become an ISO standard and the success there is very important to them. If it is rejected then governments around the world is likely to choose the competing ODF format as their document standard. A thing Microsoft most certainly don't want. this rant from Rob Weir (an IBM employee) details some of the recent things that have happened, here is a snippet:

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34 recently had its annual plenary. This is the same group of ISO National Body (NB) members who voted in favor of ODF last year, and over the next few months many of them will be recommending positions on Microsoft's OOXML to their national standards bodies. I was on the delegates list for attending this meeting, as a representative of the US NB, but had to cancel at the last minute because of a family emergency. When I saw the attendance list, I was surprised to see that Microsoft had sent five people, this to a meeting of only 37 people. They practically darkened the skies with their employees. And what about the conspiratorial army that is hounding them at every corner? Zero people from IBM. Zero as well for Google, Sun, RedHat, Adobe, Oracle and Novell.

Will they ever learn?

Somehow I doubt it! It seems sony has created a new form of copy protection on at least some of their DVD's which means they don't play in some DVD players, including some of Sony's own players. I hoped they learned a lesson after the big rootkit scandal last year, but apparently they intend to repeat it...