| Written by Radoslav Dejanović,
on 17-01-2008 22:50
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Views : 10121  |
Favoured : 265 |
Published in : , English language |
In April 2007. Office for e-Croatia (governmental body responsible for all things e-related) proposed introduction of ODF format as a national standard. It is in power of e-Croatia office to govern over IT strategy in Croatia public sector, but the standards are the responsibility of CSI Croatia (www.hzn.hr), which is an ISO member and responsible for national standards.
The TO Z1 panel (responsible for information technology) accepted the proposal and started a procedure, which takes about two months in which members can discuss the proposal. If there are no objections given, the proposals are accepted.
However, in this particular case, Microsoft announced objections shortly before the deadline, thus delaying the resolution of the proposal, and maybe even forcing rejection of the proposal. Due to the secrecy that shrouds the work of CSI, I can't tell what the objections are, nor whether Microsoft has majority of its business partners as members of the panel (although it is very likely so), but the last minute objections are confirmed.
Why would Microsoft do that in such an insignificant country like mine? I would say that the local office is just playing along the line of the headquarters, fighting for OOXML and against ODF wherever they can, so even the small battlefields are important. Croatia is not a part of European union, but we're likely to get there in a few years, and we are bordering the EU and participating in a way. Microsoft is surely trying to get some ground in EU, and emerging EU member is not a bad target.
Microsoft might as well be buying time in Croatia. If the ODF proposal is accepted, this would open the door for Office for e-Croatia to introduce compulsory use of ODF format in governmental bodies, which could lead to dramatic decrease of MS Office sales in Croatia. (e-Croatia never announced such a thing, but FLOSS is no stranger to them, either)
Therefore, it would be wise to use the power within the CSI panel (where, I have a strong feeling, Microsoft and its business partners make up for majority of votes) to at least delay acceptance of ODF format, then hope that OOXML is going to be accepted by ISO in a months time, giving e-Croatia no time for any action that Microsoft might not like.
And, if the OOXML is accepted and gets the status of ISO standard, Microsoft could muscle CSI panel to quickly reject ODF and accept OOXML, since hey – it's ISO!
Even if things don't turn out that way, there's the possibility that Microsoft might force OOXML acceptance by sheer voting power within the panel, although I believe that in the case of OOXML failing ISO approval, Microsoft would not dare to display such power over entire nation, at least not while in the limelight.
So, Croatia seem to be in a stalemate at the moment. Microsoft having a huge influence in local standardization body and enough power to stall acceptance of an ISO standard, yet without its own standard that they could replace ODF with, their strategy seem to be slowing down the process as much as they can, hoping that Ballot Resolution Meeting at the end of February might resolve well for OOXML, in which case they would have a strong argument to remove ODF from the scene for good, at least in Croatia. This would mean another few years of MS Office monopoly in our government.
A lot of money is to be made, and Microsoft isn't going to let it go. The fact that the country is overdebted and that we're not doing quite well economically doesn't matter.
What does, however, is the fact that Microsoft and business partners are clearly abusing CSI panel for their own selfish interests, where they as members should think only of the benefit for the people of Croatia.
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