Sweden's Vote on OOXML Invalidated 232
Groklaw Reader writes "Just days after Microsoft's attempt to buy the Swedish vote on OOXML came to light, SIS declared its own vote invalid. The post at Groklaw references a ComputerWorld article with revelations from Microsoft: 'Microsoft Corp. admitted Wednesday that an employee at its Swedish subsidiary offered monetary compensation to partners for voting in favor of the Office Open XML document format's approval as an ISO standard. Microsoft said the offer, when discovered, was quickly retracted and that its Sweden managers voluntarily notified the SIS, the national standards body. "We had a situation where an employee sent a communication via e-mail that was inconsistent with our corporate policy," said Tom Robertson, general manager for interoperability and standards at Microsoft. "That communication had no impact on the final vote." ...'"
It seems to be the logical step (Score:2, Interesting)
We might all oppose Microsofts methods of getting the "yes" vote, but as an IT geek working with protocols and OO encapsulation I would say this: Rules are rules! Protocols are protocols! If they are weak, fix them for the future. Don't whine about the past flaws in your protocols.
While Microsofts methods were perhaps immoral, they DID follow the protocol. Do we really want a situation where votes can be nullified in spite of the fact that they were obtained by following the rules? And could such practice be a disadvantage for F/OSS projects/standards/protocols in the future?
Just a thought
- Jesper
Re:No impact... (Score:5, Interesting)
For those who speak Swedish, here's the press release by SIS [sis.se] (PDF).
Casting extra votes vs Vote buying (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:SIS press release translated (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm not so sure about this. This has pretty much blown up in MS's face thanks to all the publicity its generated. Keep in mind that MS is still facing anti-trust charges in the EU, and behavior like this won't help with that. On top of that it'll likely focus a lot of attention on all the other ISO member votes. Every single vote will likely be scrutinized closely by the press & public to look for even the slightest possibility of involvement by MS.
What I think will be more important in the long run is how the ISO handles this. If they implement procedures to prevent this sort of abuse in the future then it'll help the ISO process. If they don't do anything then it just reinforces the belief by many that the ISO process can simply be bought & co-opted by companies like MS.
Re:It seems to be the logical step (Score:4, Interesting)
Why not? The DMCA passed the House by voice vote, and the Senate by "unanimous consent."
Re:No impact... (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, this has significantly worsened Microsofts's reputation in Sweden. IT people here are outraged and, actually, quite embarrassed that something like this could have happened in Sweden.
If that's outrageous, then quite a few people need to open their eyes and wake up. This sort of vote-buying and behind the scenes sleaze happens all the time during standards resolution, not just for OOXML, not even just in IT. Corruption is the standard, not the exception. There's probably not an ISO spec in existence that hasn't in some way been influenced by proprietary interests through bribery or outright threats. In this case the perpetrator happened to be exposed. When international standards touted by multi-billion-dollar corporations come into play, you'd have to be a fool to think such things are not common place.
Re:It has *seriously* damaged *Sweden's* reputatio (Score:5, Interesting)
No voting without being a member for a set amount of time, and no voting on issues presented before joining come to mind.
Re:No impact... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:You sure about that? (Score:3, Interesting)
At least they're fixing it.
Had to scroll way down to find this intellegent retort. Thank you. Part of the [any] process is discovering tomfoolery like this and righting it before it gets too far. The largest impact is revealing that OOXML (using a supposedly open XML-like syntax wrapped in proprietary digital glop from Microsoft) won't stand a chance unless someone is stuffing the ballot box. The Swedes are doing their part to root out and neutralize this kind of pressure from the Great Satan(TM) in the upper North West..
Re:SIS press release translated (Score:3, Interesting)
Hasn't MS still won? (Score:2, Interesting)
Wasn't a most important point not that a large list of problematic point would be sent to the central organisation in case of a No-vote? Well, MS missed the yes, but still doesn't suffer from the detriimental effects a No-vote would have had. The outrage will subdue, but the effect that the problematic points were not submitted will continue to have its effect.
Bert
Re:SIS press release translated (Score:3, Interesting)
You sure about this? Because if they use normal absolute majority voting, then abstaining is practically the same as a No vote. If they haven't got a specific "YES" then that's one vote that's not going towards a majority.
For those in the US. (Score:3, Interesting)
It typically occurs anually in an event known as "The Eurovision Song Contest", which has been a popular event here for the past three decades. The title here is quite missleading, although every country enters a song, and perfoms it during the contest, the songs actually have little or no connection to the voting that takes place afterwards.
Countries can attrubite points to all counties except themselves from a scale of 10 to 1. The entertainment value comes from the voting procdure its self. Typically Sweden will give Norway 10 points, Norway will give Sweden 10 points. The slavic nations do the same. Grease and Turkey never give each other points, the same releation ship between France and England. No one likes the germans, (the songs may have some small influence on this). And the UK contestants can usually be seen popping the chanpaign corks towards the end of the voting when Ireland awards them one point.
Things have got so bad recently that the contenst (traditionally featuring light entertianment artists) was won by a group of deth metal rockers from Finland who were dressed up as monsters.
Re:SIS press release translated (Score:1, Interesting)
I imagine both a company and its wholly-owned subsidiary showed up to vote. I doubt that SIS can take the liberty of saying that dependents like small Microsoft partners are not capable of casting an independent vote. That's what we all know is true, but I doubt that constitutes formal grounds for an invalidation of the vote.
A company and its subsidiary both voting is actually quite likely, given the large number of very small companies who joined.