Matusow's Blog

I’ll be away from the blog for a spell. I’ll get online and approve comments etc, when I can.

It’s been a while since I was part of the core team doing the broader interop work at Microsoft. I have become increasingly focused on global standards issues which is only a part of the bigger picture on interop. That said, I was just kicking around...

My last post has driven some great discussion around what an open standard means. Heck, I think I was writing about “open” issues back in March of 2005. One could almost say it has become thematic. Given the comments from my last post, I thought it would...

I love reading smart people’s blogs – and Rick is definitely among that group. I have really enjoyed reading his post, “ Standards media formats and licensing: JPEG vs. MPEG ” and then the associated post, “ Balance of Interest .” In the first one, Rick...

I read on CNET today that Bill Gates and Microsoft Research had collaborated to release a series of lectures by Dr. Richard Feynman in the mid-1960s. You should take a moment to watch the first lecture. Aside from the cheesy opening, it is really worth...

Over the past few months, my passport has received more than its fair-share of stamps. I have spoken with people representing a broad swath of interests about standards and interoperability. A few of these meetings have touched on the role of “openness...

The past year of work for me (since I was regularly blogging) has been all about follow through on lessons learned during OOXML. In short, the leadership of many national standards bodies and more than a few industry players requested that we maintain...

It is time to start blogging again. I have received many emails asking where I went. The simple answer is…I’ve been working. I know that sounds lame, but the truth is that I have been heavily engaged in some internal projects at Microsoft and it was enough...

A colleague of mine, Stuart McKee, sat on a panel recently during a Red Hat event. His comments have drawn some attention, and now some FUD that I really feel needs to be addressed. First of all, you can see the coverage here , here , here , and here...

Last week I wrote a blog entry stemming from my experience in South Africa and my impressions about the way the OSS preference policy is being considered. What has come of it is a string of rather pointed comments questioning my intelligence and calling...

Clearly the Press Announcement today from Microsoft will bring about another wave of discourse on the future of document formats. The really short version of this announcement is that Office is going to support ODF, PDF, and XPS in the product directly...

It has now been almost three years since I stepped away from working daily on open source opportunities for Microsoft. I've watched the team that took on Shared Source morph it into some extremely positive collaborative work that is exactly what OSS is...

Just a quick note today. I am on the road meeting with MS people and later this week doing a bunch of external outreach work in South Africa as well. During the last few months there has been a good deal of rumblings about participation in committees...

There have been numerous comments to my last blog posting, as well as a long response from Groklaw. Overall I am encouraged by the conversation as a whole because I think it is touching on some foundational issues. One of the most challenging aspects...

There is much to talk about based on what has been happening in the discussion of Open XML these days. First, ISO has posted a FAQ about 29500. The approach taken in the FAQ is both direct and simplified. The rabbit hole on standards goes deep indeed...

Throughout the months leading up to the BRM and then following it, there was discussion over the future maintenance of the specification. Rather than recapitulate the results of the last SC 34 meeting, let me just point you to Alex Brown's blog . For...

On Wednesday April 9, the Texas House of Representatives Government Reform Committee will be hearing testimony regarding electronic documents. The notice for the hearing states that the committee is looking to hear about: Research, investigate, and make...

Just a quick note. MS is continuing to follow-through on the interop principles commitment made earlier this year. MS announced that >14,000 pages of preliminary documentation of client/server protocols has been posted to the web. The documentation...

After so much prognostication about standards in the abstract, it struck me today that it's worth taking a moment to look at Open XML through a different lens. Does it make a difference for people who are using it? Is it doing what it was supposed to...

The complaints keep rolling in on Groklaw about the outcome from Open XML. ***UPDATE #2: I went out to dinner and have been thinking a great deal about this. I do hold an opinion on this, but I think it is reasonable that people who read my blog expect...

***Updated April 7, April 8*** In light of the approval of Open XML as an international standard (see the ISO press release here ), there are a few countries in which process issues are being raised. This blog post will act as repository of the challenges...

ISO has distributed the results of the Open XML vote to national bodies (**UPDATED) resulting in leaked information - but now confirmed by ISO in a press release . DIS 29500 has become IS 29500. In regular person speak – Open XML was adopted as an international...

I have repeatedly made the argument that it is bad logic that leads you to the conclusion that there should be only one document format. If you value innovation in document creation, and you want to see applications continue to advance rapidly, and you...

***Updated April 2*** - ISO has just confirmed the approval of IS 29500 in a press release . ***Updated end*** It has been a few days since I've had a chance to blog. I've been on the road and that tends to make it harder to find the time to put up...

The United States national body has voted to approve DIS 29500 with 11 votes "yes," 4 votes "no," 1 "abstain," and 1 "not yet". The 2/3 super-majority requirement was met. The next step for them is a resolution meeting later this month.