Back to newsletter listDate:
Thu, December 06, 2007 11:06:07 PMFrom:
slashdot@slashdot.org
Subject:
[Slashdot] Stories for 2007-12-07
======================================================================
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======================================================================
Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* Users and Web Developers Vent Over IE7
* The Arctic Doomsday Seed Vault
* High Earning Spammers Face Tougher Sentences
* Ham Radio Operators Are Heroes In Oregon
* Unmanned Aircraft Will Test Air Traffic Control
* California Testers Find Flaws In Voting Machines
* EVE-Online Patch Makes XP Unbootable
* House Bill Could Criminalize Free Wi-Fi Operators
* Non-Competes As the DRM of Human Capital
* Lenovo Announces ThinkPads Preloaded With XP
* Most In US Have False Sense of Online Security
* Postal Service Surcharge Could Slash Netflix Profit
* Blast-Proof Fabric Resists Multiple Explosions
* YouTube Breeding Harmful Scientific Misinformation
* MPAA Boss Makes Case for ISP Content Filtering
* Brain Changes When Viewing Violent Media
* Balancing Robot Can Take a Kicking
* Microsoft Wants OLPC System to Run Windows XP
* Crowdsourcing Software Development to the Masses
* Western Digital Service Restricts Use of Network Drives
* Promise of OOXML Oversight By ISO Falls Through
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| Users and Web Developers Vent Over IE7 |
| from the do-you-feel-better-now dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday December 05, @19:26 (Microsoft) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/05/2320231 |
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[0]Spinlock_1977 writes "ComputerWorld is running a story about
[1]developers frustration with IE 7, and Microsoft's upcoming plans (or
lack thereof) for it. From the article, "But the most pointed comment
came from someone labeled only as dk. You all continue to underestimate
the dramatic spillover effect this poor developer experience has had and
will continue to have on your other products and services. Let me drive
this point home. I am a front-end programmer and a co-founder of a
start-up. I can tell you categorically that my team won't download and
play with Silverlight ... won't build a Live widget ... won't consider
any Microsoft search or ad products in the future.""
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/05/2320231
Links:
0. mailto:Spinlock_1977@yahoo.com
1. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9050979&intsrc=hm_list
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| The Arctic Doomsday Seed Vault |
| from the who-replants-barter-town dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday December 05, @20:53 (Biotech) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/05/2326228 |
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Anonymous Cow writes "A giant refrigerated genetic bank built into the
island of Svalbard has been [0]brought online. The [1]Svalbard Global
Seed Vault in Norway is designed to house up to 4.5 million seeds in the
case of a catostrophic event. The bank is funded by the Norwegian
government, Monsanto Corporation, and the Gates, Rockefeller, and
Syngenta Foundations. The Global Crop Diversity Trust has completed
construction of the doomsday vault and is getting the facility ready to
preserve the genetic heritage of the world's agriculture for future
generations. There will be no full-time staff, but the vault's relative
inaccessibility will facilitate monitoring human activity. Spitsbergen
was considered ideal due to its lack of tectonic activity and its
permafrost, which will aid preservation. Locally mined coal will provide
power for refrigeration units which will further cool the seeds to the
internationally recommended standard 20 to 30 C."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/05/2326228
Links:
0. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7529
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault
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| High Earning Spammers Face Tougher Sentences |
| from the let-the-punishment-fit-the-crime dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday December 05, @22:35 (Spam) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/05/2347258 |
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[0]netbuzz writes "More big-time spammers may find themselves doing
[1]longer stretches behind bars if a federal judge's first-of-its-kind
sentencing decision in a Denver case becomes widely applied. In a sense,
these spammers would be hoisted on their own profits, as language in
CAN-SPAM allows the use of their profits instead of the
difficult-to-measure financial damage they cause in establishing a prison
sentence. The Denver spammer earned $250,000 ?€? and a 20% longer prison
stint ?€? using this approach."
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/05/2347258
Links:
0. http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=buzzblog
1. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/22659
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| Ham Radio Operators Are Heroes In Oregon |
| from the the-first-responders dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday December 06, @00:08 (Communicatio|
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/05/2350233 |
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An anonymous reader writes "We all know the impact that Ham radio can
have in emergencies, but that often slips by the public and the
authorities. Not so in Oregon, where a day after getting inundated with
torrential rains and winds and suffering from the usual calamities those
cause, Oregon's Governor [0]called the local Ham radio operators heroes.
When discussing how the storm affected communications, the governor
stated: "I'm going to tell you who the heroes were from the very
beginning of this...the ham radio operators." Kudos to the Oregon Ham
operators for helping out in a bad situation, and getting the recognition
they deserve."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/05/2350233
Links:
0. http://www.kptv.com/weatheralert/14776224/detail.html
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| Unmanned Aircraft Will Test Air Traffic Control |
| from the bumper-p***s dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday December 06, @03:00 (The Military|
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/0414216 |
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[0]coondoggie writes "While the skies aren't exactly buzzing with
[1]unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) just yet, experts are warning their
explosive growth will require military and public officials to address
the issue sooner than they might think. The four chiefs of service
aviation and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) branches
told the Army Aviation Association of America's unmanned aircraft
symposium last week that the military should crystallize combat air
control regarding UAVs, while domestic authorities must work out access
and use of UAVs in domestic airspace. "I'm surprised we haven't had a
collision yet," said Rear Adm. Joseph Aucoin, director of the Navy's
aviation plans and requirements branch."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/06/0414216
Links:
0. http://networkworld.com/
1. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/22632
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| California Testers Find Flaws In Voting Machines |
| from the your-vote-can-count-many-times dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday December 06, @07:55 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/047246 |
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quanticle writes "According to Ars Technica, California testers have
[0]discovered severe flaws in the ES&S voting machines. The paper seals
were easily bypassed, and the lock could be picked with a "common office
implement". After cracking the physical security of the device, the
testers found it simple to reconfigure the BIOS to boot off external
media. After booting a version of Linux, they found that critical system
files were stored in plain text. They also found that the election
management system that initializes the voting machines used unencrypted
protocols to transmit the initialization data to the voting machines,
allowing for a man-in-the-middle attack. Altogether, it is a troubling
report for a company already in hot water for [1]selling uncertified
equipment to counties."
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/06/047246
Links:
0. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071205-security-testing-uncovers-severe-security-flaws-in-ess-voting-machines.html
1. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071121-california-sues-voting-machine-vendor-over-sales-of-unauthorized-equipment.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| EVE-Online Patch Makes XP Unbootable |
| from the boot-hill dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday December 06, @08:34 (PC Games (Game|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/1312254 |
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Nobo writes "CCP's latest major patch to the EVE-Online client,
[0]Trinity, comes with an optional DX9-enhanced graphics patch that
dramatically improves the visual quality of the in-game graphics through
remade models, textures, and HDR. It also has an unfortunate bug: the
incredibly stupid choice of boot.ini as a game configuration file,
coupled with an errant extra backslash in the installer configuration.
The result is that anyone who installs the enhanced graphics patch
overwrites the windows XP c:\boot.ini file with the EVE client
configuration file, bricking the machine on the next boot. Discussion in
a couple of [1]forums [2]threads is becoming understandably heated."
Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/06/1312254
Links:
0. http://myeve.eve-online.com/updates/patchnotes.asp
1. http://myeve.eve-online.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=651473
2. http://myeve.eve-online.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=651488
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| House Bill Could Criminalize Free Wi-Fi Operators |
| from the what-were-they-thinking dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday December 06, @09:14 (Government) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/1354232 |
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[0]Velcroman98 sends word of a bill that passed the US House of
Representatives by a lopsided vote of 409 to 2. It would require everyone
who runs an open Wi-Fi connection to [1]report illegal images, including
"obscene" cartoons and drawings, or be fined up to $300,000. The Securing
Adolescents From Exploitation-Online (SAFE) Act was rushed through the
House without any hearings or committee votes, and the version that
passed on a voice vote reportedly differs substantially from the last
publicly available version. CNET reports that sentiment in favor of such
a bill is strong in the Senate as well.
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/06/1354232
Links:
0. mailto:Velcroman98@@@hotmail...com
1. http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9829759-38.html?tag=nefd.top
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| Non-Competes As the DRM of Human Capital |
| from the free-flow-of-people-and-ideas dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday December 06, @09:54 (Businesses) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/1423214 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "Techdirt has an interesting look at how
[0]non-compete agreements are like DRM for people, doing just as much
damage to innovation as DRM has done to the entertainment industry. It
includes links to a lot of research to back up the premise, including
some studies showing that Silicon Valley's success as compared to
Boston's can be traced in part to the fact that California does not
enforce non-compete agreements."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/06/1423214
Links:
0. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071204/005038.shtml
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Lenovo Announces ThinkPads Preloaded With XP |
| from the give-'em-what-they-want dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday December 06, @10:35 (Windows) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/157210 |
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BBCWatcher writes "Lenovo just announced new ThinkPad T61 models
preloaded with Microsoft Windows XP. Ironically they're called ThinkPad
T61 'TopSeller' models. Lenovo says they're aimed at small and
medium-sized businesses. The XP TopSellers are available immediately, and
the part numbers are [0]6465-03U, [1]7658-04U, and 7664-06U (PDF links).
[2]"Lenovo recommends Windows Vista Business"? [3]Not so much."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/06/157210
Links:
0. http://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/rep_ca/0/897/ENUS107-730/ENUS107730.PDF
1. http://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/rep_ca/9/897/ENUS107-729/ENUS107729.PDF
2. http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/na/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:CompareByNeed?current-category-id=653343E0DE54435882FABC3CE1BC569A
3. http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/VSTA-DWNGRD.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Most In US Have False Sense of Online Security |
| from the can't-hear-you-la-la-la dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday December 06, @11:16 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/1537256 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
BaCa sends along a link from Net-Security on a study of attitudes among
Americans about the security of their PCs, versus their actual
vulnerability. "More than half of computer users who think they are
protected against online threats like spyware, viruses, and hackers
[0]actually have inadequate or no online protection, according to an
independent research study conducted for Verizon... While 92 percent of
participants thought they were safe, the scans revealed that 59 percent
were actually vulnerable to a variety of online dangers. Ninety-four
percent of those surveyed said they would find it helpful to be able to
diagnose or check their online security status on a regular basis to make
sure their PCs were safe."
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/06/1537256
Links:
0. http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=5658
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| Postal Service Surcharge Could Slash Netflix Profit |
| from the troublesome-red-envelopes dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday December 06, @11:58 (Movies) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/1553259 |
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[0]mikesd81 writes "Boston.com reports that Netflix Inc., the largest US
mail-order movie-rental service, [1]may suffer a cut in profits if the US
Postal Service starts charging extra to manually sort the envelopes that
carry its DVDs. An audit prepared by the Postal Service's Inspector
General last month recommended charging one unidentified company 17 cents
per envelope for labor costs. Citigroup analyst Tony Wible, who said in a
note to investors Tuesday that the company is Netflix, estimated the
charge might reduce profit per subscriber to $0.35 from $1.05. Wible
advises investors to buy Blockbusters shares because their DVD envelopes
don't have the problem (floppy edges that jam the USPS's automated
sorting machinery). Netflix says the whole thing is no big deal and they
will change their envelopes if necessary."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/06/1553259
Links:
0. http://.ten.dtp..ta..dsekim./
1. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2007/12/06/post_office_surcharge_could_slash_netflix_profit/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Blast-Proof Fabric Resists Multiple Explosions |
| from the does-this-fabric-make-me-look-fat dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday December 06, @12:40 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/1625216 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader tips a Gizmodo story on a fabric whose properties are
counterintuitive, to say the least of it. "Zetix is a fabric so strong it
will [0]resist multiple car bomb blasts without breaking. It absorbs and
disperses the energy from explosions... it can be used in body armor,
window covering, military tents, and hurricane defenses... [and] it can
be used as medical sutures that won't damage body tissue. All of this is
thanks to a property that apparently defies the laws of physics:
[1]helical-auxetics, objects that actually get fatter the more you
stretch them. The concept makes my head want to explode, but when you see
it in action it actually makes sense."
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/06/1625216
Links:
0. http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/blast_proof-fabric-defies-belief/zetix-blast+proof-fabric-resists-multiple-car-bombs-makes-our-heads-explode-330343.php
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auxetics
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| YouTube Breeding Harmful Scientific Misinformation |
| from the playing-to-the-emotions dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Thursday December 06, @13:17 (The Internet) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/173225 |
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[0]Invisible Pink Unicorn writes "University of Toronto researchers have
uncovered [1]widespread misinformation in videos on YouTube related to
vaccination and immunization. In the first-ever study of its kind, they
found that over half of the 153 videos analyzed portrayed childhood, HPV,
flu and other vaccinations negatively or ambiguously. They also found
that videos highly skeptical of vaccinations received more views and
better ratings by users than those videos that portray immunizations in a
positive light. According to the lead researcher, 'YouTube is
increasingly a resource people consult for health information, including
vaccination. Our study shows that a significant amount of immunization
content on YouTube contradicts the best scientific evidence at large.
From a public health perspective, this is very concerning.' An [2]extract
from the Journal of the American Medical Association is available
online."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/06/173225
Links:
0. http://filer.case.edu/bct4/
1. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-12/uot-ybg120507.php
2. http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/extract/298/21/2482
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| MPAA Boss Makes Case for ISP Content Filtering |
| from the same-old-routine dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday December 06, @14:01 (Privacy) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/186255 |
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creaton writes "At the annual UBS Global & Media Communications
Conference yesterday, MPAA boss Dan Glickman [0]banged on the copyright
filtering drum during a 45-minute speech. Glickman called piracy the
MPAA's #1 issue and told the audience that it cost the studios $6 billion
annually. His solution: technology, especially in the form of ISP
filtering. 'The ISP community is going to be at the forefront of this in
the future because they have everything to lose and nothing to gain by
not seeing that the content is being properly protected ... and I think
that's a great opportunity.' AT&T [1]has already said it plans to filter
content, but others may be more reluctant to go along, notes Ars
Technica: 'ISPs that are concerned with being, well, ISPs aren't likely
to see many benefits from installing some sort of industrial-strength
packet-sniffing and filtering solution at the core of their network. It
costs money, customers won't like the idea, and the potential for
backlash remains high.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/06/186255
Links:
0. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071205-mpaa-head-content-filtering-in-isps-best-interests.html
1. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/16/0017258&tid=95
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Brain Changes When Viewing Violent Media |
| from the argh-must-destroy-pokemans dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday December 06, @14:43 (Biotech) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/1816237 |
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[0]Ponca City, We Love You writes "Scientists at Columbia University have
used Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to show that a brain network
responsible for [1]suppressing inappropriate or unwarranted aggressive
behaviors became less active after study subjects watched several short
clips from popular movies depicting acts of violence. These changes could
render people less able to control their own aggressive behavior.
Although research has shown some correlation between exposure to media
violence and real-life violent behavior, there has been little direct
neuroscientific support for this theory until now. 'Depictions of violent
acts have become very common in the popular media,' said researcher
Christopher Kelly. 'Our findings demonstrate for the first time that
watching media depictions of violence does influence processing in parts
of the brain that control behaviors like aggression.' [2]The full
research paper is published on the The Public Library of Science, a
[3]peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication, that publishes all its
articles under a Creative Commons Attribution License."
Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/06/1816237
Links:
0. http://poncacityweloveyou.com/
1. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-12/cumc-tiy120507.php
2. http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0001268
3. http://www.plosone.org/
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| Balancing Robot Can Take a Kicking |
| from the soon-they'll-be-doing-judo dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday December 06, @15:25 (Robotics) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/1939245 |
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BotKicker writes "A Japanese team has created the first full-size
humanoid robot that [0]won't fall over if you push it. A video shows it
staggering and [1]regaining balance after blows from a researcher. Being
able to withstand shoves and kicks is essential if robots are to truly be
our buddies, they reckon. 'The robot's balancing ability depends on its
joints. For one thing they are never kept rigid, even when standing
still, meaning they yield slightly when the robot is pushed. Force
sensors within each joint also work out the position and velocity of the
robot's centre mass as it moves around. Control software rapidly figures
out what forces the robot's feet need to exert on the ground to bring it
back into balance, and tells the joints how to act.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/06/1939245
Links:
0. http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn13008-flexiblejointed-robot-is-no-pushover.html
1. http://media.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/av/dn13004V1.mov
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| Microsoft Wants OLPC System to Run Windows XP |
| from the oh-now-they-want-in dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday December 06, @16:01 (Microsoft) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/2049201 |
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Stony Stevenson passed us a link to an IT News story about Microsoft's
recent request that the folks behind the XO laptop [0]redesign it to suit
their needs. The company now wants to be able to run Windows XP on the
highly-publicized and inexpensive portable. "Microsoft general manager
... Utzschneider says a shrunken version of Windows XP could potentially
run on 2 Gbytes of flash memory. The XO, however, can only hold 1 Gbyte.
As a result, Microsoft wants the XO's designers to add a slot through
which more memory can be added via a secure digital (SD) card,
Utzschneider said. Microsoft's renewed interest in participating in OLPC
might be viewed by skeptics as an admission that a rival offering for
developing markets called Classmate ?€? which uses an Intel processor on
Microsoft software ?€? has failed to catch on."
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/06/2049201
Links:
0. http://itnews.com.au/News/66442,microsoft-wants-ne-laptop-per-child-system-to-run-windows-xp.aspx
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| Crowdsourcing Software Development to the Masses |
| from the not-sure-that's-wisdom-of-the-crowds dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday December 06, @16:44 (Software) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/216226 |
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[0]Lucas123 writes "Computer World is running a piece on [1]Crowdsourcing.
That's a catchy term for the practice of taking a job traditionally
performed by employees or a contracted company and [2]outsourcing it to
an undefined, large group of people in the form of an open call on the
Web. Article author Mary Brandel views it as a viable way to develop
cheap but innovative software. Sites like TopCoder and their coding
competitions are becoming more popular with big name companies like
Constellation Energy because programmers who take on the job are global,
offering many different perspectives on any one job. 'The creativity and
innovation of how people are rationalizing these designs and building
components enables us to interject a perspective and approach that
normally we wouldn't have access to,' Constellation's director of IT
said." Is there any potential here, or is this just a buzzword bad idea?
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/06/216226
Links:
0. http://www.computerworld.com/
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdsourcing
2. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9050920&pageNumber=1
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| Western Digital Service Restricts Use of Network Drives |
| from the drm-means-don't-read-disk dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday December 06, @17:23 (Networking) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/2119240 |
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sehlat writes "Via BoingBoing comes the news that Western Digital's [0]My
Book(TM) World Edition(TM) II, sold with promises of internet-accessible
drive space, [1]is now restricting the types of files the drive will
serve up. 'Western Digital is disabling sharing of any avi, divx, mp3,
mpeg, and many other files on its network connected devices; due to
unverifiable media license authentication. Just wondering -- who needs a
1 Terabyte network-connected hard drive that is prohibited from serving
most media files? Perhaps somebody with 220 million pages of .txt files
they need to share?'" Update: 12/07 03:28 GMT by [2]Z : To clarify, it
actually seems as though this is a bad summary. The MioNET service that
WD packages with the networked drives is responsible for the rights of
users via the network. There are a few (obvious) ways to get around that.
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/06/2119240
Links:
0. http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?DriveID=340
1. http://www.boingboing.net/2007/12/06/western-digital-netw.html
2. http://slashdot.org/~Zonk/
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| Promise of OOXML Oversight By ISO Falls Through |
| from the so-it's-only-standard-for-them dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday December 06, @18:34 (Microsoft) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/2129203 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]640 Comments Are Enough for Anyone writes "Microsoft is [1]going back
on one of their promises concerning OOXML. While they originally made
assurances that the ISO would take control of the standard if it were
approved, Microsoft is now reversing that position and keeping near-full
control over OOXML with the EMCA. This is significant because the EMCA is
the group that originally rubber-stamped OOXML. It seems unlikely that
they will force changes to correct problems with the standard. In
Microsoft's new plan, the ISO would only be allowed to publish lists of
errata and would be unable to make OOXML compatible with existing ISO
standards, while the EMCA would be the one to control any new versions of
the standard."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/06/2129203
Links:
0. http://www.dis29500.org/
1. http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071206131310362
Copyright 1997-2006 OSTG. All rights reserved.
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