ESCAPE VELOCITY

1 - The whole process for OOXML approval was a disgrace, and MS got away with it. It's absolutely incredible.

2 - So that will help will it, Ray leaving MS? - wake up and think things through

a) MS play hardball - always have - always will
b) Weak country committees only have themselves to blame
c) Ray brings a truly collaborative vision to MS - Rome and Redmond were not rebuilt in a day
d) Nobody from Microsoft is going to be hauled up in front the International War Crimes tribunal in The Hague for OOXML

Lets all move on now - many more battles to be fought, won and last

3 - Ian, MSFT is not an entity with is own consciousness. It's an aggregation of individuals, each of whom is responsible for their own actions. "Microsoft" doesn't play hardball... Microsoft employees play hardball. The actions of the collective are not independent of the actions of the individuals within it. And those with more power over the collective action bear more responsibility for the consequences thereof.

Ray is Chief Software Architect for a company that produces software. He holds the highest engineering position in a huge multinational corporation. And instead of his team delivering a quality piece of engineering, they delivered a lousy piece of engineering. Because it was a lousy piece of engineering, it could not stand on its own merits, and instead, Microsoft had to resort to lying, gerrymandering, misrepresentation and outright bribes to get that lousy piece of engineering stamped as a standard.

That's sad. As an engineer, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I'd been responsible for that. As a software engineer, I take pride in my work, and would not ask anyone to accept something that I knew was substandard.

I've met Ray Ozzie. I liked him. I know he's an excellent engineer. But apparently, he doesn't take enough pride in his work to stand up to other forces within MSFT that wanted to deliver a shoddy piece of engineering. I think that's sad. And if I were in his shoes, I would feel humiliated.