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I got dragged into the OOXML debate only in October this year, prior to which I had avoided it in the comfortable (and incorrect) knowledge that it was being taken care of in Australia by people far more in the know than me. While in NZ I was chatting to the folk there who have lobbied hard and resulted in a “no with comments” vote for NZ and I realised I could have a positive impact in getting the debate on track in Australia. After all, Australia abstained from the last vote and we have one last chance come February to make a stand.

The main problem I’ve found as I’ve waded into the dark and murky waters of this topic is that the moment you try to take a logical even-handed approach, you are basically demonised by one or both sides of the debate. If you don’t take the emphatic “OOXML is evil and btw ODF is pure shining light!” approach, then random people in the FOSS community start to question your motives and credibility, which I can tell you, gets old pretty quickly. Particularly after both Jeff and I have spent so many years committed to the progress of FOSS and software freedom both locally and internationally. People don’t seem to understanding that taking an extreme stance puts you squarely on one side of the fence and makes it harder for the people actually making this decision to take what you have to say seriously.

It is like people in the FOSS community saying to Government “you are not using FOSS everywhere already, so you must be getting paid off, there must be a conspiracy! You are all bastards!”, and then wondering some people in Government have reservations about FOSS. Luckily there are a lot of very smart people in Government (in Australia) who are already using, writing policy about, and understanding that a good knowledge of FOSS helps them make more educated decisions about their ICT procurement generally. Which actually helps them choose FOSS where it makes sense, in spite of the loud offensive voices in the community.

Anyway, I am running an OOXML technical feasibility event on Friday in which I have experts from New Zealand and Australia speaking, as well as a variety of industry and community perspectives. The idea of this event is to understand whether OOXML is actually technically feasible (and there is a legal event in the afternoon for the same purpose). I believe that if OOXML is not technically feasible (which many people in the FOSS community take for granted) then it is a simple, practical and non-political reason to have a no vote for Australia.

I just found this blog post which also reflects the frustration felt by many people trying to understand what is going on without all the political wailing on both sides of the fence:

So, what I have gleaned from my researches (though that is probably too strong a word) so far is that while there are some valid discussions to be had, the majority of participants are either staunchly pro-ODF, or they are working for Microsoft. I do know that, were I an end-user, I would remain ignorant – but given the mud flying around, perhaps ignorance is bliss.

I will probably need to keep my mudproof raincoat on for a little while yet.

Responding to survey results prepared recently by OSIA, the Australian Labor Party, the Liberal-National Coalition, the Australian Democrats and the Australian Greens have all voiced strong support for the adoption of Free and Open Source Software for both boosting local ICT development and ensuring open and interoperable standards.

Awesome work by Open Source Industry Australia in this excellent little document that outlines the perspectives of all the major parties towards Open Source.

In the answers, Labor refers to their “10 year strategy for software” which was announced in 2004. In it was this little gem:

A 10-year strategy for software and digital content would also be created under a Labor government, Lundy said. This strategy would aim to increase the local software industry’s global market share by focusing on open source development and partnering with SMEs.

The change in Government has provided the FOSS community and industry a real opportunity to get FOSS on the political agenda, and into a meaningful discussion about the broader benefits FOSS can offer both economically and socially to Australia.