This three-part summary on Microsoft's push for OOXML as an ISO. Its starts from the development of ODF at OASIS to the current gridlock at ISO due to the large influx of new members. Industry Motive: To preserve a monopoly and the fight to protect a four-billion-dollar per year cash cow against those who stand for open standards, against those who want to create even playing fields, fair competition, innovation and open access for everyone to benefit.

"Nokia and Apple have privately pushed to give Ogg the noose treatment (and so far succeeded) in HTML5. This destroyed all hope of having free (as in freedom) media embedded in HTML5 in an interoperable way..." -- via slashdot http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/11/1339251&from=rss

Microsoft wants to rule the world, even Third World countries where $100 laptops for children will soon be prevalent. In a move bound to spark controversy, Microsoft announced it wants Windows XP to be installed in the computers for the project One Laptop Per Child (OLPC).

"...Glickman is the self-described "chief hired gun or mercenary for the [motion picture] industry," and his comments give us a window into what the movie studios are thinking. His words yesterday revealed that movie execs are thinking about one thing in particular: the technology that can be used to halt film piracy. And they expect ISPs to implement it...'

Microsoft is serious about getting Windows XP to work on One Laptop Per Child's low-cost laptop, but the company still isn't sure it will be able to make a go of it.

"Don't ask what it's going to fix. Ask what it's going to break... And I'm not even kidding..."

Via the Standblog: http://standblog.org/blog/post/2007/12/07/Towards-a-new-engine-for-IE8-b...

Microsoft announced plans today to expand support for Windows XP on budget flash-storage computing devices with an eye towards getting Windows XP running on the OLPC. The software giant will publish design guidelines next year that will make it possible for manufacturers of low-cost mobile devices to build hardware that provides optimal compatibility with Microsoft's legacy operating system. The company also announced plans for field trials next month that will put Windows XP to the test on One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project's XO laptop.

Jeffrey Jones, a researcher and the Security Strategy Director at Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing group, recently posted a report [in which] Jones came to the conclusion that, contrary to popular belief, Internet Explorer has experienced fewer security vulnerabilities than Firefox over the same periods of time.