In response to a request from the European Union concerning DRM and interoperability, Sun has submitted a lengthy written response.

With the countdown on to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) ballot on OOXML, Australia and New Zealand's representatives are keeping their cards close to their chests on which way they will vote.

Increasing number of software applications are going the free/open-source way these days. Looks like more and more software companies and developers have seen the barriers of closed-source programs and have now fully realized the significance of freedom.

In our last blog posted on February 21, I proposed three test pitches for Microsoft to help judge the meaningfulness of its latest efforts to turn over a new leaf on interoperability. The first of these was to embrace the extant, multi-vendor ISO standard, ODF (Open Document Format) in lieu of its single vendor dominated efforts to create a new standard, OOXML (Office Open XML).

"... 'There's one little jewel tucked away in Microsoft's press release, that helps to shed some light on why this massive change of heart may have come about: «While we do not believe there are currently any legal requirements that would dictate which rendering mode must be chosen as the default for a given browser, this step clearly removes this question as a POTENTIAL LEGAL AND REGULATORY ISSUE,» said Brad Smith, Microsoft senior vice president and general counsel.' Ah ha! It all becomes clear, now..." -- (emphasis mine)

Critics have reacted angrily after most of the proposed changes to a draft standard for Microsoft's Open Office (XML) standard were waved through at an ISO meeting last week in Geneva.

Andy Updegrove has the results in detail here, including a breakdown of the votes. Basically, there were too many proposed changes to be able to cover them in the BRM, so they tried a workaround, but the upshot is ... it's a mess.

Thanks in no small part to the efforts of The EFF and others, the honorable District Judge Jeffrey S. White has withdrew an earlier order blocking the wikileaks.org domain resolution.