What should we call this ?

Some time ago I was criticized for using the expression Format war. I apologize if anyone was offended by that. I know that a lot of people actually live in parts of the world where war is a sad part of your lives. Sorry.

On the other hand, what's going on here in Denmark at the moment, more and more battles, fights and dirty discussions are going on. One of the Computer magazines made a short summary yesterday, claiming that Microsoft is about to win or at least that the battle is approximately equal. How can you measure if a discussion is being equal, when the outcome is still unknown ?

In the article is mentioned that Simon Phipps earlier said that it is understandable if the Parliament chooses dual standards. This, despite that Simon has made a very clear rejection of this interpretation of an earlier interview. The same article claims that the Danish UNIX User Group (DKUUG) is moving towards accepting dual standards. The user group has arranged a demonstration and comparison of the conversion tools, with representatives from both Microsoft and Sun. DKUUG is about to deny their support to dual standards. The presentation was a way to demonstrate how complicated things will be, if we implement dual standards. The article also gives credit to Microsoft for accepting ODF as a American National Standards Institutes (ANSI) standard. Yearh right ! Hi's the nice boy in the class, isn't he ? Prince Charming, we call him. As soon as the teacher turns his back, Microsoft will start teasing again. Taking things out of a context is one of the most popular arms.

Okay, I admit it. Microsoft is not the only one to throw mud. Sun, Novell and IBM can do pretty good as well.

Now the Danish IT-news has begun to make short summaries in English (e.g. http://www.computerworld.dk/art/39748 ). Funny development, because this has never happened before.

Call it a war, battle or fight. Call it what you like. I call it dirty and unnecessary.