5 July, 2007
The Foundation for Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) has offered a prize for the best campaign against Microsoft's attempt to gain international standardisation for its Office format.
The FFII, a non-profit association dedicated to the development of information goods for the public benefit based on open standards, free competition and copyright, have put up a 25 000 euro prize for the Kayak Award.
The individual or team that makes the best effort to helping the International Standardization Organisation (ISO) fight off Microsoft's lobbying stands to win the prize and the chance to present their campaign at the FFII's annual conference in November.
FFII campaigner Benjamin Henrion, founder of the noOOXML.org site, explained: "Microsoft is spending millions on rent-a-crowd support for international certification for its proprietary Office format, OOXML. But we already have an ISO standard for word processing, called ODF (Open Document Format). OOXML is Microsoft's attempt to subvert this existing standard, to keep its strangle-hold on the world of documents. It's time for activists across the world to stand up, to reach out to their national ISO bodies, and to explain why Microsoft's format is not open, not a standard, and not XML."
FFII president Pieter Hintjens explained the origin of the prize's name: "In July 2005, before the vote on the Software Patents Directive, a group of young campaigners took to kayaks, in the waters outside the Parliament building in Strasbourg.They fought a symbolic battle with industry lobbyists who had rented a yacht. The Kayak symbolises individual skill and collective action." (click here for photos of the "naval battle")
To qualify for nomination for the Kayak Award, a team or campaigner must show how they made a significant impact on the ISO process, "to defend ODF and stop Microsoft's attempts to corrupt the international standards-setting process", as Henrion put it. "Anything goes: websites, letter-writing campaigns, going to meetings, even kayaks."
And, yes, South Africans can enter.
Henrion said "This is open to any people or group from any country. They just have to show that they are doing what they can to convince their country and national body that OOXML is not a standard."
The deadline for nominations is 31 August, and the award winner will be announced on 30 September 2007.
For more details see
www.noOOXML.org/kayak .
