73:
93:
408:
53:
83:
103:
63:
113:
197:). His biography on the O'Reilly website describes him as a standards activist, making him someone whose established credentials and relative independence would serve Microsoft's purposes. He and Mahugh both indicated that Microsoft did not seek any kind of editorial control over Jelliffe's efforts.
205:
The revelation exploded into a media frenzy about the possibility of paid editing activity on
Knowledge (XXG). Perspectives on the incident ranged widely, some taking it as confirmation that Knowledge (XXG) policies are inadequate to deal with disputed issues, others seeing it as Microsoft living
301:
and thus on the opposite side of the document standards debate, but also a "personal friend" of
Jelliffe. Bray expressed his opinion that Jelliffe was "deeply wrong" about this issue, although he felt Jelliffe would be an evenhanded editor. Bray argued that the draft was a Microsoft creation and
347:
mentioned the story on Monday (using "wikilobbying" for his recurring segment, "The Wørd"), and encouraged users to edit articles to state that "reality has become a commodity". Vandalism ensued, with pages relating to "reality", "commodity", Colbert, and others quickly protected. A similar
277:. On account of the publicity surrounding the incident, the articles on the standards have been quite heavily edited recently to address some of the points raised. Prior to registering an account, Jelliffe also created the Knowledge (XXG) article about himself back in November 2005.
235:
Various press reports included several clarifications from
Microsoft. The company indicated that it had previously attempted, unsuccessfully, to get the Knowledge (XXG) articles fixed; that it perceived the problem as being partly driven by corporate competitors such as
284:
of how the conflict of interest policy applies to his situation. He focused on the question of whether it was appropriate for him to "edit material relating to
Microsoft". Regarding his assignment, Jelliffe concluded "there is
174:, an Open XML Technical Evangelist for the company, became concerned about the Knowledge (XXG) articles in question and offered to pay someone to fix them. The offer was openly acknowledged by the person who received it,
252:
his primary regret was "that I didn’t fight harder for cleaning up the Office Open XML entry before we turned to somebody outside
Microsoft", although he expressed skepticism that such an approach would have worked.
289:
created by me accepting an editing job from
Microsoft to neutrally edit articles that are not about Microsoft, and not about their products, but about technical aspects of an Ecma standard that is before ISO."
432:
366:
457:
386:
467:
394:
462:
390:
56:
214:, "There's something about open-source and free-software related articles that attracts REALLY OBNOXIOUS partisans", so that articles involving those issues frequently are overwhelmed by advocacy.
437:
370:
225:
452:
382:
39:
447:
378:
351:
222:
419:
576:
21:
280:
While he did not know at the time that
Knowledge (XXG) policy discourages such efforts, Jelliffe has since become more familiar with such details and posted
552:
547:
542:
425:
537:
134:
A longstanding battle over the standards to be used in office software suites for document formats intersected last week with the debate over
532:
407:
17:
135:
240:; and it added that no payment had yet changed hands. On the first point, it was subsequently determined that Mahugh had made
265:, has been more active as a Knowledge (XXG) editor. Since disclosing the Microsoft offer, he has primarily been active on
333:
at this, calling it vandalism and saying he lost a great deal of respect for
Microsoft after defending them originally.
344:
281:
158:
last
December, is one of two specifications trying to establish itself for electronic documents, the other being
558:
523:
166:
advocates, which played a role in the controversial departure of a former CIO for the state of
Massachusetts,
336:
Outside the immediate orbit of affected parties, real vandalism was promoted by one of the usual suspects.
229:
266:
217:
Responses from the Knowledge (XXG) side in the press were generally negative about Microsoft's approach.
310:
The incident produced some spinoff effects in addition to the main points of debate. After reading the
190:
179:
143:
138:
among Knowledge (XXG) editors, producing quite a furor. The incident involved someone being hired by
249:
315:
232:
also corresponded with Mahugh and Jelliffe, encouraging further dialogue to improve the articles.
162:(or ODF). This has been in the context of an often bitter and public debate between Microsoft and
338:
262:
155:
311:
66:
327:
207:
126:
86:
298:
211:
96:
274:
221:
said that he was "very disappointed" and reiterated his concerns about paid editing (see
116:
167:
142:
to change the information in Knowledge (XXG) articles about those standards, primarily
570:
270:
194:
175:
171:
159:
106:
218:
163:
206:
down to its reputation for heavyhanded and counterproductive public relations.
76:
323:
185:
Jelliffe is an Australian programmer who founded an XML tools vendor called
139:
294:
269:
related to the standards in question, although he has directly edited
330:
302:
would never have become a standard without the company's efforts.
180:
An interesting offer: get paid to contribute to Knowledge (XXG)
237:
406:
186:
34:
Microsoft approach to improving articles opens can of worms
509:
497:
490:
478:
319:
245:
241:
189:(note: the Knowledge (XXG) link for Topologi currently
495:If your comment has not appeared here, you can try
154:Office Open XML (or OOXML), a standard adopted by
348:incident occurred in late July and early August
193:to an apparently unrelated Linux distribution,
318:decided to conduct an "experiment" by making
8:
506:No comments yet. Yours could be the first!
577:Knowledge (XXG) Signpost archives 2007-01
521:Make sure we cover what matters to you –
18:Knowledge (XXG):Knowledge (XXG) Signpost
498:
482:
33:
244:to the talk page in August 2006, then
443:Microsoft's Knowledge (XXG) standards
31:Microsoft's Knowledge (XXG) standards
7:
28:
111:
101:
91:
81:
71:
61:
51:
491:add the page to your watchlist
248:after hiring Jelliffe. Mahugh
1:
210:offered another explanation,
593:
326:article. TechCrunch owner
293:This drew a response from
178:, in a blog post titled, "
261:Jelliffe, editing under
287:no conflict of interest
411:
410:
314:, Microsoft employee
136:conflicts of interest
488:To follow comments,
433:Advisory board named
297:, an executive with
257:Is there a conflict?
228:). David Gerard and
170:. On this occasion,
150:Offer and disclosure
144:Ecma Office Open XML
458:Features and admins
387:Features and admins
365:Also this week: —
306:Resulting sideshows
524:leave a suggestion
483:Discuss this story
468:Arbitration report
412:
339:The Colbert Report
312:TechCrunch summary
156:Ecma International
499:purging the cache
463:Technology report
398:
328:Michael Arrington
230:Mathias Schindler
584:
561:
526:
502:
500:
494:
481:
430:
422:
415:
363:
299:Sun Microsystems
129:
115:
114:
105:
104:
95:
94:
85:
84:
75:
74:
65:
64:
55:
54:
592:
591:
587:
586:
585:
583:
582:
581:
567:
566:
565:
564:
563:
562:
557:
555:
550:
545:
540:
535:
528:
522:
518:
517:
512:
510:+ Add a comment
507:
504:
496:
489:
486:
485:
479:+ Add a comment
477:
473:
472:
471:
438:Court citations
423:
420:29 January 2007
418:
416:
413:
401:
400:
399:
371:Court citations
345:Stephen Colbert
320:one-sided edits
308:
275:Standardization
259:
203:
201:Public reaction
152:
131:
130:
124:
123:
122:
121:
112:
102:
92:
82:
72:
62:
52:
46:
43:
32:
26:
25:
24:
12:
11:
5:
590:
588:
580:
579:
569:
568:
556:
551:
546:
541:
536:
531:
530:
529:
520:
519:
516:
515:
514:
513:
508:
505:
487:
484:
476:
475:
474:
470:
465:
460:
455:
453:News and notes
450:
445:
440:
435:
429:
417:
405:
404:
403:
402:
383:News and notes
367:Advisory board
362:
361:
359:
352:archived story
307:
304:
258:
255:
202:
199:
151:
148:
132:
120:
119:
109:
99:
89:
79:
69:
59:
48:
47:
44:
38:
37:
36:
35:
30:
29:
27:
15:
14:
13:
10:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
589:
578:
575:
574:
572:
560:
554:
549:
544:
539:
534:
525:
511:
501:
492:
480:
469:
466:
464:
461:
459:
456:
454:
451:
449:
446:
444:
441:
439:
436:
434:
431:
427:
421:
414:In this issue
409:
397:
396:
392:
388:
384:
380:
376:
372:
368:
360:
357:
355:
353:
346:
342:
340:
334:
332:
329:
325:
321:
317:
316:Dare Obasanjo
313:
305:
303:
300:
296:
291:
288:
283:
278:
276:
272:
271:Open standard
268:
264:
256:
254:
251:
247:
243:
242:a single edit
239:
233:
231:
227:
224:
220:
215:
213:
209:
200:
198:
196:
195:Topologilinux
192:
188:
183:
181:
177:
176:Rick Jelliffe
173:
169:
165:
161:
157:
149:
147:
145:
141:
137:
128:
118:
110:
108:
100:
98:
90:
88:
80:
78:
70:
68:
60:
58:
50:
49:
41:
23:
19:
442:
426:all comments
374:
364:
358:
349:
337:
335:
331:took umbrage
309:
292:
286:
279:
263:his own name
260:
234:
216:
208:David Gerard
204:
184:
160:OpenDocument
153:
133:
127:Michael Snow
57:PDF download
559:Suggestions
395:Arbitration
282:an analysis
219:Jimmy Wales
172:Doug Mahugh
168:Peter Quinn
164:open source
107:X (Twitter)
391:Technology
324:TechCrunch
267:talk pages
212:commenting
45:Share this
40:Contribute
22:2007-01-29
553:Subscribe
448:WikiWorld
379:WikiWorld
375:Wiki-soft
250:indicated
191:redirects
140:Microsoft
571:Category
548:Newsroom
543:Archives
295:Tim Bray
246:one more
223:archived
187:Topologi
97:Facebook
87:LinkedIn
77:Mastodon
20: |
322:to the
226:stories
117:Reddit
67:E-mail
538:About
350:(see
16:<
533:Home
273:and
238:IBM
182:".
125:By
42:—
573::
393:—
389:—
385:—
381:—
377:—
373:—
369:—
356:.
343:s
146:.
527:.
503:.
493:.
428:)
424:(
354:)
341:'
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.