France: "Non, avec des commentaires!"

Mon petit oiseau français a indiqué le « non, avec des commentaires ! »

UPDATE:

Apparently, the French discussion on OOXML broke into something resembling a bar-fight.

AFNOR has not published its conclusion and will not until September 2nd. Word is that talks were polite but tense until late in the day when leadership entered with a press release stating the consensus for pursuit of a common single standard.

Matters soon got out of hand: the shouting seems to have climaxed with the Microsoft representative insulting the management of AFNOR, members of the Defense Ministry, the Justice Ministry, the Interior Ministry, and two members from the Industrial Ministry exclaiming that they were servants of a banana republic!

If true, this is no way to make French friends and influence French software standards.

Comments

[Stephane Rodriguez]

There was actually no vote, it's consensus. 70% against it.

Microsoft France reps, and some of their business partners, are busily trying to destroy said comments in ISO France NB AFNOR as much as they can, before they are pushed to ISO 2nd of sept.

[Roy Schestowitz]

Did they really say "banana"? :-)