A tiger does not proclaim his tigritude...

Tue 12 Dec 2006, 08:28 AM

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by Ben Langhinrichs
My second entry for African Proverb week.  As I described yesterday, my 16 year old was assigned an essay in which he was supposed to find an African Proverb and relate it to his life.  He claimed that it was impossible that an African Proverb could describe his life, but having read many in an entertaining quest to prove him wrong, I am inspired to use some of my favorites for posts this week.  This is the proverb my son chose, although I relate it to business today...

A tiger does not proclaim his tigritude; he pounces.

My key for today is simple:

tiger = Open Document Format (ODF)

Unlike Office Open XML (OOXML), which loudly proclaims its tigritude open standardness, Open Document Format went through the ISO standards process with openness, seeking input, reacting to critiques, adjusting to meet the maximum public good.  Consequently, it has pounced on the world and gained widespread acceptance despite Microsoft's dominant market position, and little by little, Microsoft is forced back into a corner, revealed to the world as an eight hundred pound kitten, and not a tiger at all.

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