14 DAY TRIAL // You won't find this among the classified ads in your morning newspaper, but Microsoft wants independent and friendly editors to bring balance to Wikipedia articles. Rick Jelliffe, chief technology officer of XML tools company Topologi Pty. Ltd. is the recipient of a Microsoft email involving the information available on Wikipedia regarding ODF and OOXML formats.
"I was a little surprised to receive email a couple of days ago from Microsoft saying they wanted to contract someone independent but friendly (me) for a couple of days to provide more balance on Wikipedia concerning ODF/OOXML. I am hardly the poster boy of Microsoft partisanship! Apparently they are frustrated at the amount of spin from some ODF stakeholders on Wikipedia and blogs", said Jelliffe.
Rick Jelliffe is an Australian residing in Sydney. He has authored the XML & SGML Cookbook and has been involved with standards throughout his life. He was even invited by Jon Bosak to participate in the original ODF initiative at OASIS. However, Jelliffe failed to get involved in the initial ODF project.
According to Jelliffe, Microsoft is only hiring him to correct errors and not to campaign for the Microsoft standards. In this context, Jelliffe confirmed that he will accept Microsoft's proposal and start editing the Wikipedia articles involving ODF and OOXML.
The situation has generated a consistent amount of criticism. Jelliffe was accused of not being a neutral commentator since he has accepted Microsoft's offer. The subject offers room for additional speculations as to what extent does the Wikipedia content come from truly independent sources, in a context where it is this easy to find independent and friendly editors?