Notes from JEDE Committee Hearing [on AB 1668, ODF in California]
,----[ Quote ]
| One of the more disappointing aspects of the hearing is that none of
| the bill's proponents made the moral argument - it's the right thing
| to do because government should not be in the business of handing
| competitive advantages to businesses. I don?t understand why this
| argument wasn't made, particularly when the bill?s opponents made
| the moral argument against, eg. "it's wrong to oppose free markets,"
| "government shouldn't mandate competitive advantage," etc.
|
| I also don't understand why no one pointed out that Microsoft has
| been free to participate in the standards body process for ODF and
| has chosen to go their own route, instead. I understand why Sun and
| others want to make the issue less about ODF, but someone needs to
| call Microsoft on the fact that their arguments are completely
| disengenuous.
`----
http://www.bytesfree.org/bfblog/index.php/2007/04/19/notes-from-jede-committee-hearing/
As usual, Microsoft plays dirty, just as it did in Florida with 'Men in
Black'.
Related:
[Microsoft:]
"For example, we should take the lead in establishing a common approach
to UI and to interoperability (of which OLE is only a part). Our efforts
to date are focussed too much on our own apps, and only incidentally on
the rest of the industry. We want to own these standards, so we should
not participate in standards groups. Rather, we should call 'to me' to
the industry and set a standard that works now and is for everyone's
benefit. We are large enough that this can work."
http://www.os2site.com/sw/info/comes/px09509.zip (Comes vs Iowa)
http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/04/16/2019244
Microsoft asking people to write leters opposing California A.B. 1668 - Open
Document Format
http://www.groklaw.net/comment.php?mode=display&sid=20070406122736199&title=Microsoft+asking+people+to+write+leters+opposing+California+A.B.+1668+-+Open+Document+Format%2C&type=article&order=&hideanonymous=0&pid=555070#c555168
http://tinyurl.com/2gfrz6
,----[ Quote ]
| In 2001, the Los Angeles Times accused Microsoft of astroturfing
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| when hundreds of similar letters were sent to newspapers voicing
| disagreement with the United States Department of Justice and its
| antitrust suit against Microsoft. The letters, prepared by Americans
| for Technology Leadership, had in some cases been mailed from
| deceased citizens or nonexistent addresses.
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
`----
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing
Microsoft criticized for Open XML petition
,----[ Quote ]
| The petition is an attempt to make it appear that Open XML
| has "pseudo-grassroots" support, argues Mark Taylor, the
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| founder of the Open Source Consortium.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6173625.html
California Assembly Bill 1668
,----[ Quote ]
| This is pretty self-explanatory. (2) and (3) are there to ensure
| that whatever the solution, it must not be controlled by any
| single organization or entity. (1) is there so as not to lock
| the user into any platform. And (4) just means that whatever
| document standard is used should be under the auspices of a
| transparent standards body.
`----
http://www.bytesfree.org/bfblog/index.php/2007/04/10/california-assembly-bill-1668/
|
|
