Microsoft's Love Letter to IBM and the Shape of Things to Come
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| Microsoft is presumably laying the groundwork here for an ongoing
| campaign that will link the ISO process to recently introduced
| legislation in Minnesota and Texas. The two bills in question
| use the same definition of an open standard, and would control
| procurement by the respective states through legislation, as
| compared to internal rules, as was the case in Massachusetts. Such
| bills, if successful, would indeed set criteria for procurement
| that vendors would have to decide whether or not to meet, at the
| cost of losing sales if their decision is not to conform.
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http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=2007021507253728
Interoperability, choice and Open XML - spot the odd one out
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| The letter's contents are extraordinary. It essentially says
| Microsoft is all for interoperability and a lot of "hype
| - smoke and mirrors..." exists regarding this in the world.
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http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/blogs/openxml_not_right
They have been bending the rules before.
Related:
MA Governor-Elect Names MS Anti-ODF Lobbyist to Technology Advisory Group
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| That person is Brian Burke, the Microsoft Regional Director for Public
| Affairs, and if that surprises you, it surprises me as well, given the
| degree of acrimonious debate and disinformation witnessed in Massachusetts
| over the last 15 months involving the Information Technology Division's
| transition to ODF.... it is my understanding that it was Burke who led
| the lobbying effort on Beacon Hill against ODF, and also urged legislators
| to introduce the amendment intended to take away much of the ITD's
| planning power generally, and as regards standards specifically, and hand
| it to a task force made up of political appointees.... Although I'm told
| that Burke announced yesterday at the first meeting of the new working
| group that he will be participating as a private citizen rather than a
| Microsoft employee, I believe that Burke should recuse himself from
| participating in any discussions or recommendations relating to
| document format standards.
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http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20061128161343183
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