Managing the "No Open Source" clause
,----[ Quote ]
| Such "No Open Source" clauses are remnants of the (mostly) ignorance
| of days gone by, but they still persis
|
| [...]
|
| Such clauses are a nuisance, but not a debilitating one. I imagine
| that they'll slowly go the way of the dodo as open source becomes
| the standard way of doing business. It will take time, but the
| legal goofiness will go away in advance of open source's triumph.
`----
http://weblog.infoworld.com/openresource/archives/2007/05/managing_the_no.html
Microsoft's state-by-state fight to maintain its Office monopoly (WSJ)
,----[ Quote ]
| With 97% market share in the office productivity suite market,
| it's understandable that Microsoft would feel threatened.
| Understandable, but not laudable.
`----
http://weblog.infoworld.com/openresource/archives/2007/05/microsofts_stat.html
...Not the first state to suffer from this type of treatment. It gets worse.
Have a look:
>From Mass.
Second CIO:
,----[ Quote ]
| As CIO of Massachusetts from February to November last year, Louis
| Gutierrez had to endure most of the brunt of Microsoft Corp.'s political
| wrath over a state policy calling for the adoption of the Open Document
| Format for Office Applications, or ODF -- a rival to the software vendor's
| Office Open XML file format.
`----
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9012760&source=rss_news50
First CIO:
,----[ Quote ]
| Quinn: Almost to a person, to anybody involved or who knows about
| the ODF issue, they attributed the story to Microsoft, right, wrong
| or otherwise. Senator Pacheco may be a bully but I do not believe he
| is disingenious and would stoop to such a tactic. Senator Pacheco and
| Secretary Galvin's office remain very heavily influenced by the
|
| Microsoft money and its lobbyist machine, as witnessed by their
| playbook and words, in my opinion.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20060119232859729
At the end of the day:
MA Governor-Elect Names MS Anti-ODF Lobbyist to Technology Advisory Group
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20061128161343183
Astroturfing in the United Kingdom (Mike Taylor called this
pseudo-grassroots):
Microsoft calls on UK public to raise the Office standard
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is calling on the Great British public to join its campaign
| to get the XML Office format adopted as an international standard.
|
| [...]
|
| It is not clear if the UK is an opponent. However, a representative
| of fellow member the Bureau of Indian Standards recently reportedly
| complained to the IndiaTime.com over Microsoft's decision to dump
| 6,000 pages of documentation on them.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/04/microsoft_office_standards_petition/
Look at some facts:
Microsoft's Open XML Format Advances in ISO
,----[ Quote ]
| Andy Updegrove, a partner with Boston law firm Gesmer Updegrove and
| editor of the ConsortiumInfo.org standards blog, said that 14 of 20
| responses were clearly negative, two indicated divisions of opinion,
| three were inconclusive or neutral, and one offered no objections.
`----
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2110684,00.asp
Here is Microsoft voting for itself in the ISO.
Packing The Court At The ISO?
,----[ Quote ]
| ...P member countries ('participating member' countries) sending
| representatives, and I am interested to note the majority of
| their representatives are, as individuals, also Microsoft employees.
|
| [...]
|
| How can they not see that OOXML (ECMA 376) is unwanted by anyone outside of
| Microsoft? How about it Brian Jones? Are you really so desperate that you
| have to resort to that?
`----
http://lnxwalt.wordpress.com/2007/03/23/packing-the-court-at-the-iso/
I could go on and on giving more examples. It's clear that there's a very
ditry battle out there... a battle for the cash cow. FWIW, a recent Register
survey found that 20% of El Reg's reader's use OpenOffice.
|
|