Updates of Sorts and Things to Watch Out For.
,----[ Quote ]
| While there may have been the Enrons, Haliburtons, and other companies that
| members of We Are Change have to deal with, there are two main
| companies/groups that we have to deal with:
|
| * Microsoft
| * The Business Software Alliance
|
| It’s a symbiotic relationship of sorts between the two. One is supposed to
| make sure that users have shelled out an arm and a leg for their copies of
| software, yet it is used by the other to blackmail these same users. For now
| though, let us focus on the Redmond, Washington software company. In Michael
| Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, there was a brief clip that allegedly showed a
| meeting of many companies who were talking about Iraq (second invasion of… at
| least it was implied to me anyway), and one of the names dropped: Microsoft.
`----
http://nixedblog.thenixedreport.com/?p=57
Related:
Gates Foundation's 'dirty secret'
,----[ Quote ]
| Mr Gates personal ideological view is that knowledge should be treated
| as property, and that the owners should always seek monopoly-rents
| (royalties) and he's said to direct the Gates foundation to mirror
| this ideology, harming the very people he is trying to help.
|
| [...]
|
| In my ideal world, we could turn Gates ideology into honest
| philanthropy, but I'm skeptical that a man who became the richest
| man on the planet via societal misinformation around the nature of
| knowledge is going to turn around any time soon.
`----
http://p2pnet.net/story/10944
US politicians go to bat for Microsoft
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/26/microsoft_eu_political_lobbying/
Report Says Nonprofits Sold Influence to Abramoff
,----[ Quote ]
| E-mails released by the committee show that Abramoff, often
| with the knowledge of the groups' leaders, exploited the tax-exempt
| status and leveraged the stature of the organizations to build
| support among conservatives for legislation or government action
| sought by clients including Microsoft Corp., mutual fund company
| DH2 Inc., Primedia Inc.'s Channel One Network, and Brown-Forman,
| maker of Jack Daniel's whiskey.
`----
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/12/AR2006101200889.html
http://tinyurl.com/y2rbpu
Politicians in Microsoft's Pocket
,----[ Quote ]
| Continuing on the theme of which politicians are receiving money from
| who. Here is a list of candidates who took money from MSFT.
`----
http://www.fonz.net/blog/archives/2007/06/04/politicians-in-microsofts-pocket/
Politics and tech companies: follow the money
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft took first place with $651,100 given out, while
| Hewlett-Packard gave only $185,550, and Gateway gave a paltry
| $2,000. Microsoft's donations certainly illustrate well the true
| size of the company and the extent of its political concerns.
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061110-8194.html
Microsoft Finds Legal Defender in Justice Dept.
,----[ Quote ]
| Nearly a decade after the government began its landmark effort to break
| up Microsoft, the Bush administration has sharply changed course by
| repeatedly defending the company both in the United States and abroad
| against accusations of anticompetitive conduct, including the recent
| rejection of a complaint by Google.
|
| [...]
|
| In the most striking recent example of the policy shift, the top
| antitrust official at the Justice Department last month urged state
| prosecutors to reject a confidential antitrust complaint filed by
| Google that is tied to a consent decree that monitors Microsoft's
| behavior. Google has accused Microsoft of designing its latest
| operating system, Vista, to discourage the use of Google's desktop
| search program, lawyers involved in the case said.
`----
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/business/10microsoft.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Microsoft trying to derail Google/DoubleClick deal by lobbying congress
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft has hired lobbying firm Patton Boggs LLC to do work on "competitive
| issues surrounding Google/DoubleClick [sic] merger."
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070816-microsoft-spends-40000-to-lobby-congress-about-googledoubleclick-merger.html
Microsoft's 'Men in Black' kill Florida open standards legislation
,----[ Quote
| It was just a bit of text advocating open data formats that was slipped into
| a Florida State Senate bill at the last minute with no fanfare, but within
| 24 hours three Microsoft-paid lobbyists, all wearing black suits, were
| pressuring members of the Senate Committee on Governmental Operations
| (COGO) to remove the words they didn't like from Senate bill 1974.
`----
http://enterprise.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/04/16/2019244&from=rss
Bill Gates to address Senate panel
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is scheduled to descend on Capitol Hill
| next week to pepper a U.S. Senate committee with his suggestions for
| boosting American competitiveness.
`----
http://news.com.com/2061-10796_3-6163930.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news
Changing the Report, After the Vote
http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/09/01/commission
CompTIA [Microsoft LOBBYISY]: IE voted 'most influential' tech product
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft and CompTIA have traditionally been closely aligned, particularly
| in the fight against open-source software--both are key members of the
| Initiative for Software Choice, which frequently takes an anti-open-source
| stance. Earlier this year,
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6199876.html
Clearing up anti-GPL3 FUD
,----[ Quote ]
| Some of the bad publicity about GPL3 is deliberate. A particularly
| bad article by Dan Lyons of Forbes magazine painted an offensive
| picture of GPL3 and Richard Stallman, even accusing Stallman of
| having sex with flowers (!!!) after Lyons failed to comprehend
| a scientific joke.
`----
http://technocrat.net/d/2007/3/22/16651/
Perens Lashes Out at Claims GPL 3 Brings Legal Risks
,----[ Quote ]
| "Let's make it clear that [ACT] is Microsoft's lobbying front and
| that they are going to paint as negative a picture as they can,"
| Perens told eWEEK in an interview.
|
| "Obviously, GPL software is displacing Microsoft enough to have
| them concerned, and it's doing it at customers who are important
| to them. A lawyer's job is to scare the other side if they can--because
| they know it's cheaper than winning a case in court," he said.
`----
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2112267,00.asp
|
|
