On Aug 17, 1:20 pm, "Clogwog" <BWAHAHAH...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> "Rex Ballard" <rex.ball...@xxxxxxxxx> schreef in berichtnews:0414c6f8-07b9-400d-9cfb-53965c8b2737@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/149859/iso_iec_reject_a...
> > Typical Microsoft maneuver.
This was actually published at one time to members of MSDN as a "How
to promote new Microsoft products".
Key strategies included:
1 - Identify key decision makers, who has the actual authority to
make the final decision.
2 - Identify key influencers, those who are most likely to
influence THIS PERSON's decision.
3 - Identify key allies - those who are most friendly to Microsoft
and it's new products.
4 - Identify key opposition - those who are promoting alternatives
such as
Java, OSS, or other competitor products.
5 - In the face of strong opposition, find out from influencers
what is most likely to influence key man.
6 - Identify key arguments of opposition, contact Microsoft for
reports to invalidate their arguments.
(AKA "Fast facts" aka "Fast with the facts".
7 - in the event of an adverse decision, work with influencers to
arrange exclusive meetings.
8 - Arrange meeting between Microsoft top executives and top
decision maker.
9 - in the event of adverse decision persisting, identify higher
ranking executive
who can override the decision.
10 - Arrange a meeting between Microsoft executive and the override
authority.
alternatively:
11 - Identify management positions available that would be superior
to opposition decision maker.
12 - Notify Microsoft of those key positions - so that Microsoft can
place Microsoft supporters in the
superior position.
By the way, the tactics are by no means unique to Microsoft, and are
quite common in the IT industry among the market leaders in the
industry. It's just that most OSS advocates don't know about them,
and get blind-sided by the tactics.
> [^ indicates up]
> What kind of frustrated nerd are you? Did Microsoft reject your application
> for a job, in your career at some point?
Worked for a few companies who got the full fury of Microsoft in a
surprise attack.
In each case, it cost most of the profits of the company for that
year, in one case, it led to bankruptcy.
In each case, the companies targeted had to lay off a significant
number of employees to cover the cost of Microsoft's demands.
I've seen the tactics at Data Law, Federal Express, Dow Jones, S&P,
Quick & Reilly, US Clearing, Prudential, Met Life, Bank of New York,
Anderson Consulting (how do you think it became Accenture), and
Reuters. It backfired with Bloomberg..
Microsoft did ask me to pirate software and forward it to them as part
of a "Job Application" in 1982.
(instead I got my employer's permission to submit the material).
They did fly me to Belleview for an interview in 1998, but decided I
didn't have the "Microsoft Religion" (I think they were looking to see
what it would take to shut me down, I had a price, but it was too
high).
I was following the antics of Bill Gates back when he was running
Micro-Soft in Albuquerque New Mexico and calling the MITS dealers and
retail sales people "Pirates and Theives" for not paying $500 per copy
for Micro-Soft BASIC on punched paper tape. Tarbell BASIC was only
$120 per machine, and that included a board that could read the
magnetic tape from a cassette player. Micro-soft basic didn't even
include a paper tape reader.
I also sold a TRS-80 even before it was shipped to the stores. I was
working at Radio Shack in 1977.
I admire Bill's business tactics, because he has made "crime for fun
and profit" an art form, masterfully dancing all around the line most
would never cross, and artfully crafting settlements to appease the
government when he was caught on the wrong side of the line.
Let's face it, if I went to a client, told them I had a product
already developed, and that it could be completed in a few months,
when the availability of the product wasn't even certain, or there
wasn't even a line of code written, I'd probably get the sack, and
might even find myself in court facing a prison or oppressive legal
debt.
If I went to an established customer, and told them "Pay me 20% of
your corporate earnings or I will disable all of your computers within
72 hours", I'm almost certain I'd be looking at time in a prison.
If I came up to an airline counter and told them that unless I applied
a critical security patch to the plane's control system before it took
off, it would crash - I'd probably be facing federal prison, or even
Guantanimo Bay.
If I deliberately disabled all of the computers at a major Las Vegas
Casino, and told them that this was the punishment for pirating my
software, I'd probably end up "sleeping" next to Jimmy Hoffa.
If I told a reporter of a nationally published magazine that I was
going to achieve "World Domination" in 10-15 years, and outlined every
major step of the plan to do so, I'd probably be resting in a room
with rubber walls.
That's what makes Bill Gates such an amazing figure of history. He
did all of those things, and instead of a sudden and unpleasant end,
he became the richest man in the world, and had his company pay $2
billion per year in settlement to get immunity for his crimes.
He even contributed huge sums of money to key politician's "charities"
and circumvented campaign financing laws completely.
You have to admit, the guy was absolutely brilliant. He gets away
with it because it's too incredible to believe, which is why he gets
away with it.
Microsoft owes it's existence to Gates. And if he really has retired,
I'm not sure how much longer it will continue to exist as the power
center it currently holds.
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