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The Gates Transition
,----[ Quote ]
| In an interview with the BBC which is being widely linked, I recently
| said “claims by Microsoft that people were buying their software because it
| was good are pretty self-serving.” The BBC didn’t run the rest of what I said
| about Microsoft’s success, probably because they were looking to find someone
| to set up opposite Bill. Fine. These days we have blogs, so here’s my
| unfiltered side of the story.
|
| [...]
|
| But it doesn’t mean that the great Gates fortune was acquired in an entirely
| fair way or that Bill should be held up uncritically as a model of a
| successful businessman for doing so. To do so is to rewrite history and
| endorse a way of doing business which is harmful both to consumers and
| markets
`----
http://blog.kapor.com/?p=85
More from the UK:
No, Really: Spare a Fiver?
,----[ Quote ]
| A little while back I was mouthing off about being willing to fork out a
| fiver in support of the UKUUG's valiant attempts to get to the bottom of the
| goings-on in the OOXML vote at the BSI.
|
| [...]
|
| This is an important fight, because if the UKUUG is unable to continue its
| action, it will mean that money trumps justice. I don't think anyone would
| want that - well, aside from one or two organisations, maybe.
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/toolbox/open-source/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=952&blogid=14
Recent:
UK Unix group vows to appeal OOXML ruling
,----[ Quote ]
| UKUUG claimed in a statement today that Lloyd Jones “was wrong in his reading
| of papers,” before adding: “The matter will now be heard in open court.”
|
| The group, which is made up of influential open source advocates in the UK,
| also quoted Lloyd Jones as saying UKUUG’s application "does not disclose any
| arguable breach of the procedures of BSI or of rules of procedural fairness",
| and that it was "in any event… academic in light of the adoption of the new
| standard by ISO".
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/19/ooxml_ukuug_high_court/
UK Unix users seek funding to pursue OOXML fight
,----[ Quote ]
| A group of UK open-source advocates is seeking donations so it can continue
| its fight against the approval of Microsoft's Office Open XML document
| format.
`----
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39436590,00.htm
Has OOXML Broken the British Standards Institution?
,----[ Quote ]
| That the BSI, long the quintessence of standards in this country, should see
| itself dragged through the courts over something as apparently minor as a
| document standard, is truly an extraordinary development. But of course it is
| not a minor issue: at stake is the question of how something as central to
| technology and business as standards should be decided. Unless people have
| complete confidence in the process, the end-result will be deemed worthless –
| truly, little more than a “rubber-stamping”.
|
| A good start along the road of bolstering confidence would be making the
| standards-setting process completely open, which currently it is not. The
| practice of voting on an open standard behind closed doors borders is simply
| not justifiable in the age of the Internet and of increasing openness in
| general. And as the UK government loves to remind us: if you have nothing to
| hide, you have nothing to fear....
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=753&blogid=14
UK standards body taken to court over OOXML
,----[ Quote ]
| The British Standards Institution has been taken to court by a group of Unix
| users in an attempt to get the standards body to recant its approval of
| Microsoft's Office Open XML document format.
|
| The UK Unix & Open Systems User Group (UKUUG) said on Thursday that the
| British Standards Institution's (BSI's) controversial decision to vote for
| approval of OOXML in a recent International Organization for Standardization
| (ISO) ballot followed a flawed decision-making process.
`----
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39408917,00.htm
BSI faces High Court challenge over OOXML U-turn
,----[ Quote ]
| OSC director Mark Taylor told The Register that the UKUUG and chums
| were "very confident that the BSI has a case to answer". He claimed
| that "they haven’t followed procedures and we want them to explain their
| controversial actions".
|
| However, even if legal action against the BSI leads to the UK standards body
| being forced, in the form of mandatory orders, to withdraw its vote to the
| ISO, its impact could be muted.
|
| Taylor agreed: "Should the BSI be asked to remove its vote, that in itself
| probably won’t change the outcome."
|
| He added that the group hopes to see individuals in other countries mount
| similar challenges against national standards bodies in order to force the
| ISO to "sit up and take notice".
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/01/bsi_ooxml_vote_high_court/
EC probes OOXML standards-setting process
,----[ Quote ]
| A spokesman for the European Commissioner for Competition, Neelie Kroes, told
| The Register that regulators were continuing to scrutinise interoperability
| issues related to Microsoft’s products following complaints from the
| Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) group.
|
| As part of that process, the EC formally contacted a number of national
| standards bodies, including the Norwegian Standards Institute (NSI),
| requesting more details about possible irregularities in the OOXML
| standardisation process.
|
| [...]
|
| “It must be stressed that it is not the Commission's intention to influence
| the outcome of this process, but the Commission considers it essential to
| ensure that European competition law is not violated in the course of the
| standard setting process,” he said in an email to El Reg.
|
| In January the EC began formal anti-trust probes against Microsoft in two
| cases where it was alleged that the multinational firm had abused its strong
| market position. As part of the investigation into the first case, the
| Commission said that it would scrutinise OOXML on the grounds that the
| specification doesn't work with those of competitors.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/04/ooxml_ec_investigation_iso/
The BBC, Gates and revisionism
,----[ Quote ]
| What was appalling about the programme was the lack of any apparent
| preparation on the part of the interviewer, Fiona Bruce. Gates was able to
| paint a wonderful revisionist picture of the past and Ballmer actually got
| away with describing Microsoft as an ethical company.
|
| It is fitting that the BBC decided to feature Gates on its Money programme
| and not on its Technology programme; after all, Microsoft is first and
| foremost a marketing company. Technology comes a distant second.
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/18937/1148/
Bill Gates and the importance of source code
,----[ Quote ]
| I don’t think the producers of the show realised the significance of this
| admission, since they quickly cut to another segment. Reading between the
| lines, Gates is essentially confessing that he would not have progressed had
| he and Paul Allen not found the source code. Without this knowledge, and
| without this opportunity to understand and experiment with how the internals
| of a computer worked, Gates and Allen would have been severely constrained in
| their ability to found a software company and develop products
|
| I would go so far as to say that Microsoft owes its very existence to this
| access to source code.
|
| To anyone with a passing familiarity to how things worked back then, this
| comes as no surprise. Source code was expected to be free, and this in turn
| nurtured a generation of computer hackers. But whereas Richard Stallman saw
| the amazing potential of this freedom and wanted to preserve it for all, Bill
| Gates appears to have perceived it as an advantage for himself that he must
| deny to others.
`----
http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/06/22/bill-gates-and-the-importance-of-source-code/
Beeb slammed for 'fawning' to Bill Gates
,----[ Quote ]
| BBC viewers have flooded the corporation with complaints over how it
| covered the launch of Microsoft Vista earlier this week.
|
| In one cringingly servile interview worthy of Uriah Heep, the
| Beeb's news presenter Hugh Edwards even thanked Gates at the
| end of it, presumably in appreciation at being allowed to give
| the Vole vast coverage for free.
|
| In other TV news items presenters excitedly explained how Vistac
| ould be obtained and installed - details courtesy of the BBC's
| website.
|
| But British viewers, currently forced to pay a £131.50 licence
| fee to maintain the BBC's "impartiality", were less than impressed.
|
| Scores got in touch to complain that so much was Auntie up Bill's
| bum that you could barely see her corset.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37411
http://slated.org/bbc_microsoft_bias
BBC Corrupted
,----[ Quote ]
| Today the BBC made it official -- they have been corrupted by Microsoft. With
| today's launch of the iPlayer, the BBC Trust has failed in its most basic of
| duties and handed over to Microsoft sole control of the on-line distribution
| of BBC programming. From today, you will need to own a Microsoft operating
| system to view BBC programming on the web. This is akin to saying you must
| own a Sony TV set to watch BBC TV. And you must accept the Digital
| Restrictions Management (DRM) that the iPlayer imposes. You simply cannot be
| allowed to be in control of your computer according to the BBC.
`----
http://defectivebydesign.org/blog/BBCcorrupted
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