Microsoft Critics Assigned PR "Spooks"
,----[ Quote ]
| San Jose Mercury technology reporter Dan Gilmore recently discovered he's
| been assigned a special "owner" at one of Microsoft's public relations firms,
| Waggener-Edstrom. These spin-masters are attached to troublesome journalists
| like Gilmore who have the temerity to write uncomplimentary articles about
| the company or its products.
|
| The really irksome reporters, according to documents spirited from the
| Waggener-Edstrom offices, are also assigned "buddies" at Microsoft itself.
| John Dodge, the editor of PC Week, has a special buddy at Microsoft, and Mary
| Jo Foley at Smart Reseller, is the subject of a "Mary Jo six month plan.''
|
| These "owners" and "buddies" are just there to "help" the journalists, of
| course. How dare we think otherwise?
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http://www.vcnet.com/bms/departments/dirtytricks.shtml
Related:
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| "It also was strange to see just how many resources are aligned
| against me when I write a story about Microsoft."
`----
http://blog.wired.com/business/2007/03/enough_about_me.html
Tim Bray: Life Is Complicated
,----[ Quote ]
| Those with long memories might suggest a parallel between Rick’s position and
| mine when in 1997, I was sitting on the XML Working Group and co-editing the
| spec, on a pro bono basis as an indie consultant. Netscape hired me to
| represent their interests, and when I announced this, controversy ensued.
| Which is a nice way of saying that Microsoft went berserk; tried
| unsuccessfully to get me fired as co-editor, and then launched a vicious,
| deeply personal extended attack in which they tried to destroy my career and
| took lethal action against a small struggling company because my wife worked
| there. It was a sideshow of a sideshow of the great campaign to bury Netscape
| and I’m sure the executives have forgotten; but I haven’t.
`----
http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2007/01/24/Mixup
Q&A: Former Mass. CIO feels 'bittersweet pride' after battles with Microsoft,
legislature
,----[ 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.
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http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9012760&source=rss_news50
,----[ 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
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