Why we still hate Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| Chief counsel Brad Smith was in full-on schmooze mode during OSBC, at the
| same time the company was bragging on twisting the arms of the Czechs over
| OOXML. Oh, and they’re still certain Linux violates its patents.
|
| Ironically, if Microsoft were really “good” to the open source movement, our
| readers think, its market threat to open source would only increase.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=2199
Not a day goes by and...
What Really Happened at the BRM for OOXML and Who Attended - Updates on Results
,----[ Quote ]
| We count 20 direct Microsoft participants:
|
| 1 BELGIUM Mr. Bruno SCHRODER MICROSOFT
| 2 BRAZIL Mr. Fernando GEBARA Microsoft Brazil
| 3 CANADA Mr. Paul COTTON Microsoft Canada
| 4 COTE D'IVOIRE * Mr. Wemba OPOTA MICROSOFT West and central Africa
| 5 CZECH REPUBLIC Mr. Štepán BECHYNSKÝ Microsoft Czech Republic, Ltd
| 6 DENMARK Mr. Jasper Hedegaard BOJSEN Microsoft Denmark
| 7 FINLAND Mr. Kimmo BERGIUS Microsoft Ltd
| 8 GERMANY Mr. Mario WENDT Microsoft Deutschland GmbH
| 9 ISRAEL Mr. Shmuel YAIR Microsoft
| 10 ITALY Ing. Andrea VALBONI Microsoft Italy
| 11 JAPAN Mr. Naoki ISHIZAKA Microsoft
| 12 KENYA Mr. Emmanuel BIRECH Microsoft East Africa
| 13 NEW ZEALAND Mr. Brett ROBERTS Microsoft New Zealand
| 14 NORWAY Mr. Shahzad Rana Microsoft Norge AS
| 15 PORTUGAL * Prof. Miguel Sales DIAS MICROSOFT Portugal
| 16 SWITZERLAND Mr. Marc HOLITSCHER Microsoft Schweiz GmbH
| 17 UNITED STATES Mr. Doug MAHUGH Microsoft Corporation
| 18 Ecma International Mr. Brian JONES Microsoft
| 19 Ecma International * Mr. Jean PAOLI Microsoft Corporation
| 20 Assistant to Project Editor Mr. Tristan DAVIS Microsoft
|
| Is that normal? I doubt it, but if it is, could someone do something about
| it? How can employees of a company go against the folks that pay them, even
| if they privately think the format is junk? Some might, but they'd surely not
| be employees after that. Now might you get why the Czech Republic waxed
| poetic about how wonderful the BRM was?
|
| [...]
|
| Update 2: France will vote No, according to this journalist's sources...
|
|
| [...]
|
| But isn't it good to see how many are refusing to do so? Consider the
| pressure, the threats, the stacking the deck, evidently some promises too,
| not to mention the confusing and ever changing rules, and it's remarkable.
| And yet all around the world, people have the courage and the integrity to
| say No.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080328090328998http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080328090328998
Related:
EU Initiates Investigation Against Microsoft OOXML Push
,----[ Quote ]
| But with Steve Ballmer taking over as CEO, there was supposed to be a kinder,
| gentler Microsoft - one that would play nicely with its competitors. When
| antitrust regulators in turn challenged this new Microsoft, it issued not
| challenges to fight to the end to prove that it had done nothing illegal, but
| statements promising to "cooperate fully."
|
| But at the same time, Microsoft is still a tough competitor. As Microsoft's
| Director of Corporate Standards Jason Matusow famously warned at his blog
| last year:
|
| Make no mistake; all parties are looking at the full picture to find
| strategies that will result in the outcome they desire. Provided - of
| course - that they do so within the context of the rules that apply to
| the process, this is exactly what one should expect to happen. It is
| going to be a very interesting next few months.
|
| Indeed, the months that followed proved to be interesting indeed. Microsoft
| said that some of its employees became over zealous, most flagrantly in
| Sweden, where marketing assists were promised to several business partners as
| incentives to join the national standards committee and vote for OOXM.
`----
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20080208082501776
EU Commission Investigating Microsoft's MSOOXML Push
,----[ Quote ]
| I hope they think to investigate the smear campaigns that seem to always
| happen to anyone on the other side from Microsoft. What happened to Peter
| Quinn was by no means unique.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080208151410252
Corrupt countries were more likely to support the OOXML document format
,----[ Quote ]
| Is this just a random coincidence? The median of the CPI index of the above
| mentioned 70 countries is 3.95. Of the most corrupted half (CPI index less
| than 3.95) 23 or 77% voted for approval (approval or approval with comments)
| and 7 or 23% for disapproval; 5 abstained. Of the least corrupted half (CPI
| index more than 3.95) 13 or 54% voted for approval and 11 or 46% voted for
| disapproval; 11 abstained - see the table below.
`----
http://www.effi.org/blog/kai-2007-09-05.en.html
Microsoft accused of more OOXML standards fiddling
,----[ Quote ]
| However the 11 new countries are refusing to say how they will vote. These
| include Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Ecuador, Jamaica, Lebanon, Malta, Pakistan,
| Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uruguay and Venezuela. Most people seem to think
| that these have been put there by Vole to make sure the standard gets pushed
| through.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=42106
How to Royally Annoy National Bodies
,----[ Quote ]
| Guide to future monopolists on how to alienate yourself from National Bodies:
|
| 1. Waste NBs time in reviewing monstrous draft specifications
| 2. Claim that these specs can do everything for anyone by standardising
| marketing material
| 3. If you don't get your way at a certain level, lobby the superior above.
| Dont stop! Go all the way to the head of the nation if you think you can!
| 4. Leak press stories to journalists to pressure Ministries to make a
| decision. Quick!
| 5. Try to shut down TCs if actual technical work is done revealing issues
| with your plan
| 6. Question Question Question everything (process, fairness, the system,
| members) when things dont go your way
| 7. Otherwise create another TC with friendly experts
| 8. If the NB allows new members just by paying membership fees, encourage
| your business partners to join with marketing funds. Stack-stack-stack it
| high!
| 9. Stalk decision makers, even if it means traveling around the globe with
| them
| 10. Refuse changes in the spec especially if it breaks your product which
| you released prior
| 11. Have private interviews with TC members in the guise of funding for
| their new projects/research grants/interoperability initiatives and
| conveniently talk about their position on your spec.
| 12. Get your Business Partners to write in form letters. Some don't even
| bother to change the templates
| 13. Attend TC meetings uninvited by fabricating business cards
| 14. Send Lawyers in to Technical Committee meetings who prefer not to
| engage in "high-school" debates
| 15. Make rude and inaccurate statements against TC members in public
`----
http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2008/03/how-to-royally.html
A Microsoft Slur in the OOXML Saga -- Did I Tell You or Did I Tell You? -
Updated
,----[ Quote ]
| Remember I told you I've noticed that people who don't support Microsoft's
| agenda end up the victim of smear campaigns?
|
| The New Zealand Open Source Society is reporting that an employee at
| Microsoft New Zealand recently sent an email to one of the technical bodies
| advising an NB involved in the OOXML ISO process, smearing a man's
| reputation, Matthew Holloway, apparently to undermine his technical input
| which was critical of OOXML.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080318151252279
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.
`----
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
|
|
