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"Then, they fight you"
,----[ Quote ]
| I asked the organizers if our Free Software Group could hold a short session
| about the benefits of FOSS in education, with references to Ubuntu, Edubuntu
| and Kiwilinux and we were given a slot after the ones which had already been
| planned a while ago - those of Microsoft, Cisco and a local company that
| sells education software for Romanian schools.
|
| [...]
|
| It is sad to know they are resorting to this sort of coercing and that they
| have such influence over the educators but looking on the bright side of it,
| and that's how I perceived it after thinking a bit about it, THEY ARE
| SCARED :)
`----
http://janimo.blogspot.com/2008/05/then-they-fight-you.html
There are quite a few good distributions from Romania. Here's one the better
known developers:
Portrait: NimbleX creator Bogdan Radulescu
,----[ Quote ]
| Sometimes all it takes to foment innovation may be an idea that sounds cool.
| When Romanian developer Bogdan Radulescu first ran into what would eventually
| be known as NimbleX, a mini-live CD project designed to be fast, light, and
| functional for everyday use.
`----
http://www.linux.com/feature/135098
Recent:
OOXML vote in Romania, signs of committee stuffing
,----[ Quote ]
| Today four have joined the committee, all of them seem to be MS partners
| (Fujitsu-Siemens is one of them, the others are local software companies).
| The sad thing is that these companies or people have not shown interest in
| the subject so far, have not participated in the 6 months online debate but
| are probably going to cast their vote in favor of OOXML . What they are doing
| is perfectly legal, after all anyone can join the committe, but it's sad to
| see attempts at public debate and the chances of it changing something
| getting offset by throwing money at the problem at the last minute.
|
| I'll keep an update on how things are progressing and the results and details
| of the vote when it happens.
`----
http://janimo.blogspot.com/2008/03/ooxml-vote-in-romania-signs-of.html
Romania says yes to OOXML once again
,----[ Quote ]
| For months, OOXML and Microsoft have taken over any other subject on this
| forum. The pro and con debates were heated, numerous and lengthy.
|
| In all this time, OOXML supporters have utterly failed to offer any solid
| argument for OOXML’s adoption, while opposing arguments were abundant. The
| only coherent pro-OOXML statements boiled down to the same tired FUD that
| Microsoft has put together, repeated ad-nauseam, in spite of all the rich and
| detailed counter-arguments.
|
| [...]
|
| Therefore I feel justified in believing that “ballot-stuffing” was performed
| by Microsoft-friendly entities with the purpose of swaying the vote to an
| OOXML-favorable outcome.
|
| [...]
|
| It will come as no surprise that many of the other recent members are
| Microsoft business partners.
|
| Therefore I feel justified in believing that “ballot-stuffing” was performed
| by Microsoft-friendly entities with the purpose of swaying the vote to an
| OOXML-favorable outcome.
|
| I will stress, for the sake of clarity, that there has been neither public
| nor official statement so far regarding the CT210 members. We’re not supposed
| to even know who they are, officially.
|
| [...]
|
| I repeat: there’s a total lack of transparency. So far, the way I understand
| it (and I Am Not A Lawyer) ASRO seems to put its internal regulations over
| the laws of the state, one of which states: “the following basic principles
| must be followed in national standardization: […] transparency and public
| availability”.
|
| If I am wrong and ASRO’s position holds water, it will mean that the Romanian
| states is confortable entrusting its standardization to a body who can act in
| a completely opaque manner should it choose so. A very strange and disturbing
| notion, but there you have it.
|
| <h3>3. The conclusion</h3>
|
| The public debate on TIC-Lobby in the months leading up to the March vote
| have shown a staggering amount of arguments against adopting OOXML as a
| standard. There were links, tehnical details, technical experiments.
|
| The counter-arguments have been weak, obstinate and often repeated. Even when
| begged to do so, OOXML supporters have failed to put together even the
| smallest document containing arguments for their position.
|
| In the end, CT210 fell victim to ballot stuffing and ASRO is currently
| refusing to disclose any information other than the vote distribution.
`----
http://aranea.zuavra.net/index.php/97/
Recent:
Microsoft influencing partner NGOs to support OOXML in India
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is encouraging its business partners to promote its Office Open XML
| specification (OOXML) to the Indian Bureau of Standards (BIS) and Ministry of
| IT. This move has incensed supporters of the rival OpenDocument Format (ODF)
| who fear that the "soft" Indian state may not be able to stand up to
| Microsoft pressure tactics.
`----
http://www.linux.com/feature/128528
Microsoft India using NGOs to fake support for OOXML
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-44038/microsoft-india-using-ngos-to-fake-support-for-ooxml
Becoming a better company: Microsoft helps NGOs in India
,----[ Quote ]
| Of course, there has to be some trade-offs, because there should never be
| free lunch, even for the ones who starve: Microsoft, according to this
| article, has conditioned its help to Indian NGOs to their support of OOXML.
| What the NGOs had to do was to send letters of support on OOXML to the
| federal government of India.
`----
http://standardsandfreedom.net/index.php/2008/02/29/becoming-a-better-company-microsoft-helps-ngos-in-india/
Microsoft "persuades" NGOs to support OOXML
,----[ Quote ]
| Our friends at Linux Delhi have put up a copy of the form letters that
| Microsoft has been sending NGOs on the OOXML issue. Apparently, these NGOs
| have been sending copies of these letters to the Ministry of IT and Bureau of
| Indian standards.
`----
http://osindia.blogspot.com/2008/02/microsoft-persuades-ngos-to-support.html
Developers around the world, unite!
,----[ Quote ]
| Monopoly and proprietary software have an advantage in influencing state and
| governmental institutions because of their large market base and ready
| capital. Unscrupulous ways of influencing state governments have persisted in
| India, for example, where executives of proprietary software cajole
| government heads to promote their brands in lieu of some form of charity
| given. FLOSS activists must overcome this huge challenge in order to get
| their philosophy accepted and model implemented for the good of people who
| are still on the barren side of the digital divide.
`----
http://thepost.com.pk/OpinionNews.aspx?dtlid=147277&catid=11
Using NGOs to Push Agendas
,----[ Quote ]
| The extent to which Microsoft can go in its efforts to get OOXML is
| interesting. Microsoft has "persuaded" several non-profit organizations to
| bombard the Indian IT Secretary and the Additional Director General of the
| Bureau of Indian Standards with letters supporting its OOXML proposal. A copy
| of the form letter they have been circulating to NGOs is given below.
| Somebody should interview these NGOs to see how much they really know about
| OOXML and open standards.
|
| The sequence of events leading up to the spamming of GoI? is:
|
| Letter from an NGO thanking Microsoft (name changed to protect their
| identity)
`----
http://wiki.linux-delhi.org/cgi-bin/twiki/view/OpenStandards/MsNgoLobby
Related:
Microsoft admits Swedish employee promised incentives for Open XML support
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp. admitted Wednesday that an employee at its Swedish subsidiary
| offered monetary compensation to partners for voting in favor of the Office
| Open XML document format's approval as an ISO standard.
`----
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9033701
Microsoft Looks for the Big Guns in OOXML In-Fighting
,----[ Quote ]
| Bill Gates has reportedly been making phone calls to the Secretary of Defense
| and the Secretary of Commerce to push the American National Standards
| Institute to ignore the votes of its advisory committees and vote "yes" on
| ISO standardizing Microsoft's Open Office XML (OOXML) format, the one in
| competition with the OpenDocument Format (ODF) pushed by IBM and Sun.
|
| Gates reportedly picked up the phone when the last INCITS ballot failed by
| one vote to support Microsoft.
`----
http://xml.sys-con.com/read/419573_p.htm
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