__/ [ Doug Mentohl ] on Wednesday 14 March 2007 15:42 \__
> 'Microsoft has merged two parts of its business focused on the public
> sector and appointed a director of government to oversee the company's
> focus on areas such as criminal justice and defence'
>
> http://news.zdnet.co.uk/itmanagement/0,1000000308,39286261,00.htm
You always know something stinks when a company becomes part of the
government and calls the shots.
Microsoft's bold march towards open source
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is labouring under a delusion. While the rest of the world
| thinks of it as a software company, it prefers to consider itself
| a government department. How else to see its latest scheme whereby,
| if you ignore its questions, it will report you to its private
| paid-for policemen at the Business Software Alliance?
`----
http://opinion.zdnet.co.uk/leader/0,1000002208,39285719,00.htm
Microsoft cracks down on UK licences
,----[ Quote ]
| According to ComputerWorld, Vole has sent out a series of letters
| threatening legal action using its agents the Business
| Software Alliance (BSA).
|
| Ram Dhaliwal, Microsoft's licensing programs manager in the
| UK said the move was to "spark off the engagement" with its customers.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37281
Microsoft plays Massachusetts Senate card
OpenDocument not a done deal yet
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=32515
EU official joins consultancy serving Microsoft
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-10-03T134311Z_01_L03693228_RTRIDST_0_TECH-MICROSOFT-OFFICIAL.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna
http://tinyurl.com/h47g3
US ambassador to the EU was former Microsoft lobbyist
,----[ Quote ]
| Before C. Boyden Gray was named as George Bush's number one person in
| Europe, he was a lawyer lobbying on behalf of Microsoft.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34706
US politicians go to bat for Microsoft
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/26/microsoft_eu_political_lobbying/
After they pressured two CIOs out of their jobs...
MA Governor-Elect Names MS Anti-ODF Lobbyist to Technology Advisory Group
,----[ Quote ]
| That person is Brian Burke, the Microsoft Regional Director for Public
| Affairs, and if that surprises you, it surprises me as well, given the
| degree of acrimonious debate and disinformation witnessed in Massachusetts
| over the last 15 months involving the Information Technology Division's
| transition to ODF.... it is my understanding that it was Burke who led
| the lobbying effort on Beacon Hill against ODF, and also urged legislators
| to introduce the amendment intended to take away much of the ITD's
| planning power generally, and as regards standards specifically, and hand
| it to a task force made up of political appointees.... Although I'm told
| that Burke announced yesterday at the first meeting of the new working
| group that he will be participating as a private citizen rather than a
| Microsoft employee, I believe that Burke should recuse himself from
| participating in any discussions or recommendations relating to
| document format standards.
`----
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20061128161343183
Changing the Report, After the Vote
,----[ Quote ]
| That agreement was nearly imperiled last weekend, though. Gerri
| Elliott, corporate vice president at Microsoft's Worldwide Public
| Sector division, sent an e-mail message to fellow commissioners
| Friday evening saying that she "vigorously" objected to a paragraph
| in which the panel embraced and encouraged the development of open
| source software and open content projects in higher education.
`----
http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/09/01/commission
Politics and tech companies: follow the money
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft took first place with $651,100 given out, while
| Hewlett-Packard gave only $185,550, and Gateway gave a paltry
| $2,000. Microsoft's donations certainly illustrate well the true
| size of the company and the extent of its political concerns.
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061110-8194.html
Years of deadlock on EU patent bring some new thinking
,----[ Quote ]
| When Bill Gates visits Brussels on Thursday to speak with
| government officials, software developers and customers, he
| plans to wade into one of Europe's longest-running, most
| fruitless debates: the pursuit of a unified patent system.
| Gates, chairman of Microsoft, wants a simple system that will
| allow the world's largest software maker and other companies
| to protect their intellectual property in the European Union -
| and profit from licensing their patents.
`----
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/08/business/patents.php
,----[ Quote ]
| "A source that deals with the company said unofficially that Gates
| proposed Microsoft's Digital Rights Management technology as a national
| standard to fight piracy at the governmental level."
`----
http://www.kommersant.com/p719683/r_528/
--
~~ Best wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | Play Reversi: http://othellomaster.com
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU is Not UNIX | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
roy pts/6 Wed Mar 14 08:49 - 08:50 (00:00)
http://iuron.com - proposing a non-profit search engine
|
|
