Tuesday, December 5th, 2006, 6:16 am
Microsoft Changes the Law to Destroy Standards
Filed under: I would like to quote two recent articles from the most reliable source there is on that matter.
MA Governor-Elect Names MS Anti-ODF Lobbyist to Technology Advisory Group
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.
ComputerWorld Documents Microsoft’s Lobbying in Massachusetts
The article goes on to describe the back-channel negotiations between State CIO Louis Gutierrez and Microsoft’s Alan Yates, and the way that Microsoft played the lobbying card throughout those discussions
Additional resources:
- Open Source Foes In Bed With Abramoff
- Microsoft plays Massachusetts Senate card
- Politics and tech companies: follow the money
Other recent cases of Microsoft lobbying:
