Astroturf grassroots for OOXML?
,----[ Quote ]
| First we saw Microsoft trying to drum up some support in the UK for
| their OOXML product specification turned into a "standard" via a
| petition. Now there is mention in Slashdot and elsewhere of what is
| appearing to be part of a well orchestrated campaign to stop ODF
| in California. I never would have realized that community
| developed and driven open standards could be quite so scary.
`----
http://www.sutor.com/newsite/blog-open/?p=1515
Perens Lashes Out at Claims GPL 3 Brings Legal Risks
,----[ Quote ]
| "Let's make it clear that [ACT] is Microsoft's lobbying front andt
| hat they are going to paint as negative a picture as they can,"
| Perens told eWEEK in an interview.
|
| "Obviously, GPL software is displacing Microsoft enough to have
| them concerned, and it's doing it at customers who are important
| to them. A lawyer's job is to scare the other side if they can--because
| they know it's cheaper than winning a case in court," he said.
`----
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2112267,00.asp
Related/context:
ACT ['Microsoft pressure group?'] Warns of Legal Risk with Latest GPL Draft
,----[ Quote ]
| But ACT, a Washington-based technology lobby group whose membership
| includes large companies like eBay, Oracle, Orbitz and VeriSign, and
| which was founded in 1998 in response to the Microsoft antitrust case,
| is largely dismissed by those in the open-source community as nothing
| more than a lobby group for the interests of Microsoft and those
| other large corporations.
`----
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Association_for_Competitive_Tecnology
,----[ Quote ]
| "ACT has been accused of being an industry front for Microsoft,
| promoting a Microsoft-friendly agenda in relation to property rights
| and anti-trust legislation."
`----
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Association_for_Competitive_Technology
,----[ Quote ]
| Long before it employed bloggers to do the job for it, Microsoft hired
| sympathetic members of the public to make its case in online forums,
| posing as disinterested citizens. Things got much more professional as
| the antitrust trial unfurled. After hiring DCI in the late 1990s,
| Microsoft created two new trade groups, the Association for Competitive
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| Technology (ACT), and the Americans for Technology Leadership (ALT),
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| and marshaled campaigns such as "Freedom to Innovate" - encouraging
| Windows users the chance to make spontaneous gestures of support for
| Chairman Bill.
|
| These weren't always too successful. A campaign in 2001 to petition 17
| state's Attorney Generals - who had pooled resources to bring their
| own antitrust action against Microsoft - resulted in supportive letters
| being written by dead people.
|
| And the astroturf taint continues today.
|
| Most recently, a spoof video portraying Al Gore as a Penguin was reported
| to have originated from a computer registered to the DCI Group, although
| the lobby group said it did not fund or approve the video.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/14/google_lobby/
Weather alert: new Microsoft FUD storm expected
,----[ Quote ]
| In recent weeks, Microsoft seems to have gone out of its way to put
| Linux down, while boosting Linux. First, there was the bribetop
| scandal; then, the Wikipedia 'correction' affair. Now, the company
| is up to one of its oldest tricks: playing games with analyst reports.
|
| This time around, Sunbelt Software is working with the Yankee
| Group, a research company with a poor reputation in Linux circles,
| to produce its "yearly major survey comparing Windows to Linux."
| Here we go again.
|
| What's wrong with that? I'll tell you what's wrong with it.
| Sunbelt is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. In other words,
| they're buddies with Microsoft.
`----
http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS2225368488.html
Packing The Court At The ISO?
,----[ Quote ]
| ...P member countries ('participating member' countries) sending
| representatives, and I am interested to note the majority of
| their representatives are, as individuals, also Microsoft employees.
|
| [...]
|
| How can they not see that OOXML (ECMA 376) is unwanted by anyone outside of
| Microsoft? How about it Brian Jones? Are you really so desperate that you
| have to resort to that?
`----
http://lnxwalt.wordpress.com/2007/03/23/packing-the-court-at-the-iso/
Microsoft asking people to write leters opposing California A.B. 1668 - Open
Document Format
http://www.groklaw.net/comment.php?mode=display&sid=20070406122736199&title=Microsoft+asking+people+to+write+leters+opposing+California+A.B.+1668+-+Open+Document+Format%2C&type=article&order=&hideanonymous=0&pid=555070#c555168
Microsoft criticized for Open XML petition
,----[ Quote ]
| The petition is an attempt to make it appear that Open XML
| has "pseudo-grassroots" support, argues Mark Taylor, the
| founder of the Open Source Consortium.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6173625.html
Open Standards for Florida vs Microsoft lobbyists
,----[ Quote ]
| Bottom line: Rep. Ed Homan (R-Tampa) tried to get a small paragraph
| added to a general IT bill in the State Senate that mildly favored
| open standards (i.e. ODF etc.) in state IT operations. It was a
| quiet effort, he told me, but still, within 24 hours all the
| State Senators on the appropriate committee had been contacted
| by lobbyists representing Microsoft, who also paid him a visit.
`----
http://www.openaddict.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=667
|
|
