__/ [ Rafael ] on Tuesday 06 March 2007 09:46 \__
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> > Rafael on Saturday
> >
> > Don't forget that Microsoft and the UG Government are on the
> > same 'team' as far as foreign politics are concerned.
> >
> > US politicians go to bat for Microsoft
> >
> >
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/26/microsoft_eu_political_lobbying/
>
> That is a good link. I found this statement interesting:
>
> > As in 2004, it seems the US government's latest lobbying on
> > Microsoft's behalf has achieved nothing, as Kroes went ahead
> > and imposed her fine anyway. According to Kroes the US
> > government's move was "an intervention which cannot stand...
> > like all companies great and small, Microsoft is not above the
> > law".
>
> This cast Ms. Kroes as someone who is not afraid to stand for
> what is right by principle.
They pull a "Peter Quinn" routine on her. Microsoft plays hardball/dirty in
Europe.
Microsoft Hard-Balling EU Over Vista
,----[ Quote ]
| "This is part of the negotiating strategy," a person familiar with the
| situation told internetnews.com. "They're in a public relations battle."
|
| Microsoft made the same threat to South Korean regulators, but did not
| follow through when they lost that battle.
`----
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3631041
EU's Kroes denies vendetta against Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| EU antitrust chief Neelie Kroes on Tuesday rejected
| an accusation she was pursuing a vendetta against U.S. software giant
| Microsoft Corp. and suspected a "coordinated campaign" to discredit
| her agency.
|
| [...]
|
| Kroes was responding to a letter published by the newspaper from a
| Microsoft business partner who accused the EU Commission of "playing
| games" with Microsoft by raising concerns over its Vista operating
| system that could delay its launch in Europe.
|
| "There appears to be a coordinated campaign to portray the Commission
| in a negative light," she said...
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/060919/microsoft_eu.html?.v=3
IDC pronounces Linux unimportant to European economy
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34542
US politicians go to bat for Microsoft
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/26/microsoft_eu_political_lobbying/
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
EU official joins consultancy serving Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| A European Commission official originally chosen to lead its
| antitrust case against Microsoft left on Friday last week to work for a
| consultancy that has the software firm as a client, a spokesman said.
`----
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
Feds seek formal extension of Microsoft antitrust deal
,----[ Quote ]
| The U.S. Department of Justice and Microsoft on Wednesday filed a
| formal application for a two-year extension of portions of their
| landmark antitrust settlement, with the possibility of stretching it
| until 2012.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6111240.html
Vista launch to add 100,000 Europe IT jobs: study
,----[ Quote ]
| The study, conducted by research firm IDC and commissioned by Microsoft,
| said Windows Vista will be installed on over 30 million personal computers
| in Denmark, France, Germany, Poland, Spain and United Kingdom within the
| first year of shipment.
`----
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060914/tc_nm/microsoft_study_dc
Study: open source needs official support; Lobbyist
disagrees with "flawed" conclusions
,----[ Quote ]
| The study, commissioned by the European Commission, Directorate
| General Enterprise and Industry, is but a small part of the larger
| FLOSSPOLS project that aims to keep the EU a leader in global
| development of open source software.
|
| [...]
|
| Now, the ISC is widely regarded as a shill for Microsoft, although
| the member list also includes companies like Intel, Autodesk, and
| RSA Security (now an EMC subsidiary). The 300-strong member list is
| mostly padded with lesser lights such as Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi(
| Turkey), ThreeSixtyDegreez (Pakistan), and Datoprogrammu Apgads
| (Latvia). The institute pushes hard for the right to patent
| software, alongside regular bashings of open source businesses.
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061017-8011.html
Leaked letter warns of open source 'threat to eco-system'
,----[ Quote ]
| leaked letter to the European Commission has revealed the extent of
| lobbying by proprietary software groups to prevent the widespread
| adoption of open-source software.
|
| Sent in response to a recent report on the role of open-source
| software in the European economy, Microsoft-funded pressure
| group, the Initiative for Software Choice (ISC) warned of
| potentially dire effects if too much encouragement was given
| to open source software development.
`----
http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=7109
EC's New Penalty Threat Tightens Screws on Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| The EU said Thursday that three years after the landmark antitrust
| ruling, the U.S. software company was still using heavy-handed
| tactics to choke rivals in the software sector, but did not name
| any specific competitors.
|
| "This is a company which apparently does not like to have to
| conform with antitrust decisions," said EU Commission
| spokesperson Jonathan Todd.
`----
http://www.linuxinsider.com/rsstory/56056.html
Two short and clear messages from Germany to Steve B.
,----[ Quote ]
| The German department of State has declared that their business case
| for their complete migration away from Windows towards Linux and other
| FOSS is based on SECURITY, RELIABILITY and COST reasons. They
| completed their migration of nearly all server and desktop systems
| WITHOUT the need for a RETRAINING of their staff, while IT costs
| dropped even on the short run already below one quarter of the
| costs they had while using a Windows infrastructure.
`----
http://vale.homelinux.net/wordpress/?p=141
I have many more links available, but let's not spend too much time on it.
Luckily it's all archives. Intimidation and personal attacks on a group's of
person's credibility is Microsoft's best tactic.
One reference I would add is this:
,----[ 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.
|
| Quinn: I believe that the ODF decision will stand. I believe MS
| will continue to do anything and everything it can to stop it. And I
| know my seat wasn't even empty and they (MS) took another shot at
| the title, to no avail. This horse is out of the barn and I see no
| way for it to go back in. Remember, all we are asking for was and is
| for Microsoft to commit to open and the standards process; so
| everyone looks really bad if the plug gets pulled at this juncture.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20060119232859729
Actually, add another:
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
This tells you the story, doesn't it? It's all about politics and money.
--
~~ Best wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | Open minds, open source
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU/Linux ¦ PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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