____/ Darth Chaos on Sunday 20 April 2008 07:05 : \____
>
>
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>> The brazilian Election Supreme Court migrates 430 thousand voting machines
>> to GNU / Linux
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | The brazilian Election Supreme Court announced at April 4th 2008, that the
>> | 2008 elections at Brazil will use GNU / Linux electronic voting machines
>> | with software digital authentication.
>> |
>> | The Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (the brazilian Election Supreme Court),
>> | officially announced on April 4th, 2008, that the brazilian 2008 elections
>> | will use 430 thousand electronic voting machines migrated from VirtuOS and
>> | Windows CE to GNU / Linux and open source softwares for security and
>> | auditing defined by proper law.
>> `----
>>
>> http://techforce.com.br/index.php/news/linux_blog/tse_migrates_to_linux
>
> But no such luck for the Diebold voting machines in the USA which
> probably STILL run Windows CE.
They should learn from Brazil. Recent:
The brazilian Election Supreme Court migrates 430 thousand voting machines to
GNU / Linux
,----[ Quote ]
| The brazilian Election Supreme Court announced at April 4th 2008, that the
| 2008 elections at Brazil will use GNU / Linux electronic voting machines with
| software digital authentication.
|
| The Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (the brazilian Election Supreme Court),
| officially announced on April 4th, 2008, that the brazilian 2008 elections
| will use 430 thousand electronic voting machines migrated from VirtuOS and
| Windows CE to GNU / Linux and open source softwares for security and auditing
| defined by proper law.
`----
http://techforce.com.br/index.php/news/linux_blog/tse_migrates_to_linux
Linux Voting Machines Save US$ 8 Millions in Brazil
,----[ Quote ]
| Brazilian Goverment will save US$ 8 Millions in election between 2008 and
| 2018. The economy is due to the use of Linux in the eletronic voting
| machines, made by Procomp-Diebold,
`----
http://www.brnews.info/index.php/2008/04/06/linux-voting-machines-save-us-8-milions-in-brazil/
That said, there is far too much corruption in the United States for those
responsible to consider something from a company that is not American (without
being intimidated or bullied out of their jobs). Recall the MA story:
Quinn...
,----[ 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.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20060119232859729
Then his successor Gutierrez...
Q&A: Former Mass. CIO feels 'bittersweet pride' after battles with Microsoft,
legislature
,----[ Quote ]
| As CIO of Massachusetts from February to November last year, Louis
| Gutierrez had to endure most of the brunt of Microsoft Corp.'s political
| wrath over a state policy calling for the adoption of the Open Document
| Format for Office Applications, or ODF -- a rival to the software vendor's
| Office Open XML file format.
`----
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9012760&source=rss_news50
Microsoft then replaced both with a Microsoft lobbying (Burke, IIRC).
Here is what happens when you 'dare' to say no to Microsoft Office + Windows as
an international standard:
Microsoft wins Open XML vote, frowns at Indian panel
,----[ Quote ]
| Industry experts said they were "unhappy" with the Microsoft which has almost
| accused the committee of being packed with "open document format (ODF)
| supporters".
|
| "I am very upset and uncomfortable with such complaints. In fact, the
| chairperson of the committee (LITD 15) offered to step down over the
| allegation," D.B. Phatak, professor at IIT Mumbai, told DNA Money.
|
| IIT Mumbai is a member of LITD 15, and Phatak was part of the deliberations
| that have been taking place within IIT on the issue.
|
| Phatak said a Microsoft official was asked if it would withdraw the
| complaint, but the company refused as the "complaint was made by some higher
| officer in Microsoft".
|
| Jaijit Bhattacharya, country director of government strategy for Sun
| Microsystems India, a company that has been at loggerheads with Microsoft for
| years, talks in a similar vein.
|
| "I am surprised that such allegations are made against India's top academic
| and government institutions … such allegations lack credibility,'
| Bhattacharya said. Venkatesh Hariharan, co-founder Open Source Foundation of
| India said, "I am just amazed and shocked at the depths to which Microsoft is
| willing to descend."
|
| He said Microsoft's complaint is a "great disservice to the committee, its
| chairperson and the BIS".
`----
http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14636329
How to Royally Annoy National Bodies
,----[ Quote ]
| Guide to future monopolists on how to alienate yourself from National Bodies:
|
| 1. Waste NBs time in reviewing monstrous draft specifications
| 2. Claim that these specs can do everything for anyone by standardising
| marketing material
| 3. If you don't get your way at a certain level, lobby the superior above.
| Dont stop! Go all the way to the head of the nation if you think you can!
| 4. Leak press stories to journalists to pressure Ministries to make a
| decision. Quick!
| 5. Try to shut down TCs if actual technical work is done revealing issues
| with your plan
| 6. Question Question Question everything (process, fairness, the system,
| members) when things dont go your way
| 7. Otherwise create another TC with friendly experts
| 8. If the NB allows new members just by paying membership fees, encourage
| your business partners to join with marketing funds. Stack-stack-stack it
| high!
| 9. Stalk decision makers, even if it means traveling around the globe with
| them
| 10. Refuse changes in the spec especially if it breaks your product which
| you released prior
| 11. Have private interviews with TC members in the guise of funding for
| their new projects/research grants/interoperability initiatives and
| conveniently talk about their position on your spec.
| 12. Get your Business Partners to write in form letters. Some don't even
| bother to change the templates
| 13. Attend TC meetings uninvited by fabricating business cards
| 14. Send Lawyers in to Technical Committee meetings who prefer not to
| engage in "high-school" debates
| 15. Make rude and inaccurate statements against TC members in public
`----
http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2008/03/how-to-royally.html
A Microsoft Slur in the OOXML Saga -- Did I Tell You or Did I Tell You? -
Updated
,----[ Quote ]
| Remember I told you I've noticed that people who don't support Microsoft's
| agenda end up the victim of smear campaigns?
|
| The New Zealand Open Source Society is reporting that an employee at
| Microsoft New Zealand recently sent an email to one of the technical bodies
| advising an NB involved in the OOXML ISO process, smearing a man's
| reputation, Matthew Holloway, apparently to undermine his technical input
| which was critical of OOXML.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080318151252279
Here is what happens when you 'dare' to stand in the way of Internet Explorer
with ActiveX and all the other nasties that lead to conviction and antitrust
fine:
Tim Bray: Life Is Complicated
,----[ Quote ]
| Those with long memories might suggest a parallel between Rick’s position and
| mine when in 1997, I was sitting on the XML Working Group and co-editing the
| spec, on a pro bono basis as an indie consultant. Netscape hired me to
| represent their interests, and when I announced this, controversy ensued.
| Which is a nice way of saying that Microsoft went berserk; tried
| unsuccessfully to get me fired as co-editor, and then launched a vicious,
| deeply personal extended attack in which they tried to destroy my career and
| took lethal action against a small struggling company because my wife worked
| there. It was a sideshow of a sideshow of the great campaign to bury Netscape
| and I’m sure the executives have forgotten; but I haven’t.
`----
http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2007/01/24/Mixup
Microsoft: is it a company? Or is it a dangerous cult?
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071023002351958
>From Microsoft:
"5: Jihad
A Jihad is a road trip. in which an evangelist visits a large number of ISVs
one-on-one to convince them to take some specific action. The classic Jihad is
one focused on getting Tier A ISVs to commit to supporting a given technology
by signing the technology's Letter of Agreement (LOA - see above).
A Jihad focuses on the Travelling Salesman aspect of evangelism. As in sales,
the purpose of the exercise is to close – to get the mark the ISV to sign on
the dotted line, in pen, irrevocably. Not to get back to us later, not to talk
to the wife about it, not to enter a three-day cooling-off period, but to get
the ISV to sign, sign, sign.
If the start of the meeting is the first time the ISV has seen the LOA, then
he's not going to sign it at the end of the meeting. Since we're asking for a
very serious commitment, we want the ISV to give their signing serious
consideration. If the ISV cannot deliver, then his committing to deliver is
worse than useless – the ISV's participation may occupy one of a limited
number of available slots, keeping some other ISV from participating.
To maximize the chance of getting the ISV to sign during the Jihad visit, make
sure that
-- The ISV has seen the LOA at least a week before the Jihad visit
-- The LOA is very clear about what exactly each side is promising to
deliver, and when
-- An Officer of the ISV's corporation will be attending the meeting
-- Microsoft's Director of DRG has positioned the LOA with sufficient
seriousness, in a cover letter or other communication in advance of the
meeting
-- You make it clear from the start that the purpose of your visit is to
answer any questions that they might have, preparatory to signing the LOA
while you're there
-- They understand that those who do not sign the LOA, are frozen out of
all further information about the techology until it goes into public beta
-- They understand (without being crude about it) that you will be making
the same offer to their competitors
-- You have T-shirts or other swag to give to those who sign. lt's amazing
what some people will do for a T-shirt.
There are a million tips and tricks to effective road trips, and to being a
Road Warrior in general, all of which is beyond the scope of this discussion.
[...]
8: The Slog
Guerilla marketing is often a long, hard slog.
slog (sl^g) v. slogged, slogqing, slogs. –tr, To strike with heavy blows,
as in boxing. -intr. 1. To walk with a slow, plodding gait. 2. To work
diligently for long hours. –n. . 1. long, hard work. 2. A long, exhausting
march or hike. [Orig. unknown.] -slog'ger
–American Heritage Dictionary, 1991
In the Slog, Microsoft dukes it out with the competition. MSDN and Platform
marketing are the regular forces, exchanging blows with the enemy mano a mano.
Evangelism should avoid formal, frontal assaults, instead focusing its efforts
of hit-and-run tactics.
In the Slog, the enemy will counter-attack, trying to subvert your Tier A ISVs
to their side, just as you should try to subvert their ISVs to your side. New
ISVs should be sought, and directed to MSDN's one-to- many programs.
Evangelism should constantly be on the lookout for killer demos, hot young
startups, major ISVs, customer testimonials, enemy-alliance-busting defections
and other opportunities to demonstrate momentum for our technology. If bugs
are found in our technology, or missing features are found to be critically
important, then now is the time to identify and fix them. Stay engaged with
the technology development team; ensure that you are a valuable resource for
them, not a hectoring pest. Document all of your progress (ideally in
regularly updated internal Web pages) and forward it regularly to management.
If management is not aware of your progress, your successes, and your
stumbling blocks, then they can't help. (They may not help anyway, but they
can't if they don't know what you need.)
Keep those Tier A ISVs on track to delivery! They are your strongest weapons
and cannot be forgotten.
The elements of the evangelical infrastructure - conference presentations,
courses, seminars, books, magazine articles, whitepapers, etc. – should start
hitting the street at the start of the Slog. They should be so numerous as to
push all other books off the shelf, courses out of catalogs, and presentations
off the stage.
Working behind the scenes to orchestrate "independent" praise of our
technology, and damnation of the enemy's, is a key evangelism function during
the Slog. "Independent" analyst's report should be issued, praising your
technology and damning the competitors (or ignoring them). "Independent"
consultants should write columns and articles, give conference presentations
and moderate stacked panels, all on our behalf (and setting them up as experts
in the new technology, available for just $200/hour). "Independent" academic
sources should be cultivated and quoted (and research money
granted). "Independent" courseware providers should start profiting from their
early involvement in our technology. Every possible source of leverage should
be sought and turned to our advantage.
I have mentioned before the "stacked panel". Panel discussions naturally favor
alliances of relatively weak partners - our usual opposition. For example,
an "unbiased" panel on OLE vs. OpenDoc would contain representatives of the
backers of OLE (Microsoft) and the backers of OpenDoc (Apple, IBM, Novell,
WordPerfect, OMG, etc.). Thus we find ourselves outnumbered in almost
every "naturally occurring" panel debate.
A stacked panel, on the other hand, is like a stacked deck: it is packed with
people who, on the face of things, should be neutral, but who are in fact
strong supporters of our technology. The key to stacking a panel is being able
to choose the moderator. Most conference organizers allow the moderator to
select the panel, so if you can pick the moderator, you win. Since you can't
expect representatives of our competitors to speak on your behalf, you have to
get the moderator to agree to having only "independent ISVs" on the panel. No
one from Microsoft or any other formal backer of the competing technologies
would be allowed – just ISVs who have to use this stuff in the "real world."
Sounds marvelously independent doesn't it? In fact, it allows us to stack the
panel with ISVs that back our cause. Thus, the "independent" panel ends up
telling the audience that our technology beats the others hands down. Get the
press to cover this panel, and you've got a major win on your hands.
Finding a moderator is key to setting up a stacked panel. The best sources of
pliable moderators are:
-- Analysts: Analysts sell out - that's their business model. But they are
very concerned that they never look like they are selling out, so that makes
them very prickly to work with.
-- Consultants: These guys are your best bets as moderators. Get a
well-known consultant on your side early, but don't let him publish anything
blatantly pro-Microsoft. Then, get him to propose himself to the conference
organizers as a moderator, whenever a panel opportunity comes up. Since he's
well-known, but apparently independent, he'll be accepted – one less thing for
the constantly-overworked conference organizer to worry about, right?
Gathering intelligence on enemy activities is critical to the success of the
Slog. We need to know who their allies are and what differences exist between
them and their allies (there are always sources of tension between allies), so
that we can find ways to split 'em apart. Reading the trade press, lurking on
newsgroups, attending conferences, and (above all) talking to ISVs is
essential to gathering this intelligence.
This is a very tough phase of evangelism. You'll be pulled in every direction
at once, randomized by short-term opportunities and action items, nagged by
your Tier A ISVs and pestered by every other ISV that wants to become a Tier
A. Management will want to know right now how you're going to respond to some
bogus announcement by some random ISV. Some PM over in Consumer will demand
that you drop everything to go talk to an ISV in Outer Mongolia, that's run by
an old college chum of his. Competitors will make surprise announcements, lie
through their teeth, and generally try to screw you just as hard as you are
trying to screw them.
Of course, if you are very, very lucky, there will be no competition to your
technology. But this is almost never the case. ODBC had its IDAPI, OLE had its
OpenDoc, COM had its SOM, DCOM has its CORBA, MAPI had its VIM, etc., etc.,
etc. The existence of a Microsoft technology nearly guarantees that a
competitive technology will spring into existence overnight, backed by an
impromptu association of Microsoft competitors which have decided to draw yet
another Line in the Sand ("If we don't stop Microsoft here, then they are
going to take over the whole world!").
Without a competing technology to fight, you just hand everything over to MSDN,
give your Tier A ISVs to PSS, and find a new technology to evangelize. But
that takes most of the fun out of the game :-)
9: Final Release:
Evangelism of a given technology usually ends with the final, shipping release
of that technology. One last big press event, with demos, a tradeshow, press
releases, etc., is often called for, showcasing the apps that are sim-shipping
and the customers that are using them. In the face of strong competition,
Evangelism's"
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | Get the most out of your hardware. Get Linux.
http://Schestowitz.com | RHAT GNU/Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
11:00:01 up 5 days, 9:12, 3 users, load average: 0.80, 1.01, 1.21
http://iuron.com - help build a non-profit search engine
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