Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> Taiwan market: Microsoft offering cash incentives to encourage reporting of
> Vista-incompatible applications
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| Microsoft, on March 18, announced the launch of a campaign to encourage users
>| of Windows Vista to inform Microsoft Taiwan of applications that are
>| incompatible with the operating system, and is offering a small cash prize of
>| NT$1,000 (US$32.5) per accurate report, according to Microsoft Taiwan.
> `----
>
> http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20080319PD202.html%20
>
> Ironically and sadly enough, there are still some Ashley Highfields in the US
> government who fail to see that Windows is dying (14% of all PC sales in the
> US are now Macs, IIRC, while most sales in Japan are Macs also, Linux being
> used as a Windows alternatives on whiteboxes, so it can't be counted). Now
> look what they do just shortly after the Library of Congress accepted
> kickbacks for Microsoft Silverfish:
>
> Kofax® Wins $2.1 Million Contract with National Archives and Records
> Administration (NARA)
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| Kofax plc (LSE: KFX), a global leader of Intelligent Capture & Exchange
>| solutions, today announced it has won a $2.1 million contract with the
>| National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the official records
>| keeper for the United States Federal Government. Kofax will provide NARA?s
>| Federal Records Centers (FRC) with an enterprise-level solution for
>| electronically capturing and processing millions of the nation?s vital
>| documents.
> `----
>
> http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/?epi_menuItemID=8529ea2ad8631dcd3bb97904c6908a0c&epi_menuID=887566059a3aedb6efaaa9e27a808a0c&epi_baseMenuID=384979e8cc48c441ef0130f5c6908a0c&ndmViewId=news_view&newsLang=en&newsId=20080319005409
>
> [PJ: It's Windows only, but it outputs as PDF and .tiff. But it does mean that
> NARA is now locking itself into Windows.]
>
> http://www.groklaw.net/newsitems.php
>
These look like last-ditch attempts to secure monopolies before
governments realise just what is being done to them. It's quite
surprising that anyone could consider a proprietary solution for
national archives. I wonder what would have happened had Parliamentary
records, rather than being stored on Vellum scrolls, been stored on some
apothecary's proprietary storage system...
--
| mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
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|
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