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Microsoft Unit Faces Accounting Probe
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| Microsoft Corp.'s search-technology unit Fast Search & Transfer is facing a
| police investigation in Norway concerning possible financial-accounting
| irregularities.
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121208605782530017.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Needs subs to read.
OOXML Norway, anyone? Microsoft sponsored the ISO meeting there and seemingly
overrode votes on OOXML.
Recent:
Steve Ballmer Receives the Egg-treatment in Budapest
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| Update#2: OK, enough of the fun part. As the story circulates people start
| wondering what may be the background, and since the only sources are in
| Hungarian, here’s a summary of the circumstances:
|
| A Hungarian Government bid, worth $25B Hungarian Forints, roughly $157M
| was allegedly skewed towards MS. (A ‘competitive’ bid with wording that
| all but ensures only Microsoft meets the requirements.) A Hungarian
| Watchdog Body (sort of like the FTC in the US) challenged the bidding
| process via the Court system, and a trial date was set for today. The
| trial was suddenly and unexpectedly rescheduled just as Ballmer arrived
| in Budapest. So there may be a perception of the Bully lobbying there.
`----
http://www.zoliblog.com/2008/05/19/steve-ballmer-receives-the-egg-treatment-in-budapest/
Support South Africa’s appeal against OOXML!
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| South Africa’s action confirms that the battle is not yet lost. Here in
| Norway we are working hard to get the Norwegian vote changed back to No and
| we think we might succeed.
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http://topicmaps.wordpress.com/2008/05/23/support-south-africas-appeal-against-ooxml/
The Norway Vote - What really happened
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| But lo… at this point, the “rules” were changed. The VP asserted that “Ecma
| has clearly made steps in the right direction.” The most important thing now
| was to ensure that OOXML came under ISO’s control so that it could
| be “further improved”. However, the committee was not allowed to discuss
| this.
|
| The VP thereupon declared that there was no consensus, so the decision
| would be taken by Standard Norway.
|
|
| Halfway through the proceedings, a committee member had asked for (and
| received) assurance that the Chairman would take part in the final decision,
| as he had for the DIS vote back in August. It now transpired that the BRM
| participants had also been invited to stay behind. 23 people were therefore
| dismissed and we were down to seven. In addition to Standard Norway’s three,
| there were four “experts”: Microsoft Norway’s chief lobbyist, a guy from
| StatoilHydro (national oil company; big MS Office user), a K185 old-timer,
| and me. In one fell swoop the balance of forces had changed from 80/20 to
| 50/50 and the remaining experts discussed back and forth for 20 minutes or so
| without reaching any agreement.
|
| The VP thereupon declared that there was still no consensus, so the
| decision would be taken by Standard Norway.
|
|
| The experts were dismissed and the VP asked the opinion of the Secretary (who
| said “Yes”) and the JTC1 rep (who said “No”).
|
| The VP thereupon declared that there was still no consensus, so the
| decision would be taken by him.
|
|
| And his decision was to vote Yes.
|
| So this one bureaucrat, a man who by his own admission had no understanding
| of the technical issues, had chosen to ignore the advice of his Chairman, of
| 80% of his technical experts, and of 100% of the K185 old-timers. For the
| Chairman, only one course of action was possible.
|
| [...]
|
| The meeting was a farce and the result was a scandal. But it’s not over yet,
| and one thing is clear: the “little one” is unfit to represent the interests
| of Norwegian users. It’s time he was told, “Roll over, roll over…”
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http://topicmaps.wordpress.com/2008/04/18/the-norway-vote-what-really-happened/
Computer experts stage street protest in Oslo against Microsoft document format
as standard
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| OSLO, Norway: Roughly 60 data experts staged a rare and noisy street
| demonstration in downtown Oslo on Wednesday to protest the adoption of
| Microsoft Corp.'s document format as an international standard and against
| Norway voting for the move.
|
| [...]
|
| He claimed the committee ignored the advice of the vast majority of the
| Nordic nation's software experts, was pressured by Microsoft and
| displayed "scandalous behavior."
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http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/09/business/EU-TEC-Norway-Digital-Demonstration.php
OOXML triggers demonstration in Norway: "Let's throw OOXML out of ISO"
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-52412/ooxml-triggers-demonstration-in-norway:let-s-throw-ooxml-out-of-iso
Demonstration outside ISO conference
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| Steve Pepper, the former Chairman of the Norwegian committee responsible for
| deciding the Norwegian vote on OOXML, is calling for a demonstration to take
| place outside the building where SC34, the ISO committee that has been landed
| with OOXML, is holding its spring plenary.
|
| The demonstration will take place outside Håndverkeren, Rosenkrantzgate 7,
| Oslo, Norway, on Wednesday April 9 at 12.00. Among the slogans are:
|
| * No to ISO approval of OOXML!
| * Defend the integrity of ISO!
| * Microsoft: Support ODF!
| * Ecma: Withdraw OOXML!
| * Norway must say no to OOXML!
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http://blogs.freecode.no/isene/2008/04/07/demonstration-outside-iso-conference/
Corrupt countries were more likely to support the OOXML document format
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| Is this just a random coincidence? The median of the CPI index of the above
| mentioned 70 countries is 3.95. Of the most corrupted half (CPI index less
| than 3.95) 23 or 77% voted for approval (approval or approval with comments)
| and 7 or 23% for disapproval; 5 abstained. Of the least corrupted half (CPI
| index more than 3.95) 13 or 54% voted for approval and 11 or 46% voted for
| disapproval; 11 abstained - see the table below.
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http://www.effi.org/blog/kai-2007-09-05.en.html
Microsoft accused of more OOXML standards fiddling
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| However the 11 new countries are refusing to say how they will vote. These
| include Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Ecuador, Jamaica, Lebanon, Malta, Pakistan,
| Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uruguay and Venezuela. Most people seem to think
| that these have been put there by Vole to make sure the standard gets pushed
| through.
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http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=42106
Related:
Microsoft Office raid in Hungary
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| "Such behavior could lead to the exclusion of competitive products from
| the market and violate European Union rules, according to the authority
| known as the GVH."
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http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/26/ap3957835.html
Ecuador Tax Agency Closes Microsoft Branch Offices For 7 Days
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| "We have twice requested balances, payment reports and complete tax
| information, but the company hasn't given it to us, so in accordance with our
| laws we have proceeded with the closure," the SRI official in charge of the
| proceeding said.
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http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200710041610DOWJONESDJONLINE000810_FORTUNE5.htm
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