03.14.07
Microsoft Hijacks the Voice of Novell Customers
Have a look at this disturbing scenario. This comes from a journalist who covered the HSBC story, whose announcement came from Microsoft, along with some nasty poison.
Microsoft/Novell patent deal — a customer doesn’t speak
I asked Matthew O’Neill, group head of distributed systems for HSBC global IT operations, whether he was ever worried about either Microsoft or Novell suing it for using the other company’s products.
Before O’Neill could answer, however, Susan Hauser, general manager of strategic partnerships and licensing at Microsoft, chipped in to answer for him, giving the stock answer that the companies’ customers had concerns about intellectual property and wanted peace of mind.
Well here I was asking the companies’ customer to explain his concerns about intellectual property and he wasn’t being given a chance to speak. Eventually he did make his feelings known, but it would seem HSBC isn’t as concerned about IP infringement as Microsoft.
This is very reminiscent of Steve Ballmer’s statements ‘on behalf on Novell’. Back in November, he argued that businesses begged for Novell/Microsoft help with legal issues. The deal with Wal-mart, which we covered before, is no exception. Microsoft uses these deals to spread disinformation and create fear.
I am pleased to see that some journalists have the guts to reveal these behind-the-scenes stories. Also from the same guy:
I just noticed that Microsoft’s director of corporate standards, Jason Matusow, has published a clarification of a recent story I wrote about Open XML’s route through the ISO standardization process.
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