As seen in Groklaw:
http://www.groklaw.net/comment.php?mode=display&sid=2007071812280798&title=Notes%20from%20Portugal%20on%20%20the%20July%2016th%20Meeting%20on%20Ecma-376&type=article&order=&hideanonymous=0&pid=0#c596254

Notes from Portugal on the July 16th Meeting on Ecma-376
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, July 20 2007 @ 06:48 AM EDT
This is as fishy/unfair as it can get.

As a Portuguese, i really don’t see the point (besides unfair bullying) of
having MS business parters there. In this particular case, these people are
mostly sales/account managers who really don’t have a clue about what they are
talking about. They just wanna have their way (M$ way) through. They are
representatives from corporations which their core business is 100% M$ for
decades now. Worst even, some these companies have strong political connections
thought corporate stock share owned (guess what) by politicians.

I strongly dislike Manuel Cerqueira presence there, who is nothing more than an
openly M$ lackey and a clueless wannabe politician. ASSOFT is the Portuguese BSA
version strongly focus on fighting software piracy of its two major associates
M$ and Autodesk.

ASSOFT is a private association but his tactics and propaganda are strongly
backed up the Portuguese government. Being a Software association it should had
help ANSOL developing more OSS in Portugal. Instead went through the “money
side”:It’s has done 0%(zero) for OSS and 100% for M$ and Autodesk in
Portugal. In fact has damage OSS oportunities here every chance it gets.

The general tactic is the following:

1-MS account managers bury Portuguese companies with expensive “do it all
and pay it later” M$ solutions well served with a high poisonous
marketing.This is the time and place they say “OSS sucks, go our way”.
Naivelly, so they do.

2-Most companies here cannot cope with the expensive m$ licencing costs, but as
they are all tied up with the M$ solutions, they choose to pay much much later.

3- Meanwhile the extortionists who keep a list a such companies (assoft who
else) team up with the portuguese police (in fact on many ocasions they like to
pretend they ARE the police) and go to the m$ rescue.

4- The company is then burried in fines and lawsuits, and its managers could
face the usual up two 3 years piracy jail sentence, not because they were really
software pirates, but because they were defrauded by this kind of ppl, Manuel
Cerqueira and his goons.

5-There is a major exception to points 3-4. The Portuguese state and it’s public
companies.Why? Assoft doesn’t want to ruin the beautiful political relationship
it has. Ridiculous consequence:The government for instance can use loads of
piracy, but the major Portuguese companies don’t

The same tactic is applied to Autodesk Solutions.

This is the kind of people that they *do really* want in such meetings.

Alex