Bonum Certa Men Certa

BRM: Bribery Reinforces Monopoly

OOXML on the trash canAs you may or may not remember, Microsoft has quietly ensured that its own employees go to the Ballot Resolution Meeting (BRM) to represent entire nations. This is of course preposterous because you virtually let a fox watch the henhouse, or let someone decide on his/her own wage. It's just another examples of what Jeremy Allison called "Einstein's definition of insanity". And yet, the world goes on obediently and blindly (a peripheral picture of three monkeys [PNG] might be a good fit here).

”Remember 'votes for hire' in Italy, to name just one example?“Groklaw has just collected some more details. It's looking ugly. It's almost as though the BRM was nicely set up for Microsoft to come and collect a trophy. Since Microsoft is likely to attend 'on behalf of' entire nations and industries, this is another example (among many we've covered in the past) where the deck of cards contains just aces. Remember 'votes for hire' in Italy, to name just one example? Anyway, here are some of the latest information.

So if you had concerns about Microsoft's patent policy, forgeddaboudit.

It's been magically erased, and any comments are out of order.

[...]

They have chosen a room that can seat only 120 people for reasons unknown, so there may not be room for all the delegates. Let me guess. The head of the delegation is a Microsoft guy, and the ones who can't fit in the room are the ones who have issues with the proposed format? You think? Hey, some of us remember the games that were played already over rooms too small for IBM and Sun.


This is the story PJ is referring to. Look who else is listed?

This is starting to look really, really bad. At a minimum, you have to say this is the very opposite of an open process. I can't help but notice too that Brown lists Rick Jelliffe's as one of the "cool blogs" he recommends on Brown's blog. I think that is what novelists would call foreshadowing.


For those who do not know, Microsoft flies Rick Jelliffe around the world and also paid him to edit Wikipedia. With 'independent' professionals like these, who needs moderators?

Related articles:



OOXML is a monopoly

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Snooping EPO Management, Sniffing Up Every Staff Action
It this a problem for whistleblowers? Of course.
Don't Do That
Options do exist. People should exercise freedom.
Iran Has Debunked GAFAM and Cloud Computing as Safety of Data
Cloud of smoke?
SLAPP Censorship - Part 188 Out of 200: Used, Then Discarded, by Microsoft (as We Predicted All Along, It's Always Like That)
The longer they carry on with it, the more scandalous this will get
43rd Anniversary of the GNU Project Announcement
Coming soon
SLAPP Censorship - Part 187 Out of 200: Reminding Ourselves of the Great Damage Garrett Did to Linux (for Microsoft)
he rejects freedom
 
Privilege in 'Linux' Foundation (Double Standards) and What the FSF Should Avoid Doing
If RMS can talk about politics, others too should be able to talk about politics
Seems Like Many Microsoft Layoffs Are Going On Right Now (Forever Layoffs)
Like IBM, Microsoft hopes shareholders will not know of morale and financial problems
More Threats From the Person of Restricted Boot Infamy
Remember this is the man who is the principal purveyor of restricted boot and who landed restricted boot in Linux
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 17, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, September 17, 2026
Linux Kernel Becoming a Slopfest - Part 3 - Besieged by LLM Bots, Now Hiding Behind a Wall of JavaScript
The series began 3 days ago
Gemini Links 18/09/2026: Modern Linguistic, Boxing, Turning 40, and Solar MiniServer
Links for the day
Links 17/09/2026: Studio Closures and Negative Rumours About Microsoft XBox Again
Links for the day
What's Wrong with Microsoft's GitHub, New Article by Jacob Bachmeyer and Richard Stallman
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
EBay is Going to Die Soon
Users will flee
Red Hat PIPs. The Only Question is, How Many?
Insiders know what's coming soon
This Week The Register MS Published a Page With "AI" 34 Times in It and It Was, as Usual, Paid SPAM!
Does The Register MS understand that it is doing harm to its audience (for temporary gains)?
General Assembly (Meeting of All Staff) Starts in Hour Ago to Discuss Strikes at Europe's Second-Largest Institution (EPO), Strikes to Last Until End of 2026 (If Not Further)
The media absolutely does not cover this and that's intentional
Cancel Culture is a Cancer That Harms Democracy, Justice, and Science. It's Designed to Help Corporations Vanish Their Critics.
"Codes of Conduct" sounds benign; in practice, however, it is not
Links 17/09/2026: Class Action Lawsuit Over GAFAM's "NameTag" and Automattic Hides What It Did to CEO Mullenweg (or Why)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/09/2026: Google Signals the End, ROOPHLOCH Coverage, EBay Uses Offensive Bots to Falsely Accuse Users of Stuff
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 16, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 16, 2026
IBM's Anderon Another Opportunity for Debt-Loading, Publicity Stunts, Maybe Hidden Layoffs
Anderon is like Theranos
In Praise of 7 Years of Alex Oliva in the FSF, Not IBM
Thank you, Mr. Oliva, for 7 years of uncompressing advocacy and perseverance
SLAPP Censorship - Part 186 Out of 200: Love (Always Commands)
This coming Friday we celebrate our wedding anniversary
With Half of September Finished Clownflare Radar Sees GNU/Linux at 7% "Market Share"
On desktops/laptops
Linux Kernel Becoming a Slopfest - Part 2 - Bribes From Slop Pushers Divide Us
Money can and does divide people
Gemini Links 16/09/2026: Cards, Nature, and Conspiracy Theorists
Links for the day
Links 16/09/2026: Proprietary Chatbots Company Lets Humans Moderate Chatbots, "Putin Looking to See How Far he Can Push NATO"
Links for the day
The Only Still-Supported Version of Windows Breaks Itself (Again), the Microsoft Layoffs Will Carry on in Secret
In the US they marked about 7% for removal just this past summer
Wikileaks Turns 20 Just 18 Days From Now
it's fair to say they've endured online, but aren't lively/active
The Cyber Show Debunks the Alleged Intelligence in Slop
It's shorter than usual
Expecting Failure
Some things would not happen to technology (tech) experts because they know how things work and what to expect (or watch out for)
Links 16/09/2026: US Running Low/Out of Some Ammo Due to Wars, Slop Bots "Are Using an Outrageous Amount of Electricity"
Links for the day
"AI Slowdown" is Code Word for Bubble Imploding (Trying to Make This Slowdown Seem Wilful, an Act of Safety and Responsibility)
They help one another by inflating the bubble and making false excuses when expansion stalls
SLAPP Censorship - Part 185 Out of 200: What Reputation?
Helping monopolies and working for monopolies never made anybody popular
Gemini Links 16/09/2026: Slovenia, Catastrophe Ethics, and ROOPHLOCH 2026
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 15, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 15, 2026