Summary: More educational interferences by Microsoft in Finland, including stacked panels according to fresh allegations

WE have recently been in contact with several people who are based in Finland, which is where Linux comes from. One would imagine that Finland is all about Linux but it's not. There are corruptible politicians standing in the way, including some whom we named here before^*. One must remember that they are being lobbied by people like Bill Gates, who still works for Microsoft on the side. We wrote about his lobbying visit to Finland just two years ago and now that another Finnish university becomes his prey, this visit is being recalled:

"The cooperation between Microsoft and Aalto University started already in January 2008 when Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen and Microsoft Chairman of the Board Bill Gates met. Since then Microsoft Research in Cambridge has followed closely the development of Aalto University and its profile. As the result of this dialogue, two joint research projects are now announced. With this venture we will continue to observe the further intensification of our research collaboration with great confidence", says Government Affairs Lead Max Mickelsson of Microsoft.

Why was Gates dumping software in the land of Linus Torvalds? Some say it's because schools in Finland make many attempts (some successful) to move to GNU/Linux, primarily Ubuntu based on recent reports. Microsoft is trying to derail this, as always. Microsoft's bad behaviour in Finland is not news to us. We wrote about the subject in posts such as:

• Suvi Lindén and Finland's Role at the OOXML BRM
• Nokia and Finland: A Mystery Behind OOXML and Silverlight
• Losing Your Job for Opposing a Monopoly Abuser? (Lassi Nirhamo)
• The Full Story About Finland Might Reveal an 'Inside Job'
• Finland and New Zealand's Fight Against Vendor Lockin; IBM Set to Release Lotus 8 with ODF Support on Friday
• Quick Mention: Does Milan 'Pull a Finland'?
• Finland's Public Sector Moves to Open Standards and Free Software, Microsoft Interferes
• ODF/OOXML Watch: Australia, New Zealand, Finland, and the United States

A few days ago we were informed by a reader about new developments in Finland, notably the item at the top. Our reader wrote:

Our corrupted Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen visited Bill Gates back in 2008 and from that meeting he brought us Live@Edu for primary, intermediate and high schools. Now the plan went forward and also three most well-known academic schools, nowadays bundled together as Aalto univ are pwned by Microshaft.

Most of the schools in the whole country are using only Windows exclusively, from servers to desktops. All the problems with viruses, trojans, break-ins, slowness and breaks in lan/wan networks, problems with different incompatible (MS)office file formsts etc. are not released into the news, even within the organizations.

“Established in 2010, the Aalto University is a new university with centuries of experience. The Aalto University was created from the merger of three Finnish universities: The Helsinki School of Economics, Helsinki University of Technology and The University of Art and Design Helsinki.”

And Aalto = Wave in finnish, but it comes from the name of famous .fi architect, Alvar Aalto.

Recent news about PM Vanhanen: http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Chancellor+of+Justice+keeps+Vanhanen+report+on+foundation+funding+confidential/1135257457753

They’re playing time, together. Vanhanen is retiring from PM position next weekend and parliament elections are coming up in April 2011.

Another reader from Finland wrote to us and said a little more about the Finland-based Tuxera, which is helping Microsoft at the moment. Our reader asked not to be quoted or identified, but the short story is that Microsoft may be using stacked panels at the moment. It does this in Finland, aided by Ixonos. For those who do not know, Ixonos is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. ⬆

"A stacked panel, on the other hand, is like a stacked deck: it is packed with people who, on the face of things, should be neutral, but who are in fact strong supporters of our technology. The key to stacking a panel is being able to choose the moderator. Most conference organizers allow the moderator to select die panel, so if you can pick the moderator, you win. Since you can’t expect representatives of our competitors to speak on your behalf, you have to get the moderator to agree to having only “independent ISVs” on the panel. No one from Microsoft or any other formal backer of the competing technologies would be allowed -just ISVs who have to use this stuff in the “real world.” Sounds marvellously independent doesn’t it? In feet, it allows us to stack the panel with ISVs that back our cause. Thus, the “independent” panel ends up telling the audience that our technology beats the others hands down. Get the press to cover this panel, and you’ve got a major win on your hands."

--Microsoft, internal document [PDF]

____ ^* As a matter of general rule, it is common to have internal and external occupiers, where several internal factors (people or companies) conspire with outsiders in exchange for some benefit and betray the local population. They sometimes hire their critics (paying them) as means of suppressing critical campaigns that expose them.