06.28.10
How Microsoft (and Other Proprietary Software Companies) Derail Free/Libre Software in South Africa and New Zealand
Summary: Tectonic and others tell the story of South Africa and how Free software proponents got “subsumed” or drained; Microsoft hijacks the “open” flag in New Zealand
Tectonic remains an excellent Web site which is back in action after a dormant year. The informants from Tectonic are some of the very few in Africa who spread progress reports in English (except for corporate-controlled African media, which rhymes with companies’ press releases and advertisements, as we showed on numerous occasions before).
“It’s yet another example of government hijack by proprietary, patents-encumbered lock-in, bundled deceitfully and marketed under the “open” banner.”Outrageous claims are being made in this new recording which is interesting but depressing to listen to at times. It covers issues which we pointed out before, such as the pushing out of Free software proponents from government (typical tactic), even buying out of Free software players and dismantling them by proprietary giants, who are always pretending to be open. It’s a lie. They are imposters who are aided by Microsoft lobbyists like CompTIA. It’s probably better to listen to the full audiocast.
Microsoft seems to have also ‘pulled a LinuxTag’ [1, 2] over in New Zealand where it has just lobbied for software patents. Shameless liars are ‘pulling a NASA’ [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] by organising an “Open Government” conference that they are sponsoring and hosting. Microsoft? Open? Who are they kidding? It’s yet another example of government hijack by proprietary, patents-encumbered lock-in, bundled deceitfully and marketed under the “open” banner.
It came outta the blue this conference. The topic is Open Government. There was another Open Government un-conference in Wellington last year.
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Microsoft sponsored the first. This one they pretty much completely hosted. They was enough reason for many to stay away — and coupled with the suprise announcement and lack of involvement in any open government initiatives in NZ so far, those who pointedly didn’t attend make a good point. I see this as undoubtedly microsoft trying to wedge their brand in with something successful. The question is will they really be able to take this movement they have tried to block so much in the past, and magically be able to repaint it as something they’re all about? They seem to be on the start of a mission to do just that.
Don’t they already know that Microsoft is doing this on purpose? Microsoft enjoys and takes pride in destruction and obfuscation. It’s also what it did in South Africa. █
“I’ve killed at least two Mac conferences. [...] by injecting Microsoft content into the conference, the conference got shut down. The guy who ran it said, why am I doing this?”
