12.25.10
Alex Brown: The ‘Joe Lieberman’ of Microsoft
Joe Lieberman: The man who tries to shut down Wikileaks
Summary: The ugly side of Microsoft recalled
From Linux Magazine (2008 article): “Activists in the Boycott Novell forum have exposed the more than 5,500 page document in PDF, HTML, Microsoft spreadsheet, and various other formats on their website. Even though OOXML was certified as an ISO standard under turbulent and unsteady circumstances, ISO has been keeping the comprehensive documentation under wraps. The Boycott Novell activists describe the documentation exposure as a reaction to the “systematic abuse and the demise of ISO.” Alex Brown, who was partly responsible for the OOXML process at ISO, describes the exposure in his weblog as a “brazen act of copyright violation.”
“Brown goes on to say that “the boobies have even been so good as to boast about the bandwidth requirements their crimes have occasioned” and ends with the words, “Even now, I can hear those Geneva lawyers licking their lips over this one…” Boycott Novell webmaster Roy Schestovitz is not fazed by the possible legalities. He adds, “Feel free to pass around (or even ridicule) those ~60 megabytes of lock-in, which Microsoft won’t let you see.” He is not alone in this opinion: the numerous ongoing updates are tagged with the authors’ names.
“The website contributors also point to IBM’s recent “provocative call” for ISO “to do better,” with IBM challenging their participation in the process (reported here).”
As somebody pointed out in the comments, “Alex Brown increasingly looks like a Microsoft puppet posing as an impartial ISO official” (correct assertion) and we’ll write about the subject again very shortly. This relates to Novell, too.
As OOXML helped show, Microsoft is a corrupt company which bullies its critics. It tries to make it risky to expose misconduct. But never mind that, watch PR instead because it’s so much more comforting than addressing the evils in this world.
“The world has a lot of problems and they need to be reformed. And we only live once. Every person who has some ability to do something about it, if they are a person of good character, has the duty to try and fix the problems in the environment which they’re in.
“That is a value, that, yes, comes partly from my temperament. There is also a value that comes from my father, which is that capable, generous men don’t create victims, they try and save people from becoming victims. That is what they are tasked to do. If they do not do that they are not worthy of respect or they are not capable.“
—Julian Assange 21 December, 2010 BBC Transcript: The Assange interview
