Linux Foundation Leadership Team: Technical Advisory Board Now Google-Microsoft Majority
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2023-08-07 13:18:58 UTC
- Modified: 2023-08-07 16:31:12 UTC
As of today:
Summary: How can the Linux Foundation not see the glaring issue of panel stacking in its committees? The above should never be allowed to happen in a healthy, vendor-neutral organisation. Remember that Microsoft has more board seats than any other company! Because the seats are for sale (as openly admitted in the IRS filings).
"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]
