--Bill Hilf (Microsoft's 'Linux Guy'), May 2007
--Steve Ballmer (Microsoft's CEO), February 28th, 2008
(Btw, Ballmer beat the pulpit at Accel's recent CEO day, accusing open source of stealing Microsoft's intellectual property. This man dearly needs to get a life...and a clue.)
noooxml.org
has already responded.
Dog bites man vs. man bites dog
Microsoft is used to play hard without any conservatism in terms of reputation. Other companies that were in a weaker market position adapted to a changing market environment and they are responsive to the public. The lack of care for reputation clearly plays in the hands of every campaigner. It's your favourite opponent because they will deliver you the lethal action you need to entertain your community. In a crime fiction about the Mafia no one is shocked by their killings because you expect it as natural. In the case of Microsoft this may result in the attitude of some bloggers to cry louder about foul play. I don't think this is the right approach but the economics of it is well understood.
“This is not a case against Microsoft. It's hardly a case for more competition, in a sense. To many of us, it's a case against crime.”After all the things Rick Jelliffe actually did (e.g. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13]) he truly has some nerve to direct such accusations against opposition. Does Rick deny Microsoft's wrongdoing? Will he, for example, deny the bribery cycle, of which he is a part?
This is not a case against Microsoft. It's hardly a case for more competition, in a sense. To many of us, it's a case against crime. It's a case against cheating. It is a case against breaking the rules, as pretty much acknowledged by Europe's antitrust investigation. Perhaps Rick is a little worried that Europe might knock on his door. The most recent article, from the Financial Times in fact, said that Europe investigated not only Microsoft, but also delegates involved in the stacking. Remember what Microsoft says about consultants such as Rick, who happens to do consulting work for Microsoft.
"Consultants: These guys are your best bets as moderators. Get a well-known consultant on your side early, but don’t let him publish anything blatantly pro-Microsoft. Then, get him to propose himself to the conference organizers as a moderator, whenever a panel opportunity comes up."
CIO.com raises an important issue about the integrity of research being done by industry analysts. Namely, if a sponsor pays for the research, do they get favorable treatment in that research?
[...]
I'm not suggesting that the research is corrupted. I'm just suggesting that it's hard to remove the taint of sponsored research. Just take a look at Gartner's "Hype Cycle" on open source, which is woefully inaccurate, probably in part because Gartner gets its information from the vendors who sponsor its research, not the customers who are buying into open source in droves.
Comments
SubSonica
2008-03-15 11:32:50
helios
2008-03-16 21:27:21
h
Roy Schestowitz
2008-03-17 01:18:56