Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Grabs Washington's Political System, Role Increased in DHS, Harvey Mudd College, VMware

Summary: Washington's commerce to be handled by a Microsoft person as Microsoft's H-1B workers fiasco continues; DHS, Harvey Mudd College, and VMware/EMC influence noted

Microsoft's former employees -- including some from the executive/senior ranks -- are still entering positions of political or corporate power where they can cause greater harm to society and promote Microsoft's interests that are typically adverse to society's. Microsoft's Rogers Weed is the latest example:

Gov. Chris Gregoire has named former Microsoft Vice President Rogers Weed to lead Washington's commerce activities.

She made the announcement Tuesday at a speech to business groups in Seattle. Gregoire says he'll work to keep the companies and jobs Washington has and to bring new ones to the state.


The Seattle Times covered this too.

Washington needs to stake out its future even as it struggles to cope with a deepening national recession, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Tuesday, introducing a former Microsoft executive to run a newly named state Department of Commerce.


Later on we realise that Microsoft is using its positions to harm the interests of the entire country. With its cronies in charge of important chairs, Microsoft gets to do whatever it feels like and always as it pleases. In fact, it's already hiring more cheap labour that it defrauded the States for.

Microsoft cut some H-1B workers but will hire more



Microsoft Corp. is letting H-1B workers go as part of its plan to lay off about 5,000 employees over 18 months, but the vendor will continue to hire visa holders as well, according to a letter that it sent to Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) last week.


We've already covered Microsoft's intervention in the Department of Homeland Security and here is some more coverage, for future reference:



Interestingly enough, it's a only the 'Microsoft press' where we could find coverage of this, namely CNET (with copy in CNN), BetaNews where Scott F. is still writing, and the Washington Post, which the Gates family keeps under its thumb. As the following article explains very briefly (it's a potpourri of reports):

Phil Reitinger, who is the Chief Trustworthy Infrastructure Strategist in Redmond, late this week was appointed the nation's new Cybersecurity Czar.

This came one day after his VP testified in congress about cyber terrorism, and within a week of the previous czar's resignation. Rod Beckstrom claiming a turf struggle with the National Security Agency over Cybersecurity was too much to take.


Why is Microsoft allowed a place in the DHS anyway? Microsoft's intentions of solving a problem that Microsoft itself created?

Another case of Microsoft influence will be Harvey Mudd College, whose President Maria Klawe joins Microsoft's board of directors. This was covered in:



Last but not least, Microsoft's grip on VMware is tightening, thanks to its partner of the year, EMC. Vance reports:

If EMC does plan to sell off its controlling stake in VMware, the company is maintaining a spectacular poker face.

On Tuesday, EMC held its first broad strategy update in almost three years. The company’s chief executive, Joe Tucci, presided over the affair, more than half of which centered on the virtualization software sold by VMware.

[...]

Mr. Maritz, once a top executive at Microsoft, boasted that VMware has shifted towards building a virtual operating system that runs not just servers but also storage and networking gear.


For a bit of background on Microsoft's role, confer [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].

Zigzag
Screwing one's way into rival territory

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft Windows Fell to All-Time Lows in Egypt This Summer, Vista 11 Adoption Decreases While GNU/Linux Increases
Vista 11 is going down rather than up
12 Hours Ago The Register MS Published a Fake (Paid-for) Article, But This One for a Change Did Not Promote a Ponzi Scheme
There are also Free software alternatives, but they don't pay The Register MS for "synthetic" so-called 'journalism'
 
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Resists Software Freedom, Even by Attacking Its Own
The OSI is compromised
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 27, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Slopwatch: linuxsecurity.com, Slopfarms in Google News, and More
Some readers of ours end up sending us links that are from slopfarms, not realising those are slopfarms
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Katrina Memories and Google Versus Software Freedom
Links for the day
Links 27/08/2025: Police Against Media Freedom in the UK, Energy-Hungry Countries Targeted by China
Links for the day
Links 27/08/2025: Microsoft Demoralises Staff With Slop Demands, Leaving Mastodon Explained
Links for the day
More People Need to Call Out and Put a Stop to Serial Sloppers
Unless slopfarms are stopped, people will read and share Microsoft propaganda made by chatbots
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Headphones and Tartarus
Links for the day
Morale at Microsoft is Terrible (Proprietary Plagiarism Machines Have No Future, LLM Slop is a Bubble)
The slop sceptics/critics are going to have lots of "told you so" moments
GNOME "governance issues, staff reduction, etc." amidst Albanian whistleblowing and women trafficking
Notice the connection to Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) and GNOME
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 26, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Richard Stallman (RMS) Was Right About "Sideloading" in 1996
We now have computers that treat booting GNU/Linux like an act of "Sideloading"
Panama: Windows Down From 97% "Market Share" to Less Than 30%
In 2009, Windows was measured at 97.24% (compared to 62.32% right now or less than 30% if one also counts Android)
The UEFI 9/11 - Part I - Introduction to Impending Catastrophe (Microsoft Preventing People From Booting Non-Windows Systems)
eight-part series
Why Techrights is Slow Today (Bot Floods)
We don't know if those bots are connected to LLMs (we have not checked), but that is a possibility
Slopwatch: DDoS Slop, LinuxBSDos.com Spam, and Slopfarms in Google News, Including webpronews.com
Among the news we also found fakes, albeit not so much today
Links 26/08/2025: "Ballooning Debt" in France and "Transnational Repression in the UK"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/08/2025: Listening to Alcest and Google Doing Evil (Users Installing Software is "Sideloading" and Prohibited)
Links for the day
Links 26/08/2025: DNS Tampering and TikTok Layoffs
Links for the day
Microsoft's Windows "Market Share" Overestimated
Microsoft's income sources are shrinking
We Shall See...
My wife and I are hardly the first victims of Brett Wilson LLP
This New Determination on a Case Echoes the Modus Operandi of Microsoft's Serial Strangler vs Techrights (Its Online Decision/Judgment Says Truth and Public Interest Defend the Publisher)
Noel Anthony Clarke hopefully has enough money left to pay his victims, which include the publishers
Going Offline
There was life before the Net
The Register MS Has Apparently Shut Down Its Office
It is basically a fake address on the face of it
There Are Also Expectations of IBM Layoffs Very Soon With "Narrative Control."
Some of them mention Red Hat and how IBM failed to achieve anything substantial with that acquisition
After at Least Two Rounds of Mass Layoffs in August Microsoft Said to Have "September Layoff Confirmed - Performance Based"
Those "M5 level meetings" sound plausible
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 25, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, August 25, 2025