WE recently gave a detailed list of Microsoft's actions against Free software in Malta, adding to previous examples that we had collected [1, 2]. Microsoft also hired John Vassallo, who is Malta's former ambassador to the EU, reportedly because of the OOXML corruptions. Malta participated in the OOXML process [1, 2, 3].
Reports that President Obama will be able to keep his BlackBerry likely provoked smiles in Waterloo, Canada--and frowns in Redmond, Wash.
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First, of course, Obama needs to use the device. Microsoft is optimistic that he will. "We have a whole group working with the Executive Office of the President," says Siegel. "We've had various conversations with the right people about this. Everyone would like him to use the device that everyone agrees is most secure."
The developers also are planning to use Microsoft Silverlight for future parts of the service, too, according to a source. The choices make sense. Flash players and, to a lesser extent, Silverlight are widely accessible by browsers in the United States. But by using those technologies, the White House was showing a preference for a single vendor's technologies, something government agencies try to avoid. It looks too much like an endorsement and invites vendor lock-in.
The Trouble With Trillions
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There are very many half-way reasonable projects that just would not cut it according to normal investment criteria. Take the $11 million to build a bridge connecting two adjacent portions of Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington. If Microsoft, with its vast financial resources, had figured that the bridge was worth $11 million dollars, wouldn't they already have been planning to build it themselves, without any stimulus money? Since they didn't do it themselves, all we really know is that they valued the bridge at less than $11 million. In other words, taxpayers spent $11 million and turned it into something less valuable.