Head of Microsoft Malaysia Jumps Ship

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2009-12-06 14:34:01 UTC
Modified: 2009-12-06 14:53:08 UTC

Summary: Yasmin Mahmood, who took a role in the OOXML fiasco in her country, is finally out

EARLIER this year, the head of Microsoft Philippines quit the company and now it's Yasmin Mahmood, head of Microsoft Malaysia whose role in the OOXML scandals in this country we wrote about in [1, 2, 3].

Yasmin Mahmood, the managing director of Microsoft Malaysia will leave the company at the end of the year. She will pass the baton to Ananth Lazarus, who has been appointed as the company’s managing director with effect from January 1.

With over 22 years experience in the ICT industry, 11 of which have been with Microsoft, Lazarus was previously the regional senior director of small and medium businesses.

Head of Microsoft Singapore quit last year, so it is like some kind of Microsoft epidemic (not just in Asia). "Most of the MS M[alay]sia team have moved on," says Yoon Kit from Malaysia.

Speaking of departures, as a followup on last week's Eclipse update, one reader wrote to us:

Looks like Bjorn was spot on in his criticism. Check out that last paragraph by Milinkovich:

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Linux-and-Open-Source/...

It's pretty clear a big statement distancing the Foundation from Open Source.

Too bad so many fold when the likes of Milinkovich try to bully them into the Microsoft party line. Bullying, extortion and graft seem like the only means that Microsoft has to compete. If more individuals grew a pair and spoke up, like Bjorn did, then it'd be harder for the Microsoft apologists to steamroll legitimate developers and users.

There it more to it than what is publicly known. The "poison" is not necessarily Bjorn. ⬆

Comments

your_friend

2009-12-06 20:59:57

The attack on Bjorn Freeman-Benson is so vile that it and the refutation should be preserved here, where they won't vanish. First the ugly attack, which is so typical of Microsoft people:

Your former colleagues at the Eclipse Foundation have tolerated your public abuse quietly because we are professionals, and we honestly thought that you would tire of it. Apparently we were wrong. But the time has come to say it: You are a jerk. Please go away. You quit the Foundation, you have zero commits since April, and we tire of your sniping from afar. ... to say that the Foundation does not care deeply about the open source community is a pure fabrication. It attacks the personal and professional reputations of all of us who work hard at the Foundation for the entire community.

First, it should be noted that this is a misrepresentation of what Bjorn actually said. Bjorn simply advocated a repository of free code to make builds easier for free software users. This is what free software is all about, user control. Milinkovich portrays this advocacy for community interests into a personal attack on himself and the everyone else involved. How very Microsoft to pervert the issues this way.

Bjorn's record speaks for itself and he should be encouraged to preserve the things he helped to create in a form that is risk free to himself and other contributors. As Mik Kersten put it,

Mike's leadership is astounding in its steady navigation and coordination of the Eclipse membership and ecosystem. Bjorn’s contributions have been remarkable as well. I was one of the first non-IBM committers and then committer representative on the Eclipse board, and have watched as Bjorn's five years of service drove each of the most fundamental changes to the Eclipse development process, release coordination, and community channels including EclipseCon. Having collaborated with both Bjorn and Mike throughout most of this decade has given me an appreciation on how different their perspectives are.

It is good that Assay captured all of this, but anyone who works towards being "vendor neutral" instead of free makes a huge mistake. Microsoft is never neutral and is always hostile to user freedom and all other vendors. To think otherwise is to ignore 20 years worth of history preserved in dozens of civil and criminal lawsuits. The venom poured onto Bjorn is typical of Microsoft behavior that serves as a reminder that these people are poison.

Roy Schestowitz

2009-12-06 21:52:20

Simon Phipps put it well when he wrote:

"Is Eclipse an Open Source Community or Trade Association? Both. The question that remains is which is in control, and my sense from reading all the postings is that it's still the latter."

Earlier he wrote:

"Repeat after me: open source means more than just the license. We need a scorecard. (And before you say, I am well aware of Sun's shortcomings, I am still working on them)."

Head of Microsoft Malaysia Jumps Ship

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