Summary: Microsoft is having a massive political/corporate party over at its place
LAST week Microsoft had
some interesting people over as guests (
Bill Gates was there too). We won't address the wrongdoings of each party, but just to give people an idea of the company Microsoft hangs out with:
Keep your eyes open for some celebrity CEO sightings in the Seattle region over the next few days. Executives coming to town include IAC's Barry Diller, Walmart Chairman Rob Walton, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, and Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway, along with his lieutenant Charlie Munger.
In such events, Microsoft can do undisclosed lobbying without traveling much. Watch the caption which says: "Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch and Clayton Christensen at last year's CEO Summit. (Microsoft photo)"
That's the same Murdoch whom Microsoft incited against Google [
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14].
Microsoft has also invited political figures from strategic regions such as
Jordan. They give awards to wrap up Jordan's authorities:
This seems like another PR attempt from Microsoft, which is trying to acquire trust in the Arab world. Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity & Water recently moved to Red Hat [
1,
2,
3,
4], but
Microsoft's strong push in Kuwait carries on. It strives to control ICT in these rich places.
Microsoft Gulf today announced that MS Retail, the leading Kuwaiti based retail chain has chosen Dynamics NAV Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software to maximize internal efficiencies.
Moving on a little, we still look at political aspects of the meeting. Guess who
else came to Microsoft's event? It's Bill Gates' patent mate, Timothy Geithner,
who helps Gates promote Monsanto for fun and profit. Just how political are those Microsoft events? They have queens and even the US treasury secretary inside them. Here is some coverage about it:
i.
Treasury Secretary Geithner visiting Seattle
The Treasury Department says he'll tour the Boeing plant in Renton and visit the Port of Tacoma with Gov. Chris Gregoire. He'll also have a private meeting with bankers and attend the Microsoft CEO summit.
ii.
Treasury Secretary Geithner talks trade, China in visit to region
Geithner toured Boeing's 737 plant in Renton before heading south for a rain-drenched walk around the Port of Tacoma. He also met with community bankers to discuss the environment for small-business lending and attended the Microsoft CEO Summit dinner.
iii.
Geithner stresses trade’s role in recovery in Wash. visit
He met with representatives of community banks at the port offices, and was scheduled to address the Microsoft CEO summit, a gathering of business leaders from around the world, Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
Geithner is getting too close to Microsoft and Gates after his fiasco with the banks, especially Goldman Sachs. We included dozens of links about that in our daily postings.
As we have shown before, Microsoft uses Twitter for its AstroTurf campaigns. Posts on the subject include:
Why did Twitter's CEO
come to this Microsoft summit? Last week we
wrote about MSNBC and the same week
it's reported that "MSNBC [is] to extend Wonderwall platform into celebrity politics"
Like Wonderwall, the political-fame site will pull in content from Microsoft's MSN and other sources, a Microsoft spokesperson said. The new site will be distributed through the MSNBC Digital Network (including MSNBC.com, TodayShow.com, NBCsports.com, Newsvine, EveryBlock and other properties) and will be heavily promoted on MSN.com.
That translates to more Microsoft control in the press. Do we really need to accept private political meetings at corporate venues and also control of the press by them? It threatens a free democracy.
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