Microsoft is pro-choice... as long as the choice is Microsoft.

So what will it be? Home Edition or Ultimate Edition? Office Student Edition?

Microsoft and its faithful lobbying arm, CompTIA, have been very busy in the Philippines recently. We have been spotting some unusual activity and Microsoft even invited people from the Philippines, including journalists, [cred 2216 over for little chat in Redmond]. It is therefore hardly surprising that we find more propaganda from the press in the Philippines. Here is one of the most biased, inaccurate, and hilarious/outrageous (depending on your mood) articles out there. It actually praises OOXML for giving choice (yes, choice!).

Microsoft changes heart, gives market choice with openXML

This appears to be a change of heart for a company [Microsoft] that has been pushing its own standard for years.

[...]

Microsoft executives stressed that “choice” is becoming a buzzword among governments, customers and the information technology industry.

[...]

So why didn’t Microsoft adopt ODF despite the fact that it is already a global standard?

“Uniformity is not always a good thing,” said Tsilas. “At the end of the day, we should have a more dynamic market, and live in a world of ‘and,’ not ‘either/or.’”

What choice is that? And where can one find so much spin? This is beyond an ambitious statement. The article also describes ODF as an OpenOffice format. Novell is mentioned among supporters of OOXML. It's a bizarre world we live in, isn't it?

Over in Europe, Microsoft prepares to delivers its case as well. Here is the summary of a fairly comprehensive report.

It is always a matter of perspective. Microsoft organizes a two day conference to discuss "Perspectives of Modernising Government" with European government representatives in Berlin, Germany. Bill Gates himself visits the forum. A side purpose is to lift up a standard analyst from Gartner and retired rent-a-politician on equal footings.

Gartner, mind you, is sponsored or funded by Bill Gates and Microsoft. In most cases, it is better off ignored. ⬆