Summary: Recalling the older corruption of Microsoft and Bill Gates, especially in light of some news from Europe

A

n anonymous Scandinavian reader wrote to tell us that Microsoft "has gotten inside the Norwegian public sector." For context he gives these two links [1, 2] and reminds us that; "In 2007, Norway required that editable documents be in ODF within the state agencies. Now they're following the "Microsoft too" tactic and "also" permitting OOXML and removing the requirement for ODF. Apparently the head of Microsoft Norway has had a series of closed meetings with the state council(?) (statsråden).

""statsråden" is minister, but I don't know which one. It would be good to hear from NUUG because they are the main opposition to the change.

"Apparently the king helped slam it through. Your country has royalty still. How does that complicate matters or does it affect things at all?

"Google Translate does an ok job."

We wrote about OOXML-related abuses in Norway in posts such as this one. Citing the new article titled "DoJ, SEC investigating Microsoft over bribery claims" Pamela Jones writes: "While they are at it, I wish they'd look into the French about-face on OOXML."

Nicolas Sarkozy and OOXML scandals in France were covered here before. Here are some of the more notable posts about it:

1. More on France and Microsoft's OOXML; ODF Still a Leader



2. White-Collar Crime Pays Off, Shows Microsoft OOXML



3. Hewlett-Packard Does Microsoft's Dirty Job Again, Lobbies for the Monopoly



4. Guilty Parties in OOXML Fiasco in France Gets Exposed (Updated)

Separately, adds Jones: "The first thing I thought of was France doing a 180 on OOXML, after reports of a phone call from Bill Gates to Sarkozy and the AFNOR letter from Microsoft France mentioning telephone contacts, the letter sent the day before the OOXML vote deadline. By the way, notice in that last link how Microsoft behaved at meetings of AFNOR, according to Frederick:

Q: Last August there were some reports that the AFNOR commission meetings were heated. Can you tell us anything about that? Couchet: On August 29th 2007 the AFNOR standardization commission meeting took place with the objective of establishing the position of the commission and therefore consequently France's position. The exchanges were stormy at some points since Marc Mosse, head of Legal and Public Affairs at Microsoft France, did everything, I thought, he could to sabotage the meeting. Marc Mossé, judging from appearances, seemed to have the very clear assignment to obtain AFNOR's abstention. Absolutely not constructive, not very polite either, in particular with the representatives of the French administration, Marc Mosse seemed to have decided to ruin the meeting and heighten the pressure -- well-known tactic to block the arrival at a consensus. But he did too much, way too much. The end was pitiful enough, notably when he accused one of the State's representatives of serving a "banana republic". He claimed by the way to be representing local administrations against the central administration. The resume of Marc Mosse is online but strangely, his stint at the BSA, the Business Software Alliance, is not mentioned in it. The meeting of March 25th 2008 was much more calm and cordial, perhaps because of the absence of Marc Mosse. Does that not remind you of the behavior this month of those who seemed determined to disrupt Google's presentations regarding Vp8 so as to avoid consensus, including the one on IPR?" (we just wrote about this in the previous post).

That last part we may cover in a separate post. Why is the English-speaking press not covering these scandals?

At ZDNet this month, Microsoft employee Jason Perlow has been actively bashing Android and promoting Microsoft products under the guise of 'journalism' (no links given, on purpose). This is a farce. Corruption is allowed to carry on because real journalism is left for sites like Groklaw to do while Perlow smears those real journalists. ⬆