06.12.07
Massachusetts Lobbying Under the Micros[cope|oft]
You might still recall a long discussion which contained plenty of anti-ODF lobbying examples. Among the outcomes, two CIOs in Massachusetts lost their job, simply because they supported truly open standards on behalf of their State. At the end, Microsoft’s arm was on top.
The end of this story is not a happy ending. As a news article revealed yesterday, implementation of plans that are based on legistlation have been nearly scraped. It would be interesting to know how great a role Novell played in Microsoft’s political arguments in favour of monoculture and lockin.
And Microsoft itself lobbied heavily against the original open formats policy after it was announced by the ITD.
[…]
The slower-than-planned adoption of ODF in Massachusetts appears to have influenced state legislators in Texas who recently quashed a bill calling for the use of open document formats — one of five such proposals that have been defeated or shelved in the U.S. this year following strong opposition from Microsoft and its allies in the IT industry.
Some of the more recent lobbying examples, accompanied by Novell’s blind obedience, have done the industry no favours. Citizens of Massachusetts, for example, might still be forced to purchase Microsoft Windows and the latest Microsoft Office in order to access vital information.
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.