12.14.07
Convicted Monopolist Reportedly Threatens to Sue to Save Its Monopoly (Updated)
Talk about irony. The company that faces risk of lawsuits for its endless OOXML corruptions may now be using lawsuit threats as a weapon against ODF.
It is hard to believe, but Heise reports that Microsoft was threatening the Dutch government to sue it before the European Court of Juctice which would be a competition case.
The item is worth reading as a whole, especially for context. It truly takes some nerve. Remember the writings about Microsoft’s perception that it’s above the law. █
More on the recent developments in Holland:
- Signs That Your 'Open Standard' is Actually Proprietary
- Microsoft's Assimilate-to-Destroy Tactic (Everything for OOXML)
- Microsoft Sends Paid Army to Fight OpenDocument Format in Europe
Update: Here is another good writeup on this issue:
There is some good humour in the announcement too - from the Redmond based owner of much of the world’s Intellectual Monopoly:
… he said the company [Microsoft] was worried about and opposed other aspects of the Dutch policy, especially the provision that agencies should prefer open source.
“We think it’s not in the best interest of the wider software market to single out one model for endorsement like this,” he said.
HUH? What is the “wider software market” he is referring to? Oh, of course it’s theirs… What complete twaddle. Why can’t they just say ‘we don’t like it because we are going to lose business’. Or even better, make improved products that compete on a level playing field? Why spin their message with such meaningless drivel that it only exacerbates our bad opinion of them?
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.
DOUGman said,
December 15, 2007 at 1:27 am
You know, with MS wasting so much human effort. They should just adopt ODF into their programs and continue on developing. Talk about a waste of time, they are just spinning their wheels and never win.
D.
Roy Schestowitz said,
December 15, 2007 at 1:55 am
Stephen Walli, who used to work for Microsoft, opines that Microsoft will inevitably need to support ODF (and they will).