02.15.08
The BSI Has Been Corrupted by Microsoft — Another Chink in ISO’s armor
Thanks to Stephane Rodriguez’s observation we were made aware of yet another reason (among many more [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]) to rubbish the BRM in Geneva before it even gets started. The European Commission is hopefully watching these moves by Microsoft and its affiliates because it still has time to respond by intervening. There is already an antitrust probe into this.
“Is nobody supervising this process? Has the world become a lawless global state?”This may be just the very tip of the iceberg (some more examples are listed at the bottom), but it’s worth mentioning that Britain will be essentially represented by a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, having rejected OOXML several months ago. This apparently comes after a reappointment. You can find the details and references in Stephane’s comment.
Stephane later adds another nugget of information about the relationship between ECMA and Microsoft. They essentially share the same bed — the examiner and that which is being examined that is. Could this ‘election’ possibly get any more corrupt than this? Other countries send not necessarily Microsoft Gold Certified Partner representatives. Some countries actually send Microsoft employees to represent entire nations. Is nobody supervising this process? Has the world become a lawless global state? █
Related articles:
- Evidence of Microsoft Influencing OOXML Votes in Nordic States
- Microsoft Memo to Partners in Sweden Surfaces: Vote Yes for OOXML
- The OOXML Problem
- Corrupt countries were more likely to support the OOXML document format
- Microsoft accused of more OOXML standards fiddling
- Microsoft’s secretive standards orgs in Former Yugoslavia
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.