04.06.08

Microsoft’s Latest Smear Campaign: ‘Disobedient’ Chairperson in India Targeted

Posted in Microsoft, FUD, Deception, OpenDocument, Asia, Open XML at 12:50 am by Roy Schestowitz

Intimidating opposition again

Microsoft, perhaps finally realising that OOXML as an ISO standard is not a done deal yet, is still trying to get those who oppose OOXML in deep trouble, putting their whole careers in jeopardy in hope of driving them away.

Watch this latest update on the situation in India:

Industry experts said they were “unhappy” with the Microsoft which has almost accused the committee of being packed with “open document format (ODF) supporters”.

“I am very upset and uncomfortable with such complaints. In fact, the chairperson of the committee (LITD 15) offered to step down over the allegation,” D.B. Phatak, professor at IIT Mumbai, told DNA Money.

IIT Mumbai is a member of LITD 15, and Phatak was part of the deliberations that have been taking place within IIT on the issue.

Phatak said a Microsoft official was asked if it would withdraw the complaint, but the company refused as the “complaint was made by some higher officer in Microsoft”.

Jaijit Bhattacharya, country director of government strategy for Sun Microsystems India, a company that has been at loggerheads with Microsoft for years, talks in a similar vein.

“I am surprised that such allegations are made against India’s top academic and government institutions … such allegations lack credibility,’ Bhattacharya said. Venkatesh Hariharan, co-founder Open Source Foundation of India said, “I am just amazed and shocked at the depths to which Microsoft is willing to descend.”

He said Microsoft’s complaint is a “great disservice to the committee, its chairperson and the BIS”.

We have discovered many such stories recently. Just to repeat a few by citation, we shall break those into three groups containing some of the examples which we have.

Smears, intimidation, or bullying against opposition:

Overthrowing opposition:

Recent posts about OOXML in India:

We don’t write much in this Web site about Microsoft’s unsolicited bid and proxy war against Yahoo, but we wrote about it here and yesterday came another blow from Microsoft. Some more news of interest you will find in the next post, which hopefully puts this current disturbing post in better perspective. That is just how Microsoft does business. It’s merciless. It’s “ruthless”, as Cringely says repeatedly in his more critical pieces.

“Microsoft hopes to escape its past by reshaping perceptions, essentially a denial of provable truths.”Be aware that the ‘Talking Heads of Microsoft’ deny all things and already try to rewrite history. Rob Enderle, for example, writes that “there is no evidence that it [Microsoft] has [cheated].” Really? Need one beg his pardon or just serve heaps of existing evidence with a large shovel?

Microsoft hopes to escape its past by reshaping perceptions, essentially a denial of provable truths. Microsoft may have the necessary means, so it’s important to counter them. If it repeats something often enough, maybe a majority of people will start to believe it and be able to refute hard evidence using the Big Lie. One of those lies is that Microsoft is innocent and that it complied with the rules. █

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