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Gates tried to Blackmail Danish Government

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the dancing-with-the-devil dept.

mocm writes "The Inquirer has a story about how Bill Gates tried to pressure the Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen into accepting the European Union's proposed directive on software patents by threating to terminate the 800 jobs at Navision, which had been acquired by Microsoft." Update: 02/16 00:41 GMT by T : cfelde points out a CNET story which says that "The European vice president of Microsoft Business Solutions, Klaus Holse Andersen, denied on Tuesday that the jobs at Navision were ever at risk." Believe who you'd like.

5 of 774 comments (clear)

  1. Here's another article... by MadMoses · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...from heise.de (in German).

    --

    Do not be alarmed. This is only a test.
  2. SOP by fermion · · Score: 5, Informative

    this has become standard, at least in the US. Corporations play one state against the other to gain tax breaks, increase dole payments, and other entitlements. These welfare subsidies can net a several hundred dollars of government payments per anticipated position.

    --
    "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
  3. Also covered by Groklaw by John_Sauter · · Score: 5, Informative

    Note that this story is also being covered by Groklaw, with some good commentary by Pamela Jones.
    John Sauter (J_Sauter@Empire.Net)

  4. Backfire! by redelm · · Score: 5, Informative
    ... and if I and others decide to detest M$ over a hostile action, that too is our right. The separation of business and politics is a much bigger deal in the EU than in the US. Rightfully so IMHO. M$ just lost cred bigtime, especially if this is widely reported.

    As for Martha, had she tried those stunts, I'm sure that the DoJ would be happy to add bribery (maybe extortion) charges and her shareholders would've sued her to powder. There is supposed to be separation between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of govt in the US. And an independant judiciary (incl prosecutors) most everywhere else.

  5. Re:Obligatory Simpsons Scene by displaced80 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Nope -- we have ticks :)

    Tickboxes, Tickmarks are just 'ticks'.

    Amongst programmers, 'checkboxes' is understood. But if I were to tell a user to put a check in that checkbox, I'd get an odd look.

    Although we do have checklists, which (oddly) are usually ticked-off. Even though the person doing the ticking would announce 'Check!'. Checkpoints are indeed 'check'points, unless you're referring to those cheque-cashing (no, not caching) shops which sometimes call themselves 'Chequepoints'.

    Schoolkids will get ticks on their work, not checks.

    And yes -- flashlights are torches. It's 99.9% certain that the person hearing the word will understand whether or not it's of the 'flaming' variety, based on context. That other 0.1% of the time can be quite funny/dangerous/deadly. But only to D&D players who take things too far.

    --
    What's the frequency, Kenneth?