Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Lashes out at Massachusetts IT Decision
scoop writes "Infoweek is reporting that the plan to eliminate the use of Office by the Massachusetts state government (previously covered on Slashdot) has not gone over well with Microsoft. Microsoft's Yates said the company agrees with the adoption of XML but does not agree that the solution to "public records management is to force a single, less functional document format on all state agencies." Microsoft also states they will not support the OpenDocument format. Looks to me Microsoft is scared their biggest cash cow is in danger from a free alternative. Soon I'm sure we'll see a Microsoft funded comparison between Office and OpenOffice."
By the way, the political opposite of communism, is naziism.
Political abstractions, like most abstractions, cannot be defined on a single axis.
Communism has many opposites, the least of which, in every respect, is naziism. Islamic republics are notably anti-communist. Many absolute monarchies would find themselves quite opposed to communist principles. Neither the Crown nor Parliament found themselves very much in favour with the Levelers or Diggers (who were early communists) during the English Civil war.
Likewise, libertarians of various stripes are generally opposed to communism, although put an anarcho-capitalist and a republican minarchist in the same room and you'll soon realize that they are even more opposed to each other.
For that matter, communism is the opposite of communism: the Bolshevics opposed the Menshevics; the Trotskies opposed the Stalinists; the Maoists opposed everybody...
Political abstractions are just like any other abstraction: the subsume concrete instances that are diametrically opposed to other things they also subsume.
One of the remarkable things about the Open Source community, in fact, is how cohesive it it. Despite the free/open/Free arguments, we're all pretty much on the same page, and not just because we are the opposite of Microsoft.
Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
Communism is an economic system, not a government system. You can have any combination of a communist/market economy and a democratic/totalitarian government.
True, but can you name an example of a country with a communist economy but not a totalitarian government? The way I see it, communism necessarily leads to totalitarianism, because the system relies on central planning and government omniscience to make sure everyone (theoretically) gets their equal share.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Actually, I was referring to the single axis (left vs. right) view of politics. (Obviously there are better multi-axis models, but for the related topic, it's more anecdotal I was going for.)
/. is a place of diverse individuals, and as such, much information on the topic (and links to papers). I'm sure I'll correctly identify a more precise statement of my intended thoughts next time... perhaps "Communal versus Tyranny" or "Hippy versus Yuppy" (though, I'm sure I'd get into muddy water with the "Yippy's").
Of course, if you look at political theory versus practice, there aren't much differences. Communism and Naziism is dominated by a dictator-like rule by violence system. Single axis models stick out in my mind, though, simply because the only true definition of personal politics is an axis for every single issue. All other models fail to properly define, imho. For instance, a pro-choice Republican.
In my mind, theoretical communism is the epitomy of democracy. Rule of the people, for the people, by the people, with the welfare of the people in mind. Naziism, in theory and practice, is dictatorship, with national interests over personal interests. In practive, communism has yet to live up to its ideals, and naziism (as a socialist movement) never lived up to its ideals. I could be wrong, but it is with that frame of mind that I added that last comment.
But,
Now, if your PS is asking if I think Gates is Hitler, absolutely not. Everyone knows Gates can't grown any facial hair.
I8-D