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MS Has Free Software Removed From U.N. Paper
linumax writes "Microsoft asked for references to free software to be removed from a document presented at last week's UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) conference, the software giant admitted on Friday. The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is unhappy that the document was changed and claims that even though it was on the panel discussing the document, it was not made aware of Microsoft's changes. The document (2.8MB PDF), known as the Vienna Conclusions, discusses issues around IT and creativity. The original draft of the document discussed how the free software model is changing the way people do business."
Well the paper might have originally described how free software works but what was done clearly shows how commercial software works.
MS is trying to stop the sea with its hands as they say, all it will manage to do is perhaps to slow it a bit, but everybody knows that nothing will stop the revolution. In a certain way this is pathetic.
How exactly are you going to "play dirty" with Microsoft?
And will your "playing dirty" result in better open source software? I doubt it. That's why it is probably best for the community to just continue producing superior products, and eventually people will migrate the to the best (and likely open source) products.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
It's just so absurd, they walk around, flash some cash and get what they want done. This all after the whole european antitrust thing... I find it shocking they CAN have this removed. I wonder this isn't classed as attempted monopolisation, they are, after all trying to lock out other competitors from publicity.
~HTP~ Hug that tux
..is that for every token gesture they make to try and make the open source and free software movements warm to them and like them (opening up the next document formats in Office, etc), there is this kind of shit going on.
Sorry Microsoft.. you've earned your reptuation as underhanded, dirty, cheating assholes - and stupid stunts like this just continue to prove that you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
"Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
I am sure Microsoft was just doing whatever was in our best interest. :)
MS knows they cannot compete with open source software...... why else do they lie every chance they get, about it?
..... and they are very persistant about it.
Recently there was an article regarding a clone researcher being looked upon as being bad, when the fact of teh matter is that he only tried to hide the dishonesty of his associates upon his finding out they had lied regarding their donorship.
Now that's a case of one level disconnection from the initial deception. And consider what happened to him for it.
This MS constant lying is first degree deception, outright intentional
So why are they still in business?
Or is this only more proof that they are not genuine researchers or innovators, just used car salesmen selling the research and innovation others outside of them have done, as their own?
Its ok to lie, if you are a salesperson, but not a genuine researcher..... right?
This is the same UN that should run the DNS root servers since they would be more independent than ICANN?
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Guess the "ignore us" and "laugh at us" phases are officially over.
got changed to this:
These are U.N. peole (think University board members - only more useless) who play with words for a living.
"Nothing to see here, move along."
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Bill and Steve and crew continue to bully the planet.
DUDE! Watch it, don't piss them off or they'll "fucking bury that [planet], I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to fucking kill [Earth]."
Blessed are the pessimists, for they have made backups. -- 0 1 My two bits
Don't be fooled by those "market power should not be used to dominate and restrict the free exchange of ideas", this phrase can mean of anyone but established content providers.
Immediately followed by...
ICT x Monopolies = Digital Divide This document is moronic and it's authors are nothing but paying lip service to their sponsors, Corporate America.
And the UN asks Microsoft to not allow old document revisions to be viewed from a MS-Word file. The redacted information on the Oil-for-Food report was really embarassing to Kofi Annan (especially since MS-Word showed that the changes occured at the same time as a late night meeting with Annan and Volckner).
If MS stops altering the UN reports, then the UN will alter the report on free software.
However, living in a world of new digital economy does not mean that one can break all business rules. ... The rights of creators and the protection of their intellectual property require permission and compensations ... Quality contents should pay back their creators; and not just the intermediaries. They ought not to be nor should they be seen as being available for free. Such appearances are demeaning to creators and producers, authors and developers, and they deny them the fruits of their efforts and work.
/. too smart to fall for that little diversion, aren't we?
This was extracted from the document under discussion. I would have expected this forum to be much more upset about this transparent advocacy of DRM than it would be about some trifling changes regarding free software. If I didn't know better I might think the disclosure that Microsoft had the "free software" language stricken from the document was done deliberately to draw attention away from it's other content. But we in
The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
M$ has been playing dirty since the days Bill posed for "Teen Beat" magazine http://blog.monkeymethods.org/2005/01/bill-gates-s trikes-pose-for-teen-beat.html
This sig is inappropriate in a post-9/11 world.
In a linked article in the article, Charles mentions that Linux is for "dorks".
Every time I read that "Linux is behind, incapable" or whatever, I take note that they don't understand shit. First off, Linux is a small part of the Desktop setup. The other thing I note is I'm sitting here just happy on my Desktop running Gentoo. It does everything I want [which is more than WinXP can deliver anyways] and it didn't cost me a dime other than time to set it up.
It's good that people are catching MSFT in their lies and poor behaviour but for every MSFT person saying "Linux is bad" there is just another person using an OSS kernel with OSS userland tools scratching their heads. And in the end it's really just that. Some MSFT guy saying something. Sure there are people who buy it without question but there are still more that are aware of it and people taking action on it.
It's just far far far too late. I mean all the negative press in the world won't make the millions of OSS users switch. And as long as there is 1 OSS user out there, it won't die.
So go ahead MSFT, act all desperate marketting and FUD'ing against OSS. You could be better served by actually delivering stuff of value. It sucks that an OS has lost "value" [in light of Linux or BSD + OSS userland] but that's it. No clever amount of marketting will make something that has no value all of a sudden have value.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
So where is the original draft? Why doesn't some unhappy person release it on the web with a side-by-side comparison to the final draft? Done this way it should truly embarass someone.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
That's odd... My friend BitTorrent tells me most of Microsoft's software is free, too. I wonder why they'd act against their own interests like this?
By services, they mean that you aren't buying the physical software, you're buying the service that this software performs. Whether it be a one time fee, or a subscription. It's not a service contract to keep the software working.
He who controls the past, controls the future;
he who controls the present, controls the past
And he who can have reports and news stories edited on a whim, controls the present.
For those of you who are interested in the entire story and its background, here are the links:
The best overall analysis and description of the situation so far was written by Germanys largest IT news provider, the Heise Verlag. They have the story online in both English and German.
9. Refer all charity organizations and any group strapped for cash to Linux. Every year when my kid's school does parent-teacher conferences, I never fail to bring up open-source after the teachers mention school budget cutbacks. (there's always a good opportunity to work that in when the teachers apologize for not getting the reports printed out because XP crashed - again!)
8. Drop IE-compatibility from your websites. Use this: http://www.stopie.com/stopie/home/ which will refer viewers to download Firefox. Aren't you tired of having to make your website botched up just to work for the lamest browser on the web, anyway?
7. Earn money by referring people to Firefox with Google toolbar while you're at it: http://downhillbattle.org/node/view/554 Who *says* there's no money in free software?
6. Go to the Ubuntu site - the page where you can order an Ubuntu disk sent to you for free - and fill in RANDOM ADDRESSES. Mystery gifts from the software fairy.
5. Anybody with a CD burner and a Linux fetish will have old Linux CDs they don't use anymore - like when you've updated to the new version. Take these CDs with you to the library, and tuck them into the Windows books in the computer books section.
4. While you're in the library, be sure to fill out those request/suggestion forms for new books to buy with the latest Linux books you're just dying to check out - and hasn't "DOS for Dummies" and "Windows 3.1 - the complete reference" gotten old, anyway?
3. Never pass a computer store without walking in and asking for software titles that run on Linux. The idea is to make them aware that Linux users *would* spend *some* money, if only anybody cared to do business with us.
2. Teach your kids Linux. This is the easiest - kids will absorb Linux like little sponges, all you have to do is install it and stand back.
1. Go to second-hand stores such as Salvation Army and Goodwill. Find a used computer on sale plugged in and running. Stick Knoppix on it. Reboot it. Walk away whistling. Trust me, I've spoken to employee and customer alike at these places - nobody would ever know the difference!
Hey now, microsoft doesn't suck all the time
But seriously though, googling for "Microsoft doesn't suck" on Slashdot brings up three results, of which two are the same.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
The saddest thing about the U.N. at the moment though is the fall from grace of the once eminent Kofi Annan.
Wow, the guys at microsoft are really scared so much that they're becoming irrational:
Just a question, how many of you have ever written free software explicitly to put a company (say, MS) out of business?
Maybe you wrote a program after seeing a commercial implementation, but probably only because you wanted to improve on it or make it available for your favourite os. OS software is written because there is a need for it, not to push others out of business.
Yes there are other companies using open source as a business strategy. A strategy that works well against competitors like microsoft, but clearly has its own pitfalls as well...
so please Bill, keep your paranoia at home and stop messing with politics