Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Microsoft's 'Men in Black' Kill Florida Open Standards Legislation

Posted by Zonk on from the venus-was-at-its-peak-brilliance-last-night dept.

A NewsForge article was handed to us talking about pressure Microsoft recently brought to bear on a piece of Florida legislation. A few short paragraphs in Senate bill 1974 added by Rep. Ed Homan discussed the need for open data formats, but Microsoft's men in black responded by pressuring legislators and staff employees about the bill's language. "A legislative staff employee who would lose his job if he were quoted here by name said, 'By the time those lobbyists were done talking, it sounded like ODF (Open Document Format, the free and open format used by OpenOffice.org and other free software) was proprietary and the Microsoft format was the open and free one.' Two other legislative employees (who must also remain anonymous) told Linux.com that the Microsoft lobbyists implied that elected representatives who voted against Microsoft's interests might have a little more trouble raising campaign funds than they would if they helped the IT giant achieve its Florida goals. Note that lobbyists for IBM, Sun Microsystems, and Novell -- the only three companies with a major interest in open source who have registered lobbyists in Florida -- did not weigh in on this matter." Linux.com and Slashdot are both owned by OSTG.

5 of 320 comments (clear)

  1. Monty Python by rossz · · Score: 3, Funny

    "That's a nice little slush fund you have there. It would be a shame if something were to happen to it."

    --
    -- Will program for bandwidth
  2. Sing along by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Funny

    Here come the Men in Black
    Monopoly Defenders
    Here come the Men in Black
    Cash your party members

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. Re:Just goes to show by richg74 · · Score: 4, Funny

    You're right. After all, they found the time to shoot this down, right when they're so busy whining that Google's acquisition of DoubleClick will be harmful to competition. As PJ at Groklaw put it, "my irony meter just exploded."

  4. An alternative to "M$" by spun · · Score: 4, Funny

    I suggest "Tinyflaccid" as an alternative nickname for Microsoft. It's one I'm sure the Tinyflaccid fanboys can empathize with.

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  5. Re:Just goes to show by iminplaya · · Score: 4, Funny

    by Anonymous Coward

    I just think there's too much anonymity...

    This time I do take note of the messenger.* Very astute indeed. (Hey! new word)

    *I'm sure some of you know what I'm talking about

    --
    What?