Groklaw Examines Microsoft's Promises

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Groklaw has examined that 'new leaf' Microsoft turned the other day. PJ has a lengthy analysis of Microsoft's latest promises. To make a long story short, the promises are more of the same stuff and don't help anyone but Microsoft. They only protect 'noncommercial' development and are set up to create a patented standards toll road so that Microsoft can charge competitors to compete. As PJ puts it, 'This is a promise to remain incompatible with the GPL, as far as I can make out.'"

Comments

We come in peace!

[Anonymous Coward]

Shoot to kill!

Re:We come in peace!

[zonker]

"It's a cookbook!"

Darn it!

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean to say I printed all these "Sorry I doubted you Microsoft"-T-shirts FOR NOTHING?

Re:Darn it!

[corsec67]

No, you just need to add one more line to those shirts:
"Sorry I doubted you Micro$oft".

They did act as we expected, after all.

Re:Is msft honesty too much to ask?

[belthize]

    Nah it's an open standard(for random definitions of open and standard) ...

    Writing a spec that says 'this portion should conform to Word97/03/xxx'
standards' is a bit lossy but whatteryagonnado.

http://www.noooxml.org/local--files/arguments/TheCaseAgainstOOXML.pdf

Belthize

Microsoft promises better-feigned interoperability

[David Gerard]

MORDOR, Washington, Friday (UnGadget) -- Microsoft today announced a set of carefully-phrased promises to appear more open about its business practices and technologies, so as to expand its reach through developers, partners, customers and competitors' wallets.

The interoperability principles and promises are an apparent, lengthy, reluctant, and necessary step for Microsoft's sudden efforts to fulfill the obligations outlined in the September 2007 judgment of the European Court of First Instance (CFI). And the hope of half a chance of getting OOXML through ISO.

"These pronouncements appear to be an important step and significant change in how we share information about our products and technologies and a significant expansion in apparent transparency," said Microsoft CEO Heave Stallmore. "While we've promised considerable progress over the past several years, today's announcement takes our virtual commitment to a new level.

"For the past thirty years, we have carefully shared misinformation with thousands of now-bankrupt partners around the world. By promoting greater interoperability, opportunity and choice, we hope to share even more of their information to our benefit."

To enable third-party products to connect to Microsoft products, Microsoft will publish for free!!! voluminous documentation, setting a new low in information per page, to contaminate developers with claimed knowledge for which their employers can later be sued, should they not cough up at what Microsoft considers reasonable and non-discriminatory (or not unreasonably so) terms. Open source developers may use these protocols too!!! precisely so long as they do not do anything that involves people not giving Microsoft money.

"The promises announced today by Microsoft will benefit the broader IT community," said Vomit Togel, head of Microsoft partner Perception Management, "where 'IT community' is defined as 'Microsoft partner.' This provides remarkable opportunity for IT consultants and increased choice of us in the marketplace."

Microsoft will expand industry outreach and dialog through an online Interoperability Forum and Fee Collection Channel. In addition, an initiative will address data exchange between widely deployed bank accounts.

"Sincerity is the key," says Microsoft founder Jill Bates III. "If we can fake that, we've got it made."

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq MNPLY) is the worldwide dominator in software, services and solutions that make people and businesses help it realise its full potential.