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Microsoft's Ethical Guidelines
hankwang writes "Did you know that Microsoft has ethical guidelines? It's good to know that 'Microsoft did not make any payments to foreign government officials' while lobbying for OOXML, and that 'Microsoft conducts its business in compliance with laws designed to promote fair competition' every time they suppressed competitors. In their Corporate Citizenship section, they discuss how the customer-focused approach creates products that work well with those of competitors and open-source solutions. So all the reverse-engineering by Samba and OpenOffice.org developers wasn't really necessary."
Ethics? Make your time...
--I like turtles...
Microsoft has really lost it when it comes to evil these days. Apple's evil is just ridiculously better. Microsoft's evil was damn fine in the 1990s, but these days it's just ... sorta lame. I mean, Vista - what dismally poorly executed evil! And the Zune, oh dear.
So trying to be good is all that's left to them. Can they go straight? Or will it be straight back to crime?
http://rocknerd.co.uk
"....Microsoft provides a broad range of policies, programs, and products that are focused on our commitment to responsible and ethical business practices that promote user choice, industry opportunity, interoperability, and transparency....."
Last I checked Microsoft's Exchange Server works well only with IE. Unlike Gmail or Yahoo mail. Exchange is lousy with Firefox, Opera or Safari. Where is the choice?
And Exchange Server 2008 I belive even screws up the IMAP support, so Thunderbird users get the bird as well... So much for interoperability and transparency.
If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
You know, sometimes you'll find organisations with the most detailed and extensive ethical guidelines imaginable. And in the same cupboard you'll find several inches of dust. "A man is the sum of his actions, of what he has done, of what he can do, Nothing else" (Gandhi, M).
I'm sure they have some ethics around somewhere? ...somewhere... ...still looking...
Aha! ActiveEthics(TM).
What happened to the kdawsonfud tags? Are these censored? When tags first came out they were always tagged with this but now when I tag them it never appears. It seems very odd these would be censored.
I'll point out that they've had a big anti-trust target painted on their foreheads (both in the US and the EU) for a long long time now. I'm sure they actually do spend a lot of time making sure they don't run afoul of the local regulators, watchdog groups and newspapers.
Having said that, Microsoft?? Ethics??? hahahahaha LET THE BASHING BEGIN! Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of assholes!
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
There really do seem to be people who believe that a Code of Conduct is there to limit what a company can do. Nothing could be further from the truth.
First and foremost, a Code of Conduct is an integral part of the company's PR effort. Every self-respecting company has to have one. It's cool to have one, and you look stupid and unsophisticated if you don't. Besides, there is no need to be without. There are templates with good-sounding Codes of Conduct that are guaranteed to leave everyone a comfortably free hand.
Secondly: damage limitation. A Code of Conduct is there to be able to shield a company from legal consequences of unethical conduct by it's employees on its behalf. If an employee is caught red-handed, it really helps if a company is able to state (truthfully) that this action contravenes their official Code of Conduct. This can really limit the damage.
'Microsoft did not make any payments to foreign government officials' while lobbying for OOXML
But obviously they pay bribes to squash the Open Source Software Law in Peru
If they repeat this stuff often enough, people will get used to it. Or even believe !
http://revj.sourceforge.net
Publicly the world bank and the IMF make out like they're doing something other than enslaving the entire world.
Film at 11!
I suspect that if I looked up Ethics in MS Encarta it would probably say
"Ethics - A county to the east of London"
---------
Essex for non-uk readers
"We find the word 'no' to be a bit strong, and not in the best interest of the company or some of its stock holders. For this reason, 'some' evil is allowed if it increases long term growth or profits. Or if Steve Ballmer wishes it. Please keep this in mind in your dealings as we do not want employees to become confused that they are working for Google."
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After the Vista debacle and how easy it was for Samba to implement the new CIFS, Microsoft has surrendered to the inevitable now.
They've now built and operate an interoperability testing laboratory for the Samba team to use to improve integration with Samba.
frankly that anyone finds this news worthy shows the level of naivety around here....
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
"They're more Guidelines than actual rules..."
Are you aware, that Vista did something that caused DHCP to break for many many home based residential gateway "routers" - and among one of the things that was broken was Linux's dhcpd?
I have one Vista Client. We can't use DHCP with it, we have to use static addressing just for that node to work.
More and more Vista boxes with broken DHCP clients get put out every day. And when I'm brought a Vista client with one of those horribly broken DHCP clients I'm told "Its Linux's problem, "fix" Linux's DHCP Server.
Funny how they say "Microsoft conducts its business in compliance with laws designed to promote fair competition" instead of "Microsoft will not engage in unfair competition". Gotta keep those loopholes open!
Slashdot loves to hate Microsoft.
There's a reason that this is filed under Entertainment rather than, say, News.
After all microsoft is a charity organization. Its only normal that they have a corporate ethics and citizenship code ....
Read radical news here
Really, their more of a suggestion...
Microsoft is not evil, they have merely raised incompetence to a level that's indistinguishable from malice. Redmond is not capable of the consistency of purpose and execution that really good evil requires.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
We could have told him that all along :-)
All true, but somewhat beside the point.
Microsoft is just misunderstood. People think that Microsoft is a software company, but it isn't. Microsoft is an abuse company that sells software as a way of delivering abuse. Microsoft's evil is not a side-effect of their management philosophy, Microsoft's evil is their business model.
N/T
It's a nice prank story ....
While having a code of ethics doesn't make MS evil, it does throw the difference between what they say and what they do into stark relief.
"Fair Competition and Antitrust: As a global business, we encounter laws and regulations designed to promote fair competition and encourage ethical and legal behavior among competitors. Antitrust laws and fair competition laws generally prohibit any activity that restrains free trade and limits competition. We conduct our business in compliance with these laws."
Oops...So when found guilty of anti-trust, who got fired for not only breaking the law, but also the companies policy? I guess the company must condone such behaviour.
It looks like you're trying to write some ethical conduct guidelines.
Would you prefer:
* Vague platitudes and general statements of the obvious
* Poetic idealism interspersed with wishful thinking
* A statement that boils down to "We do what we can get away with, no more no less. If it was wrong it would be illegal, wouldn't it?"
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Ethics: Things you can get fired for but Microsoft executives can't.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233
There's some other registry tweaks that may apply and you can google for them. The above referenced MS article makes it sound as if all those DHCP servers are implemented incorrectly but then when Vista is the only client having trouble.........
Having ethics is different from publishing ethical guidelines. The latter is usually preparation for a defense in court against charges of un-ethical behavior. "We aren't un-ethical, it was a rogue employee...we'll fire him to prove it."
Isnt this what an oxymoron is???
M$ actually playing by the rules???
Didn't the Nigerian government expose how Microsoft was bribing them to move away from Linux on Classmate PCs?
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Apparently you haven't used KDE 4 in a while. It works just fine. I recommend the openSUSE packages especially since they backport so many fixes and features.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Others might have just one word, I have 22 syllables for Microsofts Ethical Guidelines:
AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Do not trust this signature.
I used installed KDE 4 two weeks using apt on my Ubuntu box. The fallout was disastrous - broke my x server, busted up my virtual box ose and I don't have time to fix it all, and uninstall doesn't work with the kernel upgrade it snuck in. And at the end of it all, I don't really like what they did with plasma. The fonts are all inconsistent, the iconography is unfinished.. the thing just feels clunky and untrustworthy.
Once its rolling I like Vista better.
You need to get out of the mindset that says that just because use something, it has to be "better". You know, I've been driving American cars for 30 years and I only buy American cars. I'm just a homer that way. Go GM, Ford and Chrysler and I'd rather have my wife sleep with another guy before I put a cent into a Toyota or a VW or a BMW in my house. But I'm not under any illusions that American cars are "better" than their offerings. Toyota quality is legendary, Honda 4's engines are very good and the BMW 6 is legendary. But yet I only buy American cars.
IT's the same thing with Open Source, if you advocate it. Sure, Vista might have better stuff in ways, but, if you like the culture that Open Source represents, that really is all that matters. There doesn't need to be a pissing match over whose OS is "better" or not because with any good "better" is an intangible thing. I mean, if you wanted the "best" food, you could make a pretty good argument that the McDonald's Dollar Menu might well be the best food because it has a very high calories and protein per dollar ratio, but I don't think you are going to get laid taking your girlfriend there.
This is my sig.
Big business is big evil. People are dying and suffering because of the unchecked, unethical actions by those who've corrupted the legal and political system.
The biggest criminals are not in prison, they are in power, thanks to our complacency.
Funny how every other corporation in the world fights just as dirty and its ok for them to do it. But when Microsoft tries to make money and ensure its own success just the same as anyone else would, its evil.
Why dont you go cry about something that matters like the underground slave market of north american girls being sold as sex slaves in asia? Why dont you go cry about Tibet?
Plenty of WORTHWILE subjects to whine about in the world that should have far more priority than this. Grow up and move on.
And this has been another installament of Captain Obvious!
that might be the dumbest thing I have ever read on any messageboard anywhere on the net.
Except in VB, where Ethics <> Obeying the Law.
Student: Is it true that the foundation of the universe is paradox?
Master: Well, yes and no.
If Ubuntu can't uninstall packages, that is Ubuntu's fault, not KDE's. Ubuntu has some terrible KDE packages, and their package manager is responsible for cleanly removing them.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Its pretty common in the oil industry from people I hear to have the "annual lecture" or tested video course on ethics, mainly that dealing with US & foreign government officials. Its sort of an inside joke when it doesnt work.
Of all the nerve! WHAT GALL!!! Using Microsoft and ETHICAL in the same sentence!!!!!
well, here in italy we have Berlusconi that's speaking about ethics, so i guess it's not the most laughable story...
nice try trough.
"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn't know." -- Mark Twain
"If you have a concern regarding a questionable accounting or auditing matter and wish to submit the concern confidentially or anonymously, you may do so by submitting a report via the Microsoft Integrity Web site , calling the Business Conduct Line, or sending a letter or fax to the Director of Compliance as outlined above." However, the Integrity web site https://www.microsoftintegrity.com/ has an invalid security certificate.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
... that I can't tell if your post is a joke, or what's actually planned. :-|
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
Mods, PLEASE, for the love of gravy, stop downmodding posts just because you disagree! This is the epitome of the kind of petty schoolyard BS that is dragging down any attempt at public discourse in the US. MightyYar's post here could conceivably be viewed as inflammatory by those with thin skins, but get real -- this is an off-hand comment intended to be *flippant*, and is (mostly) true to boot -- Sarah Palin is indeed a) running for office, and b) has pushed to have an ex-brother-in-law fired. These are both publicly documented facts, that have even been avowed by Palin herself. Now get over yourselves, and take your cursors off those danged negative mod options!
Sheesh. People these days...
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
Shouldn't that be:
"Ethics - A county to the eatht of London" :-)
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
I've been keeping tabs on it since about 1999. See http://kegel.com/corporate_ethics.html
they are a marketing company and what they say in public has very little association with the truth. They even lied to a federal judge in one of thier cases( faked a video, said it wasn't faked ).
What surprises me is the press still quotes them. Just like the word "open" means something unique to Microsoft compared to what the world + dog accept "open" to mean, I suspect the word "ethics" has its own MS-ethics definition. They are a marketing company and spin is what they do. IMO
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
If they really cared about ethics, it's clearly obvious to any semi-intelligent person, they would make some effort to build an OS that is secure. They're not fooling anyone.
Pretty much every big corporation has a code of ethics.
Few abide by it.
So what's the fuzz?
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
This is the lamest attempt at Microsoft-bashing I've seen here in awhile. Corporations, big and small, are all about making money. Period. Why should Microsoft be any different? While they'd all love good PR from appearing ethical, I highly doubt it's a priority with ANY of them.
Certainly this isn't the best you commie pinko open-source command-line-nutjob zealots can come up with? Is it?
All true, but somewhat beside the point. Microsoft is just misunderstood. People think that Microsoft is a software company, but it isn't. Microsoft is an abuse company that sells software as a way of delivering abuse. Microsoft's evil is not a side-effect of their management philosophy, Microsoft's evil is their business model.
[...]While you were in space I created a way for us to make huge sums of legitimate money and still maintain the ethics and business practices of an evil organization"
P.S.: if Ballmer is number two, who's mini me?
"If a boss demands loyalty, give him integrity. But if he demands integrity, give him loyalty." (John Boyd, 1927-1997)
I just love the smell of irony, duplicity, and hypocrisy in the morning! Thanks. I'm good for the rest of the day.
Oh wait I got all of that turning on the news and listening to the U.S. Presidential candidates.
Well...then I'm good for a few months now.
I believe a corporate ethics policy that says these kinds of things is a mandatory requirement for government contracting work. Since Microsoft wants to sell to the Feds, they have to have this pro-forma policy.
Oh, and I once had a Microsoft Lawyer lecture me on corporate ethics. Fortunately it was only in an email, so I was unable to respond physically...
dave
Its pretty common [...] to have the "annual lecture" or tested video course on ethics [....]
Not sure about Haliburton specifically but, where I'm at, the requirement for regular ethics training is mandated by a legal settlement for earlier, um, activities that indicated a broad need for such training.
And, you're right. It doesn't change behavior. It just removes the "I didn't know" excuse for next time.
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!
Oh, bwhahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!
Make it stop, I'm starting to hurt!
Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
In my experience all large companies have posted ethical guidelines in order to cover their asses by providing scapegoats when they are caught. It's simple, the corporation can do no wrong, it was just a wayward employee violating policy.
Ethical?
Guidlines?
Microsoft?
What rotting smelly flesh! Kick it in the gutter, where it is to be washed away, like so many other failures. His High Magestrates Billy G. and the presumptrouptus Stevie B., are prime examples of born failures.
Deary deary, this odd world couple makes a wounderful case for why abortion is needed now, don't they.
Microsoft's ethics are obviously at the core... of a memo to the publicity department.
Jedis are stupid. If they were so powerful, why couldn't they handle counseling for a kid who missed his mom?
At the foot of each summary on the main page there's a little input box, with something that looks like a rotating green flower to the right of it. What's that supposed to do?
Also it says something about a feedback menu, which I've never seen. Unless that thing with the flower is it. I don't know, it's half hidden under the title of the following story...
Anybody else getting the "invisble ink" (you can only see the words wehn you select the text) for the story titles ?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Some of the stuff you nerds post here is just unbelievably stupid.