Inside Story [LWN.net]

Inside Story

Posted Sep 25, 2005 19:51 UTC (Sun) by ncm (subscriber, #165)
Parent article: It's Final - MA Goes With Open Document (Groklaw)

I'd like for somebody to visit with with the people involved, in Massachusetts, and get a rundown on the kinds of pressure and threats that Microsoft used to try to strangle the initiative. We've seen lots of other places cave under that treatment (Peru, most remarkably), and it would be helpful to know just what a government is up against, and prepare for it.

MS bribing and/or threatening higher-level officials (as must have happened in Peru), funding opposition candidates (as must have happened in Brazil), press releases by astroturf organizations (as in Massachusetts), and threats of lawsuits (likewise) must be among the cruder tactics. Those all must have happened late in the game, but the measures that strangle most of these initiatives before they reach the stage of public commitment ought to be more easily countered.

Every such announcement or commitment, even when later sabotaged, makes the next such initiative easier to start.

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Inside Story

Posted Sep 25, 2005 22:58 UTC (Sun) by bojan (subscriber, #14302) [Link]

> kinds of pressure and threats that Microsoft used to try to strangle the initiative

You seem to be implying that MS may have been involved in something sleezy. I just can't believe that ;-)

Money talking

Posted Sep 26, 2005 10:28 UTC (Mon) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091) [Link]

I don't think it is anything out of the ordinary when dealing with big money. Not necessary threatening or exerting evident pressure; but just getting your rich buddies to talk with other rich buddies, hiring some people and requesting payback for some favors.

In my limited experience, I once saw Microsoft people in action in Brussels, and they are smiling and confident business weasels. Maybe in Peru it is different, but not in Massachusetts near their home turf.

Inside Story

Posted Sep 28, 2005 12:11 UTC (Wed) by wookey (subscriber, #5501) [Link]

But Peru has just passed a Free Software procurement law. That doesn't sound being 'got at' by Microsoft. Are you referring to some other event in peru?