More Microsoft being Microsoft

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Submitted by esr on Fri, 2007-08-31 03:25.
» My Resolve To Treat Microsoft Like Any Another License Submitter Is Being Sorely Tested.

But I find that my resolve is being sorely tested. Because Microsoft's behavior in the last few months with respect to OOXML has been egregious. They haven't stopped at pushing a "standard" that is divisive, technically bogus, and an obvious tool of monopoly lock-in; they have resorted to lying, ballot-stuffing, committee-packing, and outright bribery to ram it through the ISO standardization process in ways that violate ISO's own guidelines wholesale.

If Microsoft succeeds (which is beginning to look likely) they will have not merely damaged the prospects of open-source software, they will have ruined the good name of ISO by corrupting its people and processes. Because if OOXML, with all its huge flaws, really does pass, no one who has been conscious while this was going on is going to believe the process it passed through wasn't a charade bought and paid for by Microsoft marketing.

OpenVPN

OpenVPN is an open source virtual private network (VPN) package for creating point-to-point encrypted tunnels between host computers. It was written by James Yonan and is published under the GNU GPL.

CRN: Daily Archives

CRN: Daily Archives By Paula Rooney, CRN
Boston
5:17 PM EST Tues., Dec. 03, 2002

Red Hat Chairman and CEO Matthew Szulik said Microsoft's legal efforts to challenge open source by employing patent infringement law represent a big threat.

"It's a credible threat, no doubt about it," said Szulik, a native son of Massachusetts who returned to deliver the keynote at Enterprise Linux Forum here. "We see the threat of costs of litigation could be harmful, cause a disenfranchisement of the global collaborative [development] community and disrupt the speed of innovation. Yes, I think it's quite credible."