Microsoft trying to quash OpenDocument

[Chris F.A. Johnson]

On Sun, 2 Oct 2005 pking123-rieW9WUcm8FFJ04o6PK0Fg at public.gmane.org wrote:

> The article traces back to Fox News. I don't recall anyone ever
> accusing Fox News of high-integrity journalism.

     Note that, to their credit, Fox did add this statement:

 	Jim Prendergast is executive director of Americans for
 	Technology Leadership, a coalition of technology
 	professionals, companies and organizations that supports
 	limited government regulation of technology. An earlier
 	version of this column failed to disclose that Microsoft
 	Corporation is a founding member of ATL. Other founding
 	members include Staples, Inc., CompUSA and Citizens Against
 	Government Waste.

     and posted a separate article about it:
     <http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,170916,00.html>

> So, apparently, the
> State of Massachusetts, by choosing to embrace an open-source
> document format, is killing (Microsoft's) innovation and stifling
> (Microsoft's share in the control over) democracy. I am sure that M$
> could write drivers that support the open document format, but I
> guess now the open format will make it possible for other vendors to
> enter the market with alternatives to MS Word. And that will truly
> hurt Microsoft's "innovation", among the other things it will hurt.
>
> It is a truly disgusting article, but if you just consider where it
> is coming from, you can just ignore them and go back to bed. These
> people are not journalists, but they play one on Fox News. The
> article reads pretty much like a Microsoft press release. James
> Prendergast, the author is in this piece,  Seems to be nothing more
> than a stenographer for Microsoft. While it is an opinion piece,
> notice there is no balance from open source advocates provided by
> Fox. Pendergrast represents Americans For Technology Leadership,
> founded by Microsoft (I checked their website), Staples Business
> Depot, CompUSA, and a handful of citizens groups.
> (http://www.techleadership.org/about/)
>
> The article gives the impression of this being a piece from a
> "concerned grassroots citizen". But it is anything but that.
>
>> Latest crap...Convicted monopolist (antitrust is supposed to be a
>> felony) Microsoft which claims its "word"(tm - go figure) file format
>> which it has changed over the last few years, is the best choice for
>> Government, Banks, Legal Firms, Accounting Offices, and the rest of
>> the business spectrum. It seems any attempt to unseat the spoiled
>> brats will be met with severe opposition. I sure wish my daddy was a
>> lawyer...like Bill's. http://www.linux.org/news/2005/09/30/0010.html
>>
>> RickT
>> http://www.TorontoNUI.ca
>>
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>
>
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-- 
     Chris F.A. Johnson                     <http://cfaj.freeshell.org>
     ==================================================================
     Shell Scripting Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach, 2005, Apress
     <http://www.torfree.net/~chris/books/cfaj/ssr.html>
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