[odf-discuss] Huge Success for the ODF Community - Erwin's StarOffice Tango

[Christian Einfeldt]

hi

On Thu, May 22, 2008 at 7:37 PM, marbux <marbux at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> The more interesting part to me was Phipps' closing:
>
> "Of course, I might also reflect on the fact they are finally doing
> exactly what Stephe Walli said they ought to do to kill ODF.


This is potentially so huge I can't even get my mind around it.  Why would
Microsoft do this?  What is in it for them?  How will they seek to turn it
to their advantage?

Some suggestions as to why:

1)  because they are being investigated by the EU for their coercion in
getting OOXML passed.

2)  because they want to extend, embrace, and extinguish:

http://stephesblog.blogs.com/my_weblog/2005/12/how_microsoft_s.html

3) because they recognize that they have lost some important ground the
format wars, and that governments really do resent being forced to use
MOOXML the way that Microsoft forced it on them with proposed ISO 29500.

4)  because they succeeded in using dirty procedural tricks to get MOOX
approved as an ISO standard, and now they see that they need to get
Microsoft reps on standards bodies if they are going to control and
ultimately subvert those standards bodies as they did with ISO.

IMHO, we really need to all bookmark Stephen Walli's blog below, and read it
frequently, and maybe even read it aloud to one one another occasionally at
meetings, because we are not out of the dark as long as Microsoft has
billions to burn to defend its monopoly.  I have often heard it said that
the rational monopoly will, at some point, be willing to spend the provable
future value of the company minus one dollar defending its monopoly status.
They owe it to their shareholders to be as vicious as we all know that they
have been for decades now.

If one reads the linked piece from 2005 by former Microsoft exec
> Stephen Walli, <
> http://stephesblog.blogs.com/my_weblog/2005/12/how_microsoft_s.html>,


Let's all remember what Microsoft did in staking the ISO vote; and how it
packed rooms to block out Sun and IBM participation in Spain.  We have one
an important procedural step, but the competition for open document
standards is only just now beginning.  Please remember, too, what a
Microsoft Exec once said about stacking panels:

http://boycottnovell.com/2008/01/30/evangelism-is-war-memo/

Thanks to Roy Schestowitz for uncovering and posting that revealing
"Evangelism is war" presentation by James Plamondon, Technical Evangelist,
Microsoft Developer Relations Group, which is linked above.

Expect more procedural tricks from Microsoft.  Exercise caution in watching
meeting agendas and lists of participants.  Here is a cut-and-paste from Roy
Schestowitz's posting of Microsoft Evangelist James Plamondon's screed on
how to stack panels:

 **********

I have mentioned before the "stacked panel." Panel discussions naturally
favor alliances of relatively weak partners — our usual opposition. For
example, an "unbiased" panel on OLE vs. OpenDoc would contain
representatives of the backers of OLE (Microsoft) and the Backers of OpenDoc
(Apple, IBM, Novell, WordPerfect, OMG, etc.). Thus, we find ourselves
outnumbered in almost every "naturally occurring" panel debate.

A stacked panel, on the other hand, is like a stacked deck: it is packed
with people who, on the face of things, should be neutral, but who are in
fact strong supporters of our technology. The key to stacking a panel is
being able to choose the moderator. Most conference organizers allow the
moderator to select die panel, so if you can pick the moderator, you win.
Since you can't expect representatives of our competitors to speak on your
behalf, you have to get the moderator to agree to having only "independent
ISVs" on the panel. No one from Microsoft or any other formal backer of the
competing technologies would be allowed -just ISVs who have to use this
stuff in the "real world." Sounds marvellously independent doesn't it? In
feet, it allows us to stack the panel with ISVs that back our cause. Thus,
the "independent" panel ends up telling the audience that our technology
beats the others hands down. Get the press to cover this panel, and you've
got a major win on your hands.
Finding a moderator is key to setting up a stacked panel

************************

-- 
Christian Einfeldt,
Producer, The Digital Tipping Point
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