What is Digg?31 Comments
- harlowsmonkeys, on 10/12/2007, -12/+45How is sleazily slipping in an amendment at the last minute on an unrelated bill the good fight? It's just as bad when done for a good cause as when it is done for a bad cause.
- acceptab1euname, on 10/12/2007, -4/+26I'm with harlowsmonkeys - this isn't a defeat for open source, this is a victory against underhanded attempts at sneaking in legislation.
- Coldfire24, on 10/12/2007, -4/+19I just got a very disturbing image of clippy in my head.
- teknomunk, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9No format is worthless, even the Microsoft format has worth. It is really a question of who controls the data. Are you, as the creator of the document, able to use the said document without having to get permission from some third party to do so?
- Phocion55, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7"Microsoft is trying to get OOXML released as a globally-recognized standard, but that's not enough?"
Microsoft's "standard" makes a mockery of what "standard" really means. - OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10[quote]Or those "Microsoft Office raped and killed my wife" ideals.[/quote]
Not yet perhaps. But in 50 years, Microsoft Home Assistant just might. That's what's going to happen if Microsoft isn't stopped. We'll be overrun by ass-raping Microsoft Daleks. - corevette, on 10/12/2007, -12/+16@schestowitz - i guarantee you are never going to get dugg up using those 'handmade' quotations
- OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8[quote]how is this anything new? This has been going on for a long time and companies have their lobbyists do the exact same thing.[/quote]
Just because it exists doesn't mean it's a good thing. How can you justify corporate lobbying? It's probably the #1 source of corruption in the US government today. Sure, this document format thing might seem benign to you, but what if it was about pollution instead? All corporate lobbying should be banned. - Escamillo, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8When you compete by resort to sneaking in government mandates to force use of certain tech ("tucking" it into a 38-page bill, hoping nobody notices it), then you've got to question your own tech's merits.
- manifestdata, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Obviously your fanboyism has blurred your vision too. Regardless of who it is, sneaking in legislation is just retarded. If this was Microsoft trying to sneak in legislation you would be peeing your pants and reposting this story every morning.
- Szandor, on 10/12/2007, -13/+15"It's just as bad when done for a good cause as when it is done for a bad cause."
Nice slogan, but it's *****.
There's no way you could convince me that cheating for a good cause *is as bad* as cheating for a bad one.
I'd cheat my ass off if it would stop the Iraq war tomorrow. - Dhalgren, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Whenever I see stuff like this I think of Fight Club:
"Look, the people you are after are the people you depend on. We cook your meals, we haul your trash, we connect your calls, we drive your ambulances. We guard you while you sleep. Do not... ***** with us. " - mal1964, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4 "sabotage" is such a strong and ugly word how about this instead, a deliberate action aimed at weakening an enemy, oppressor or employer through subversion, obstruction, disruption, and/or destruction.
- busterbros, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6The headline seems to be overstating the facts a bit.
- xtraa, on 10/12/2007, -6/+6'Demean' would imply that the story is a lie but it is a fact. There is nothing unusual by this behaviour of a company, Microsoft just wants to keep its asset. Seems that time is running against them atm.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5Gee, from the comments by the Microsoft fan-boy club, you'd think that someone trying to make reasonably priced alternatives available to our various state governments was a bad thing. I guess that having a monopoly is easier than thinking.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3microsoft, digging our karmic grave one state at a time.
- Inqu, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5I bet Schestowitz has gigs of text documents of these little quotes devoted to Microsoft. It's all he can do anymore other than post 9 year old pdf documents. For someone who hates Microsoft so much, he sure does spend a good amount of time of them.
- Inqu, on 10/12/2007, -7/+5Thanks for the repeat of the same story that made front page not too long ago. Running out of stories to try and demean Microsoft?
- blusteel, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Oops, wrong thread. Digg me down.
- blusteel, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2I hope they try to promote it this time. Their previous GNU/Linux offerings were practically invisible unless you knew exactly where to look.
Congrats, though. - Judicata, on 10/12/2007, -10/+6"Slipping" stuff into bills is not cheating or dishonest - it's just how things work. It isn't like the bill was sitting on a table, next to an intern and Mr. Congressman secretly added a sheet of paper to the end.
Also, this story has been dugg, and many of these same comments have been made.
http://www.digg.com/linux_unix/Microsoft_s_Men_in_Black_kill_Florida_open_standards_legislation_2
also:
http://www.digg.com/tech_news/Microsoft_trying_to_block_Florida_open_standards_legislation
http://www.digg.com/linux_unix/Open_Standards_for_Florida_vs_Microsoft_lobbyists
http://www.digg.com/microsoft/Microsoft_s_Men_in_Black_kill_Florida_open_standards_legislation - GawtMilk, on 10/12/2007, -15/+9Or those "Microsoft Office raped and killed my wife" ideals.
- Phocion55, on 10/12/2007, -17/+12Keep fighting the good fight, Mr. Homan.
- iNoles, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3Damn, Microsoft. Man, do I needs to see my state legislature in office about this? I am refusing to supporting OOXML.
- etnu, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3How can anything be "just as bad" when done for a good cause as when done for a bad cause? That doesn't even make any sense.
I'm not saying it's OK, but that statement was ridiculous. - MonkeyMCSE, on 10/12/2007, -11/+3harlowsmonkey
how is this anything new? This has been going on for a long time and companies have their lobbyists do the exact same thing. Everything that is passed in bills have some sort of underlying motive, it's the government way. Slide something in without mentioning it, then find out too late. The government shouldn't be trying to hide these things, be they local or federal.
Hope this is legible, had lasik yesterday and still healing the eyes. - tahjah, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2===
Ed Homan, an orthopedic surgeon representing a central Florida district in the state legislature, thought an amendment touting open-source document formats he tucked into a 38-page bill wouldn't draw much attention
===
So him tucking in an amendment touting his "better" solution over another is somehow different than lobbyists touting an "evil company's" solution or as of the ODF BS now trying to prevent unfair software policies?
Can a government be convicted of anti-trust or anti-competitive practices by refusing to use the de-facto business productivity tools for the last two decades in favor of lesser-accepted tools? Like it or not, someone is lobbying for ODF, just not the Gates cyborg. But that doesn't matter now does it.
Microsoft is trying to get OOXML released as a globally-recognized standard, but that's not enough? Open/Star Office, KOffice, Corel, (gnu*) can implement ODF but not another [soon-to-be] standard? - joe90210, on 10/12/2007, -17/+6***** awesome, anything to get this worthless ODF format out of the world will help, writing to my political representatives isn't enough
- fkr3, on 10/12/2007, -19/+5Schestowitz why don't you focus your narrow little mind on *truly* evil corporation. Microsoft is ruthlessly competitive and as much as you dislike it, it's often not against the law.
Some really evil corporations, in the true sense of the word as opposed to the "omg they were mean to their competitors" sense ...
Coca Cola
"To date, there have been a total of 179 major human rights violations of Coca-Cola’s workers, including nine murders. Family members of union activists have been abducted and tortured. Union members have been fired for attending union meetings. The company has pressured workers to resign their union membership and contractual rights, and fired workers who refused to do so.”
Delphi
"In October, Miller took his company into bankruptcy, with the explicit purpose of trashing the social contract between unionized auto workers in the United States and the auto industry. He proposed slashing worker wages from $27 an hour to a mere 10 bucks."
DuPont
“What’s the appropriate fine for a $25 billion company that for decades hid vital health information about a toxic chemical that now contaminates every man, woman and child in the United States?” asked EWG President Ken Cook. “What’s the proper dollar penalty for a pollutant that will never break down, and now finds its way into polar bears in the Arctic and human babies in their mothers’ wombs? We’re pretty sure it’s not $16 million, even if that is a record amount under a federal law that everyone acknowledges is extremely weak.”
Ford
"It turns out that over a period of years, Ford Motor Company dumped millions of gallons of paint sludge into a now-residential area of northern New Jersey."
W.R. Grace
"Despite their knowledge of the hazards of asbestos, the company and executives “distributed asbestos-contaminated vermiculite and permitted it to be distributed throughout the Libby community” by allowing workers to leave the mine site covered in asbestos dust, allowing residents to take waste vermiculite for use in their gardens and distributing vermiculite “tailings” to the Libby schools for use as foundations for running tracks and an outdoor ice skating rink."
Sources: 2004 and 2005 Top Ten Worst Corporations
http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2004/122004/mokhiber.html
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0425-21.htm - schestowitz, on 10/12/2007, -46/+19In Soviet Russia, government controls commerce.
Open Standards for Florida vs Microsoft lobbyists
,----[ Quote ]
| Bottom line: Rep. Ed Homan (R-Tampa) tried to get a small paragraph
| added to a general IT bill in the State Senate that mildly favored
| open standards (i.e. ODF etc.) in state IT operations. It was a
| quiet effort, he told me, but still, within 24 hours all the
| State Senators on the appropriate committee had been contacted
| by lobbyists representing Microsoft, who also paid him a visit.
`----
http://www.openaddict.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=667
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