Microsoft denies "screw-Google" political lobbying Microsoft is certainly working to outflank Google in Washington, DC, but it has dismissed the notion that it holds regular "screw Google" meetings. A company spokesperson told Daily Finance that it's absurd to hang the "screw Google" tag on meetings between chief lobbyist Fred Humphries and politicians and DC lobbyists. " …
Microsoft used to do almost no lobbying at all, and look where that got them. Whatever actual antitrust laws were or were not violated, that case had a lot more to do with Microsoft's competitors spending money for years, setting them up. Compare that with the occasional light slap on the wrist that Intel gets. Is it any surprise that Microsoft spents money on lobbying today? Do you think IBM, SUN, Google, and Oracle do not?
I may stray from the 'real' topic here, but companies should focus their energy and resources on their products and not on lobbying.
Mixing politics with business is not a good idea, especially when companies become so big that they can actually influence politics. Whether it is Apple, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle or any other MegaCorp, mixing politics with business will always end in vendor lock-in.
Governments should think about the future and if necessary specify the standards which software should conform to, not the other way around.
Governing is mainly data-based, this data should be available to a wide variety of operating systems, architectures and — in my opinion — to the people in general.
I greatly respect Bill Gates' 'genius' and the company that he has built, even though Microsoft Office: Mac is a crippled racing horse, but keep Microsoft away from politics!
Keep any big company away from politics for that matter.
MS Office for Mac is fine, it was very buggy when it first came out hower now it's actually very good. Maybe not as good as the PC version but still miles better than anything else.
Anyway yea Gates used to have the oppinion that it was "wrong" to lobby and it looks like that has changed.
I can't really blame them, Google and the rest have been outflanking them on this for ages. I agree with Gates however it's part of the game I suppose.
I just wish some of the politicians would have a little bit of integrity and not simply care about the money to get re-elected and/or the golden parachute after dinner circuit.
While lobbying the USG (or elected reps) is relatively new this is more likeley the shift in policy is since bad boy Billy reckoned that in a free market companies had much more to say than governments in stopping MS get what the wanted. IE Everything.
I think their lobbying of AOL to dump Netscapes as their standard browser in the install package was fairly well known. The phrase (from Gates to an AOL executive by email) of how much do you want to screw Netscape? (I'm sure other readers have the exact wording hence no quotes) did stick in the memory.
Being an ex P&G man the bald one knows that keeping Uncle Sam on side is important to avoiding too many run ins and class action law suites.
Google is overstepping the mark and I find myself thinking it's no bad thing thing that at least someone is briefing against them. MS may be a big bad competition-squashing monster, but it never had nearly as many tentacles as Google. Nor did it ever try so hard to make itself out to be so bloody nice all the time.
And what's with all the comments about the Reg being gratuitously anti-MS/pro-Google? Have any of you actually seen the amount of negative coverage Google is getting around here?! And every Google article has a comments page filled to the gunwales with pseudo-rabid Google apologists. WTFF?
Governments are voted in by the *people* not by corporations. Our government *representatives* are suppose to represent the best interests of the *people*, not what is in the best interests of a few powerful corporations, often at the expense of the people.
We are not the slaves of the corporations yet they keep acting like the hidden puppet masters of the governments.
But then its in the best interests of the big companies to have friends in politics to help them and its in the best interests of politicians to have friends in big business to help them get high paid jobs once they leave politics. Money and power working together ... as usual.
Lobbyists actions make democracy look just like a PR smoke screen to placate the masses into thinking they are being served when its actually the goals of the rich and powerful who are really being served, often at the expense of the people.
It seems whatever political system the world comes up with, we always end up with the rich and powerful climbing to the top to rule over us all, ultimately for their own gain at the expense of everyone they rule over. Democracy was a move to attempt to limit the excesses of the far left and far right governments, which in the end, all end up behaving the same with extreme lack of empathy over all their slave like minions. Yet all governments regardless of which stated ideology they follow, all ultimately end up being about a hierarchy of powerful people forming within them, all seeking the personal gain from having such power over others. Now democracies are maturing into yet again just another way the rich and powerful can gain the power to control the powerless masses ultimately for their own gain. So as usual the vast majority of the human race suffers, just so the minority of rich and powerful people can live the high life.
I wonder if the final answer is to create a new form of government based on technology to force total openness on the relentless power seekers and so stop this rich and powerful minority of people gaining at the expense of everyone else and to stop them gaming the system for their own gain. Ultimately governments are voted in by the *people* not by the rich and powerful and their corporations.
It would appear that some folks have forgotten ( or ignored ) the relevant history. We only have to hearken back to the time of "DOS ain't done 'til Lotus won't run" to conclude that this behavior is entirely NORMAL for the rain-soaked mental defectives in the Pacific Northwest.
If you prefer a different platitude, maybe "a rose by any other name" might fit the situation.
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