マイクロソフトベルベットグローブ

Hi Eduardo,



Thanks for responding. Your explanation makes sense, but the shills and lackeys are off and running wild with this new discovery

that «Sun has secret patents on ODF». Yes, they went full throttle, zero to sixty in under four seconds.



By next week this latest conspiracy theory will likely go the way of other myths that got some noise, and then into a vast echo

chamber that otherwise intelligent people reference in shamelessly self serving ways to justify the next conspiracy theory. I can

hear the deafening refrain now, «There were so many reports that Sun had patents on ODF and that it's not really open, that you have

to stop and think».



I wrote a response to Brian Jones, and sent it to PJ for review. But the truth is, today is the first time i ever had to think

through the licensing issues. The interesting thing is that it's easy to circle false arguments, and set them spinning, even without

having a clue as to what i'm talking about :) At the end of the day they will become the fateful victims of their own wishful and

self serving exuberance. Such is life when you have no sense of integrity, trust and truth. And don't understand that when push

comes to shove, trust and truth are the only things that matter. Push came to shove in Massachusetts, and everyone got to see, up

close and personal, who they really are. Not a pretty sight. +1 Open Standards. +1 Open Source. Transparency rules.



Your arguments though have the truth of being there. Would you mind if PJ published your comments? I know that's asking a lot,

especially since there's far more at stake than needing to respond to the lies and deceits of the MS Office 12 gang. But your

response is clean, clear, and to the point. Groklaw does have one loud and booming voice. And PJ is the kind of do gooder who

doesn't like FUD. She usually does an excellent job of exposing and slamming away lies, deceits and distortions.



There is the distinct probability that things will get worse. I for one am quite surprised by the heavy handed, uncompromising take

no prisoners ferocity Microsoft has shown regarding the Massachusetts decision. ODF though is a silver bullet, and the shot Eric

Kriss and Peter Quinn took at all proprietary, platform and application bound file formats found it's mark. Finally.



The day before the final decision was made, i had a chance to speak at length with Peter Quinn. They were hoping against hope that

Microsoft would respect their decision and make the necessary accommodations to provide OpenDocument files. Sadly it was not to be,

but for sure Microsoft was given every consideration. Deserved or not.



Peter did ask if i would participate in his panel discussion session at the upcoming NACIO conference in San Diego. They expect

excellent attendance from every state. He's trying to get someone from Microsoft, but so far they are refusing to participate. So i

asked him if it would be okay if showed up with a few hundred OpenOffice.org CD's to pass out. He told me i would need more than that

:) Apparently the line behind Massachusetts is both long and ready.



I also asked if he and Eric would kindly autograph my copy of the OASIS OpenDocument v 1.0 specification. He said of course, but then

asked if i could get him a copy autographed by all the engineers and TC members who worked on OpenDocument. That would be a very nice

thing to do Eduardo, but could Sun help me put something like that together?



Thanks for setting things straight,



~ge~