Danese Cooper politely but firmly questions Microsoft's Bill Hilf about Microsoft and its relations with the open source community



While Microsoft has tried to soften its public image regarding open source, the open source community has not yet started to accept Microsoft. When Cooper asked Hilf if Martin Taylor's departure from Microsoft would end "disinformation" campaigns like the widely despised "Get the Facts" campaign, Hilf claimed that Microsoft hasn't used disinformation, to a general "harrumph" from the polite but skeptical audience, and claimed that it was an issue of which audience Microsoft should target. Presumably, Microsoft needs to target an audience that doesn't know enough to spot disinformation campaigns. Morocco RPCV Danese Cooper is an advocate of open-source software. She is on the board of the Open Source Initiative. She came to public attention for her work at Sun Microsystems on promoting open source, and presently works at Intel.

Danese Cooper politely but firmly questions Microsoft's Bill Hilf about Microsoft and its relations with the open source community

OSCON day 2
Wednesday July 26, 2006 (07:00 PM GMT)

By: Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier

[Excerpt]

Microsoft and open source

One of the more entertaining items on the agenda was a discussion between Danese Cooper, of Intel and the Open Source Initiative, and Microsoft's Bill Hilf. Cooper grilled Hilf about Microsoft's interactions with the open source community. Hilf talked about how Microsoft wants to learn from the open source community, and things that Microsoft is allegedly doing to cooperate with the community.

One topic that Hilf discussed is the Open Document Format (ODF) plugin for Microsoft Office, which he painted as an effort to be open and cooperative with organizations that want to save their data in ODF. What Hilf didn't mention was the amount of resistance Microsoft has put up trying to avoid any support in Office for ODF.

Cooper asked Hilf if he'd read Groklaw, or if he was aware of reviews that described the ODF plugin as less than an optimal solution for working with ODF. Hilf said that he wasn't, and tried to gloss over the problems with the plugin by talking about the differences between the ODF specification and Microsoft's XML format specifications.

While Microsoft has tried to soften its public image regarding open source, the open source community has not yet started to accept Microsoft. When Cooper asked Hilf if Martin Taylor's departure from Microsoft would end "disinformation" campaigns like the widely despised "Get the Facts" campaign, Hilf claimed that Microsoft hasn't used disinformation, to a general "harrumph" from the polite but skeptical audience, and claimed that it was an issue of which audience Microsoft should target. Presumably, Microsoft needs to target an audience that doesn't know enough to spot disinformation campaigns.

Due to the packed schedule, the discussion between Cooper and Hilf was only a half hour, which is a shame because I think that the audience was really enjoying watching Cooper politely but firmly question Hilf about Microsoft and its relations with the open source community.

I spoke to Hilf briefly during one of the breaks. In general, Hilf seems like a nice guy, but it doesn't seem to me that Microsoft's really changing in any fundamental way. The company is still focused on world domination and proprietary software, and is really only interested in leveraging open source techniques and community without embracing free and open source philosophy. Microsoft may be engaging the community more politely, but it's still a fundamentally adversarial relationship that seems to offer little to the open source community.

When this story was posted in July 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

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Bush nominates RPCV Ron Tschetter to head PC President Bush has nominated Ron Tschetter to serve as Director of the Peace Corps. Tschetter, 64, is the president of D.A. Davidson & Co., an employee-owned investment firm based in Montana who first got involved with the Peace Corps in 1966, when he volunteered with his wife to work as family planning advisers in India. He is a former Chairman of the National Peace Corps Association. PCOL Comment: Congratulations to the Bush administration for an inspired choice for Peace Corps Director. Ron Tschetter is not only an RPCV but was Chairman of the NPCA. Best wishes to Mr. Tschetter on his future tenure as Director of the Peace Corps.

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The Peace Corps Library The Peace Corps Library is now available online with over 40,000 index entries in 500 categories. Looking for a Returned Volunteer? Check our RPCV Directory or leave a message on our Bulletin Board. New: Sign up to receive our free Monthly Magazine by email, research the History of the Peace Corps, or sign up for a daily news summary of Peace Corps stories. FAQ: Visit our FAQ for more information about PCOL.

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Support the US-Peruvian Trade Pact Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, the Peace Corps President, has been lobbying both Democratic and Republican legislators to support the US-Peruvian trade pact before July 28, when his term ends and a US congressional recess begins. If President Bush fails to get approval before Congress goes on recess, it will be a case study proving that the United States does not reward its friends. Please call your representatives.

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PCOL readership increases 100% Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come.

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History of the Peace Corps PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help.

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