FC: Letter to CAGW and CSE: Why should governments use MS products?

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Sun Aug 26 2001 - 08:02:04 PDT

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    Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2001 10:49:30 -0400
    From: "\"Robin \\\"Roblimo\\\" Miller\"" <robinat_private>
    To: declanat_private
    Subject: Re: FC: Microsoft allies reply to dead-people-writing-letters story
    
    Re: Citizens Against Government Waste and Citizens for a Sound Economy's
    reactions to their pro-Microsoft letter-writing campaigns...
    
    Dear Declan:
    
    Assuming Citizens Against Government Waste [CAGW] and Citizens for a
    Sound Economy [CSE] are not corporate shills, but honest grassroots
    groups true to their names, I'm sure they're at least as interested in
    lobbying for more efficient use of their members' tax dollars in
    government computer hardware and software purchasing as in the
    comparatively minor amounts state attorneys general and the US DoJ have
    spent persecuting Microsoft.
    
    Our federal, state and local governments collectively waste hundreds of
    billions of dollars worth of taxpayers' money every year on overpriced,
    insecure, and hardware-inefficient proprietary software and computer
    operating systems while free or low-cost open source alternatives are
    readily available.
    
    It is possible that CAGW and CSE aren't aware of these alternatives or
    how they can be put to practical use in government offices. I'm sure
    that once they and their organizations' members are aware of just how
    much tax money can be saved by choosing the most cost-effective software
    available instead of blindly buying from the companies with the biggest
    marketing budgets, they will start deluging elected and appointed
    government officials with mail and phone calls begging them to change
    the way they buy computer hardware and software.
    
    I hereby give Mr. Schatz and Mr. Beckner permission to reprint the
    following article, unaltered, on their organizations' Web sites or in
    any newsletters or magazines their groups publish. The City of Largo,
    Florida (motto: "City of Progess"), the subject of this story, is
    probably spending less money per employee on computer systems than
    almost any other government in North America. Others should follow their
    lead, and I look forward to working with CAGW and CSE to help make this
    happen.
    
    Article URL: http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/08/10/1441239
    
    - Robin "Roblimo" Miller
       Editor in Chief, OSDN
       http://www.osdn.com
    
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    Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2001 22:37:33 -0700
    To: declanat_private
    From: "A.Lizard" <alizardat_private>
    Subject: Re: FC: Microsoft allies reply to dead-people-writing-letters
       story
    In-Reply-To: <5.0.2.1.0.20010825235231.021527d0at_private>
    
    Would there be any "grassroots activism" if MS and allied companies weren't 
    pumping money into the process?
    
    If I were a MS stockholder, I'd be more than a little concerned that the 
    company's PR dollars are going to "independent organizations" that either 
    can't tell the difference between grassroots and astroturf or think that 
    the average politech reader can't.
    
    A.Lizard
    
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    From: "RV Head" <4whpat_private>
    To: <declanat_private>
    Subject: Re: Microsoft allies reply to dead-people-writing-letters story
    Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2001 00:16:33 -0400
    
    Yeah, there's a groundswell of public suport for Mickey$oft, just like there
    was massive support for Mayor-for-life Daley in Chicago, and just like
    there's no monopoly in the OS market, and just like that monopoly has not
    been leveraged to create another monopoly in the browser market.
    
    Microsoft is a serial criminal, and it's obvious that they've no intention
    of changing their Evil Ways; indeed perhaps even a Structural Remedy which
    requires Bill to take the OS and Paul to take Apps or vice versa will not
    stop them from their illegal activity.
    
    It is no longer a question of /whether/ they broke the law - Judge Jackson
    heard MONTHS of testimony and he found the evidence to be OVERWHELMING that
    MS has abused its OS monopoly to extend into other areas.
    
    Oh, well.
    
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    So they activate >1 mil members and supporters, and 400 letters ensue?
    Seems the public has whispered its protest!
    
    PS - if the two organizations are not connected, I assume the texts of letters
    originating from them were very different... correct?
    
    You may quote any part of the above if you insist - but please do not 
    attribute.
    
    A fellow journalist
    
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