Re: [Marketing] Riding on MS' BSA activities?
On Tue, April 18, 2006 16:33, Lars D. Noodén wrote: MS is continuing to step up activities of BSA around the world, both in places like Sweden and Pakistan: http://jang.com.pk/thenews/apr2006-daily/18-04-2006/business/b11.htm And China: http://software.silicon.com/os/0,39024651,39158140,00.htm As an admirer of Thinkpad laptops, I find this news particularly annoying... John - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Riding on MS' BSA activities?
On Wed, 19 Apr 2006, John McCreesh wrote: And China: http://software.silicon.com/os/0,39024651,39158140,00.htm As an admirer of Thinkpad laptops, I find this news particularly annoying... Actually we can probably use that. Despite what the headlines have recently stated saying, MS has benefited greatly from illegal use of its software in China and, for that matter, everywhere else, too. MS doesn't gain any money directly on illegal copies, but it does work very effectively as a means of keeping out competition and keeping users locked into MS. MS is even likely to have encouraged illegal copies until competition arrives. Quoth Chairman Gates in 1998: As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade. - http://news.com.com/2100-1023-212942.html So something is happening if Chairman Gates and his flunkies have started yanking the press' chain about piracy. Maybe he really has figured out how to collect However, given the activity about F/OSS in China, it's more likely that operating systems distros like RedFlag are cutting into MS Windows and packages like OpenOffice.org are cutting into MS Office and formats like OpenDocument are cutting into MS' proprietary formats. All of that is very bad for MS. We can use that. We should also be able to leverage, though tactfully, the observation that the president of China was detoured from meeting first with federal officials. Instead he, the leader of a major portion of the world's population and a growing economic power, was shunted off to meet and perform symbolic services for a west coast politician at the schedule of that politician. That's some serious loss of prestige. I can see him or other politicians from China wanting to dig deeper into that hole -- not. -Lars Lars Noodén ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Patents are wrong for software but right for inventions. Write: http://consultation.ffii.org/Commission_extends_the_consultation_by_12_days - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Riding on MS' BSA activities?
On Wed, 2006-04-19 at 14:29 +0600, John McCreesh wrote: On Tue, April 18, 2006 16:33, Lars D. Noodén wrote: MS is continuing to step up activities of BSA around the world, both in places like Sweden and Pakistan: http://jang.com.pk/thenews/apr2006-daily/18-04-2006/business/b11.htm And China: http://software.silicon.com/os/0,39024651,39158140,00.htm As an admirer of Thinkpad laptops, I find this news particularly annoying... Maybe time to start exporting PC hardware without operating systems to China ;-) Actually just put Linux on because then if they want to have a machine without an OS its very very simple to do. I doubt that the Chinese are stupid enough not to have realised this. In fact if I was a HD manufacturer I might be inclined to sell HDs with a standard Linux install in place so any system builder that was building bare PCs would then buy my drives and just carry on as before. -- Ian Lynch www.theINGOTs.org www.opendocumentfellowship.org www.schoolforge.org.uk - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Riding on MS' BSA activities?
On Tue, 2006-04-18 at 06:33 -0400, Lars D. Noodén wrote: MS is continuing to step up activities of BSA around the world, both in places like Sweden and Pakistan: http://jang.com.pk/thenews/apr2006-daily/18-04-2006/business/b11.htm What kind of ways can we ride on this and use it to promote OpenOffice.org? Presumably in places like Sweden MS is going after businesses and private persons who have chosen to stay with Office 97 or Windows NT rather than coughing up for the lastest and most expensive. They'll be easy marks for MS because of the combination of almost impossible to meet requirements the BSA has for proof of valid sw licenses and the long time elapsed since the purchases. Marketing campaign - If you can't prove your office license is legal, upgrade to OpenOffice.org right now Why wait for the knock on the door? - upgrade to Openoffice.org and get peace of mind straight away However, I can't help but think there is some way we can ride on this and exploit it to our advantage, especially if combining forces with outher groups. Ubuntu comes to mind as one. -- Ian Lynch www.theINGOTs.org www.opendocumentfellowship.org www.schoolforge.org.uk - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Riding on MS' BSA activities?
Lars D. Noodén wrote: MS is continuing to step up activities of BSA around the world, both in places like Sweden and Pakistan: http://jang.com.pk/thenews/apr2006-daily/18-04-2006/business/b11.htm What kind of ways can we ride on this and use it to promote OpenOffice.org? by saying that OpenOffice.org licences are free and that businesses that have installed OOo enjoy perfect peace of mind in the eventuality of a BSA audit. Nor do they need to overestimate their requirements to ensure that they stay legal (ie buy more licences than they actually need to be on the safe side) Presumably in places like Sweden MS is going after businesses and private persons who have chosen to stay with Office 97 or Windows NT rather than coughing up for the lastest and most expensive. They'll be easy marks for MS because of the combination of almost impossible to meet requirements the BSA has for proof of valid sw licenses and the long time elapsed since the purchases. they go after businesses that run any version of MS but without enough licences for the number of PCs that they use However, I can't help but think there is some way we can ride on this and exploit it to our advantage, especially if combining forces with outher groups. Ubuntu comes to mind as one. -Lars Lars Noodén ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Isabelle Boulet Responsable Marketing 01 53 35 18 41 StarXpert www.starxpert.fr - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Riding on MS' BSA activities?
On Tue, 2006-04-18 at 06:33 -0400, Lars D. Noodén wrote: MS is continuing to step up activities of BSA around the world, both in places like Sweden and Pakistan: http://jang.com.pk/thenews/apr2006-daily/18-04-2006/business/b11.htm What kind of ways can we ride on this and use it to promote OpenOffice.org? And they aren't just using the BSA - they're also using technology: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/windows/0,39020396,39263342,00.htm One good answer to why.openoffice.org is because the alternative is Microsoft... In the past, I've discouraged active MS-bashing in our marketing - companies and politicians who do nothing but knock the opposition don't do themselves any favours in the long run. However, I think MS have made a huge gaffe in delaying the launch of MS-Office 2007 so they can make it look less like OOo, and we should not be slow to point this out. I've done two press interviews recently where the journalists have been very receptive to this message. why.openoffice.org/upgraders maybe John - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Riding on MS' BSA activities?
On Tue, 18 Apr 2006, John McCreesh wrote: [snip] One good answer to why.openoffice.org is because the alternative is Microsoft... In the past, I've discouraged active MS-bashing in our marketing - companies and politicians who do nothing but knock the opposition don't do themselves any favours in the long run. There are actually quite a laundry list of legitimate complaints. Sad that in the atmosphere of corporatism permeates the rest of society and critique, analysis, and positive/negative observations are not allowed. That said, we can get quite far, if not farther, by not specifically naming a particular problem company and instead focus on the issues. Yes, I realize it is a lot to ask of the public to connect two dots, but we are already seeing positive feedback on topics like open source and open formats (or 'open' in general). However, I think MS have made a huge gaffe in delaying the launch of MS-Office 2007 so they can make it look less like OOo, and we should not be slow to point this out. I've done two press interviews recently where the journalists have been very receptive to this message. Cool! As far as capitalizing on the BSA sweep that MS is running, how can we get the message across that using F/OSS (in our case OOo) gives peace of mind from worries about contracts and licensing requirements? Most people and businesses running MSO 97 are not going to have their papers in order when the BSA knocks on their door. -Lars Lars Nood�n ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Patents are wrong for software but right for inventions. Write: http://consultation.ffii.org/Commission_extends_the_consultation_by_12_days - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Riding on MS' BSA activities?
On Tue, 18 Apr 2006, Isabelle Boulet wrote: by saying that OpenOffice.org licences are free and that businesses that have installed OOo enjoy perfect peace of mind in the eventuality of a BSA audit. Nor do they need to overestimate their requirements to ensure that they stay legal (ie buy more licences than they actually need to be on the safe side) That works perfectly in shops running 100% F/OSS. How can that same peace of mind be achieved in a mixed environment, either mixed by design or during a transition from a vendor to F/OSS ? they go after businesses that run any version of MS but without enough licences for the number of PCs that they use The BSA only has to find a handful of seats out of compliance and they can force a re-purchase for each seat plus a few servers which are tied into the desktop software. IIRC sites with certain versions of Windows that have files with the .doc and .xls extensions but no MS Office, triggers a letter from BSA and a response to the letter triggers a visit. A site in transition from MSO to OOo is in most cases going to have machines without MSO, but still have some files with .doc extensions. I guess one of the things I'm wondering is with all the rush in the media to talk about license compliance, is how to get the media or users to key into the idea that OOo is one way of achieving license compliance. -Lars Lars Noodén ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Patents are wrong for software but right for inventions. Write: http://consultation.ffii.org/Commission_extends_the_consultation_by_12_days - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
