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

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2001 10:49:30 -0400
From: "\"Robin \\\"Roblimo\\\" Miller\"" <robin () roblimo com>
To: declan () well com
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: declan () well com
From: "A.Lizard" <alizard () ecis com>
Subject: Re: FC: Microsoft allies reply to dead-people-writing-letters
  story
In-Reply-To: <5.0.2.1.0.20010825235231.021527d0 () mail well com>

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" <4whp () home com>
To: <declan () well com>
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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