[FYI]

[Kristian Köhntopp <kris@koehntopp.de>]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/000308-000003.html

MS strikes back by quitting critical trade body

Microsoft has quit the Software and Information Industry Association,
the major
Washington-based body representing the industry. Last month the SIIA
filed an
amicus curiae brief supporting the DoJ after its board apparently voted
7-2 for filing it, with ten abstentions. 

It seemed that Microsoft wanted to pick a fight, as last week Microsoft
COO Bob
Herbold, an SIIA board member, wrote to president Ken Wasch asking why
the SIIA
charter as a non-profit corporation had been revoked by the District of
Columbia, and expressed concern that he might be at risk. Wasch told him
it was an oversight that had been corrected. 

Yesterday, Herbold wrote to the SIIA saying that Microsoft was
resigning, and that he would leave the board because the SIIA was no
longer "playing a leadership role on the issues". 

Wasch said he was not surprised. In a statement, the association noted
that "For the   previous two years, Microsoft has withdrawn from
participation in the SIIA's core deliverable services... refused to be
engaged on the issues they claim to be most important, instead focussing
solely on the issue of competition." 

...

-- 
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