Microsoft admits bunging cash to partners

31 Aug 2007 | 07:58 BST

By Nick Farrell

SOFTWARE MITE Microsoft has put its hand up and admitted giving money to its Swedish partners to form a rent-a-mob and push through a vote in favor of the Office Open XML document format's approval as an ISO standard.

Apparently when the Redmond Vole hill heard about it it went ballistic and retracted the offer. Sheepish Swedish managers voluntarily notified the SIS, the national standards body, and admitted stacking the meeting.

Computer Sweden said that Vole was offering "market subsidies" and other resources to make up for the SIS membership fee.

Writing in his bog, Jason Matusow, Microsoft's senior director for intellectual property and interoperability, acknowledged that Microsoft had contacted business partners to support Open XML, though he stopped short of saying sorry.

In fact, he went on the offensive, blaming IBM who he claimed had also threatened to stack the meeting with its partners.

Matusow admitted that Microsoft had been on a recruitment drive to replace the "old guard" in the standard's movement because it needed a good shake-up.

As a result of the admission, the SIS standards body in Sweden, has declared its vote on OOXML invalid. Sweden will abstain on the matter.

Oddly the move is not because of Volish stacking. According to Groklaw, here, the invalidation was because one of the members in the meeting voted twice.

More here. µ

© 2007 Incisive Media Investments Ltd. 2007