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posted by janrinok on Friday May 22 2015, @11:09PM   Printer-friendly
from the threatened-or-lobbying? dept.

When the UK government announced plans to shift to the .odf Open Document Format, and away from Microsoft's proprietary .doc and .docx formats, Microsoft threatened to move its research facilities out of the UK.

The prime minister's director of strategy at the time, Steve Hilton, said that "Microsoft phoned Conservative MPs with Microsoft R&D facilities in their constituencies and said we will close them down in your constituencies if this goes through" "We just resisted. You have to be brave," Hilton said.


Although I am not a great lover of Microsoft, I'm not sure that this is any different than many other companies who will try to protect their profits - and, arguably, the jobs of their employees - when they can see the potential for the loss of business. But perhaps other companies are a little more subtle - especially when it is obvious that official papers will one day become public knowledge.

[Editor's Comment: This submission has been significantly edited - comment is not attributable to sigma]

[Editor's Comment: Please see public apology regarding this story.]

 
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  • (Score: 2) by Yog-Yogguth on Saturday May 30 2015, @01:17AM

    by Yog-Yogguth (1862) Subscriber Badge on Saturday May 30 2015, @01:17AM (#189929) Journal

    Usians and Ukians are those who are either not aware of or who are supporting the fascist regimes of the USA and the UK. They are certainly not American or British.

    It would also makes sense to likewise talk of Ausians (instead of Australians) and Nzians (instead of New Zealanders). I'm not entirely convinced Canada merits something similar yet but if it does there's Canians.

    So why use various abbreviations for the countries as a template for new swearwords? To differentiate between the ideals most of those countries are meant to respect and how far away from it the current regimes are. Millions of citizens of each country/federation died fighting against what those countries now are and many more paid a high cost in other ways.

    Slightly confusing nouns with a metallic taste might kick a few more brains into action and maybe a few more will become a bit more observant about what is going on around them.

    Feel free to pass this on. The more the better.

    --
    Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
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