Is MS Bashing An Olympic Sport?
Oooof..!
Microsoft Offers Cash For Wikipedia Edit
Microsoft blunders over Weipedia editing
The Darkside Taints Wikipedia
Microsoft offered cash for wikipedia alterations
Microsoft offered cash to blogger for wikipedia edits
Microsoft 'tried to doctor Wikipedia'
Microsoft: Lessons in how to look stupid
Same thing again..? is nobody still tired ? comeon guys ! its bad because MS Did it? Please have a look at the facts:
· Doug Mahugh is the guy who actually contacted Rick Jeliffe to see if he would be willing to help correct factual inaccuracies we noticed in Wikipedia's entries on Open XML and ODF, since he is knowledgeable about both formats and without bias against either Open XML or ODF.
· Here is the exact request ""Wikipedia has an entry on Open XML that has a lot of slanted language, and we'd like for them to make it more objective but we feel that it would be best if a non-Microsoft person were the source of any corrections ... Would you have any interest or availability to do some of this kind of work? Your reputation as a leading voice in the XML community would carry a lot of credibility, so your name came up in a discussion of the Wikipedia situation today."
"Feel free to say anything at all on your blog about the process, about our communication with you on matters related to Open XML, or anything else. We don't need to "approve" anything you have to say, our goal is simply to get more informed voices into the debate ... feel free to state your own opinion."
· While we did offered to pay him for his time, to date no money has exchanged hands for the work Rick is doing on this project. Rick posted details about our request to him on his blog, to ensure that there was transparency as to his motives and ours, and to request aid from others on content to fact check his work.
· We (Microsoft and Rick) mutually believe that it is important for Wikipedia to have the most accurate content possible that reflects the true facts about Open XML and its relation to ODF. Shortly after his blog posted about his plans, he was contacted by a German volunteer for Wikipedia to thank him for his efforts.
· It’s important to point out that the Microsoft Open XML team went the extra mile to find someone who has a balanced perspective of Open XML to make an accurate Wikipedia entry. Rick Jeliffe recognizes the positives of the Open XML spec, but he has not hesitated to slam it publicly on areas that he sees as troublesome. In fact when we agreed that he would do this, he was very specific that he would write what he wanted and believed, and we would NOT have any input into the definition.
