Huh? Boycott this Boycott Novell baloney

Some web site called Boycott Novell (NOVL) has inexplicably posted an ad-hominen attack on my recent commentary on Microsoft (MSFT) wasting shareholder value by spending time on the so-called Open Standards effort.

Except that the blogger also seems to be attacking Microsoft? I'm actually not sure what his or her point is because the blog post is a little incoherent.

Anyways, To whom it may concern, despite what the Boycott Novell website says:

1 . I do not work for IDC

I did work for the Datapro division of McGraw Hill and IDC from 1991-2005. When I worked for IDC I did more work for Red Hat, IBM, Oracle and other proponents of Open Document Format (ODF) than I ever did for Microsoft, probably at a 10:1 ratio.

(Not that it matters, but the author of this ad-hominem post seems to have some obsession with IDC.)

2. I prepare a full-length magazine article a week and five blog posts a week and have done so every week for two years. In that period I have commented on ODF about five times.

(I therefore wouldn't put too much faith in his or her ability to get facts straight before writing a blog post about my obsessions--they have nothing to do with technology.)

3. My major research is primarily aimed at investors. A key issue for investors is the concerted effort by Sun (JAVA), Red Hat (RHAT) and others to lock SAP (SAP), Microsoft and others out of certain government markets through legislation, government regulation and so-called "international standards" bodies. A good example of that this month is the day by day drip-drip-drip PR effort by Sun, Red Hat, Google (GOOG), IBM (IBM) and others to derail International Standards Organization approval of Office Open XML (OOXML) because a vote is in progress. When I have mentioned ODF or OOXML in the last few weeks, it is an example of how these useless standards efforts lessen shareholder value.

(If the writer of this blog had actually read my blog posts, he or she would realize that my major criticism in this matter is against Microsoft. He or she would also see that I am against all so-called "Open international Standards," not ODF)

4. I have never seen this Boycott Novell web site before this morning (3/17/2008) and I do not know the author of this blog. I checked both my blogs and the Research 2.0 blog where I posted until last month and I cannot find any mention of Boycott Novell. Therefore I have not accused him or her of anything.

Microsoft sure brings 'em out of the woodwork.

-- Dennis Byron