[ale] Office Depot sells its soul to M$

Kilroy, Chris Chris.Kilroy at turner.com
Tue Mar 25 11:07:04 EST 2003 


I was 
talking to a friend of mine who used to be a rep for a hardware company that did 
business with retail outlets like Office Depot about this issue. He 
basically said a few things that i thought put an interesting context on 
this:
<FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff 
size=2> 
retail 
software sales are in the toilet (internet sales and piracy), and maybe by 
entereing into this agreement, they cut some of their losses.  Also, 
i<FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff 
size=2>f MS plays hardball with them and threatens to pull their products Office 
Depot might as well stop selling software, and probably any PC supplies shy of 
inkjet cartridges =)
<FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff 
size=2> 
I'm 
not in that line of business, but maybe some people on the list are have some 
more accurate insights on the matter.I think writing a letter like Bob 
and others have is absolutely the right maneuver, and we have to use our limited 
power as consumers to send a message to companies that engage in business 
practices we object to.   I guess my point is that Office Depot may be 
getting squeezed pretty hard on the other end, and that is a known balance sheet 
number (MS software/hardware sales), whereas, consumer objection from the 'open 
source community' may be a loss they feel like they have to see if they can 
weather.
<FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff 
size=2> 
thanks 
for the link though, i've passed it on to quite a few people, and have written a 
letter myself.
<FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff 
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<FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff 
size=2>-Chris
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr 
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
  <FONT face=Tahoma 
  size=2>-----Original Message-----From: Hogg, Russell E 
  [mailto:ctcrreho at opm.gov]Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2003 10:54 
  AMTo: 'ale at ale.org'Subject: RE: [ale] Office Depot sells 
  its soul to M$
  Here's mine, To bad I had to write it 
  in outlook.  Sigh... 
  -----Original Message----- From: Hogg, 
  Russell E Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2003 10:51 
  AM To: 'communityrelations at officedepot.com' 
  Subject: Microsoft centric 
  To whom it may concern,   As an 
  educated and informed software developer and user, I was quite distressed to 
  read that Office Depot will only now carry Software bearing the windows XP 
  approved logo.  
    I believe Office Depot has made this decision out of a 
  misguided belief that this will guarantee that only quality software will fill 
  Office Depot shelves.  The truth is quite the opposite.  This logo 
  is basically just another way in which Microsoft extends its monopoly.  
  As opposed to representing quality it only means that the developer could 
  afford to pay Microsoft the fees necessary for their box to feature the 
  logo.  
    If the rest of the software market place follows Office 
  Depot's lead it will amount to extortion of Software Developers by 
  MS.
    Rest assured that I will stop purchasing the goods I 
  need at Office Depot until the situation is rectified.  I've suggested to 
  my friends and business associates that they do the same.  Should the 
  situation continue I intend to purge any Office Depot stock that may be in my 
  portfolio.  
    I will not support what I believe to be a predatory and 
  illegal monopoly.  And I believe Office Depot should not 
  either.
  Thank You, 
  Concerned Customer Russell Hogg 
     <FONT 
  size=2>  _ ______________________________ 
  _ Russell Hogg <FONT 
  size=2>ctcrreho at opm.gov 478.744.2367 <FONT 
  size=2>RMCI/OPM Software/Network Engineer IV 
      
     <FONT 
  size=2>  _ ___________________________________ 
  _ Russell Hogg <FONT 
  size=2>ctcrreho at opm.gov   <FONT 
  size=2>  
  -----Original Message----- From: Mike 
  Lockhart [<A 
  href="mailto:backpacker at hikers.net">mailto:backpacker at hikers.net] 
  Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2003 4:16 AM <FONT 
  size=2>To: ALE Subject: Re: [ale] Office Depot sells 
  its soul to M$ 
  Heres the letter I sent: <FONT 
  size=2>------------------------ 
  From:    Mike Lockhart 
  <backpacker at hikers.net> To: 
       communityrelations at officedepot.com <FONT 
  size=2>Subject: Complaint regarding recent Microsoft Deal <FONT 
  size=2>Date:    25 Mar 2003 04:13:22 -0500     
  
  To Whom it May Concern, 
    It has come to my attention thru various media sources 
  that Office Depot has made the decision to only carry 
  software for the Microsoft Windows Operating System 
  that falls under the "Microsoft Approved" seal.  
  I regard this decision as a detriment to the quality of software 
  that Office Depot will carry in the future.  I have 
  decided to change my personal and business purchasing 
  decisions away from Office Depot and on to competing 
  businesses until or unless Office Depot changes its <FONT 
  size=2>agreement with Microsoft.  Additionally, I have contacted my 
  financial advisor to sell any stock and options 
  pertaining to Office Depot and any subsidiaries or 
  parent companies therein.  I sincerely hope that if <FONT 
  size=2>Office Depot wishes to continue their business relationship with me 
  that Office Depot will withdraw from the agreement 
  with Microsoft and continue to offer software that 
  does not have a "Microsoft Approved" seal.  Thank 
  you. 
  Sincerely,   Michael 
  Lockhart 
  _______________________________________________ 
  Ale mailing list Ale at ale.org 
  <A href="http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale" 
  target=_blank>http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale 
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  size=2>--  Even though this E-Mail has been scanned and found clean 
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