Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m not shy about taking potshots at Microsoft.
However, recently Microsoft impressed me mightily so it is only fair that I acknowledge that here.
Microsoft Ireland are the main sponsors of the upcoming IT@Cork Web 2.0 half day conference. When the whole controversy broke about O’Reilly’s issuing a Cease and Desist letter to IT@Cork for using the term Web 2.0 in the conference title I knew I would have to alert Microsoft.
It wasn’t a call I relished. I fully expected Clare Dillon, my contact in Microsoft, to pull Microsoft out of the event because of the controversy.
On the contrary, when I explained the situation to Clare, her first words were “How can we help?”. I was flabbergasted -so much so that I didn’t have an answer. I honestly didn’t expect that response.
Had I thought for a second, I would have asked her to double the sponsorship amount to cover our potential legal costs 😉
Ah well, live and learn. Thanks Clare, and thanks Microsoft.
…hint hint… 🙂
Microsoft Ireland seem pretty clued-in, if their quickness to sponsor events like this is anything to go by. They did the same with Damien’s awards, right in there at the off. The corporation itself seems to be growing up in some ways too – Scoble, blogging, even open source (kind of). Hopefully the clueful people will continue to hammer at the old school hacks, maybe even shunt them out of it in time.
the plot thickens…
Well, it’s certainly smart of MS to side with IT@Cork. I don’t think it would have been good business to side with O’Reilly or to just abstain and pull the sponsorship.
At least they put some of their vast funds to good use when it comes to local event sponsorship. Roll on the Web 2.0 event….
Well, it’s just one person, not the whole company;)
Anyway all this case is pathetic, and web2.0 term became so popular, that I don’t expect O’Reilly to win anything.
Perhaps it is worth noting that Microsoft is among the world’s largest (and most profitable) technical book publishers and thus is one of O’Reilly’s main competitors. This fact may not be influencing any of the behavior we are observing, but who knows?
Hi Phil — our group at Microsoft Ireland has often recommended (and even given away) O’Reilly books, even though we are able to obtain the MS Press ones at a reduced cost.