"Microsoft Corp. is striking back at a growing movement
seeking to switch computers in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house
of Parliament, over to the open-source Linux operating system.
Kurt Sibold, chairman of the board of the software giant's
German subsidiary Microsoft GmbH, accused the initiators of a
pro-Linux petition of smearing the reputation of his company.
"What you are achieving by supporting this campaign is public
discrimination, accusing our products and services of being
undemocratic and an obstacle to democracy," he wrote in an open
letter to signatories of the online petition, known as
www.bundestux.de."
