On the subject of Microsoft’s waffling and bobbing and weaving around the Washington-State antidiscrimination ordinance, Scoble is demonstrating a remarkable combination of good sense and courage. The apologias from Ballmer and Gundotra are profoundly unconvincing. As regards Ballmer’s position, Microsoft didn’t have any obligation to get behind this bill. But in 2005, with the the U.S. slipping into a culture war, dropping support is a powerful political statement that, on the face of it, aligns Microsoft with the forces of ignorance and bigotry; not just a values-free rejiggering of the legislative priorities. And Gundotra lost me at his second paragraph, which seems to suggest we should worry about hurting bigots’ feelings. Scoble is doing the right thing here and he deserves everyone’s support and he has mine. He’s also doing Microsoft a huge favor by taking this stand; I wonder if they’re smart enough to realize it? There’s other good commentary from Adam Barr, Gary Cornell, and Cyrus Najmabadi.
