Open letter to academics on
Microsoft's 2020 Science
Group

To: Professor Lin Padgham (RMIT University), Professor Liz Sonenberg (University of Melbourne)

Lin, Liz,

I applaud you on your stance regarding increasing the perception and reality of womens' participation in important scientific research efforts.

I do however suggest that there may be better ways of achieving this than knocking on Bill Gates' door.

As a long-time observer (since 1979) of both the ICT industry and of Microsoft, I would posit that Microsoft has not earned the level of respect that's necessary to have senior Australian academics, such as yourselves, seemingly keen to join what may turn out to be yet another marketing chiaroscuro from the firm. Even a mild genuflection by respected academics towards Microsoft may be perceived by the industry as lending undeserved credence to that firm.

I would also remind you that Microsoft is a convicted monopolist in the US, has been found guilty of non-compliance with European Union anti-trust law , found guilty of breaking Korean anti-trust law, found guilty of breaking Japanese anti-trust law and is under investigation in other regions of the world. Surely this isn't the firm that academic researchers should be falling over themselves to create any form of symbiotic relationship with.

There are other reasons to select an alternate path for womens' contributions. While Microsoft chants the 'innovation' mantra, it has rarely delivered true innovation in the technology it creates, regardless of the size of its R & D budget. Aligning a researcher with an organisation that the industry believes doesn't deliver leadership in innovation, will not generate positive outcomes or benefits for that researcher.

In contrast, the area of the ICT industry that I work in, the open source sector, has demonstrated true innovation over the past three decades, giving the world interoperable networking, ubiquitous computing and the epoch-making Internet. In the process, it has reduced the cost of computing and entrenched the open standards that are necessary for technology to reach the maximal number of people and bridging that famous digital divide.

If you want women researchers to make true contributions towards a better world in 2020, I urge you to encourage them to join the open source community or to establish their own 2020 Science Group which encompasses the ethics and processes of the open source community. Their efforts will most likely have great positive impact and we would, unlike Microsoft, welcome them wholeheartedly.

Cheers,

Con Zymaris

- CEO, Cybersource Pty. Ltd.

- Director, Open Source Industry Australia, Limited.

- Convenor, Open Source Victoria (A Government-funded industry cluster.)