A statement issued by @stake yesterday said Dan Geer no longer works for the company. His name and photograph have been removed from the company’s web site.
The report, issued by the Computer and Communications Industry Association, warned that Microsoft’s operating system monopoly presents an international security risk, as it means vulnerabilities are almost ubiquitous.
Geer was the principle author of the report, which put him in the tricky position of leveling criticism at a company with which @stake does a lot of business. The two firms work together on security consulting projects.
The CCIA is made up of dozens of technology firms, excluding Microsoft but including many of its major competitors, and as such the report was filled with broad swipes at controversial Microsoft business practices, such as keeping many APIs secret.
In a press release accompanying the report, Geer is quoted as saying: Microsoft’s efforts to deny interoperability of Windows with legitimate non-Microsoft applications have created an environment in which Microsoft programs interoperate efficiently only with internet viruses.
A Microsoft spokesperson said @stake had called Microsoft to express disappointment in the report’s contents. He said: To the best of our knowledge, nobody at Microsoft contacted @stake about this report.
This article was based on material originally published by ComputerWire.
