Ed Black, chief executive of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, has apparently been paid nearly $10 million out of the total Microsoft paid to the CCIA. Payment to Black was approved by the CCIA’s board, according to reports.
When contacted, the CCIA based in Washington DC said Black was out of town, on the eve of the US Thanksgiving holiday.
The CCIA earlier in November received payment from Microsoft for agreeing to drop its private antitrust lawsuit that alleged Windows XP was anticompetitive and to drop out of the European Commission’s antitrust action. Novell Corp also, separately, settled with Microsoft for $536 million on condition it also withdrew support from the EC’s action.
The CCIA has been an extremely outspoken critic for Microsoft, publishing reports and statements during the height of US Department of Defense’s long-running antitrust action supporting the government and criticizing Microsoft. Additionally, Black has personally spoken out against use of Windows in government.
Black in September last year urged the US Department of Homeland Security to reconsider a $90 million, five-year 140,000 desktop software contract to Microsoft, saying Windows was riddled with obvious and easily exploited vulnerabilities.
CCIA is home to a number of Microsoft’s largest, and bitterest, rivals, including Oracle, Sun Microsystems and Red Hat. In April, Sun made its own peace deal with Microsoft, agreeing to drop a Java antitrust action and co-operate on technology in a $1.95 billion settlement.
