Do the right thing
According to a Reuters report, pressure from the German government, churches and other sources, has prompted Microsoft to remove the Windows 2000 disk defrag utility from the operating system. The utility is a crippled version of Executive Software's Diskeeper program, the long-established market leader in NT disk defragmentation. I contacted Microsoft for comment, but they declined to do so.
The CEO/Founder of Executive Software is a prominent Scientologist. Scientology is controversial in the US, but the German government has a history of specific discrimination against the religion. According to the US State Department report on Human Rights in Germany, official persecution has ranged from political parties refusing membership to Scientologists, to governments revoking its non-profit status, to Hamburg state officials publicly denouncing Scientology as a "criminal organization." The fear of Scientology that is present even in America has official sanction in Germany, where it now seems that Scientologists are not allowed to sell software.
A German Interior Ministry official, quoted in the Reuters report, said there are fears that the disk defrag "could have a security problem." Forgive me for joining the overreaction, but this is reminiscent of earlier condemnations of "Jewish science." Next I expect crowds throwing Windows 2000 disks on a bonfire.
An earlier report stated that Microsoft agreed to write detailed instructions in German to let a user remove the utility. This version of the story sounds more credible to me, since the actual removal of the utility by Microsoft would be difficult from a marketing and technical support standpoint. And while I've had good experiences with Diskeeper, I must say that the Defrag utility in Windows 2000 is very weak, and not one of the better parts of the operating system. But this is all technical detail. The real points are bigger than anything technical.
Microsoft's reaction in this case is significant. Any acquiescence in this ridiculous campaign of fear is pure cowardice on Microsoft's part. They would have a reasonable abstract point if they were to claim that if some customers don't want a specific feature they can allow them to remove it (although their history on such points — IE most famously — is hardly consistent with this position). But even granting that, there is an obvious and odious cause to this particular request, one that they cannot ignore. If you facilitate bigotry, you are an accessory to it.
On top of all of this, Microsoft obviously has the full source code for the utility, and takes as much responsibility for its actions and deficiencies as they do for any other part of Windows 2000. So Microsoft knows that any claims of potential problems are claims against them, not Executive Software. You'd think they would resist any such insinuation.
I must admit that my own visceral reaction to Scientology is not a good one, and there are plenty of reports of cult-style abuse by members here in the US. But there's a long and unjustifiable leap from that to banishing any product, such as software, by companies associated with it. This episode offends my sense of human rights, but it offends my sense of logic even more profoundly. No question, Microsoft was put in an awkward position here, but sometimes there is a right thing and a wrong thing to do. Especially when the claims are as irrational and offensive as these, compliance is not the way to go.
Larry Seltzer is a freelance writer and software developer and the author of "ADMIN911:Windows 2000 Terminal Services." He can be reached at larry@larryseltzer.com.