Links 20/02/2008: eBay Boycott, Yahoo Under Attack, Push for GNU/Linux in Russia
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2008-02-20 15:27:39 UTC
- Modified: 2008-02-20 15:27:39 UTC
Recent Techrights' Posts
- They Don't Tell Us that 'Digitalisation' (Now Sold as "Hey Hi") Just Means Customers Become Unpaid Staff and Are Made Accountable
- People are being conditioned to associate technology with something undesirable, at times even unbearable
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) Has Layoffs and Microsoft Gaming/Entertainment Division Has an Uncertain Future
- it's good to see all those horrible things crashing and burning
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- Links 22/07/2025: "Blog Restart" and Microsoft Clobbered by “ToolShell"
- Links for the day
- Global Warming and Global GAFAM Energy-Wasting
- Burn more money (borrowed, loans), then hope the waste will somehow translate into profit?
- No Compliance With the European Patent Convention (EPC) at the European Patent Office (EPO)
- It's about preventing competition against this autocracy
- Blue-Collar Trolls vs White-Collar Trolls
- Examples of white-collar trolls
- Apple Vision Pro Failed So Badly That Its Sales Are About 2,000 Times Smaller Than iPhone Sales
- What's left for Apple to offer other than hype?
- To Millions of People "Year of the Linux Desktop" Was Some Time in the 1990s (Bootable GNU/Linux as a Complete Operating System is Over 33 in Age)
- In some sense, "year of the Linux desktop" was 33 years ago
- Make No Assumptions (or Demands) About the Screen Resolution Used by Other People
- There are usability aspects, aside from accessibility aspects
- Why Wayland (and XWayland) Won't Solve the Key Problem It Proclaims to be Tackling (the Same Is True for Rust)
- The problem isn't Wayland per se but the false promises and efforts to force everybody to move to it whilst insulting or demonising everyone who won't play along
- Diplomatic Immunity Should Not Exist for Anybody
- The EPO in its current form gradually 'normalises' the end of European democracy
- Brett Wilson LLP Stopped Sending Me Papers When I Showed It had Sent Me Over 5 Kilograms of Legal Papers
- A week ago we lodged our third lawsuit
- Microsoft Mass Layoffs and Shutdowns Became the New Normal at Microsoft
- Microsoft mass layoffs became a topic of everyday media coverage since May
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 21, 2025
- IRC logs for Monday, July 21, 2025
- FSF "Raised Almost $139,000 During This Summer Campaign"
- "Thank you for making a stand against dystopia!"
- Gemini Links 22/07/2025: VPS Exploited and Fear of View
- Links for the day
- LLM Bots vs Techrights
- Slows things down a bit
- New Publication Sheds Lights on Abuse of Workers at the European Patent Office (EPO)
- Put in simple terms, they're killing the Office, harming remaining staff, try to hire rubber-stampers
- Links 21/07/2025: Hardware, Health, and Imperialism
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 21/07/2025: "When Buying Isn't Owning" and "CMS Special Edition"
- Links for the day
- Links 21/07/2025: Indie Web and Toxic Politics
- Links for the day
- [Meme] Microsoft Lawyers Throwing Stones in Glass Houses
- threatened me with bankruptcy
- Google "AI Overview" is Not AI and Not Overview
- do not be misled; what Google does isn't smart, it's just ripping off the sites it already crawled for as long as 27 years
- Making the Case to Dump Microsoft and GAFAM for National and Digital Sovereignty
- "Sovereignty is difficult"
- The Tactics of the Opposition (Microsoft Lunduke): Associate With K00ks, Throw in Vaccines to Muddy the Water
- Who stands to gain from this?
- Europe's Second-Largest Institution (EPO) and Largest Patent Monopoly Office Needs More Transparency, Not Less Transparency
- In the EPO, what good are elections when one candidate literally bribes all the voters?
- How Not to Report News About Microsoft
- This pattern of misreporting is so widespread that it's hard to believe it's not intentional
- Computer Science is Under Attack, They Want Everyone to be a Consumer
- If people can no longer acquire Computer Science education and real Computer Science experience, they will not know how to control their own digital destiny or emancipate the very same universities that now control the syllabus and instead of teaching Computer Science encourage the outsourcing of systems
- The Best Tools Are the Simplest Tools
- There's a hidden message here about the merits of sticking with X
- Ofcom Online Safety Group Speaks of Protecting Women Online, Will Brett Wilson LLP Ever Listen?
- They've essentially became like the Taliban's "burka police"
- Social Control Media Relies on Advertisers, So It'll Always Be Hostile Towards Free Software
- Sales, sales, sales
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 20, 2025
- IRC logs for Sunday, July 20, 2025
- Fragmentation of Data
- Life is too short to "hoard" data
- In Defence of "Spinning Rust"
- Just because something is "old" (or older) doesn't mean it ought to become extinct
- Using Free Software to Prepare Legal Documents
- LibreOffice is openly complaining about OOXML as an obstacle
- Tech and Technology Are Not the Same Anymore
- "Are you into tech, Sir?"
- Our Articles About SLAPPs Receive Recognition and Interest
- This week we shall continue writing about the 3 lawsuits we filed
- Are You Served?
- For many people, advocacy of Free software and GPL enforcement are assumed to be happening
- Conspiracy or grooming? Alex Jurado, Voice of Reason compared to Outreachy
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Links 20/07/2025: Security Breaches and Former 'Open' 'AI' Engineer on Hype and Culture Issues
- Links for the day
- Links 20/07/2025: Fending Off BRICS and US Government Attacks Its Own Media (Like China and Russia)
- Links for the day
- Framed by social control media: Alex Belfield, Voice of Reason
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Gemini Links 20/07/2025: Summertime and OCC25 Wrap-up
- Links for the day
- Jamie Zawinski Complained About Wayland, Then Decided to Give It a Go, Now Complains Again About Wayland
- Ask IBM (Red Hat) why it's worth throwing so much away just for Wayland fanaticism
- Slopwatch: Planet Ubuntu, LinuxSecurity, and More
- former "Linux" blogs which basically became slopfarms
- Russia Set to Ban Facebook?
- If WhatsApp is made to "leave", that means Facebook or "Meta".
- Links 20/07/2025: More GAFAM Lawsuits, Layoffs, and SLAPPs
- Links for the day
- Taking Stock of a Good and Productive Week
- We shall now be taking a break, unpacking the new hard drive (8 TB), and making backups of everything
- Nice Recovery (From Actual Fire) by PCLinuxOS, New Version of PCLinuxOS Released, Now Top of DistoWatch
- PCLinuxOS is a community-driven distro
- More Microsoft Shutdowns That Mostly Slipped Under the Radar
- Remember what happened to books 'sold' by Microsoft?
- Microsoft Lunduke Still Fighting Cancel Culture With... Cancel Culture
- There will be no "winners" in such 'debates'
- The History of Daily Links and Politics
- "I support Wayland, but I also support abortion..."
- Ageism in Tech
- Your protocol is "old"...
- Microsoft is at 0% "Market Share" in Most Areas
- Depending on the taxonomy chosen, there may be dozens of categories other than desktops and laptops
- "The moment MSFT stock fails to start tumbling, that’s the beginning of another corporate giant going under."
- There are far more layoffs at Microsoft than at Intel, but you would not get this impression based on Wall Street media
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 19, 2025
- IRC logs for Saturday, July 19, 2025
Comments
Great
2008-02-20 15:54:42
Still want to kill Google. But they cant.
Google = Cool M$ = Sucks
Most of the top talent at Yahoo will move over to Google or some other company. M$ will be left behind with all the lousy people - and they will pay with all their cash reserves and go in debt.
That just made my day !!!
After few year the old monkey boy will be still throwing chairs around the office taking how fucking stupid they where by buying Yahoo. Difference will be they have lost a huge amount of market share to Linux and they will be in debt with their stock price spiralling downwards.
What kind of a fucking stupid company buys technology to shut it down (xen) and bribes reporters to discredit others products.
M$ is still arrogant that they will win. This will be their end. This is their last chance...
Roy Schestowitz
2008-02-20 16:24:20
Gates says it's the Yahoo employees that he wants, but it's unlikely to work out. The Yahoos don't want Microsoft. See the following recent articles:
Bradley Horowitz bids Yahoo farewell
,----[ Quote ] | Bradley Horowitz, who headed up Yahoo's Advanced Technology division, bid | adieu to the company in a blog entry posted on Valentine's Day. `----
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9873183-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Week in review: Yahoo snubs Microsoft
,----[ Quote ] | "The smell of fear and rage is pervasive on"The smell of fear and rage is | pervasive on campus," wrote one News.com reader to the TalkBack forum. "They | might as well have been told the Mansons were buying the place." campus," | wrote one News.com reader to the TalkBack forum. "They might as well have | been told the Mansons were buying the place." `----
http://www.news.com/Week-in-review-Yahoo-snubs-Microsoft/2100-1083_3-6230761.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news
Is Microsoft/Yahoo about Windows' failure as a top server platform?
,----[ Quote ] | Before my whiney enemies all get up in arms about yours truly once more | beating up on Microsoft, I'd like to point out that the idea of Microsoft | buying Yahoo being a tacit admission that Windows can't cut the mustard as a | top Internet server platform didn't originate with me. | | No, the credit, or blame if you prefer, goes to Marcelo Carvalho, an IT | manager in San Francisco and Damien Hocking, a Linux-Watch reader who brought | Carvalho's thoughts to my attention. `----
http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS8001941484.html
Yahoos won’t work for Microsoft
,----[ Quote ] | I work for Yahoo!, and I have had to explain to a few people recently why the | Microsoft buyout talks are so troubling for Yahoos. They don’t seem to | understand the severity of the impact that a Microsoft takeover will have. | | [...] | | Key reason #1 - Microsoft is anti open-source... | | [...] | | Key reason #2 - Microsoft is evil... `----
http://www.techyouruniverse.com/technology/yahoos-wont-work-for-microsoft
The real difference between Microsoft and Google
,----[ Quote ] | Microsoft can shuffle the deck chairs all it wants. | | It can buy Yahoo or YooHoo. It can trot out Steve Ballmer in Spandex and a | cape. | | Microsoft’s problem in competing with Google is far more basic. | | It’s organizational. | | | [...] | | It’s not about the money. It’s not about the fame. It’s not about the name on | the door. It’s not about becoming an executive. | | It’s about the work. It’s about doing something over the course of just a few | months and then seeing it online. It’s about trying, and sometimes failing, | then trying again. | | [...] | | So far I’ve seen no evidence this is going to happen. I think Microsoft’s bid | for Yahoo is proof of that. Once the deal goes down, all those smart | Yahoo-ers will be free to leave. The dumb ones will be left, waiting for | orders from Redmond. `----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=2025
Also see this new bit:
,----[ Quote ] | Would you believe... that Microsoft has dropped down to #86 within the | Fortune Best Places to Work survey? That's down from #50 in 2007 and #42 in | 2006. Like a rock. In a bad way. And who is #1 for two years in a row? Grab | that chair and give it a big effen toss in the air to Google! Toot! They get | bigger and they're still #1. `----
http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2008/02/some-quick-quips-yahoo-86-and-mspoll.html
Lastly consider:
Why Microsoft Should Fret
,----[ Quote ] | But what if at stake in the battle isn't just Microsoft's position in selling | ads, but the very survival of its core software business? Microsoft would | never admit that so much is on the line. `----
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120277476716860601.html?mod=yahoo_hs&ru=yahoo
Microsoft's Last Big Beat: Internet Domination or Death
,----[ Quote ] | What can $44.6B USD mean? Well, for Microsoft (MSFT) it may mean the cost of | survival. `----
http://seekingalpha.com/article/63876-microsoft-s-last-big-beat-internet-domination-or-death?source=yahoo
Microsoft to partners: It's time to change
,----[ Quote ] | Aiming to rally its partners around the reality of hosted software, Microsoft | Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner told them it was a matter of financial | life and death. `----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6195764.html
Microsoft's executive shuffle expected Thursday
,----[ Quote ] | The move will see three top executives--including two prominent outside | hires--out of a job. Leaving the company are: Senior Vice President Steven | Berkowitz, the former Ask.com CEO who had been heading Microsoft's online | services unit, and Mike Sievert, the former AT&T Wireless executive brought | in to run Windows marketing. Both Sievert and Berkowitz had already seen some | duties handed off to others at the company and their departures were largely | expected. | | Also leaving is Pieter Knook, longtime head of Microsoft's Windows Mobile | unit. `----
http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9871715-56.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Microsoft is Dead
,----[ Quote ] | A few days ago I suddenly realized Microsoft was dead. I was talking | to a young startup founder about how Google was different from Yahoo. | I said that Yahoo had been warped from the start by their fear of | Microsoft. That was why they'd positioned themselves as a "media | company" instead of a technology company. Then I looked at his face | and realized he didn't understand. It was as if I'd told him how much | girls liked Barry Manilow in the mid 80s. `----
http://www.paulgraham.com/microsoft.html
Will Microsoft Survive the Next 10 Years?
,----[ Quote ] | I am not really an expert in this but when I read all the negative | headlines and articles I ask myself if Microsoft really will survive | the next 10 years. | | [...] | | I am pretty sure that the Open Source Community, the new Ubuntu, | Google and of course Apple are those companies that are ready for | our century and they will get more and more people that know what | they really want. `----
http://websquirrel.blogspot.com/2007/03/will-microsoft-survive-next-10-years.html
Great
2008-02-20 16:58:06
Google is keeping its arm open for them - a welcome red carpet. It must have already started to woo them.
Google is going to annihilate M$. I think Google doesnt even care about M$+Yahoo merger - they care more about the consumers and making their products better - rather than crushing down competitors.
See a huge amount of deflection of best open source developers to Google after the hostile takeover.
Go Google !!!
M$ will be left with nothing but poo on their face. This will be their end.
Great
2008-02-20 17:10:13
They are no longer the industry leaders - just playing catchup
Look at the number of mass migration away from Windows platform - US army, Hardware OEM (asus, dell, hp, etc) Colleges, International Governments, developers, etc.
Last advatange they have is lot of money - that too is gone with Yahoo.
Great
2008-02-20 17:16:19
Miles
2008-02-20 18:53:59
1. cheaper dvds ($20 vs $40+) 2. cheaper players ($120 vs $350+) 3. same quality as blueray (used the same codecs) 4. harder to damage than Blu-Ray 5. HD DVD doesn't have region locking, Blu-Ray does.
Blu-Ray winning the battle doesn't hurt Microsoft nearly as much as it hurts consumers. HD DVD wasn't even Microsoft's format anyway, it was Toshiba's... which is the underdog compared to Sony.
IMHO, Sony is another Microsoft wannabe and that has made me very nervous about Blu-Ray.
If you look back over history, Sony has always tried to push some alternative media format - always more expensive for the consumer. And until now, they've always lost.
Roy Schestowitz
2008-02-20 23:25:59
BoomBoom
2008-02-21 01:48:45
I've been reading for awhile, and have been a happy PCLinuxOS user since last December, thanks to the dismal failure known as Vista + M$'s attempts to sabotage my XP pro install through the autoupdate feature. My solution to this mess, since I like my old games and Wine can't run some of them, was to reinstall XP with XP-lite, removing all the web services, Internet Exploiter, Outhouse Excess, ect, and setting up a dualboot with PCLOS, since M$ products can't be trusted on the web. I've always preferred Firefox and T-bird over IE/OE anyway. Despite the FUD that M$ shills and fanboys spew, I've found PCLOS easy to use and quick to pick up. This coming from a poweruser that hacked on XP to try to get it to do what I wanted. That's my personal middle digit salute to M$.
Now for the news I have. Scope this out and laugh: http://msdn.microsoft.com/events/hero/
Keep in mind that an 'evildoer' in M$'s view is everyone that has had enough of M$ brand FUD, crap code and malware.
Damn, I hope those bastards go out of business soon.
Roy Schestowitz
2008-02-21 02:17:01
Yes, I read about this site (it has been known of for a while, at least by Microsoft watchers) and I was going to ignore it. Giving that desperate attempt from Microsoft a mention is giving it publicity, which is why Slashdot has already done.
Prepare for Microsoft to pretend that it has changed in attempts to regain people's love. Sun already does this using its "we're a little bit pregnant with open source" gesture, but Sun is not malicious.