Bonum Certa Men Certa

What if Microsoft Owned Yahoo (and the US Government Establishments' IT)?

"The Internet has evolved from open standards, having a diversity of companies. [...] And when you start to have companies that control the operating system, control the browsers, they really tie up the top Web sites, and can be used to manipulate stuff in various ways. I think that's unnerving."

--Google's Brin (Google), yesterday



Months ago (or some time back in January) I became aware of the US Library of Congress embracing Microsoft technologies that essentially lock out some people from access to public material (historical literature). The same goes for the British Library, which has, for quite some time in fact, been uncomfortable close to Microsoft. We covered this before on numerous occasions, e.g. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

More recently there was also the outrage at Boston's public library, which chose Microsoft DRM for delivery of public information. Once again, many citizens were denied access to public-owned material (taxpayers' asset) in the ugliest of ways (DRM).

The FSF was all over this one. The library administrator who was responsible for this mess joined a discussion I had started about this in USENET, seemingly trying to protect his job. He was assulted by quite a lot of angry people for becoming an agent of monopolisation.

“...all these separate Microsoft frameworks may be assembled around .NET, preparing to jointly 'punish' rival platforms.”Several months ago in this Web site we argued against Mono and Moonlight (Silverlight) apologists, saying quite explicitly that Silverlight has some sort of special advantage in Vista, or at least in the existing versions of Windows. This was read somewhere that cannot be found or recalled and it begins to seem like the acceleration discussed at a time may or may not involve DirectX. If so, all these separate Microsoft frameworks may be assembled around .NET, preparing to jointly 'punish' rival platforms.

Without the entire framework (i.e. the whole Microsoft stack), there is little hope for interoperability. Ever. We saw that in the Windows-dependent OOXML (document exchange), we see this in Exchange/SharePoint (mind Zimbra and the hostile Yahoo takeover) and even in Silverlight, whose vector of intrusion is the Web, implying that even a Linux-only and ODF-only enterprise is not protected from an 'alien technology', whose hostile element is inherent incompatibility. The Web must be based on standards (mind Google's new statement at the top), which enable indexing of content, portability, and many other things.

A concerned reader of the site has asked to share and to publish an article about the Corel mystery (see [1, 2, 3]) and its relevance to a serious issue that mysteriously escapes our attention amid the fight for "Microsoft Office+Windows as an ISO standard" (aka OOXML) and Microsoft's fight for the virtual ownership of GNU/Linux through software patent deals.

To summarise the reader's findings and insights (slightly edited to tidy things up):




What happened to Microsoft working on interoperability?



Where has Microsoft improved Linux & Windows working together since their actions with Corel many years ago when Corel still worked on WINE, the dumping of Corel Linux only to become Xandros and the patent agreement signed with Microsoft and the EEE PC (extend, embrace, extinguish?) with Xandros?

In the year 2000:

Interview: Corel’s Linux VP on the Microsoft deal

LinuxWorld: Will you continue to work with and support the Wine project, and will you continue to use Wine to bring your traditionally Windows applications to Linux?

Rene Schmidt: Yeah, currently we have WordPerfect and CorelDraw, we’ve done those two main suites. Where we are right now is that those are two main investments at this point, and what we are doing is we are looking at the desktop market on Linux and trying to expand it as well.

It will be based really on customer demand; that is what is going to drive us in terms of what we do next on applications for Linux. In terms of Wine itself, we still support it; we have been working with the community to come up with a 1.0 version of Wine and we are hoping that that is going to allow a lot of other ISVs to move their applications more rapidly over to Linux.

Rene Schmidt: Essentially, with Linux, we are very committed to it. And the agreement, or partnership, or alliance, whatever you want to call it, with Microsoft is not anti-Linux or anything. It is really about .Net.”


Very committed you say? Microsoft not anti-Linux? What happened to all the work on Wine and 1.0? All those Corel apps on Linux? Visit Corel’s site now and you see nothing of the sort, but you do see Microsoft related content, banners, and stuff about Vista. Alliance, indeed.

[Ed: It's the same with Novell, which became Vista prey.]

Why can’t we use DirectX from Microsoft on Linux completely without problems and without using WINE, Cedega or some other alternative?

Google: “They said it couldn’t be done” regarding Novell and Microsoft.

It can be done, Microsoft, but apparently not by you. Thank you to the wine developers and companies like Google who are doing something positive for interoperability.

Off-topic but on the subject of Microsoft’s continued monopoly and power connections:

Library of Congress sells itself out to Microsoft for a mere $3 mil



“This deal involves the donation of “technology, services and funding” (e.g., mostly not money) with a purported value of $3m from Microsoft to the Library of Congress. The Library, in turn, agrees to put kiosks running Vista in the library and to use Microsoft Silverlight to “help power the library’s new Web site, www.myloc.gov.” The official blogger of the library, Matt Raymond, says “this is really a quantum leap for the library.” Perhaps it is, but it sure smells like a whole lot of proprietary.”


Silverlight and DirectX in a tree, k i s s i n g.

some things never change, why isn’t the US gov keeping Microsoft away, why these agreements? How deep does their power go? How can Microsoft ever be stopped? how long until Microsoft owns America and Gates is in Government? This is scary and people are mostly too asleep to care, cuddling their XBox and unconcerned, unaware.




The text of the above (enclosed by horizontal bars), just as a reminder, comes from a reader. He or she closes by adding: "Roy, please do a story focusing on Microsoft’s failure to deliver interoperability, esp. regarding Wine and DirectX." Assuming there is interest, there are plenty of references from the past year that can be turned into a comprehensive post (with emphasis on patent deals on Wine and Microsoft's DirectX 10 hoaxes). It isn't entirely clear, however, if this would lead to loss of focus. If someone is interested in this, please post a comment.

Bad Silverlight
Do not allow US Government to exclude
people with Microsoft Silverlight and/or DRM

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Turns Out LLMs for Code Don't Save Time and Don't Improve Quality
Neither legal nor useful
 
Pissing Contests and Pissing Off Everyone
people who came from Microsoft are trying to vex and divide the community
Microsoft Repeats the Mistakes Made by the EPO After We Exposed a Major Microsoft/EPO Scandal 10 Years Ago
That scandal was all over the media, not just in English
The Demise of LLMs
We've just checked BetaNews again. They've dropped all the slop and went back to human authors.
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Sonpo Museum of Art and FCEUX
Links for the day
Links 13/07/2025: UnitedHealth's Censorship Campaign, Australia Wary of China
Links for the day
Firing Away With Nonsense
Or fighting fire with fire
Links 13/07/2025: Climate Crisis, GAFAM Poisoning the Water
Links for the day
The Microsofters Will Have an Obligation to Compensate Us
This story isn't just about Microsoft. It's also about corruption, there are many women victims, there is abject "abuse of process", and many more scandals to be illuminated in years to come.
Reproducing at the EPO Instead of Producing Monopolies for Foreign Monopolies With Their Price-Fixing Cartels
Does the EPO recognise the need of well-educated Europeans to bear kids?
Valnet Inc. Dominates Real (Not LLM Slop) GNU/Linux Coverage in 2025
And likely in prior years, too
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Fund Raiser Goes on
Later this month we'll expose another OSI scandal
EPO Staff Representatives Issue a Warning About Staff's Health and Inadequate Care
Even the EPO's own stakeholders (money sources) are openly protesting against what the EPO became
Links 13/07/2025: Partly Assorted News From Deutsche Welle and CBC
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Board Games and Battle Styles
Gemini Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 12, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 12, 2025
Plunder at the Second-Largest Institution in Europe
cuts, neglect, health problems, even early deaths
Links 12/07/2025: Political Developments, Attack on Opposition, Climate Actions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: Melodic Musings and Small Web July
Links for the day
Links 12/07/2025: Jail in China for Homoerotica, South Korea Discriminates Against Old Workers
Links for the day
If Only Everything Was Rewritten in Rust, We'd Have No More Security Issues?
Nope.
Links 12/07/2025: Birdwatching and Fake/Misleading Wall Street 'Valuation' Figures
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: How to Avoid Writing, Apps for Android
Links for the day
Using SLAPPs to Cover Up Sexual Abuse and Strangulation
The exact same legal team of the Serial Strangler from Microsoft and Garrett already has a history fighting against "metoo"
EPO Staff Committee on Harassment in the Workplace
slides
Adding the Voice of Writers to UK SLAPP Reform
The journey to repair antiquated (monarchy era) laws will likely be long
EPO Takes More Money From Staff for Speculation (Pensions), Actuarial Study Explains the Impact
"The key change in this year’s Actuarial Study, due to cascading the new “risk appetite” from the financial study, is a significant increase of the total pension contribution rate of 5.7 percentage points, up to a total of 37.8%. This is driven by an unprecedented decrease in the discount rate of 105 bps down to 2.2%."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 11, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 11, 2025
Microsoft - Like IBM - Does the "Relocation" Tricks (Start Over Elsewhere, Then Get Sacked by Microsoft)
It is a "low blow" or a "dick move"
After the Free Software Foundation's Campaign to Raise Money Let's See Campaigns to Finish Off Microsoft (Vista 11, GitHub etc.)
Microsoft is in effect collapsing
Your Publications Have No Major Impact Unless or Until You "Get Some Heat"
we're on the right track
Slopwatch: A Cause for Hope, the Hype is Dying
For about a month we showed that becoming a slopfarm - for several weeks - resulted in utter failure and ruin for BetaNews
Links 11/07/2025: Censorship Worsening, 3D Printing Success Stories, UK and France Unite Around Nukes
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/07/2025: Zorin OS and Scriptonite Updates
Links for the day
Links 11/07/2025: Hardware, Russia, and China
Links for the day
Links 11/07/2025: Intel Collapsing and Microsoft Resorts to Bribery to Push Slop Via Obligatory Education
Links for the day
The EFF Sided With the Team That Strangles Women and Tells Women to Kill Themselves
They say that apathy and inaction are a form of a "stance"
"Nat [Friedman] and [the Serial Strangler From Microsoft] Were Always Exceptionally Close," Says Former Housemate and Colleague
Now Alex (hiding behind another name when that suits him) not only attacks women but also people who merely report what he did to women
Exemplary List of Things That Are Not Artificial Intelligence or Even Intelligence
The "age of AI" or "era of AI" or "AI revolution" mostly boils down to rebranding, just like "the cloud"
New Letter From the European Patent Office Explains How the Office Plots to Grant Many Illegal Patents, a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of 'Growth'
Open letter to Mr Rowan (VP1) and Mr Aledo Lopez (COO)
Abuse of Process
5RB is employing people who help violent men
What Microsoft's Nat Friedman and Microsoft Lunduke Have in Common
"Get in da car; No time to explain, loser"
Microsoft and IBM Don't Have Much of a Future (They Mostly Pretend at This Point)
IBM and Microsoft are in some ways alike but in many ways different
It's Not Just Twitter (or X.com) That's Dying, Microsoft's Equivalent is Dying Also
Unable to find a business model
GitHub Copilot Can Cause the Bankruptcy of GitHub to Come Sooner and GitHub to be Shut Down Just Like Skype
Some publicly available information suggests that even for each paid subscriber for plagiarism (LLM 'coding') GitHub Copilot still loses more money than it makes
Wayland is Bad for the Planet
If you use Wayland, it'll take you longer to accomplish tasks and you will consume more energy (or battery life)
Legitimising Those Who Sabotage You
Microsoft is a very malicious company
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 10, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 10, 2025
On Microsoft Layoffs
we might be looking at about 60,000 Microsoft layoffs since 2023
EPO Management Already Breaks Its Own Promise (Lie) on "Bringing Teams Together"
This gut-punching move happened just 2 days ago
Gemini Links 11/07/2025: Occupation of 2025 and "Old Man Yells At Soundcloud"
Links for the day
Our Lawsuits Against the 'Cancel Mob' (Ringleaders) Helped Reduce Anti-Free Software Online Abuse
That's not to say that lawsuits are the best way to handle terrible people. But that can help.