Bonum Certa Men Certa

Eye on Microsoft: More Lawsuits and a Very Grim Vista

Microsoft Sued, But It's Not Alone



Microsoft is accused of sneaking into someone else's territories.

Microsoft Corp. moved to Cambridge last year looking to set the world afire with innovation. Instead it got sued.

[...]

InterSystems, a longtime tenant of One Memorial Drive, says it has the rights to the space where Microsoft plans to open a laboratory and is seeking to block the behemoth from expanding. Adding to the rub, Microsoft wants to put a sign on a building where InterSystems grew from a tiny start-up to an international company.


Microsoft is also one among three companies that have just been sued in India.

Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo have been showing search ads in India that promote pre-natal sex selection in violation of Indian law, a public interest lawsuit charges.


Watch this about Google's attitude towards Microsoft.

Google CEO Tells Jim Cramer “I never worry about Microsoft



Just days after we suggested that Google should perhaps hire financial guru Jim Cramer, who should turn up on Cramer’s Mad Money show? None other than the Google CEO Eric Schmidt!

[...]

# “I never worry about Microsoft,” Schmidt said in wrapping up his thoughts.


Maybe it's justified. Google keeps climbing and climbing.

Despite bribing users to give Live Search a try and seeing Ballmer proclaim that Redmond is now all about advertisers, advertisers, advertisers, Microsoft has seen its search market share fall over the past 18 months according to three of the four major metrics companies tracking search traffic. No surprise: Yahoo is seeing a similar decline.


"Bad, Bad 'Pirates'! Keep Spreading Our Software."



We wrote about this the other day. While Microsoft pretends to be wounded by illegal copies of software, it is apathetic at best and bullish at the least on this phenomenon. Here are a couple of examples from the news:

1. Nigeria: Microsoft’s fight to stop piracy - failed

According to THISDAY the effects of the anti-piracy battle launched by Microsoft and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has made more room for people in the illegal trade.

The raid which led to the arrest of vendors, that was caught making use the Microsoft operating system illegally. Microsoft promised and the beginning of this battle, to organize a development programe as an attempt to keep merchants especially youth away from piracy activities.


2. Software Piracy Thrives amid Microsoft’s Capacity Devt Initiative

Microsoft’s attempt at discouraging Intellectual Property (IP) theft especially at the popular Computer Village in Ikeja may not have yielded any positive results, going by recent development in the area.

According to THISDAY investigation, the aftermath of the anti-piracy crusade launched by the software giant in collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) earlier in February has only accommodated more people in the illegal trade.

The clampdown, which had led to the arrest of some vendors, caught using the Microsoft operating system illegally was expected to serve as a deterrent to others.


Had Microsoft wanted to stop this, it easily would. But remember what they say:

"It's easier for our software to compete with Linux when there's piracy than when there's not."

--Bill Gates, 2007



Not to be Extremely Critical, But...



Microsoft sent out quite a heap of "critical" patches some days ago. Among them:

Palo Alto Networks today announced that its Threat Research Team discovered two of the 11 vulnerabilities discovered in Microsoft's Patch Tuesday security bulletin this week.


Not a day goes and bam! "Highly critical" flaw again.

Secunia Advisory: SA31498 Release Date: 2008-08-14 Critical: Highly critical


This is small potatoes compared to the recent and very major discovery. The Windows zombies nightmare carries on.

In a joint operation, the FBI and the Dutch High Tech Crime Unit have cracked the Shadow botnet--thought to contain 100,000 PCs.


With 100,000 PCs down, they'll have 'just' another ~319,900,000 to go. A good start? Hardly. It's the wrong strategy.

Deaths



A few weeks ago, Joe Wilcox called Windows Vista "dead on arrival" in the enterprise. He's now publishing some of his findings in eWeek.

eWEEK research shows that negative perception of the Windows Vista operating system is growing.

If Windows Vista were a person, it would have an inferiority complex. Not since Windows ME has a Microsoft operating system seen such cool business reception. Indeed, research shows that many enterprises hope to leapfrog Vista altogether.


There is some sad news today about a construction worker who died while while working on Microsoft's facilities in Fargo.

FARGO - A 37-year-old Fargo man died early today when he fell down an unfinished elevator shaft on a building under construction at the Microsoft campus in southwest Fargo, police said.


Condolences to the family.

Recent Techrights' Posts

[Meme] Hard to Be a Better Person?
Sooner or later they'll realise that for each pound I spend they need to spend about 1,000 times more
New US Editor for The Register is a Microsoft Booster
"Avram Piltch has served as US editor for The Register since July 2025."
Reda Demanded That FSF Removes Its Founder, Now Reda Works Directly for Microsoft
A sellout and a traitor, first working for GAFAM, now Microsoft
PCLinuxOS is Raising Money to Support Development After Fire Incident at the Host
PCLinuxOS has not had announcements lately
Over 3 Months Later Brett Wilson LLP Still Unable to Recruit a Media Lawyer?
"Immediate start", but not found... still unfilled
Microsoft is Trying to "Pull a Nokia" on GNU/Linux as Desktop/Laptop Platform
We all remember that rather well, don't we?
Our Three Lawsuits Against Microsofters Are About to Become a Lot More Relevant to GNU/Linux
The Master will easily understand why Garrett has been attacking me since 2012
 
BetaNews Sacked Brian Fagioli and Deleted His Comments, But He Still Tries to Use the "BetaNews" Brand for Self-Affirmation
Fagioli takes the work of other people
The LLM Con Artists Are Highly Destructive
Who will ever be held accountable for this scam?
Too Bribed by Microsoft to Move to Free Software?
Microsoft lies and Microsoft bribery (in politics)
Microsoft Hiring European Politicians is Another Form of Bribery; There Should be a European Investigation
When Microsoft bribed people in Europe for OOXML (there's no denying this!) a European government delegate said that Microsoft operated like a cult
Speed of the Site Should be Better Now
The "bot attacks" impact the speed of the sister site too
Getting More From AnalogNowhere
Recently we used many images from AnalogNowhere
Microsoft, Microsofters and 'Secure' Boot Shills Already Storming the LWN Report About Expiring Certificate, Shooting the Messenger
LWN has clearly stuck a nerve
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Disable "Secure" Boot Today (the Only Better Time to Do So Was Yesterday)
Don't trust anything Red Hat tells you about security
Links 23/07/2025: Windows Killed Company After 150+ Years, US Government Mimics Russia's Attacks on the Media
Links for the day
Freedom Generally Wins at the End, History Shows (But It's Constantly Attacked, Too)
At the moment people realise "Linux" (e.g. Android) isn't enough to guarantee any freedoms
“Inhumane” and “Disgusting” Mass Layoff Execution, According to Microsoft Staff
The workers are looking for other places to work
Misinformation is Not Intelligence
It's low-grade plagiarism and it fails to show any signs of intelligence
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has a New Slogan for Its 40th Anniversary
The freedoms are what's most important
LLM Slopfarms gbhackers.com, "Cyber Press" and CyberSecurityNews Are Drowning Google News (and Shame on Google for Feeding and Facilitating Them)
All are run by the same people
Links 23/07/2025: Droplets GUI Patent Monopoly Challenge, Nokia Leverages Illegal Patent Court Against Rivals
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Community in Geminispace and Challenges With Old Computers
Links for the day
Links 23/07/2025: Slop Patents Tackled, Slop Copyright Misuses Tackled by Politicians
Links for the day
Links 23/07/2025: Retreating From Transparency on Jeffrey Epstein, We No Longer Have Press Freedom
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Piano and Food
Links for the day
New and Old
On Ageism in Tech
Slop Is Not Intelligence and It Does Not Enhance Productivity
Like voice dictation, which cannot tell the difference between "sheet" and "shit"
EPO Crimes Are Spreading to the British Court System
Society is now paying the price for failing to tackle crimes at the EPO
It's Time to Dump SharePoint and Here's What to Use Instead
Nextcloud, ownCloud, Bookstack, MediaWiki, and MediaGoblin
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 22, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Brett Wilson LLP Has Gone Silent
Sometimes silence says more than nothing at all
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Planet Ubuntu, and LinuxTechLab
some slopfarms show no remorse and they don't value their reputation at all
Links 23/07/2025: Book Bans, Storms, and Kangaroo Court for Patents Commits More Unlawful Acts of Overreach
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/07/2025: Thinkpad and Pinephone
Links for the day
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
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
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
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
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