Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft 'Advocates' Free Software by Suing the World

AS Microsoft's financial woes persist [1, 2], the 'nerve' to extract more money increases, even from those who can hardly afford to but are left with no choice because they got addicted. As Bill Gates once said, “they’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.” Well, this decade has apparently come.



Tough Times for Microsoft



At the end of last week, Microsoft suffered a major blow from a respected analyst who foresees red ink.

Microsoft Profit, Sales May Fall Short, Bellini Says


There is also a blurb about this in the Seattle P-I's Microsoft blog.

A Microsoft analyst thinks that the company might have to warn shareholders that its results won't match forecasts, according to Bloomberg News.


Microsoft's partner in collusion [1, 2, 3] does not do so well, either.

An Intel Corp. analyst lowered his outlook for the company Friday and said he thinks the chip giant will cut 6 to 7 percent of its work force.


Squeezing the Goose for Golden Eggs



Windows is very ubiquitous, but not many people pay for it. Those who do pay for it typically reside in affluent countries, yet in the majority of the world Microsoft turns a blind eye to illegal copying because it helps them against GNU/Linux and Free software that comes with it (e.g. OpenOffice.org).

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

--Bill Gates



This is a subject that was covered recently and worth reminding ourselves of is propaganda fueled by disgraceful words like "pirates" and "piracy". The executives or shareholders need more money, so they attack people who spread their software widely and distribute this digital commodity to those who can't afford it. Here are several examples from the past week's news:

1. Microsoft Targets Auctions in Counterfeit Crackdown

Microsoft continues to crack down on people it believes are counterfeiting and selling its software. On Thursday the company will add another 63 legal filings in 12 countries against individuals who it says are selling counterfeit Microsoft products.


2. Microsoft tackles auction pirates

Microsoft has launched 63 separate lawsuits against people peddling counterfeit software on auction sites.


3. Microsoft fights online auction pirates

Despite Microsoft saying that Vista sales are strong, they clearly aren’t if businesses favour XP to the extent that they’ll buy fake versions.


4. Microsoft sues counterfeit software dealers

"They're not going to cease selling XP because Microsoft has."


5. Microsoft goes after software pirates

Microsoft filed 63 lawsuits in 12 countries against software pirates, the company said today.


They are using the BSA as a front all across their world (there are BSA equivalents in some nations), as the following illustrates.

6. Microsoft Gulf and UAE Ministry of Economy

“Eliminating software piracy from the country is high on the agenda for the Ministry of Economy given the major negative impact piracy can have on the country’s growing economy. We will continue to work closely with the BSA and its members to curb software piracy across the UAE, and we are confident that our concerted efforts will bring in expected results," said Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz Alshihhi, MoE Undersecretary.


The Battle of Trafalgar
War on real piracy... when "piracy" meant
piracy and cracker was no hacker



Microsoft tries to portray itself as a victim (an addicting nonetheless) and those who use computers as vicious people who murder and rape, i.e. "pirates". The copyrights cartel shamelessly uses the same tactics.

Some of the articles above suggest that not even counterfeiters want Windows Vista. The site "Vista is Rubbish" seems fairly new and it tells how people feel about it.

The more Microsoft struggles financially, the more it will curse everyone else and try to squeeze out an extra buck. Here are lots more new articles that are packed with words like "piracy", which it is not.



Microsoft is not only suing old people in this process. There are other interesting stories about Microsoft taking action against those whom it did not mind before (because they made its software widespread).

At the Internet marketplace sell.com, Schaun Johnson largely earned rave reviews -- called the "best seller" and "recommended to everyone A+++" -- when dealing video games.

Microsoft Corp., the Washington state-based software titan, was less impressed, classifying Johnson, also known as skj8100, as a counterfeiter who allegedly was dealing operating systems illegally to unsuspecting buyers.


Here is Microsoft pinching the Australian aged care once again.

MICROSOFT Australia has accused aged-care services providers of illegitimately buying software through a discount licensing program.


Some people fight back. Here is another report about a story that was mentioned before.

Dutch firm says Microsoft is unfairly pricing EU stock higher than US

Dutch reseller HW Trading has launched a legal battle with Microsoft, accusing the software vendor of illegally inflating prices in the EU.

The case, began with a filing at the Californian Central Court back in May, accuses Microsoft of breaching Article 81 that forbids anti-competitive agreements. Owner of HW Trading, Samir Abdalla claims that by selling software for 30 per cent less in the USA, it is breaching EU law.


This is a good time to embrace Free software. This is the time when proprietary software companies squeeze hard for every penny they can get, having held people's skills set and data hostage (lock-in).

Microsoft’s Global Anti-Piracy Day campaign spans 49 countries, has initiated educational programs as well as legal actions, and will likely pick up speed in 2009. According to reports in October, Microsoft has filed lawsuits against 20 resellers in the United States suspected of selling pirated software (Source: Microsoft to describe anti-piracy campaign). In Singapore three retailers have already settled negotiations with the software giant after being caught in a raid that took place in April this year (Source: Microsoft launches global antipiracy campaign)


There is some more analysis here.

CIO.com offers a sobering reminder as to one potential downside to proprietary licensing: when vendors get desperate for revenue, auditing for "piracy" can help them clean up.


The harder the push for revenue, the more people will turn to Free software. This means that every crackdown on counterfeiting is in one way or another the best GNU/Linux advocacy money need not even buy. It's self-inflicted marketing of fear, uncertainty and doubt (about non-Free software and its consequences).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Computers Got Smaller, So GNU/Linux Got Bigger
Many people here recognise the lack of urgency (or need) to get expensive new laptops
GNU/Linux Grows at Windows' Expense and Microsoft Trolls Infest and Maliciously Target Articles About It
Microsoft is - and has long been - organised crime
They Say I'm Mr. Bombastic
They didn't take good lawyers
 
Links 09/06/2025: Science, Hardware Projects, and Democracy Receding
Links for the day
BetaNews is a Plagiarism and LLM Slop Hub, the Chief Editor Isn't Addressing This Problem Anymore
SS Fagioli is basically a parasite leeching off or exploiting other people's work
Links 09/06/2025: Chaos in Los Angeles and Hurricane Season
Links for the day
Links 09/06/2025: Windows TCO and Many Data Breaches
Links for the day
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VI: Political Stunts by Former President Edyta Demby-Siwek and the Connection to Profound Corruption at EUIPO
it's like a money-laundering operation where one politician rewards another at taxpayers' expense
Gemini Links 09/06/2025: Pipelines and Splitgate
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 08, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 08, 2025
Links 08/06/2025: Tiananmen Carnage Censorship Persists, North Korean Goes Offline
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/06/2025: Love as an Ethnographic Method and Monitorix Gemini-Frontend v0.1
Links for the day
Links 08/06/2025: Exposure of More GAFAM Surveillance and Social Security Records Compromised
Links for the day
Linux Foundation is a Mediator for Microsoft et al, Not for Small Companies That Support Rather Than Attack the GPL
Many people still wrongly assume that because it is called "Linux Foundation", then it is pro-Linux and represents the same mindset
This Past Friday, Confirming What We Said All Along About Brett Wilson LLP: It's Shrinking, Has Considerable Debt, Loss of Net Assets Despite the Microsoft SLAPP Money
The documents only became publicly available less than 2 days ago
Some of the Many Reasons We Sued Microsofters for Harassment
perpetrators of harassment
For 20 Years Many People Were Sharecropping for Canonical's Oligarch, Now He's Deleting All Their Contributions
"Ubuntu has erased instead of archiving the trove of material at Ubuntu Forums"
There Was Always Too Much 'Crazy Stuff' Going on Around Freenode
What many IRC users lost sight of
Exposing Crime is Not a Crime (It Never Was)
In the eyes of rich and powerful people, those who speak about their crimes are the "criminals"
GNU/Linux Distros Abandoning Microsoft GitHub
Will curl be next to leave Microsoft GitHub?
Expect More XBox Mass Layoffs Soon If the Rumours Are True
From a Microsoft media operative
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 07, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, June 07, 2025
Europe Needs to Move Away From GAFAM; The Sooner, the Better
Europe - not just the EU - must abandon GAFAM as soon as possible
The Issue Isn't GNOME's Promotion of Diversity But GNOME Corruption, Abuse, Censorship, and Worse
So-called "Conservative" (republican, pro-Trump, bigoted) people want you to think the problem with GNOME is politics
When the News Sources Become Scarce and Increasingly Full of Polluted/Contaminated 'Content' (With LLM Slop and Slop Images)
Integrity matters
"Linux" Sites That Spew Out LLM Slop
We're lacking enough material for another "Slopwatch"
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part V: Breaking the Law, Just Like EPO
We'll hopefully cover some of the pertinent details later this year
Links 08/06/2025: Security Lapses, CISA Cuts, and More
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/06/2025: Mime Types and Geminisphere Introduction
Links for the day
Links 07/06/2025: Slop Companies Retain All Private Data, More Books Banned in the US
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/06/2025: "A Monk's Guide to Happiness" and "Wireless Earbuds"
Links for the day
Links 07/06/2025: More Rumours of Mass Layoffs in Microsoft's XBox Division, New COVID Variant
Links for the day
Drug Addiction is a Real Problem, It Destroys Families
a rather sensitive matter
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part IV: Political Scrutiny and Errors/Inconsistencies in Official Documents
When such organisations receive scrutiny they start focusing on cover-up and muzzling of facts (or crushing people who say the truth)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 06, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, June 06, 2025