03.16.09
Posted in Courtroom, Hardware, Microsoft, Patents, Rumour at 8:37 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Patent lawsuits against XBox 360; another Red Ring of Death PR disaster; exit of Xbox 360 Elite is already rumoured
THINGS JUST AREN’T working particularly well for Microsoft these days, no matter which division.
Microsoft’s XBox 360 got itself under a shower of lawsuits in recent months (e.g. [1, 2]). Deliberate neglect did not help the cause, but the latest XBox lawsuit are actually to do with games and with patents. Microsoft is being sued by PalTalk Holdings, which seems like patent troll.
Microsoft Corp., the world’s largest software maker, should pay a New York company $90 million for using its inventions in the Xbox video-game system, a lawyer told a federal jury yesterday.
PalTalk Holdings Inc. says Halo games and the Xbox console on which they are played infringe two patents for inventions developed by MPath Interactive Inc. PalTalk bought the patents for less than $200,000, Microsoft lawyer David Pritikin said.
Separately, there is also a settlement of this case.
Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it settled a patent-infringement suit in which a New York company was demanding $90 million in royalties on the Xbox video game system.
Financial terms weren’t disclosed, Microsoft spokesman David Bowermaster said, adding that it was an “amicable agreement.” The settlement cuts short a trial that started this week over the suit, filed by closely held PalTalk Holdings Inc.
Further details in:
There is also the following new report: Patent Lawsuit Against Nintendo, Microsoft To Begin In Tyler
The trial for a patent infringement lawsuit filed against Nintendo and Microsoft will begin in Tyler on Tuesday.
This one comes from Fenner Investments, which seems like another Texas-based patent troll.
XBox has already lost Microsoft several billions and the lawsuits above will help not at all. Right now, Microsoft and XBox face yet another public relations disaster.
Woman struggles to prove to Microsoft’s Xbox service agents that Nome, Alaska, exists
[...]
Kim Galleher’s nightmare may be coming to an end. The Nome, Alaska, mother has been trying since mid-February to get Microsoft to send her a shipping box so she could return her 13-year-old son’s Xbox 360, which died of the Red Ring of Death in the depths of winter when going outside to play wasn’t really an option.
Microsoft almost denies the existence of a town that accommodates thousands of people. What should they expect to happen as a result? Backlash.
Dear Microsoft: ‘We exist.’ Sincerely, Nome.
The Seattle Times describes the nightmare of a Nome mother trying to get Microsoft to acknowledge that she can, in fact, receive shipping.
At issue: Trying to get the company to replace her son’s broken Xbox 360 after it died from the infamous “red ring of death.” (I just had to do the same thing this winter.)
In other news, now that we are seeing many Microsoft products getting axed (latest example just days ago), a rumour emerges which suggests Xbox 360 Elite will be killed by Microsoft too.
Another gaming rumor: Citing the usual unnamed sources, tech website Fudzilla is claiming Microsoft (MSFT) may soon stop offering its $400 Xbox 360 Elite, the super-premium version of its Xbox game console. Sales of the $300 Xbox 360 Pro and $200 no-online play Xbox 360 Arcade would continue.
This is also covered here (“Microsoft Refuses Comment on Rumors of Ceasing Production of Xbox 360 Elite”). Fudzilla is usually right, about Microsoft layoffs for example [1, 2].
Microsoft seems to be going nowhere — and pretty fast at that. █
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Posted in Finance, GNU/Linux, Microsoft at 7:58 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Money is being stolen from the public in order to fund projects that are beneficial to Microsoft, which increasingly experiences financial difficulties
Microsoft’s tax evasion around the world is a topic that we previously summarised right here. Almost no other company is equally notorious for taxation irregularities — an issue that’s rather consistent across the board. So how does it feel to know that this year’s public looting (more commonly known as “bailout” or — more euphemistically — “stimulus”) will go to a tax-evading monopoly abuser? That is precisely what’s likely to happen pretty soon, according to Bloomberg.
Microsoft Corp., which has $20 billion of cash in the bank, is among the first in the Puget Sound area to benefit from the investment in roads and bridges through President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan.
Local planners allotted $11 million of $214 million awarded to the region to help pay for a highway overpass in Redmond, Washington, connecting one part of Microsoft’s wooded campus with another. The world’s largest software maker will contribute almost half of the $36.5 million cost. Other federal and local money will pay the rest.
Here is the more concise summary from Slashdot:
‘Bridge to Microsoft’ Gets Federal Stimulus Funds
“Among the first to benefit from the investment in roads and bridges through Obama’s stimulus plan is Microsoft, which has $20B in the bank. Local planners have allotted $11M to help pay for a highway overpass to connect one part of Microsoft’s wooded campus with another. Microsoft will contribute almost half of the $36.5M cost; other federal and local money will pay the rest. ‘Steve Ballmer or Bill Gates could finance this out of pocket change,’ griped Steve Ellis of the Taxpayers for Common Sense. ‘Subsidizing an overpass to one of the richest companies in the country certainly isn’t going to be the best use of our precious dollars.’ Ellis called the project ‘a bridge to Microsoft,’ alluding to Alaska’s infamous ‘Bridge to Nowhere’.”
Lest we forget that Microsoft lobbied for the bailout and Steve Ballmer got personally involved in this. Microsoft is approaching debt [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] and it has been having financial problems for quite a while (with a recent investors backlash).
A few days ago we wrote about Microsoft’s prospects being further disregarded by Morgan Stanley and here is a report on the subject, which happens to come from the so-called “Wintel press”.
Microsoft shares fall on weaker PC growth outlook
[...]
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Holt expects PC unit sales to fall by 11 percent for calendar year 2009, down from his previous outlook of a 2 percent decline.
The large majority of Windows users are stuck with Windows XP. Given that fewer people are buying new PCs nowadays, the likelihood of upgrading to GNU/Linux is increased considerably. █
Updated: Coverage from the ‘Microsoft press’ (Seattle):
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Posted in Microsoft, Virtualisation, VMware at 7:20 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Washington’s commerce to be handled by a Microsoft person as Microsoft’s H-1B workers fiasco continues; DHS, Harvey Mudd College, and VMware/EMC influence noted
Microsoft’s former employees — including some from the executive/senior ranks — are still entering positions of political or corporate power where they can cause greater harm to society and promote Microsoft’s interests that are typically adverse to society’s. Microsoft’s Rogers Weed is the latest example:
Gov. Chris Gregoire has named former Microsoft Vice President Rogers Weed to lead Washington’s commerce activities.
She made the announcement Tuesday at a speech to business groups in Seattle. Gregoire says he’ll work to keep the companies and jobs Washington has and to bring new ones to the state.
The Seattle Times covered this too.
Washington needs to stake out its future even as it struggles to cope with a deepening national recession, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Tuesday, introducing a former Microsoft executive to run a newly named state Department of Commerce.
Later on we realise that Microsoft is using its positions to harm the interests of the entire country. With its cronies in charge of important chairs, Microsoft gets to do whatever it feels like and always as it pleases. In fact, it’s already hiring more cheap labour that it defrauded the States for.
Microsoft cut some H-1B workers but will hire more
Microsoft Corp. is letting H-1B workers go as part of its plan to lay off about 5,000 employees over 18 months, but the vendor will continue to hire visa holders as well, according to a letter that it sent to Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) last week.
We’ve already covered Microsoft’s intervention in the Department of Homeland Security and here is some more coverage, for future reference:
Interestingly enough, it’s a only the ‘Microsoft press’ where we could find coverage of this, namely CNET (with copy in CNN), BetaNews where Scott F. is still writing, and the Washington Post, which the Gates family keeps under its thumb. As the following article explains very briefly (it’s a potpourri of reports):
Phil Reitinger, who is the Chief Trustworthy Infrastructure Strategist in Redmond, late this week was appointed the nation’s new Cybersecurity Czar.
This came one day after his VP testified in congress about cyber terrorism, and within a week of the previous czar’s resignation. Rod Beckstrom claiming a turf struggle with the National Security Agency over Cybersecurity was too much to take.
Why is Microsoft allowed a place in the DHS anyway? Microsoft’s intentions of solving a problem that Microsoft itself created?
Another case of Microsoft influence will be Harvey Mudd College, whose President Maria Klawe joins Microsoft’s board of directors. This was covered in:
Last but not least, Microsoft’s grip on VMware is tightening, thanks to its partner of the year, EMC. Vance reports:
If EMC does plan to sell off its controlling stake in VMware, the company is maintaining a spectacular poker face.
On Tuesday, EMC held its first broad strategy update in almost three years. The company’s chief executive, Joe Tucci, presided over the affair, more than half of which centered on the virtualization software sold by VMware.
[...]
Mr. Maritz, once a top executive at Microsoft, boasted that VMware has shifted towards building a virtual operating system that runs not just servers but also storage and networking gear.
For a bit of background on Microsoft’s role, confer [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. █
Screwing one’s way into rival territory
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Posted in Boycott Novell, Microsoft, Novell at 6:32 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
From TechSpot:
It’s clear that Novell needed the cash, the company reported disappointing first-quarter earnings and a slide in its Linux business, but Microsoft’s motivation for the move seems unclear.
More here, regarding “motivation”.
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Posted in Bill Gates, Deception, Microsoft, Quote at 6:20 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
This from the news may explain why Ziff-Davis is sometimes called “Ziff|Gates”.
During the 1990s, I was the director of corporate communications at Ziff-Davis. And our relationship with Microsoft was also — ah — “complex.” On the “church” side of Ziff-Davis, our 400 editors and reporters wrote comparative, lab-based, product reviews that treated Microsoft “without fear or favor,” like any other vendor. On the “state” side of Ziff-Davis, Microsoft bought a ton of advertising in our magazines, on our websites and for our cable TV channel. Plus, Bill Gates was a frequent keynote speaker at our conferences, and Microsoft paid a chunk of money for big booths at our trade shows.
Internally, Microsoft has explained what it's doing to influence such publications.
Older articles about Ziff-Davis:
The Seven Kinds of Ziff-Davis or CNET anti-Linux FUD Pundits
By co-incidence, Ziff-Davis (aka ZD-NET) is the company behind something like 50% of what the media has to say about computers, through various tentacles. CNET was the Pepsi to ZD-NET’s Coke (or Coke to Pepsi?), but now they merged. But of course this list applies to the bloggage of corporate A-listers, no matter who they work for.
Other Underreported Stories: Analyst Integrity?.
Others saying they have heard from someone who heard from someone that once they started paying their exposure improved. Others saying it’s just like the rumors that magazine advertisers get better reviews, an accusation that has been levied to Ziff-Davis publications, as well as photography and stereo equipment magazines for years.
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Posted in Antitrust, Europe, Microsoft, Vista 7 at 6:09 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Microsoft tries to sneak out of the wrath of browser justice, but does not go far enough
MICROSOFT’S crimes against Netscape are many and we will cover them in great depth later this year. For Microsoft to pretend that it’s all ‘just’ part of the past would be conceited. For the authorities to undo the damage caused by these crimes would only be sensible and long overdue.
“For the authorities to undo the damage caused by these crimes would only be sensible and long overdue.”The European Commission thought about having Internet Explorer removed from Windows or at least having Windows preinstalled on computers (at the assembly level, i.e. OEMs) with competing Web browsers already loaded.
More recently, however, Microsoft seemed to have sparked a media blitz that’s misportraying, micharacterising and crediting Microsoft for some sort of generosity while often missing the point that Microsoft involuntarily admits lying about inability to remove Internet Explorer from Windows (as debated back in the Netscape trial). Yes, Microsoft says it’ll offer an “option” to “remove” Internet Explorer, even though it’s not real removal and very few people are likely to do this anyway.
This doesn’t go far enough, so Microsoft is trying to escape this cheaply and claim goodwill for it in the process. Opera’s CEO, Jon S. von Tetzchner, is far from impressed.
Over the weekend, Microsoft revealed that in its latest private beta build of Windows 7, it will allow users to uninstall the Internet Explorer 8 Web browser front end — a choice it has never offered to consumers since version 3.0. The fact that since 1996, the presence of IE in Windows was elevated to such an extent that users could not completely uninstall it, nor could they ever entirely avoid it, has been credited by many as the real reason for Microsoft being perceived as having won the browser war against Netscape.
[...]
Oslo, Norway-based Opera Software’s stance against Microsoft on the topic of Web browser competition is very well known, especially after having filed an antitrust complaint against it in December 2007. Microsoft’s latest move could give Opera a bit of a break. But as Opera CEO Jon S. von Tetzchner told Betanews this evening from overseas, he sees this move as a positive signal, but not anywhere close to a reparation for the years of damage he believes Internet Explorer has caused to the browser market, as well as to the Web as a whole.
The author, whose background is in Microsoft, is almost vilifying Opera and that’s exactly what Microsoft wanted to achieve with the recent media blitz. Microsoft is daemonising those who want justice. It does the same thing against Google, against TomTom, and against IBM. Some sympthetic ears fall into the traps set up by spin doctors.
For whatever reason, Microsoft is given more time to respond (just over a month). Beauracracy is too slow and it works in Microsoft’s favour.
The European Commission has extended a deadline for Microsoft (MSFT.O) to reply to charges that the U.S. software giant stymied rivals by bundling its Internet Explorer Web browser with Windows systems.
There is more coverage of this in:
In other news from the European Commission, following Korea’s recent verdict on Intel's crimes there is a new type of probe.
Intel Corp (INTC.O) could face a hefty fine from EU regulators over charges it fiddled with retail channels to suppress competitors, but of more concern could be any fresh rules imposed by the EU.
Even if the world’s largest chipmaker is slapped with the maximum possible fine of 10 percent of its annual revenue, the greatest risk for the company would be if the EU imposes remedies which would change its pricing model.
The European Commission has already said Intel’s pricing practices — in particular rebates to computer makers and retailers — were a bid to drive rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.N) out of the market and is set to rule soon on the issue.
The uninitiated can learn about Intel’s crimes using the links below. █
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Posted in Deception, Europe, GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Security, Windows at 5:32 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Estonia a victim of Windows botnets, Conficker set to explode, the media distorts stories, and Microsoft fails to patch properly
GIVEN THAT almost 1 in 2 Windows PCs is a zombie, it’s not exactly a surprise that nations get paralysed every now and then. This is not a “computer problem” but a “Windows problem”, even if the Microsoft-influenced press neglects to mention some of these crucial details.
Some time ago we mentioned the damage caused to Estonia by Windows zombies. According to this report from Heise, kids too are empowered by the ease at which Windows can be hijacked, due to poor engineering.
Russian youth movement claims to have carried out cyber attacks on Estonia
[...]
“We taught the Estonian regime the lesson that if they act illegally, we will respond in an adequate way,” boasted Goloskokov in the FT interview. They didn’t do anything illegal, he said. “We just visited the various internet sites, over and over, and they stopped working.” The Estonians’ plight was caused by their own technological limitations in handling the traffic volume, he explained. During the attacks on the Estonian IT infrastructure two years ago, the country was largely cut off from the global internet, and domestic government and banking sites became inaccessible.
As we keep stating, Conficker is far from over and in fact it’s scheduled to exacerbate. IDG has this report:
The third Conficker malware variant in infected machines is set to activate April 1, says the director of threat research at CA where the malware sample first discovered last week by Symantec is being examined.
“It’s set to go off April 1, 2009 and Conficker will generate 50,000 URLS daily,” says Don DeBolt, CA’s director of threat research.
This is neither a joke nor a prank, despite the date.
We already know that Microsoft bothers journalists who criticise Windows for poor security. It does make a difference.
There is a bothersome pattern in media coverage where reporters/editors are somehow spinning Conficker to make Microsoft seem like the good guy, the brave cowboy (for example, see this and this). Microsoft’s sloppiness is responsible for these attacks, but parts of the press portray Microsoft as the white knight, a hero that protects the unwashed crowds from a problem of its own making. The same thing happens in Facebook where Microsoft is attributed with “fighting” those evil worms, but how come no-one is asking why these worms exist in the first place? UNIX/Linux users don't have these problems.
Lastly, regarding Microsoft’s patches to vulnerabilities, these turn out to be flawed too.
Recent Microsoft patch useless if previously exploited (Update 2)
[...]
Tyler Reguly, a researcher on nCircle’s VERT team, recently made a post to the company blog that reported a unique discovery. The patch issued by Microsoft on Tuesday to address Man-In-The-Middles attacks on Windows DNS and WINS (MS09-008) is flawed. The flaw is that if a system was exploited before the patch was applied, it remained exploited. The fix didn’t work.
Why won’t journalist make a mention of secure platforms like GNU/Linux? █
More on Conficker:
- Microsoft’s Blame-Shifting Strategy Precedes More Trouble
- Leave Microsoft Alone
- Never Blame Microsoft, Blame Users and Exploits
- Botnets and Bounties Versus Real Security
- Is Windows to Blame for Cracking of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)?
- Windows Problems Take Down Airplanes, JFK Airport, Houston Municipal Courts
- Turkey, France, United Stated Under Attack by Microsoft Windows Insecurities
- Microsoft Adopts Malware Techniques to Advance .NET
- Windows Botnets Go Out of Control, Obama Web Site Delivers Windows Malware
- One Windows Worm, One Week, and Possibly 250,000,000+ New Windows Zombies
- Death by Microsoft Windows
- US Army Becomes Zombies Army; London Hospitals Still Ill (Windows Viruses)
- Eye on Microsoft: Another Messy Week for Security
- Why Conficker is a Blessing to GNU/Linux
- New Casualties of Microsoft Windows?
- Verdict: The BBC Broke the Law with Microsoft Windows Botnets, Which Conficker Continues Building (Updated)
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Posted in Asia, Finance, Free/Libre Software, Java, Microsoft at 5:03 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“Here’s some money, pretend we’re friends”
Summary: A glimpse into Microsoft’s latest “open source” infiltrations
A LOT has already been said about OSBC 2009, which will be opened up by a Microsoft ally. The company which is suing the heart of Free or "Open Source" software (the GNU and Linux projects) and is constantly trying to change the meaning of these terms is also trying to crash these events by merely attending. And here is its story:
Microsoft is once again a Platinum Level sponsor of the annual Open Source Business Conference, which is being held at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.
As part of this sponsorship, Robert Youngjohns, the president for Microsoft North America, will also be delivering a keynote address to attendees on Wednesday, March 25 from 09h00 to 09h30 ..
That latter part suggests that Microsoft will be speaking “as part of this sponsorship.” It’s almost as though they pay specifically in order to acquire a position, a spotlight.
Similar things are happening in India where Microsoft has invaded Open Source India Tech Days ‘09. Here is a portion of an overview:
Then Mr. Srivathsa of Dell, Mr Anil of Microsoft, Ashok krish of TCS and Mr. Shrinivasan of Cloudversity had a pannel discussion about the Career trends in FOSS, which was very much useful for the students( both school and college)
From the comments:
LOL who allowed those idiots inside? Nobody there registered a protest? damn man
Microsoft does not mean well. It is trying to dilute or hijack “open source” and by its very own admission, ruining such events by merely attending is a goal too.
Here is another recent example:
Hi, this is Brian Gorbett and I am an Architect in Microsoft’s Developer & Platform Evangelism group. This week I had the privilege to speak on a panel at the Saper Law Open Source Symposium in Chicago.
Who is guarding this event from ill interests? Well, according to the site, “To serve as a panelist or to sponsor the event, please contact Daliah Saper as soon as possible.”
When Microsoft attends such events it is pitching in favour of software patents and “hybrid”. That’s just what it’s doing in these conferences, just like their lobbying arms that infiltrate European panels on open source. They also promote what one of our readers calls “the Ms-PL trojan.” He explains: “Given the nature of Open Source and how it is designed to keep a level-playing field for all contributors, it’s patently obvious that the Ms-PL is a trojan horse concocted by the lawyers who’s sole function to pollute the code and render it useless in GPL type projects.
“When Microsoft attends such events it is pitching in favour of software patents and “hybrid”.”“The merist hint of Ms-PL code will pollute any such ‘open source’ projects and leave them liable to litigation. Ms-PL, a transparent attempt to con foolish open source developers into destroying FOSS from the inside.”
In other related news, Microsoft is fighting against Java, as it always has. But it was invading their conferences too, despite the many offences which Microsoft had committed against Java. Microsoft employees got caught messing about with polls, which they gamed against Java. Someone with high credibility has just notified us that “Astroturfers are dropping fake developer comments all over the forums lately promoting a proprietary alternative to Java. This serves to highlight the activity and growth of Java.
“There are also articles slamming Sun and Java. While there are some imperfections that must get addressed soon, these articles contrast sharply to the reality which shows active cooperation.
“Another area which confuses me regarding Sun and Red Hat is server hardware. Sun along with Fujitsu and a few others make server systems using open hardware.
“It would then make more sense for Red Hat and Sun to be offering joint solutions, such as pre-loaded Red Hat on SPARC, than for Sun to be offering anti-trust problem child Intel’s chips.”
We have seen similar attacks on OpenOffice.org [1, 2, 3]. █
“Mind Control: To control mental output you have to control mental input. Take control of the channels by which developers receive information, then they can only think about the things you tell them. Thus, you control mindshare!”
–Microsoft, internal document [PDF]
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