06.24.09

Microsoft Betrays American Workers and Rewards Irish Workers for Tax Haven

Posted in America, Deception, Europe, Finance, Microsoft at 6:22 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Microsoft discriminates against Americans who work in the United States, their home country

Microsoft’s abolishment of American employees goes back to the company's affairs with Abramoff, who is now in prison. It never really ended. Steve Ballmer blackmailed Obama earlier this month in order to justify reduction in expenses, which comes at the expense of the American worker. Microsoft already moves it workforce abroad to "cheaper" pools of workforce. Now it gets even worse, even domestically.

Bill gives in-state tuition to foreign professionals, families in Washington on visa

[...]

The measure passed amid a roiling budget crisis and hundreds of millions of dollars in cutbacks to higher education. It was nicknamed the “Microsoft subsidy bill” by some lawmakers who say the software giant and its workers surely could afford to pay the higher tuition rates.

The Seattle Times has welcomed no less than 506 comments. People are outraged. To quote just the latest comment, “As a laid off Microsoft employee displaced by guest workers, I am outraged that the State of Washington legislature could pass special interest legislation that only benefits Microsoft and their guest workers’ families.”

The pro-Microsoft blog at the Seattle P-I mentioned this article too and the responses are similar.

Will in Seattle writes: “So if my brother, an American citizen by birth, moves here from Cali he has to wait three years for him and his daughters to get in-state tuition – but an H1-B visa holder from India gets in-state tuition in one year?

“Sorry, that is just plain WRONG.”

A reply says: “Will, the whole H-1B program is wrong. This is just the latest wrinkle.”

“Some time ago we showed that Microsoft was actually hiring in Ireland.”Anonymous commenter adds: “I say down with Microsoft. They are the real evil empire. They produce poor software, have bloated management and since they can’t compete with real companies, they have to hope for hand outs from taxpayers to pay for college tuition for people who will be replacing our citizens with cheaper labor. I thought the Banks were bad but Microsoft takes the cake. They already take advantage of tax loopholes to hide tax revenue overseas and they expect people in the state of Washington to kiss their butts. I don’t see Google, Boeing, or Paccar benefiting anywhere what Microsoft is getting.”

Some time ago we showed that Microsoft was actually hiring in Ireland (amid worldwide layoffs). Microsoft enjoys a special relationship with Ireland because that’s where its massive tax evasion takes place (or gets centralised). Microsoft says that “Ireland is ICT laggard” in the following new article, on which our reader remarks: “When you are in a ICT tax evasion paradise, you want it to become an ICT public investment paradise too.”

To quote a few fragments from this article:

Despite the large technology industry assembled here, Rellis says it is regrettable that Ireland is lagging behind on a range of fronts, from broadband to the use of ICT in education. “We have looked at Ireland and every other country in Europe in terms of technology and Ireland is a laggard. Now, I could be upset about that and say this is an awful criticism of the country but the power of being a laggard is that you can leapfrog over all the other countries if you have a digital strategy.”

[...]

Microsoft, in particular, has been active through its Bizspark programme, which equips tech start-ups with the latest technologies and licen-ses its IP to them. An example of the latter is Dublin comp-any Inistech, which, through the Microsoft IP Ventures Programme and Enterprise Ireland, has relaunched Microsoft’s Software Licensing and Protection (SLP) Services.

For the reality behind BizSpark, see:

We also remarked on the Licensing and Protection move about a week ago [1, 2]. Software patents could be part of it and speaking of which, Irishman Charlie McCreevy, a promoter of software patents in Europe [1, 2, 3] is likely to be replaced by another pro-Microsoft guy, according to the FFII. We wrote about it a fortnight ago. █

“Geeks like to think that they can ignore politics, you can leave politics alone, but politics won’t leave you alone.”

–Richard Stallman

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Edelman and Waggener Edstrom Reported to the FTC

Posted in Fraud, Marketing, Microsoft at 6:22 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Earlier today we wrote about the FTC planning to put an end to bribed bloggers. But they might be targeting the receiving end rather than eradicating the problem at its root. Microsoft bribes bloggers not directly; rather, it uses unethical marketing agencies. Edelman was responsible for bribing bloggers with laptops back in 2006 and Microsoft's PR department (Waggener Edstrom) did this in 2008. There are many more examples, but this is not intended to be an exhaustive list.

Here is the complaint I sent.

Subject: Abuse by firms “Edelman” and “Waggener Edstrom”

To:

Federal Trade Commission
Consumer Response Center
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20580
E-mail: antitrust@ftc.gov

It has come to my attention[1] that you are working to end the practice where bloggers get bribed for reviews of products. I opine that in order to end this abuse you must target the givers — not just the receivers — of bribes. I hereby wish to file a complaint about “Edelman” and “Waggener Edstrom”, lodged at addresses:

Waggener Edstrom
Civica North Tower
225 108th Ave NE Suite #700
Bellevue, WA 98004-5737
Phone: (425) 638-7000
Fax: (425) 638-7001
Email: newbiz@waggeneredstrom.com

Edelman
International Square
1875 Eye Street, NW
Suite 900
Washington, D.C. 20006

Both firms were giving laptops that are worth approximately $2,000 for many bloggers to write about. There was no strict requirement that these laptops get returned. Here is proof that Waggener Edstrom was involved[2] and here is corresponding proof for Edelman[3]. They worked on behalf of their client, Microsoft Corporation.

With kind regards,

Roy Schestowitz

____
[1] http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10269962-38.html
[2] http://weblog.infoworld.com/enterprisedes….
[3] http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/12/28.html

We advise others to do the same and report this issue. █

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Federal Trade Commission May Crack Down on Microsoft’s Bribery of Bloggers

Posted in Deception, Marketing, Microsoft, Vista, Vista 7, Windows at 4:46 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

“I’ve been thinking long and hard about this, and the only conclusion I can come to is that this is ethically indistinguishable from bribery. Even if no quid-pro-quo is formally required, the gift creates a social obligation of reciprocity. This is best explained in Cialdini’s book Influence (a summary is here). The blogger will feel some obligation to return the favor to Microsoft.”

–Former Microsoft manager

Summary: FTC to go after schwag tactics

THE FTC may not be the most potent of bodies [1, 2], but it may finally make a move to end the bribing of bloggers. Microsoft is a major culprit [1, 2, 3, 4] and an article about intent to take action specifically mentions Microsoft as an example:

Microsoft, for example, created a wave of bad press a few years ago when it gave free Acer laptops preloaded with Windows Vista to several dozen bloggers.

Microsoft did the same thing to promote Vista 7 and it is currently paying people (in terms of awards) to promote Windows in their blogs and also in social Web sites like Digg and Slashdot. That’s not even accounting for the fact that Microsoft pays large publishers like Ziff Davis to promote Windows Vista and it does the same with large shops and OEMs. Even large analyst firms are doing this. We recently spoke about Forrester and out comes another skeptic of their latest smear of Free software.

I won’t take InfoWorld to task for how it spins the story; this is news coverage, not an opinion piece. And it’s a fair description of how Forrester wants to position its research. (I can’t say the same thing about a subsequent InfoWorld blog post that accepts Forrester’s conclusions without questioning them.)

This taste leaves most readers hungry for details. How does Forrester define “open source?” Are we talking about desktop applications, server software, or both? Where does Forrester draw the line between enterprises and SMBs — and how does that distinction blur the inevitable differences between how midsize and small businesses view these issues?

Analysts, like lobbyists (there is overlap), are there to make a buck. Microsoft says that [PDF] “Analysts sell out – that’s their business model…” Gartner is a good example of corruptible analysts and Facebook, with investments from Microsoft, is now turning to the dark side too.

Facebook’s newly minted lobbyist used to be one of the company’s most formidable adversaries.

As a prominent privacy advocate, Timothy Sparapani, former senior legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, argued that Internet companies have too much control over consumers’ data. The self-described “privacy zealot” didn’t join Facebook until seven months ago because he was uneasy about revealing personal information on the site.

The FTC has a lot of work to do. Legalised bribery is greater an issue than bribed bloggers. █

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The More Aggressive They Get, the Most Troubled They Are

Posted in Apple, GNU/Linux, Hardware, Microsoft at 4:07 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Indicators that Microsoft is feeling cornered

MICROSOFT’S calculated attack on sub-notebooks running GNU/Linux is well documented [1, 2] and since Dana Blankenhorn finds excuses for what Groklaw concludes, it is clear that he has not been following what happened closely enough. What Groklaw offered as a “smoking gun” is just the tip of the iceberg and not even as compelling a proof as the words of ASUS and kickbacks, for example.

Matt Asay claims that “Microsoft is losing its way.” The sub-notebooks saga is just one among two symptoms that he offers as examples.

Two new Microsoft directives suggest that the writing is on the wall for the once-great company. And this isn’t even to mention Microsoft’s tactics to squash Linux’s growth in the Netbook market.

First, Microsoft has kicked off a “Get the Facts” browser campaign that is long on hyperbole and short on facts. Reading Microsoft’s browser comparison chart, one would think that using Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome is a fast track to leprosy: IE apparently dominates in security, privacy, ease of use, healing the sick, and causing the lame to walk.

That latter example we wrote about last week and on Sunday.

There is reason for optimism, however. Competition from GNU/Linux has already forced Microsoft to give Windows away almost free of charge, so Microsoft's profits are down by a third. That’s a huge blow. In fact, even the business press which is so friendly towards Microsoft is starting to comprehend the role GNU/Linux plays.

The situation puts Microsoft in a quandary. If the company lowers the price of Windows 7, it could hurt revenues and profits. If it keeps the price high, PC makers might bolt to alternatives, such as the free Linux operating system.

Google (GOOG) is offering PC makers another option. The search giant has been developing the Android operating system, originally to run high-end cell phones. But the software can be adapted for notebooks, and PC makers pay nothing for it up front, though there are often development costs. Acer, the largest seller of netbooks, said in May that it will begin selling an Android-powered netbook this summer.

Needless to say (the article does not state this), Android is Linux based. It is hardly surprising that Bill Gates calls GNU/Linux — not Mac OS 10.x — Microsoft’s "most potent Operating System competitor". Steve Ballmer claims that on the desktop the market share of GNU/Linux outpaces Apple’s, which is only popular on proprietary hardware in wealthy countries (where biased surveys are typically taken). █

“We are not on a path to win against Linux”

–Jim Allchin, Microsoft's Platform Group Vice President

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Microsoft Forcibly Turns Washington State University Students to Customers

Posted in America, Interoperability, Microsoft, OpenDocument at 3:36 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

“The danger is that Microsoft is using strategic monopolistic pricing in the education market, with the government’s assistance, to turn our state university systems into private workforce training programs for Microsoft.”

–Nathan Newman

Summary: Students of WSU (Washington State University) are the latest victims of Live@Edu

SEVERAL MONTHS ago we leaked the details of Live@Edu. This programme is Microsoft’s way of turning students into customers [1, 2, 3] and personal bribes are given to those who enable Microsoft to accomplish this. Perhaps not surprisingly, Washington State University, which is located in the vicinity of Microsoft’s main headquarters, is turning its students to Microsoft customers as well.

Strapped for cash after the state Legislature cut higher education funding, Washington State University is using Microsoft’s free Live@edu system for student e-mail and other services, Microsoft announced today.

It would be interesting to know who received incentives to make such a foolish move. Universities have the capacity and the tools to offer their own mail services, but then there are no kickbacks.

Live@edu is about dependency, which is achieved through lock-in. E-mail may be only part of it (and probably just the beginning) as Microsoft is likely to bundle some other lock-in like Office as SaaS, with Microsoft OOXML as the proprietary format used. Data is then held hostage.

Speaking of lock-in, the ODF Plugfest we have been writing about [1, 2] is intended to accommodate interoperability and end lock-in. Here is another short report on the subject.

Rajiv Shah and Jay Kesan wrote the paper “running code as part of an open standards policy” arguing that the “running code” requirement – i.e. multiple independent, interoperable implementations of an open standard – should be part of governments’ open standards policies.

Last week the Dutch government hosted the first ODF plugfest: creators, implementors and end-users met up to improve OpenDocument interoperability for real, and it worked out well.

House’s ruless were clearly set, NoiV program and the OpenDoc Society created an appropriate environment to avoid flaming and to concentrate on fine tuning ODF interoperability.

Microsoft was there to disrupt of course. █

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Potential Future Replacement for F-Spot Enters Ubuntu

Posted in Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Ubuntu at 3:07 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Solang enters Karmic Koala repositories

AWARENESS of the questions surrounding Mono has increased considerably and The Nixed Report publishes a detailed essay on the subject. There are also those insisting that it’s “just a tool,” but the point worth making is that this tool fits well in the repositories, without the ramifications of being passed directly from the distributor on the ISOs. And speaking of repositories, Solang has just been added to Ubuntu’s, so hopefully as it matures it can replace F-Spot as the default image manager.