08.11.09

Did Microsoft Also Poison Yahoo’s Free Software?

Posted in Free/Libre Software, Microsoft at 1:50 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Microsoft’s agitation of Yahoo! since February 2008 takes its toll on more Free software-oriented staff

When Yahoo! became a zombie to Microsoft it was apparent that Free software would suffer as a result. Yahoo! is — after all — the home of some Free software projects, systems administrators, and developers. The founder of Delicious has just gone on the record saying that he regrets selling to Yahoo! and The Register says that the founder of Hadoop is leaving too.

Yahoo! is losing the founder of Hadoop, that increasingly popular open source grid platform based on Google’s proprietary software infrastructure.

There is at least one GNU/Linux distribution which is based on Hadoop and some Free software-based ‘clouds’ depend on this project too. Other prominent losses include Jeremy Zawodny, who is now writing occasionally for Linux Magazine. Zimbra too felt the wrath of Microsoft due to uncertainty that has been cast onto it. So, we’re inclined to believe that Microsoft’s damage to Yahoo! is also an attack on Free software. We are already concerned about VMware buying SpringSource because VMware is headed by former Microsoft employees right now [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. █

Related posts:

Share this post: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

Permalink Mail Send this to a friend

If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

Pages that cross-reference this one

2 Comments

David Gerard said,

August 11, 2009 at 3:43 pm

Yep. Told you Zimbra was a target. Outlook/Exchange is why businesses don’t leave MS Office en masse and go to OpenOffice.org. MS know this. Competitors must be killed by any means necessary. Blowing some billions on Yahoo! is just a small amount of money to maintain the monopoly.

To beat Outlook/Exchange, you’d need something that was a complete plug-in clone of Outlook (in looks and talking to Exchange) and something that was a complete plug-in clone of Exchange (in talking to Outlook). Outlook is a terrible email client and Exchange is a terrible email server, but as a meeting arranger they’re adequate for business use and won’t be replaced without great trepidation.

Roy Schestowitz Reply:
August 11th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Yes, we wrote about it a lot last year.

http://boycottnovell.com/2008/02/01/zimbra-microsoft-speculation/
http://boycottnovell.com/2008/02/01/groupware-snatch-protocol/
http://boycottnovell.com/2008/12/28/gnu-linux-yahoo-ms/
http://boycottnovell.com/2008/02/07/nokia-and-microsoft-relationship/

On Hula:

http://boycottnovell.com/2006/11/29/novells-exchange-killer/
http://boycottnovell.com/2007/02/19/novell-independence/
http://boycottnovell.com/2007/01/31/hula-bye/

What Else is New

Understanding Thierry Breton: “Rhodiagate” and the Vivendi Universal Affair

When the "Rhodia affair" became the "Breton affair"
Links 18/11/2019: Last Linux RC, OSMC Updated

Links for the day
What GitHub is to Open Source

Lots of prisoners inside GitHub
Openwashing Institutionalised NPEs (OIN) and Software Patents With Notorious Managers From the EPO

There’s a strong push for software patents in Europe (basically fake European Patents on abstract ideas) and IAM leads/participates in it with help from OIN, Grant Philpott (EPO) and — maybe soon — Breton (EU)
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, November 17, 2019

IRC logs for Sunday, November 17, 2019
Links 17/11/2019: Slax Beta and Arch Conf 2019 Report
Understanding Thierry Breton: The “Cost-Killer” Tries to Tame the National Debt

The oligarchic policy of Thierry Breton at Bercy
Reactions to Last Week's Thierry Breton Hearing

Nobody is particularly impressed by Thierry Breton except those who know little about him (and he contributes to this lack of knowledge by obstructing, omitting, and misleading)
The Open Invention Network Has Become a Guard Dog of (Some) Patent Trolls and It Misrepresents Us Under the Guise of 'Open Source'

The Open Invention Network (OIN), in collaboration with Fraunhöfer, is promoting software patents and all sorts of other nonsense as part of ‘open’ standards in a new paper sponsored by the EU and edited by the former EPO Chief Economist Nikolaus Thumm (not Battistelli's choice); this is another reminder of the fact that OIN misrepresents Free/Open Source software (FOSS) developers and their interests
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 16, 2019

IRC logs for Saturday, November 16, 2019
Unitary Patent is Dead Partly Because the EPO Demonstrated That EPC is Being Routinely Violated, Illegal Patents Granted

Some elements of Team UPC have given up, whereas others try to push the lie that Unitary Patent/Unified Patent Court (UPC) is not an EU thing and that therefore everything is fine
USPTO Rewards Microsoft for Corruption at ISO by Teaching People Proprietary OOXML and Promoting Its Use

The world's most important patent office promotes Microsoft lock-in, revealing not only corporate bias but also highlighting ways in which Microsoft crimes continue to pay off
No, Startpage is Not Dutch Anymore

Startpage is still clinging onto perceptions rather than truths; it means that Startpage isn't just betraying privacy but it's also dishonest and untrustworthy
Understanding Thierry Breton: Chirac's Entrepreneurial “Joker”

Minister in charge of the public treasury was not a career politician but an “entrepreneur” with a proven track-record as a financial wizard and “cost-killer”
Links 16/11/2019: New Debian Release, Wine staging 4.20

Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 15, 2019

IRC logs for Friday, November 15, 2019
Microsoft Doesn't Love Linux, It Just Buys Linux

Microsoft's takeover or abduction of its opposition's voice isn't an act of love but an act of occupation, a hostile colonisation that enables digital pillage and plunder
Koch's Reply to EPO Through ILO and Techrights' Interpretation of Koch v EPO Documents Help Show That ILO-AT is Played by EPO Management

Sending cases back and forth, without the complainant being involved, means that justice is in eternal ‘limbo’ and thus the abusive management of the European Patent Office (EPO) — first Team Battistelli and now Team Campinos — can get away with anything the bullies do (no judgment of substance being delivered)
EPO Running ILO's Tribunal (ILO-AT) 'in a Loop' to Perpetually Delay and Drain the EPO's Complainants (Aggrieved Staff) Out of Money

ILO’s Administrative Tribunal — a court for aggrieved EPO staff and other international organisations’ staff (usually known as ILO-AT for short) — is a major farce; when “time is money” and lawyers charge as much as 400 euros an hour the EPO’s management can exploit/misuse its cash reserves to also game justice and buy legal outcomes
ILO is Not Functioning and ILO-AT Helps the Abusive Management of the European Patent Office

It is becoming increasingly clear, based for example on Koch v EPO, that ILO-AT is where a lot of money will be spent on lawyers and rarely will that result in real justice (but it certainly helps EPO management pretend that staff has safeguards)
Links 16/11/2019: Wine 4.20, Picolibc 1.1

Links for the day
Understanding Thierry Breton: Moral Responsibility for “a Capitalism That Kills”?

"...France Télécom which had previously been defined by an ethos of public service, by egalitarian working conditions and by a sense of universal mission, had now been transformed into a "cash machine” whose sole purpose was to generate shareholder value on international financial markets."
FOSSPatents Conference is Against FOSS, Promoting the FOSS-Hostile Construct Known as RAND or FRAND

Do not be misled by the term Free/Open Source software (FOSS) in the name FOSSPatents and whatever relates to it (e.g. FOSSPatents Conference); it's not about FOSS but against FOSS, or pro-FRAND
Europe is Under Attack

European politicians or political candidates pretend to be 'candid'; but they're agents of Power, or put another way, they're there to make the rich and powerful class even richer and more powerful by passing new, ruinous laws in the name of 'the people' or 'for SMEs'
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 14, 2019

IRC logs for Thursday, November 14, 2019
Understanding Thierry Breton: Toxic Management Goes on Trial in France

"In each of these cases, the suicide served as a symbolic act of protest to denounce workplace conditions at France Télécom and attract public attention to its practices."
Thierry Breton's Video/Live Grilling is Over, But the Grilling Continues Online

Elite politicians aren't reluctant to give Thierry Breton the high seat (or throne); but everyone else realises that this resembles a corporate takeover more than anything
The EPO's Low Patent Quality is Not Just Suicidal; It is Illegal

With help from the besieged Boards of Appeal (BoAs), which complain that they can no longer judge cases (appeals/referrals) autonomously and independently, the Office in Munich continues to grossly violate the EPC and mimic China's ridiculously low patent bar, which even formally permits patents on algorithms
Links 14/11/2019: Mesa 19.2.4 and GCC 7.5 Released

Links for the day