Bonum Certa Men Certa

Eye on Microsoft: Failures of Windows Mobile, Windows Vista, and Vista 7

Laptop WGA nuisance



Summary: Weekly overview of news and Op-Eds

Does Microsoft Windows Mobile Have A Future?

Name Change = Desperation Even Microsoft seems to know it is in trouble. One clear sign of a failing product line is a name change. After using Windows Mobile since the operating system's launch at the turn of the millennium, the company decided that phones running version 6.5 of the operating system will be known as Windows phones, a subtle but telling distinction.

So where will Microsoft go from here? The company has put a lot of time and money into its mobile OS. Because of its tight connection with Microsoft Office desktop applications, the operating system has had significant appeal to small and medium businesses. But that integration also carried a price in terms of ease of use and performance. And the market seems to be saying Office compatibility may no longer be enough to compete with faster, sexier, and easier-to-use smartphones running on other operating systems.


Microsoft Desperate For Windows 7 Success

Microsoft's clout in the computing world is slipping fast. New competition is moving in from nearly every side with companies like Google and Apple starting to take chunks out of their market share, and the increased presence and continually growing quality of open source software provides pressure too. The recent economic downturn has encouraged more people and businesses to explore those other alternatives, and Microsoft is feeling the pain. These latest moves seem almost desperate to me, and right now it appears that the only thing Microsoft is reluctant to try is improving their software.


Why Microsoft Will Continue To Fail

Microsoft has turned into a marketing and legal machine, aimed at taking down it's competitors in any under-handed way possible. I'm not naive enough to believe they're alone - I know that other big software companies use some of the same tricks. But the problem is the lack of focus on quality new products. I have been trying very hard to reserve judgement on Windows 7 until it was released. I've been fairly impressed with the release candidate I've been test driving. But a lack of anything really new, plus recent news of huge security issues already being uncovered have shaken my faith.

Microsoft is not currently a software company, and unless they find a way to re-focus on developing software that people actually want to use, their competition will continue to grow faster and take their market share until Microsoft is no longer relevant.


CAFC Gives Microsoft Word Stay, and I HATE Vista!

Then someone pointed out to me in a comment that it was on PACER, just indexed under the filing date of Microsoft’s request for the stay rather than the date it was granted, which is ridiculous enough, but then things took a much weirder turn for me. I HATE VISTA!!!!!

Like virtually everyone that owns a Vista machine, my primary computer, which is a laptop I carry with me everywhere in my travels, has seen its better days. This particular machine is the ripe old age of 6 months old, and as near as I can tell its better days were those days prior to the loading of Vista, which as far as I can tell is a computer virus! Nothing operates properly on a Vista machine, not even Internet Explorer. Oddly enough, Mozilla Firefox is more stable on a Vista machine than IE, go figure.


Security experts warn of possible worm hitting Vista

A group of top security analysts and researchers say the latest Windows security hole, for which there is no patch, leaves hundreds of millions of Windows Vista PCs wide open for infection by a Conficker-like Internet worm.


Microsoft flaw could open PCs to Conficker-style attack

Microsoft has just raised a red flag about a recently discovered security flaw in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 PCs for which no patch yet exists. This affects all Vista PCs used in the home and workplace, and computer servers running Windows Server 2008 operating system.


Be sure to get Microsoft Office updates

This week includes the second Tuesday of the month -- "PatchTuesday," as it's come to be known -- the day when Microsoft issues "patches" to fix the latest security and operational flaws that have been found in its products. Most prudent computer users, one way or another, access these patches through the Windows Update Web site.


Attackers target Microsoft IIS; new SMB flaw discovered

Microsoft Fixes Eight Security Flaws

Recent Techrights' Posts

Red Hat QA Team "Had Shrunk by Half Over the Past Year." (After IBM Divestment)
If Red Hat's workforce is being moved to the East, then RHEL can become a national security problem
Preparations for Our 19th Anniversary Have Already Begun
When we get back we'll probably sort out some balloons and venue for the next party
Pleased After 2 Years With team.blue
Moving from a Content Management System (CMS, dynamic) to a Static Site Generator (SSG) was a wise decision that made life so much easier
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is Being Attacked by Organisations Jealous of Its Principled Stance and Longevity
Nobody is perfect, but imperfection does not instantaneously imply sinister intent
 
Activists Can Win, But Keep an Eye on the Ball and on the Trophy
GitHub is dying, it was a loss-making trap, not free hosting
Gemini Links 04/09/2025: Katrina Remembered, Distracted Driving, and Virtual Economics
Links for the day
At This Point It's No Longer Matthew Garrett But People Who Fund Matthew Garrett (or Companies That Fund His SLAPPs Against My Wife and I)
The only thing worse than misogynists are misogynists who fail to respect other people's right to go on holiday
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 03, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 03, 2025
The UEFI 9/11 - Part VI - This Serious Harm Was Planned for Over a Decade, Not an Accident or Merely Some Misfortune
The term "Serious Harm" is legally meaningful here
GNOME Unfit for Diversity and Inclusion
GNOME's leadership is using "bad words"
Brodie Robertson Addressing the Recently-Discovered Comments
Most people probably knew nothing about this until he wrote a response
Slopwatch: "Open Source" and "Linux" News Faked, Made by Bots and Entered Into Google News
Spam combined with slop about "Linux" has entered Google News
Links 03/09/2025: Microsoft Causes Mass Layoffs Outside Microsoft Also, "Google Can Keep Paying for Firefox Search Deal"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/09/2025: calendar.txt, Alhena 5.3.1, and ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
The Theory That the Man From McKinsey, Whom Red Hat Took From Microsoft a Month Ago as Executive, Wants 'Efficiency' (Lower Salaries)
So far... no "official" word
When Your Site's Articles Are Being 'Cheapened' by Slop as Feature Images
Dr. Farnell should become an advisor to The Register MS
Certificate Authority Let's Encrypt Drops to Only Half a Dozen Capsules and 0.2% of the Whole in Geminispace, Self-Signed is the Way to Go
It used to have hundreds, according to Lupa
Doing to Red Hat What They Already Did (and Still Do) to IBM
there seems to be a drive to hire cheaper staff, and it may be led by somebody Red Hat hired from Microsoft
Links 03/09/2025: Salesforce's Latest Mass Layoffs, 93% in Large Poll at The Register MS Say UK Government Should Dump Microsoft
Links for the day
If You Reject the Google Verdict in the US, Then You Should Also Reject the "Modern" Web (Do Something About It)
Gemini Protocol is still open; it cannot be hijacked or subverted because it's frozen by design and by intention
Open Source Initiative IRS Filing: Almost All the Money is Corporate, Stefano Maffuli (Executive Director) Takes About a Quarter of That Money for Openwashing of "AI" Ponzi Scheme
OSI is currently little but a PR/marketing agency of Microsoft
Many People Are "Leaving" Red Hat, Even High-Level Managers
Something is definitely going on at Red Hat
Techrights Has Been Subjected to Calls of Violence (and Death Threats), It Never Condoned Violence
I have no sympathy for people who call violence "free speech" and then get in trouble
Condoning Violent Behaviour and "Free Speech"
perhaps Microsoft Lunduke lost touch with what constitutes violence
Takeaway From the Google Verdict: GAFAM Has Too Much Control (Even Over the US Government and Courts With Government Appointees)
Many people feel disappointed but hardly surprised by the verdict
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 40 in One Month
As noted a few days ago, several times in fact, many people now recognise the importance of the FSF's mission, even if most people don't know what the FSF is
Many Microsoft "Assets" Are Fabricated Baloney (to Game the Numbers)
At times it seems like what we deal with are many weak patents (on algorithms), valuations or speculations based on hype ("hey hi"), and stocks held by Microsoft and its own staff
"Voluntary" Layoffs at Microsoft (to Game the Numbers, Sugar-Coating a Crisis)
"Employees interested have until the end of October to volunteer."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 02, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 02, 2025
Links 02/09/2025: Oligarch Tech and Text Encoding Concerns in Ada
Links for the day
"Internal Changes at Red Hat / IBM"
It seems like quite a few people are leaving
Confirmed in French Media: Mass Layoffs (10% Culled) in Microsoft France
Now some reports in French
"People on LinkedIn Saying That They've Left Red Hat."
We already saw signs of it a month ago and named some of the people
Gone With the BRICs (or BRICS): "Linux 8" in Cuba
GAFAM must be worried
Telecompaper Reports Microsoft to Reduce the Workforce by Another 10% (in France)
Imagine what this will do to staff's morale
Microsoft in Freefall in Finland
Can Finland eradicate Windows from all its infrastructure, including core operations that are sensitive to sabotage by cracking?
Google's Chrome Passes 70% and Web Standards Are Dying
The Web is quickly becoming devoid of any standards
India is Back to Windows 8 (Market Share Down to 8%) as Android Soars to a New Record High
For Microsoft, India is a runaway market
Slopwatch: Plagiarism and Ponzi Scheme, Bubble About to Burst Entirely, Admits Goldman Sachs
the hype that Google News and The Register MS actively participate and profit from
Links 02/09/2025: SCO Summit and Russia Suspected Of Jamming GPS
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/09/2025: Mediterranean Marriage and Staying Connected at 35,000 Feet
Links for the day
The Register MS Says "AI Web Crawlers Are Destroying Websites", So Why Does The Register MS Help 'AI' Companies? (Spoiler: Money)
People need to call out The Register MS on its hypocrisy
Slopfarms Already Peaked, They Will Die When Slop Companies Run Out of Money to Borrow
slopfarms will lack an actual "engine"
Links 02/09/2025: Attacks on Unions, Microsoft TCO, and DDoSing a Growing Problem
Links for the day
Why We Publish Information About the SLAPPs (But Not About the Legal Process), an Abuse of Process by Americans Trying to Silence Critics of Their Employer, Microsoft
It doesn't take thousands of pages to explain something simple
Internet Relay Chat Didn't Fall Off a Cliff
IRC will turn 40 in less than 3 years from now
The UEFI 9/11 - Part V - This is Not a Drill (Disable "SecureBoot" Now)
A "9/11" Coming
There's No Obligation to Speak to Anybody
The very fact that "bkuhn" is till spending time in social control media says a lot about his poor judgment
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 01, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 01, 2025
Microsoft Trying to Force People to Resign (Amid Mass Layoffs) a Strategy That Takes Its Toll
Microsoft seems to be circling down the drain and the "final flush" will be the moment the "hey hi" (AI) bubble implodes completely
Google Simply Cannot Be Trusted
Only fools would trust GAFAM
Admission That a Third Party (or Parties) Funds the SLAPPs Against Techrights
This can end up costing them over a million dollars
Modifying and Writing One's Own Computer Programs is Not a Crime (or: Google Proves That Stallman Was Right)
We're generally gratified to see so many positive mentions of him
Why We Stopped Publishing Videos (for Now)
We'll probably get back to videos one day, but it's hard to say when or to what extent
What Animal Rights Activism Teaches Us About Sympathy and Focus
It's possible to believe that the planet is warming, that we must do something about it, and still eat eggs and butter