Summary: Citizens are urged to claim compensation from Microsoft; federal Web sites still reject non-Microsoft Web browsers

MICROSOFT'S settlement in Mississippi is a subject that we wrote about in [1, 2]. There's more news on the subject as a deadline approaches and we know from experience that Microsoft relies on people being too apathetic (or insufficiently informed) to make appropriate claims. This way, Microsoft keeps the 'crime money' in the bank.

Mississippi residents have until Oct. 16 to submit claims under the state's settlement of a lawsuit with Microsoft.

The state received $40 million from the settlement, and another $60 million was set aside for people, schools and businesses to make claims.

[...]

To receive vouchers, people must have purchased certain licensed Microsoft software, or a personal computer with certain Microsoft software installed on it, for use in Mississippi between January 1, 1996 and June 11, 2009. Hood says many schools and small businesses may also be eligible.

Claim forms are available at http://www.agjimhood.com.

The site uses PDF as its preferred format and Pamela Jones at Groklaw complains that a government Web site is still "Asking for IE or *Netscape*." Several days ago she wrote: "I was looking for information on the H1N1 flu vaccination, to try to decide whether or not to get the shot or take my chances. There is some unknowable, so far, risk of adverse responses, as usual, and so the CDC and FDA have set up a site where you can report any such reactions, so they can track it. It's called VAERS, or the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. You can fill in the form online. But believe it or not, they suggest Internet Explorer or Netscape. If you recall, the exact same problem came up when we were invited to a conference on technology. Folks, please, seriously, update that page that so that Firefox is included, at least, so people using operating systems other than Microsoft Windows can easily access and report. Who uses Netscape? This is important. We're talking about people's lives. Thank you."

This is what one gets when Microsoft commits crime to drive browser competition out of business. One of the people who were on this case at the time is now being interviewed by Mercury News and a similar issue crops up in India:

US Visa application not possible if you use free software!

I wanted to go to the international conference on semantic web to be held in October 2009 near Washington. So I try to apply for US visa. There seems to be no way for a person to apply for US visa without using MS Internet Explorer. Firefox/Mozilla based browsers don’t work. In protest to this unfair practice, I have written the following open letter to the Ambassador of United States in India.

It's amazing, isn't it? Are we back in the 1990s?

It is worth remembering that US visas are Microsoft's turf, which is only typical in a system of big egos and hot air.

Global CIO: Ballmer Blasts IBM For All The Wrong Reasons

If Steve Ballmer really believes his comments that IBM has short-changed its shareholders by selling off low-margin hardware businesses, and that IBM's product line is more "narrow" now than ever before, then Ballmer's strategy as laid out in his "New Efficiency" letter this morning makes absolutely no sense.

As a side note, Microsoft issued this unusual press release maybe in order to defend and promote its increasing proximity to the banking sector (the Citibank relationship gets tighter). It earns some free publicity for Microsoft which actually paid for it, passing it as "public service" and meanwhile at the SEC Microsoft is mentioned in a fraud case.

U.S. securities regulators charged virtual reality company 3001 AD on Tuesday with bilking $20 million from investors by fabricating plans for an initial public offering and falsely claiming support from tech giants Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Apple Inc (AAPL.O).

Microsoft had its own share of fraud investigations with the SEC [1, 2]. ⬆