11.30.09

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Why Microsoft’s Murdoch Tactic is Similar to SCO

Posted in Google, Law, Microsoft, SCO, Search at 5:31 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Microsoft tries to stir up infighting to cause havoc in Google while also punishing Murdoch’s publications

“Murdoch Looking Towards Microsoft for Search Deal,” says another report, which more or less confirms that this is not just a rumour.

At Groklaw, Pamela Jones is joking about the fact that the Wall Street Journal (Murdoch’s) does not seem to know this for sure and it even cites the Financial Times as its source. Jones also writes: “Could someone please explain to Microsoft that destroying others isn’t the most productive way to compete? They could try, well, merit, instead. What? Too simple? Too clean? Anyway, this is included in News Picks for all the dreamers out there who thought there was a new Microsoft.”

Yes, the illusion that Microsoft has changed was last addressed in this post about Murdoch, which follows many others, e.g.:

Some folks are already making up figures, based on some biased poll from a single Web site.

Eighty nine per cent declared the move to be ‘a winner’ with a lowly 11% declaring it to be ‘a loser’.

A pretty good result for a guy that has been called an “old fool,” an “aging idiot,” and as exhibiting, “early signs of dementia” in the press this week.

As one post puts it, “Murdoch thinks Google is doing evil — kleptomania — because he doesn’t understand the new realities of media. Microsoft knows better. Its alleged attempt to woo old-man Murdoch is an act of deepest cynicism. It’s evil.”

Other newer coverage puts it bluntly: “Report: Microsoft May Pay News Corp to Block Google”

That’s not competing, that’s destroying. Microsoft also funded SCO when it was suing Linux, so there is a resemblance in tactics. It attempted something similar with patents [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] a few months ago.

Microsoft has also destroyed Yahoo! in its attempts to destroy Google. See for example:

After destroying Yahoo! from within, some nations won’t stand in its way and as a reminder of the danger of Microsoft in search, the company is rigging its search results against competitors. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Last week we wrote about calls to boycott Bing. It turns out that Microsoft is knowingly shilling for the repressive Chinese government because Microsoft was warned about this before. It did not correct this.

Microsoft Bing Is No Funny Thing

[...]

Kristof broached this subject with Microsoft back in June, and the company claimed it was a bug. Six months later, he wrote, the censorship continues, with Microsoft claiming “that a search in any given language emphasizes results from within the country that uses that language. Thus if you search in the simplified characters used within China, then you get disproportionately Chinese propaganda.”

There is more information about this here. It is not the first time that Microsoft goes political [1, 2], including international sanctions. Bing is one among those just sued over trademarks. █

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