12.07.09
De Facto Microsoft Press Already Rewrites the Story of Microsoft’s Destruction of Yahoo!, Other Stories
Summary: Distortion of the truth as seen coming from the people who always work on embellishing Microsoft’s history
REVISIONISM from Microsoft is a crucial ingredient and technique for improving the company’s image, especially after crimes are committed. We wrote about Microsoft revisionists many times before, e.g. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].
The ‘Microsoft press’ is currently whitewashing, pretending for the second time in a week that Microsoft’s recent bullying scenarios do not exist and never happened.
“Revisionism from Microsoft is a crucial ingredient and technique for improving the company’s image, especially after crimes are committed.”Recent examples include the predatory actions against Linux [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], against Yahoo!, and against Google (most recently the Murdoch plot [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13]). Some articles still say that “Microsoft may pay newspapers to avoid Google” (there are more newspapers coming up), but Microsoft denies it.
The same ‘Microsoft press’ (which we last complained about last night) is using miserable measures to sell the illusions Microsoft is lusting. It is citing US-only figures from partners of Microsoft such as comScore [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8].
Microsoft’s PR placer, Ina Fried, is giving only Microsoft’s side of the Yahoo! story whilst others are daemonising those who try to restore some justice, notably the European Commission which blocked the deal [1, 2, 3, 4]. Microsoft Nick is among those who prod the party line of Microsoft. Scott M. Fulton, who actually supported/advocated oversight, has this to say:
While Almunia could carry out existing penalties imposed against Microsoft and Intel, it’s conceivable he could leave future penalty guidelines to the Court of First Instance to determine, or at least to the Commission itself to legislate in advance.
Microsoft apologists/revisionists can also be seen here, in an article which is feeding Microsoft Nick for some more PR. What fuels his revisionism are statements like:
Microsoft is nevertheless a very different company today – and the perception of it throughout the region’s technology hotbed has shifted dramatically too.
That’s utter nonsense. Microsoft is not a different company when it comes to its business practices. It’s just a tired talking point which they parrot endlessly. Right now, having fought Yahoo! (proxy battle), Microsoft wants people to believe it’s a mutual arrangement. But the real thinking goes like this: “we don’t want to spend much money on you, Yahoo, so just pass over all your visitors and customers.”
This type of bullying from Microsoft, which eventually hijacked Yahoo! and drove away the talent, is something that we covered here before [1, 2, 3]. The mainstream press totally avoids the reality and spins this as Yahoo! running to Microsoft rather than the other way around. With the one-sided deal likely to be finalised shortly (we explained the absurdity of this deal in [1, 2]), one reader of ours ponders the impact on Yahoo's BSD (and Free software) endeavours. He writes:
It looks like the hostile takeover of Yahoo’s board of directors has succeeded in shutting down Yahoo!
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Search-Engines/…
So now, Yahoo may become a fascade for Bling, which is a crappy front end for Wolfram Alpha. It would be a smarter move, if Yahoo’s engine is being gutted, to skip Bling. That would improve reliability and content:
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/29820/53/One could cut out all the middlemen and just go straight to Wolfram Alpha:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/Yahoo management has also recently been heavily infected with Microsoft staff. But none of the changes brought about by Microsoft activists, either on the board of directors or on Yahoo staff, are really about service or function, are they?
Now, since Yahoo! was a major developer and contributor to FreeBSD and PHP development, it would be very important to get out in daylight how these two valuable tools will be affected. With PHP, it probably means that a lot of web activity will move back to Perl or over to Python.
As our reader points out in the above, Microsoft has gotten into the business of ‘consuming’ other people’s services, which are typically running on GNU/Linux and Free software. Examples are given in this new article.
Rather than developing a direct rival to Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, Microsoft is working with those services to incorporate their features into its own products.
Microsoft is increasingly becoming dependent on GNU/Linux then. None of these services rely on Microsoft software (they persist with the LAMP stack).
Next, it brings us to Microsoft's search downtime (it uses Windows) — a predictable downtime which Mac sites are cheering and Microsoft PR folks like Ina Fried try to play down. Others from the Microsoft crowd and press ignore the simple truth and Microsoft Nick is playing along with the Microsoft talking point. Another Microsoft booster, Stuart Johnston, uses this downtimes as an excuse to promote Microsoft. What has ever happened to objective reporting? It is actually bound to get worse.
A few days ago we wrote about the Comcast/NBC situation, noting that Microsoft’s impact on the media is expanding. Now comes this update from a Microsoft-sponsored blog:
NBCU deal could bring Microsoft and Comcast back together again
[...]
I followed up with Microsoft this morning to find out the specific implications of the Comcast-GE announcement for msnbc.com, and the company referred me to an NBC Universal representative. I’ll update this post depending on the response.
Unless there’s an unexpected twist, the deal would put Microsoft and Comcast in business together, via msnbc.com — potentially giving new life to a corporate relationship that appeared to have fizzled out. Microsoft in January sold its remaining 7.3 percent stake in Comcast, ending a relationship that had started with the Redmond company’s landmark $1 billion investment in the cable company in 1997.
Last week we showed that MSNBC/MSN is still publishing Linux- and open source-hostile articles and now we find it recommending Microsoft’s stock. No conflict of interests here?
“Consumer Groups Cry Foul on Comcast’s NBC Play,” says the headline of this new article. It also mentions Microsoft.
Comcast and General Electric’s long-anticipated merger agreement — which would see see the cable giant take a controlling stake in NBC Universal — is already facing strident opposition from consumer groups, and concerns from lawmakers around the alliance of content with distribution.
To critics, the deal to create the nation’s biggest entertainment conglomerate invites a host of scenarios where Comcast could unfairly favor NBC programming through its television and Internet services.
“Antitrust regulators must ensure that all content providers are treated fairly on the Comcast platform, and that Comcast does not get undue advantages in gaining access to programming,” Sen. Herb Kohl, chairman of the Senate antitrust subcommittee, said in statement today, saying he planned to hold a hearing on the matter.
Microsoft is still focusing on commercials, despite complaints even from a parents group. “‘Family Guy’ content not so family oriented,” says this new article which covers the same subject. At Microsoft, it's all about spin/PR. █
“Government attorneys accuse Microsoft of using its monopoly position to bully, bribe and attempt to collude with others in the industry, while illegally expanding and protecting its Windows franchise.”
–The antitrust case: a timeline
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