12.14.09

Links 14/12/2009: Oracle Makes Commitment and Gets EU Pass

Posted in News Roundup at 5:51 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Linux on Netbooks at the Netbook World Summit in Paris

Direct link

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Google is Still Crushing Microsoft, Sometimes with GNU and Linux

Posted in GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Search at 12:38 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Google is throwing many chairs at Microsoft these days, metaphorically speaking; this is a roundup of some news on the subject

THIS post is not about the ethics of Google; it is a discussion of some of the latest news, which helps show how Google brings Microsoft down to its knees, profit- and market-wise. In some ways, this is valuable to Free software, even though not everything in Google produces free/libre code (never AGPL).

We start with the important observation that Microsoft has just a 3% share in the search market. It’s going nowhere. Microsoft just loves to deceive by talking about US-only figures (also when it comes to operating systems and Web browsers).

From the Denver Post:

But there’s Google, which dominates search on the Internet by the novel expedient of being very good at the job. Google makes money ($1.65 billion profit in the last quarter), mostly by selling ads.

Microsoft has tried to get into search. In 1998 it offered MSN Search. Then came Windows Live Search in 2006, followed by talk of acquiring Yahoo (Google’s closest competitor), and this June, Microsoft launched Bing — whose ads tout its peculiar virtue of delivering less information than Google provides.

Bing has gained some market share (3.26 percent globally, compared to Google’s 85 percent and Yahoo’s 6.2), but it’s obvious that Internet search is one market where Microsoft has failed in its drive for world domination.

The Wall Street Journal talks about US-only estimations (not global, as that would put Google at over 90% market share, based on some particular measures).

Google Inc.’s (GOOG) share of U.S. Internet searches rose 1.4% in November from a month earlier to 71.6%, according to data provider Hitwise, as Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) reported declines.

Here is another new report from the Wall Street Journal. It shows how ugly the Yahoo!-Microsoft deal really is.

Yahoo Inc. said Wednesday that the online giant is in the process of “identifying” the 400 engineers that will be moved to Microsoft Corp. as part of the companies’ planned search and advertising partnership.

Microsoft Nick seems happy about it.

Some 400 engineers will eventually be transferred between Microsoft and Yahoo as part of the original search-and-advertising agreement, according to previous announcements by both companies.

We recently wrote about this type of situation in order to explain the effect on FreeBSD and Free software projects that Yahoo! had fostered. This whole deal is insane [1, 2] from the point of view of shareholders and customers (YHOO stock price dived after the signing of the deal) and it harms Yahoo! employees, turning them into Microsoft/Windows people rather than the other way around. It harms their employability in a world where GNU/Linux and Free software grow as a desired IT skill.

Did the proxy agents really need the money so badly? Microsoft was exposed using AstroTurf campaigns to prevent Yahoo! from staying independent or collaborating with Google. Is this an acceptable way for an industry to be run? Anti-Trust laws were established to prevent such concentrations of power and maybe even proxy battles, so regulators should have put people on trial (or in jail), not put people in boards they sought to hijack. Here are some of the headlines from recent days:

• Yahoo Faces Off Against Google In Search War With Microsoft Funds

• Yahoo and Microsoft stand united to overthrow Google

• Yahoo and Microsoft combine forces to challenge Google

About a year ago Yahoo! was close to signing a deal with Google. Now it is an external part of a monopoly abuser which thrives in total disregard for the law.

Without good reasoning, parts of the press have turned against Google (Google takes a lot of business from them, as the Murdoch plot shows [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13]) and Microsoft's friend Dina Bass quotes Razorfish as a complainer, despite the obvious conflict of interests (Razorfish was a subsidiary of Microsoft for years, until recently). She writes for Bloomberg:

“People don’t want Google to become Kleenex,” said Lord, the chief executive officer at Razorfish, which Publicis acquired from Google rival Microsoft Corp. this year. Microsoft took a 3.3 percent stake in Publicis as part of that deal. “I don’t want one big giant here. If I only have one major platform to go to like Google, it’s hard for me to do my job.”

Wow. What a surprise. Microsoft’s Razorfish (recently passed to Publicis) daemonises Google? No way! Joe Wilcox from Microsoft Watch plays along similar lines and so does the Wall Street Journal, with Bob Evans daemonising the EU Commission (Microsoft loves daemonising this regulatory body).

“Microsoft is now profiling Web users and publicly sharing their profiles without permission… not for the first time, either.”Accusations are currently being made against both Google and Microsoft by the copyright cartel, but whose fault is it really that zeros and ones can be shared and pointers to streams be indexed?

Speaking of this pair of search engines, Microsoft is currently using “privacy” as FUD against Google (Microsoft has used this line for years, despite the obvious hypocrisy) while refusing to show its own worse sins, which include eavesdropping at the operating system’s level. We wrote about it this morning. Microsoft is now profiling Web users and publicly sharing their profiles without permission… not for the first time, either. Microsoft had previously built profiles of people and made them public based on USENET messages. This was organised by its research unit and pulled about 2 years ago (or less). So who is Microsoft to preach about privacy?

In other Google news that shows progress at Microsoft’s (and Yahoo’s) expense:

1. Google Rolls Out New Tools as It Battles Rival

Google Inc. on Monday unveiled several new Internet-search advances, including ways to find information by taking a photo and results that stream on to a Web page continuously, as it attempts to fend off Microsoft Corp. and other new competitors.

2. Google debuts news story experiment

3. 3 Reasons Google’s Real-Time Search Blows Away Bing

4. Google Bears Down On Microsoft Applications

A Google Inc. executive said Wednesday that the company’s Apps software has won over 20 million users across “a few million businesses,” as it looks ahead to an impending revamp of rival technology from Microsoft Corp.

5. Google Groups comes to Google Apps for Education

6. Google sues work-at-home scammers

Among the projects that are beneficial to Free software there is Chrome OS/Chromium OS. Here is a new article about it, titled: “Chrome OS move heats up Microsoft-Google rivalry”

The already intense Google-Microsoft rivalry heated up considerably last month with the long-expected release of Google Inc.’s Chrome operating system to the open-source community.

Analysts say that if the new Linux-based operating system catches on quickly after it becomes generally available late next year, Google’s effort to convince corporate users that its hosted Google Apps offering is a viable alternative to Microsoft Corp.’s Office suite could get a huge boost.

Google also uses Linux in handsets and the Google Phone is coming.

Yes Virginia, there really is a Google Phone! And no, I don’t mean all those Android-powered devices, but instead a Google-branded phone that is made by an original equipment maker. The company has started giving away these devices to its employees, who started tweeting about it last night, and the company had to make an announcement this morning.

Windows Mobile seems rather dead (or dying) and HTC neglects Microsoft in favour of Linux, according to an IDG report.

The 2010 product roadmap for mobile device maker HTC has been leaked. The detailed product specifications and gallery of device photos makes me wonder whether it’s a “leak” or just buzz marketing. Regardless of how the HTC 2010 roadmap became public knowledge, it looks like HTC is fully embracing the Android platform.

GigaOM foresees no change with future versions of Windows Mobile. “Microsoft + Mobile Consumers = FAIL” is the headline of this new post.

Microsoft’s latest ad campaign focuses heavily on the end user, telling us that Windows 7.0 was “designed with you in mind.” But the company continues to lose the fight for consumers, and nowhere is that more evident than in its mobile business.

Microsoft is relying on Vista 7-esque hype, but even fans like Microsoft Nick don’t buy it. Microsoft friends like Harry McCracken feel similarly and go as far as saying that Microsoft should maybe dump its phone efforts. Mobility is the future, so Microsoft is not giving up, even when it gets sued for catastrophic data loss. █

“I’m going to f—ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I’m going to f—ing kill Google.”

–Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO

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American EDGI Comes to Missouri, Microsoft Crimes in Iowa Produce Coupons

Posted in America, Antitrust, Bill Gates, Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Microsoft at 11:20 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Microsoft distorts education by turning it into its own vehicle to perpetuate dependency and inertia; Iowa schools to receive $60 million in compensation for Microsoft abuses

THE notion of “American EDGI” is one that we explained many times before. State by state, Microsoft responds to the “threat” of Free software by dumping proprietary software to block it, then calling this “charity” or “goodwill”.

Microsoft is very shameless about this [1, 2]. It conveniently assumes that people won’t be wise enough to understand the real impact and the latest population that Microsoft targets with this vicious campaign is Missourians.

The partnership is called Microsoft Elevate America. It offers free access to e-learning and certification programs from Microsoft.

Missouri is receiving nearly 25,000 vouchers entitling residents to access specialized e-learning programs for Excel, Word and other Microsoft programs and platforms.

More here:

Microsoft partners with state to teach computer software skills

[...]

Missouri is one of the initial states to participate in Microsoft Elevate America, which started in February. The program aims to train more than 2 million people throughout the country during the next three years.

Microsoft redefines training and education. It’s more like indoctrination. Microsoft and Bill Gates turn the education system into training for interests of particular corporations, where “computer software skills” (as phrased above) means “memorising GUIs of Microsoft software.” Microsoft has some accomplices in other countries (South Africa) and a school has just received an “award” from Microsoft for being somewhat of a Microsoft recruitment camp (in Asia). Deep inside the article it states:

Many teachers in MSHS have integrated technology in their work and have availed of affordable laptops through cooperatives in the school. The school has been a Microsoft partner since 2004.

Yes, it is a self-congratulatory award. It is a Microsoft award for Microsoft partner — a fact they hardly make visible.

Several weeks ago we wrote about what Microsoft was doing in Nigerian schools and now there is this propaganda piece from what’s called “Microsoft Academy”.

GOVERNOR Peter Obi has said establishment of Microsoft Academy in the State Secondary Schools would increase job opportunities for students after school. Obi was speaking at the tenth anniversary of Cor Mariae Girls’ Secondary school Nkpor.

This is a highly imbalanced article that serves as advert/propaganda for Microsoft in Nigerian authorities. This country should avoid becoming a vassal of Microsoft, but watch what Microsoft is doing to capture minds:

About 300 representatives from the public, private, non-profit and education sectors gathered at Microsoft on Monday to discuss global development. At the heart of the agenda was the vital role of empowering women and girls to combat poverty.

Here is another Microsoft visit, probably the result of an invitation. Microsoft is inviting people to a Washington campus for its own benefit, just like it did amidst OOXML brainwash sessions [1, 2] with a man who would become a Microsoft employee (but back then pretended to be “independent”).

Looking at some brighter news, after the Comes vs Microsoft case comes this report from the Iowa Independent:

More than $60 million will be given to Iowa schools for the purchase of new technology, thanks to a 2007 settlement to an anti-trust lawsuit against Microsoft Corp.

In April 2007, a Polk County judge approved a settlement where the software giant agreed to pay Iowa consumers $179.95 million. Attorneys had brought a lawsuit alleging that Microsoft overcharged Iowa consumers and businesses for certain products. As part of the settlement, Microsoft also agreed to provide half of the funds not claimed by consumers to Iowa public schools in the form of vouchers that may be used to purchase a broad range of hardware products, Microsoft and non-Microsoft software, and professional development services.

This is also covered here and according to the following couple of reports, it is not ‘funny money’ (coupons redeemable only in the form of Microsoft products).

i. Microsoft Settlement to Fund $60 Million for Eligible Public Schools in Iowa

The funds will be distributed in the form of vouchers, which can be redeemed for cash to reimburse schools for their purchase of a wide variety of computer hardware and software products, including both Microsoft and non-Microsoft products.

ii. Public schools get $60 million from Microsoft settlement

About 75 percent of Iowa schools, or more than 1,000 schools, will be eligible to take part in the program. The funds will be distributed to schools through vouchers for software and hardware product purchases.

It’s all about schools.

“At a time when we have tremendous economic challenges, to see this amount of money coming to a lot of our schools is just unbelievable,” Jeffrey said. The money is part of a nearly $180 million settlement in a class action suit alleging that Microsoft overcharged Iowa consumers and businesses for certain products.

These schools will hopefully use this money to avoid the very same company that abused. They can buy O/S-free hardware and put GNU/Linux on it, or even migrate to GNU/Linux on the existing systems and use the money to cover support contracts for Free software expertise. █

“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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Patents Roundup: Apple and Microsoft Extremely Busy with Patents as the Patent Bubble Finally Bursts

Posted in Apple, GNU/Linux, GPL, Law, Microsoft, Patents at 10:25 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Foes of software freedom accumulate patents and get sued; the USPTO sees considerable decline in business

GNU/Linux users should definitely care about patent law because it is a threat to Free software. The president of the FFII points out that OpenBTS is now explicitly saying: “If you hold GSM patent licenses, you cannot redistribute OpenBTS under GPLv3.”

There is nothing wrong with the GPLv3. It merely defends users from software patents, which are a form of monopoly.

According to TechDirt, when Apple is not fighting with patents, it is actually acquiring more of them.

Apple Trying To Patent Anti-Tamper Tape

[...]

Apparently, Apple is trying to patent anti-tamper tape. The patent application, for a “tamper resistant label for detecting device openings,” describes some adhesive tape that could be placed inside devices, which would get torn or damaged if someone opened the device. It seems like there’s a ton of prior art here.

More wood thrown into the fire.

Watch what Microsoft is patenting. From the summary in Slashdot:

Microsoft Invents Price-Gouging the Least Influential

“In the world envisioned by Microsoft’s just-published patent application for Social Marketing, monopolists will maximize revenue by charging prices inversely related to the perceived influence an individual has on others. Microsoft gives an example of a pricing model that charges different people $0, $5, $10, $20, or $25 for the identical item based on the influence the purchaser wields. A presentation describing the revenue optimization scheme earned one of the three inventors applause (MS-Research video), and the so-called ‘influence and exploit’ strategies were also featured at WWW 2008 (PDF). The invention jibes nicely with Bill Gates’s pending patents for identifying influencers. Welcome to the brave new world of analytics.”

Here is Microsoft talking about “Licensing Secrets” in this new press release.

Success in Microsoft licensing demands extraordinary attention to detail and the fine print.

Well, they don’t say.

This morning we wrote about Monsanto and Bill Gates. Glyn Moody gets around to addressing the subject too. It’s about patents on life of animals and plants. In summary, Moody writes:

Amazingly, David Boies, the lawyer that led the attack on Microsoft during that investigation, is also invovled: he is representing Du Pont, one of Monsanto’s rivals concerned about the latter’s monopoly power.

Let’s just hope that Monsanto becomes the subject of a full anti-trust action, and that the result is more effective than that applied to Microsoft. After all, we’re not talking about software here, but the world’s food supply, and monopolies – both intellectual and otherwise – are simply morally indefensible when billions of lives are stake.

For Microsoft, the affair with patents is a mixed bag. It is also being sued, this one being a new example.

Microsoft, Nokia, Amazon, others sued over hardware acceleration

[...]

A company called Nazomi Communications has sued a number of large companies for breaching patents it owns on hardware acceleration.

There is also this one:

A Massachusetts company that last week sued Microsoft Corp., alleging patent infringement, appears to be something akin to a homeless orphan.

NetView Technologies Inc. has no permanent address, and no full-time management. Regulatory filings, legal filings and the company’s Web site list three different addresses, two of which are residences registered to former executives. A third is a Waltham address that the company no longer occupies.

Apple is being sued too. From the news:

i. Apple sued for alleged infringement over iPhone camera

ii. Apple loses $21.7 million in patent suit, appeal in progress (mentioned here before)

iii. Apple getting sued again by patent profiteers

It must be hard to be as popular as Apple. You’re always fighting the competition, who sometimes come late to the dance with a wannabee product, then deliver snarky punches into the kidneys with their TV ads. Even worse are the lawyers, who circle the company like a flock of vultures, picking away at whatever juicy bits of meat they can get.

But the true bottom feeders are the “patent trolls,” a specific species of law firm that has picked up patents from companies that usually never brought a product to market.

Groklaw shares this comical post about the ill patent system and also shares the story of an infamous dilemma:

The Patent Reform Act of 2009 would replace the current “first-to-invent” (FTI) system with a new “first-inventor-to-file” (FITF) system. While touted as a way to harmonize the US system with “first-to-file” (FTF) systems used in other countries, an experimental investigation of a matrix of two hundred typical fact patterns for two competing inventors was analyzed under all three systems (FTI, FITF and FTF) to test this assumption. Based on the matrix analysis, it appears that if FITF is adopted there likely will be changes in applicant behavior and significant extra costs for at least several years as a result of the transition to a new system; and, it is unclear whether FITF really gets the US any closer to patent harmonization.

With this chart in mind, Groklaw also shares information about the decline of patents.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s fiscal year 2009 annual report indicates declining revenue and patent filings. Notably, there was both a dip in the backlog of patent applications and an increase in the time it takes for the agency to issue a patent. Some lawyers believe the former can be attributed in part to applicants abandoning applications because of the economic downturn.

The report, which the agency recently released without fanfare, detailed the agency’s $135.9 million budget shortfall, or 6.8 percent of its $2.01 billion forecasted revenue. Fee collections totaled $1.87 billion.

Lastly, Groklaw shares this article about Ralph Nader calling for people to challenge the law rather than accept it blindly.

Lawyer and long-time activist says U.S. law schools don’t spend enough time encouraging students to think critically about the law

People must challenge software patents and maybe patents as a whole. The legal profession is unlikely to initiate this because the legal profession (lawyers) is profiteering at the expense of scientists while these antiquated rules prevail. █

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Microsoft Sued for Sidekick Disaster, Fined for Using “Money Power” to “Harass” Defendants

Posted in Courtroom, Intellectual Monopoly, Law, Microsoft at 9:52 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Sidekick lawsuits arrive in class action form and Microsoft’s dirty games in the courtroom finally have it punished severely

Microsoft recently cut its legal budget by 15% and axed many lawyers. Given the sheer number of patent lawsuits against Microsoft (still increasing), this is a recipe for trouble but yet another lawsuit (class action) has come to hit Microsoft. Here are the latest news reports:

• ‘Sidekick’ owners sue Microsoft over cell data wipeout

They lost song lyrics, phone numbers and e-mails — all stored on their Sidekick phones — and now several Chicago area residents are suing software giant Microsoft Inc. and subsidiary Danger Inc. for a server backup problem that caused the wipeout.

The four plaintiffs named in the suit have yet to recover the data from the October incident, according to the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.

• ‘Sidekick’ owners sue Microsoft over cell data wipeout

• T-Mobile Sidekick users file class action suit against Microsoft

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Microsoft by disgruntled Sidekick users who lost all their mobile data a few months ago.

According to the suit, filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court, Terrence Taraszka, Katie Taraszka, Adam Beckelman and Michael Guerrero — and others like them — lost e-mail and text messages, contact information, phonebooks, calendars, notes, and favorite internet addresses stored in their Sidekick mobile phones when Microsoft and Danger, Inc.’s data servers failed on Oct. 2, 2009.

• Sidekick Users Seek $75K in Class Action Suit

• T-Mobile Sidekick users sue Microsoft

Chicago-area residents have filed a class action lawsuit against Microsoft after losing data on their sidekick phones.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court, claims that the plaintiffs- Terrence Taraszka, Katie Taraszka, Adam Beckelman and Michael Guerrero- lost email, text messages, contacts, phonebooks, calendars, nots and other media when their Sidekick phones suffered a technical glitch.

We previously wrote about Sidekick in:

• Microsoft Pink is Already Declared Dead and Danger Dies with Permanent Data Loss
• Microsoft Sued for Data Loss
• Lawsuits Against Microsoft Turn to Class Action Lawsuit While Microsoft Mobiles Become Dying Breed
• Microsoft Recovers Sidekick Data? Not So Fast!

How might Microsoft deal with the lawsuits? So far it has been using false promises (saying it would restore the data) to discourage plaintiffs and keep lawsuits at bay. Failing that, Microsoft has another outrageous strategy which the Indian press has covered:

It’s a capital cost all right! Delhi High Court has asked Microsoft Corporation to shell out Rs.800,000 ($16,000) for choosing to fight four copyright violation cases in the Indian capital even though they originated in other cities.

The order came after the court found that the alleged violations occurred in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Mumbai.

Not only did the court note that Microsoft had offices in these cities, but it also said the company was using “money power” to “harass” the defendants, who would have to travel to Delhi to fight the cases.

This strategy is used in many cases to drain and exhaust those who sue Microsoft, until they run out of money that’s required to make more motions. There are many such recent examples, including various lawsuits against Microsoft for misconduct surrounding Windows Vista. A reader of ours has just found a similar report in the India Times and sent us a pointer.

Is it not ironic that Microsoft is fighting “four copyright violation cases” while at the same time Microsoft is arrogantly ignoring copyright law? That’s just total hypocrisy. Here is a new article from the China Daily:

Microsoft Corp has been ordered by a Chinese court to stop selling versions of its Windows operating systems that include fonts designed by a local company, citing a violation of licensing agreements.

[...]

Microsoft will have to stop selling the Chinese versions of its Windows 98, 2000, 2003 and Windows XP, according to the court. It is unclear when the ruling will take effect or how many copies are affected.

This is a copyright violation that we wrote about before. It is still in the news. Microsoft also broke copyright/patent law when it knowingly infringed on i4i patents [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] and violated the GNU GPL. It only complied last week after being caught.

At the same time, Microsoft is pushing this article where it sucks up to a monopolist supreme — a new government role which is intended to maximise copyright zeal. Given that Microsoft's actions are offering their support to ACTA, Microsoft is a major part of this problem. Here is the opening part of the cocky Microsoft placement:

Late Thursday, the Senate voted to confirm Victoria Espinel as the first United States Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC). Microsoft applauds this action and welcomes the opportunity to work with Ms. Espinel as she moves into her new role.

We mentioned this appointment before. Biden is extremely pro-intellectual monopolies. █

“Open source is an intellectual-property destroyer [...] I can’t imagine something that could be worse than this for the software business and the intellectual-property business. I’m an American; I believe in the American way, I worry if the government encourages open source, and I don’t think we’ve done enough education of policymakers to understand the threat.”

–Jim Allchin, President of Platforms & Services Division at Microsoft

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Microsoft Lobby Roundup: Software Patents, Attack on Sun, Environment Lies, Banking Venture, and AARP Pressure

Posted in America, Antitrust, Bill Gates, Europe, Finance, Fraud, Microsoft, Open XML, Oracle, Patents, Protocol, SUN at 9:03 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Microsoft’s political side shows its face in many areas, both in Europe and in the United States

AN important subject that wrote about a few days ago [1, 2] is this arrangement between the US Department of Justice and Microsoft. This is summarised by the Microsoft reporters as follows: “Microsoft Nears DoJ OK to Collect Protocol Fees”

Microsoft will deliberately avoid standards, create proprietary substitutes and then withhold information, bringing to a halt progress, then documenting some stuff (maybe a decade later) and demanding money for software patents adjacent to these anti-standards specifications. We made a comparison to Rambus the other day and now comes this IDG report:

EC Agrees to Close DRAM Antitrust Case Against Rambus

[...]

And it could have a bearing on how the European Commission deals with the controversial decision by the international standards body ISO to recognize Microsoft’s OOXML document format, according to some observers.

[...]

The Commission is in the process of settling a much bigger antitrust case against Microsoft. A final decision to accept the software giant’s settlement offer is expected next Tuesday.

In addition to creating a level playing field for competition among Internet browsers, Microsoft is understood to have also made promises not to unfairly withhold information from companies that want to make products compatible with the word processing, spreadsheet and office management tools contained in Microsoft’s Office suite of software applications.

As part of this probe the Commission was examining whether OOXML is sufficiently interoperable with competitors’ products, and in April last year, when OOXML won ISO status, the regulator suspected foul play.

Microsoft was suspected of having unfairly influenced the vote by national ISO affiliates in order to secure the ISO label on OOXML.

It is unclear how the anticipated settlement announcement of the Microsoft case next week will deal with the questions surrounding OOXML. “Microsoft’s settlement offer in the interoperability case has addressed the main concerns other companies had, but I don’t know how this specific issue has been settled,” said one person familiar with the Commission’s thinking who asked not to be named.

Microsoft and SAP want to decide on Sun's (and ODF's) fate for all of us (they lobby heavily [1, 2, 3, 4]) and to many people’s surprise, they are actually allowed to do so, despite obvious conflicts.

With an assist from Microsoft, SAP is making a renewed push against Oracle in the EPM (enterprise performance management) space, and has a rip-and-replace success story to show for it.

As long as Microsoft is controlling the government’s judgment, such problems are likely to persist. The OOXML corruptions involved a lot of political pressure as well.

Former Microsoft employees are now looking to gain more government positions.

Microsoft alum challenges Inslee

James Watkins, a Redmond entrepreneur, on Wednesday announced he would challenge Rep. Jay Inslee, the Democrat from Washington’s 1st Congressional District.

Microsoft is getting closer — physically — to Washington D.C.. The Gates- and Microsoft-hired lobbyists will soon be joined by 10,000 guests. Just see the press stories, as it’s appalling.

Here is another new press release about a manager of “Microsoft banking, capital market”:

Microsoft Corp. today announced that Joe Pagano has accepted the role of Managing Director of Banking and Capital Markets in the Worldwide Financial Services Industry Group. Joe will report to Susan Hauser, vice president, Worldwide Financial Services, effective December 2, 2009.

This pitiful role will be tied to anti-GNU/Linux FUDMeister, Susan Hauser. Since when is there a “Microsoft banking” part?

Microsoft has appointed Joe Pagano as the new managing director of Banking and Capital Markets in its Worldwide Financial Services Industry Group.

Pagano, who has been working at Microsoft for nearly 15 years, will report to Susan Hauser, vice president of Worldwide Financial Services.

Microsoft banks on banking interventions and it has been getting closer to bankers. According to this new article, even after the Microsoft disasters inside banks across Denmark, Microsoft is trying to push into them the same software that had the London Stock Exchange (LSE) crash [1, 2, 3, 4]. Here is another new press release about Microsoft’s attempts to penetrate banks.

“And then comes more advertising from the Microsoft blog that only ever praises Microsoft.”Speaking of Microsoft disasters in Danish banks, last week we wrote about Microsoft PR stunts in Copenhagen and a new one with AARP as well. Yes, Microsoft uses Copenhagen (environment-centric summit) for PR, despite being a major polluter and offender/denier. Some of this PR comes from Microsoft’s de facto PR blogs (Silver Lie only), which then leads to more PR: “Dickerson reached out to seattlepi.com after reading our Tuesday piece on Microsoft’s work in climate change.”

And then comes more advertising from the Microsoft blog that only ever praises Microsoft. In general, it is all coming from de facto Microsoft press (Seattle), which emits the usual PR fluff almost endlessly.

Regarding AARP, last week we stressed that its work with Microsoft was likely to have hidden goals (as always [1, 2, 3]) and there really is a hidden goal, based on the following newer fluff:

• Microsoft Says Graying Boomers Will Never Surrender Their Gadgets!

The New York Times reports on a study, jointly sponsored by MSFT and the American Association of Retired Persons, that suggests many more years of spending on upgrades and gizmos. Instead of clinging to their old VCR players, TRS-80 computers, and brick-like cell phones, boomers will continue to splurge on the latest neat high-tech toys.

• What Do Baby Boomers Want From Technology?

Those were the sorts of questions explored in a somewhat unusual marketing research project sponsored by AARP and Microsoft. Earlier this year, 60 people in total gathered for dinner and after-dinner discussions about their attitudes toward, use of and expectations for technology. The lengthy sessions were in four cities: San Francisco, Phoenix, Chicago and New York. The participants ranged in age from 50 to 60.

Nice to see AARP and Microsoft shilling together. It gives them ammunition with which to lobby the governments. █

“Did you know that there are more than 34,750 registered lobbyists in Washington, D.C., for just 435 representatives and 100 senators? That’s 64 lobbyists for each congressperson.”

–CIO.com

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Microsoft Moves to Reno to Avoid Regular Tax and to India to Avoid Regular Salaries

Posted in America, Bill Gates, Boycott Novell, Finance, Microsoft at 8:12 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Another simplified look at what Microsoft is doing to save money

LAST week we showed that Microsoft was hiring in Reno, which helps its dodging of tax (there are even worse offences [1, 2, 3]). Here is more information on the subject:

The 11 new jobs that Microsoft announced at its Reno operation last week might be the harbinger of something bigger.

After all, the company launched its licensing operation in Reno with only 40 employees in 1997. Today, the Microsoft Licensing GP office employs 250 fulltime Microsoft staff and nearly 400 additional contract workers.

[...]

Microsoft Licensing GP in Reno handles support of licensing agreements with business customers and other organizations in North and South America.

Nowhere in the article does it talk about the impact on tax.

In the video above [via], Reifman, who is a former Microsoft employee, says that Microsoft uses Reno as a form of front. “Its Nevada employees are tools it’s using to avoid this tax,” he alleges.

He then talks about Microsoft’s movement towards India, which is also in this week’s news (Microsoft was accused of tax evasion in India and found guilty).

From the Seattle Times:

Microsoft India boss: More overseas work rotations coming

The head of Microsoft’s India business group, Ravi Venkatesan, told the Wall Street Journal that companies will be rotating talent to fast-growing countries and having more Indian workers spend time abroad to develop experience.

As we stated last week, “there is a lot to be learned from Microsoft’s hiring/layoffs patterns, mostly because Microsoft favours areas of cheaper labour (like China and India) and areas of tax dodging, e.g. Ireland. We provided a lot of evidence before.”

More from the Wall Street Journal:

Microsoft Mines India Talent

Ravi Venkatesan, chairman of Microsoft Corp.’s Microsoft Corp. (India) Pvt. Ltd. unit, recently engaged in an email discussion with Wall Street Journal New Delhi Bureau Chief Paul Beckett on topics ranging from the perception of Indian management at multinational corporations to India’s technological future. Mr. Venkatesan is responsible for Microsoft’s marketing, operational and business development efforts in India.

So to summarise, Microsoft does not properly pay taxes in the United States and it does not keep its workforce in the United States, either. What a selfish company. The laws need to be amended. █

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Microsoft Makes Vista 7 More Expensive and Starts Forcing Users to Migrate

Posted in GNU/Linux, Hardware, Microsoft, Vista, Vista 7, Windows at 7:46 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: More signs of miserable existence for Windows and Xbox in a highly competitive market

THIS is the latest post among many which help uncover the reality behind Vista 7. We begin with news we alluded to last week, claiming that Microsoft had pulled “Windows 7 Family Pack” and thus made Vista 7 a lot more expensive to people in the United States.

This news is now confirmed [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], which means that Microsoft is making Vista 7 more expensive just before Christmas. The name “Family Pack” has always made it seem like Microsoft is the KFC of cuisine.

Microsoft pulls multi-license discount offer as holiday shopping kicks into gear.

Microsoft already uses the excuse that it “sold out”. Well, it doesn’t actually need to be manufactured at all, it’s just digital licensing. The notion of “sold out” is rather comical in this context.

But anyway, there is even worse stuff when it comes to Vista 7. A few days ago we wrote about compatibility problems, adding a new example to many more that include:

• Signs That Vista 7 — Like Vista — Will Pose Compatibility Issues
• Vista 7 Starter Edition Called “Too Wimpy” by IDG, Compatibility Problems Foreseen
• Vista 7 Roundup: Microsoft Admits Upgrade Errors, People Wait for SP1, Compatibility Issues Identified
• Vista 7 — Just Like Vista — Incompatible with Vital Services
• Vista 7 Incompatibility Issues, Crashes, and More NPD Lies
• Jerry Seinfeld Dumps Vista, Some Users Prefer Vista Over Vista 7 Because of Incompatibility
• Vista 7 Crashes on Certain Hardware, Stifles Samba Compatibility
• Vista 7 Crashes on Certain Hardware, Stifles Samba Compatibility
• Windows, Cisco Do Not Support Vista 7

Check out this article from CNN. Titled “Windows 7 complaints begin,” the article shares some revealing statistics:

A whopping 31% of clients have reported problems with upgrading to Windows 7, according to a recent survey of more than 100,000 customers conducted by consumer helpdesk firm iYogi.

“Windows 7 Complaints Trickling In,” argues one blogger in relation to the above.

A recent article from CNNMoney stated that as many as 31% of Windows users have reported problems upgrading to Windows 7. Most of the problems are with the installation and migration of data.

Here is another blogger, expressing his opinion from the eyes of a new GNU/Linux user: “Hands on with Windows 7 – An Ubuntu User’s Perspective”

The main draw back/time consumer in setting up Windows verses Ubuntu has not changed any with the release of Windows 7. Drivers are still a must for pretty much any hardware you want to use and to make the operating system useful in the slightlest you need to install additional applications. Resource consumption wise 7 is still a hog by comparison at any given point I seem to be using around 1.3gigs of RAM at the very least and the base install plus my applications (not counting games) took up just over eighteen gigs of space (where is Ubuntu with the same applications runs around two and a half gigs)

Just like Windows Vista, Vista 7 is still riddled with all the same antifeatures, including built-in spyware:

30+ Windows 7 Features Phone Home to Microsoft

Windows 7, just as the vast majority of software products, and certainly Cloud-based applications and services, harvests information from each end user and shares it with the mother company. This is, of course, not new to the latest iteration of Windows, as previous releases of the OS, including Windows Vista and Windows XP were also designed to contact Microsoft servers in order to provide with data gathered from user machines. The Redmond-based company is making no secret of the Windows 7 features that phone home, and, in fact, offers a full, although not exhaustive, disclosure on the Windows 7 Privacy Statement webpage.

Unless people move to GNU/Linux, their privacy will sooner or later be compromised and maybe lost entirely. In China, dissidents are already sent to prison after snoops.

Microsoft has begun another forced upgrade push, pressuring users to move from Windows 2000/XP to Vista 7 (many migrants to Vista 7 are said to be disgruntled Vista users) and not telling them about hidden costs like upgrades of Office and other software that ceases to work. By contrast, with GNU/Linux the upgrades are typically free and quite backward compatible.

Q: Could you tell me if Office 2000 will work with the new Windows 7 operating system?

A: Keeping in mind that Office 2000 is 9 years old and is three versions out of date, you should not be surprised to learn that it is not fully compatible with Windows 7.

Not a problem. Go buy another version of the same software. That’s the plan anyhow.

“Microsoft To Kill Windows XP SP2 Support,” says this article and IDG reveals that “rather than patch, Microsoft blocks buggy code”

In a rare move, declines to fix multiple flaws in Windows 2000, XP

Microsoft has already refused to patch a Windows XP flaw. It’s not an isolated case [1, 2, 3] and Microsoft might be breaking the law (EULA) by refusing to patch Windows 2000.

A couple of years ago we saw Microsoft blocking old Office files rather than resolving the bugs and thus pushing for an unnecessary upgrade. This may as well be a violation of customers’ rights. More information can be found here.

“Microsoft Blocks Flaw Rather Than Fix It

Buried within Microsoft’s latest batch of bug patches this week was a Security Advisory regarding vulnerabilities in an old Intel video codec (coder/decoder). To be sure, the holes are serious, but Microsoft’s way of addressing problems with this particular codec is out of the ordinary.

Rather than patching the 17-year-old software, known as the Indeo codec, Microsoft is instead telling affected users to disable it with either an update or with workarounds.

On a related note, Microsoft is currently suffering from an Xbox flaw and it is banning customers rather than resolve the issue.

Microsoft fixes flaw by punishing users

Software giant Microsoft has come up with a clever solution to a software flaw on its Xbox Live online service. Rather than fixing the mistake in the software of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Redmond has decided that it is better to punish the users who exploit it.

Microsoft should tread carefully because Xbox bans have already led to lawsuits [1, 2, 3]. It turns out that this latest class of bans is temporary.

Microsoft has begun issuing temporary bans to players taking advantage of an exploit in Modern Warfare 2, while Infinity Ward works on a patch to fix the issue. While the servers may be kept slightly cleaner for the efforts, the amount of control Microsoft holds over owners of their consoles, and the arbitrary way they are able to wield it, is troubling.

Microsoft has already lost “this generation’s console war” and the losses are staggering. Given the rise of the PlayStation 3 and the new motion controller called “gem”, it is hard to see Microsoft making a splash.

Nowadays, Microsoft is showing more hardware features (that are rarely delivered at all), not software features, even when attempting to sell Vista 7. Nobody among the Microsoft enthusiasts is able to give a compelling reason to adopt Vista 7. It has no significant features that are new, just a lot of hype. █

“Well the initial impression is how much it [Windows 7] looks like Vista. Which I think is…uh…the thing I’m not supposed to say.”

–Microsoft Jack Schofield

“My initial evaluation of Windows 7 shows that it’s really just Vista with a fresh coat of paint.”

–Randall Kennedy, 2008

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