02.19.10
Microsoft’s Mobile Strategy: Block GNU/Linux Using Silver Lie
Summary: Microsoft is looking into serious problems with Hotmail and adding some GNU/Linux-hostile elements to phones
HOTMAIL is up to no good again. A new Hotmail issue that we mentioned the other day is still being “investigated” by Microsoft rather than denied. It involved a breach into people’s account details.
Microsoft investigates Hotmail privacy breach
[...]
In its statement, the software giant said, “Microsoft takes customers’ privacy seriously, and immediately upon learning of these reports, we started an investigation. We will take appropriate action once we have completed the investigation.”
For other important reasons, Hotmail is worth a special mention. It is not only responsible for a lot of the world's SPAM but it was also blocking GNU/Linux users after Microsoft had overhauled it. It was not an isolated incident and other services from Microsoft took the same route [1, 2, 3].
“So once again, Microsoft is ‘competing’ through exclusion and ‘punishment’ of competitors.”Microsoft takes this attitude even further with its rather disastrous mobile phones push. Well, it is not exactly shocking as we saw this coming and then cited hints of it (at least twice before this year, namely from CRN and from a longtime Microsoft booster). Yesterday at The Register, Microsoft booster Gavin Clarke confirmed that Microsoft would spread its anti-web standards weapon (Silver Lie) to boost its already-disappointing Windows Phone 7. So once again, Microsoft is ‘competing’ through exclusion and ‘punishment’ of competitors. Inoculation with proprietary software is never the solution, unless you are Microsoft. █
“The entire ambition for the Windows team was to create something “cool” that was also visually stimulating to the eye. Their goal was to create a virtual software layer that would unite the hardware and software marketplace on a single standard—a standard, once again, controlled by Microsoft.”
–Barbarians Led by Bill Gates, a book composed
by the daughter of Microsoft’s PR mogul
Robotron 2084 said,
February 20, 2010 at 2:34 pm
It’s my assumption that Roy seldom goes back to reread articles he wrote and then links to in future articles. How could he? There simply isn’t enough time given the volume of posts per day and the number of links in each article. Case in point:
“For other important reasons, Hotmail is worth a special mention. It is not only responsible for a lot of the world’s SPAM but it was also blocking GNU/Linux users after Microsoft had overhauled it.”
He links to an article that trashes Microsoft Exchange Email Server, but the article itself does not blame Hotmail as being a source of SPAM, but rather compromised zombie computers.
The article about Linux users being blocked from Hotmail might have been true in the past, but it currently isn’t accurate. For a short time last year I used Linux on a spare hard drive while waiting for a replacement. I had no trouble getting into my Hotmail account using Opera.