03.18.10

Open Irony: Microsoft Creates/Sponsors OpenMainframe.org to Attack GNU/Linux

Posted in Antitrust, GNU/Linux, IBM, Microsoft, SCO, Servers at 11:17 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Microsoft is SCOing IBM again

Summary: War is peace and Microsoft is the new “open”; Details on the latest attack of Microsoft against GNU/Linux, using proxies

A FEW days ago we wrote about Microsoft ‘pulling a SCO’ in India. IBM is not dumb enough to keep quiet and it currently blasts Microsoft for its ‘proxy attack’ (Microsoft does the same thing against Google in Europe, by its own admission).

“IBM Says Rivals Behind Anti-IBM Report in India,” summarises IDG:

IBM has slammed a report critical of the adoption of its mainframes in India, saying the report was driven by IBM competitors and has no credibility.

The report was sponsored by OpenMainframe.org, an online forum for news and information related to creating an open market for IBM-compatible mainframe technologies.

OpenMainframe.org is “bought and paid for” by Microsoft and other IBM competitors, so it’s hardly surprising that it would make an anti-IBM argument, IBM said in a statement over the weekend.

It was only yesterday that we wrote about Microsoft funding 'studies' to serve its own purposes, which include lobbying. For those who do not know, Microsoft has funded other such research in previous attacks like T3′s (it even paid professors to serve as “pawns in the battle,” to use Microsoft’s expression). We gave links covering this in:

• Has Microsoft Just Invested in Another Lawsuit Against IBM?
• Microsoft Pays Professor to Write a Paper Against IBM’s GNU/Linux-Powered Mainframes
• Microsoft Innovation is Lawsuits by Proxy
• T3 Receives Millions from “Unnamed Entity” After Microsoft Investment, to Attack GNU/Linux on Mainframes
• What People Say About Microsoft’s Alleged Anti-Linux Lawsuit (via T3)
• The Microsoft Lobby and Heavy Investments Put IBM in Antitrust Probe
• T3 is Partly Owned by Microsoft Now

InformationWeek writes::

IBM has lashed out at Microsoft and other competitors for funding a research study whose findings strongly advocate that IBM not be allowed in India to bundle its own operating systems and other software with the high-end servers IBM sells in that rapidly growing market.

The flare-up is important because the call for unbundling could open the door for various companies to rush into the mainframe and high-end server businesses and be granted mandatory and wide-open access to new technologies that IBM alone has conceived, funded, developed, and deployed.

We decided to look more closely at the imaginary entity that Microsoft is using against IBM. One should mind this because Microsoft is attacking GNU/Linux through IBM in this case.

We just found it so repellent to think that Microsoft uses “Open” and .org versus Free software. Only when Microsoft pays the bills can that type posturing endure, coming from the company that threatened to "whack" Dell for 'daring' to offer GNU/Linux as a choice. How dare Microsoft complain about monopoly? It dares not. That’s why it uses small companies as proxies.

Microsoft now owns part of T3 and they also use Neon, whose case we covered in [1, 2].

So anyway, who is behind OpenMainframe.org? It’s hard to find out. Even BETTER-WHOIS returns the same results:

Domain ID:D148879742-LROR
Domain Name:OPENMAINFRAME.ORG
Created On:15-Aug-2007 18:50:15 UTC
Last Updated On:09-Dec-2009 04:29:00 UTC
Expiration Date:15-Aug-2011 18:50:15 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:GoDaddy.com, Inc. (R91-LROR)
Status:CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT RENEW PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:CR33732899
Registrant Name:Registration Private
Registrant Organization:Domains by Proxy, Inc.
Registrant Street1:DomainsByProxy.com
Registrant Street2:15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Scottsdale
Registrant State/Province:Arizona
Registrant Postal Code:85260
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.4806242599
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:+1.4806242598
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:OPENMAINFRAME.ORG@domainsbyproxy.com
Admin ID:CR33732901
Admin Name:Registration Private
Admin Organization:Domains by Proxy, Inc.
Admin Street1:DomainsByProxy.com
Admin Street2:15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Admin Street3:
Admin City:Scottsdale
Admin State/Province:Arizona
Admin Postal Code:85260
Admin Country:US
Admin Phone:+1.4806242599
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin FAX:+1.4806242598
Admin FAX Ext.:
Admin Email:OPENMAINFRAME.ORG@domainsbyproxy.com
Tech ID:CR33732900
Tech Name:Registration Private
Tech Organization:Domains by Proxy, Inc.
Tech Street1:DomainsByProxy.com
Tech Street2:15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Tech Street3:
Tech City:Scottsdale
Tech State/Province:Arizona
Tech Postal Code:85260
Tech Country:US
Tech Phone:+1.4806242599
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX:+1.4806242598
Tech FAX Ext.:
Tech Email:OPENMAINFRAME.ORG@domainsbyproxy.com
Name Server:NS05.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server:NS06.DOMAINCONTROL.COM

Microsoft front groups like ACT also use DomainsByProxy to disguise their sources.

Notice how new this Web site is. It just came into existence to serve as an anti-IBM front. Here is a screenshot from the site as it appears at the moment:

Who is Microsoft fooling here? It’s just another SCO. █

“…Microsoft wished to promote SCO and its pending lawsuit against IBM and the Linux operating system. But Microsoft did not want to be seen as attacking IBM or Linux.”

–Larry Goldfarb, Baystar, key investor in SCO approached by Microsoft

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