03.16.10

Microsoft Happy About Apple’s Invocation of Software Patents Against GNU/Linux

Posted in Apple, GNU/Linux, Google, Kernel, Microsoft, Patents at 5:59 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Mobile Linux proceeds from one victory to another while Apple and Microsoft pointlessly attack with software patents

EARLIER TODAY we wrote about news reports which suggested that Microsoft played some role in Apple's lawsuit against GNU/Linux (via Google/Android). Just like in the TomTom case, Apple and its supporters insisted that people should not perceive this as a case against Linux (Microsoft used the same lie to save face while doing the damage).

There is support for Apple’s action coming from Microsoft (Apple’s patent buddy since a long time ago), based on the following new report where Microsoft’s Brad Smith is quoted as saying about the HTC-Apple lawsuit: “the fact that there’s litigation in this area is not necessarily a bad thing.”

Here it is with some more context:

With several Windows Mobile devices named in Apple’s patent suit against HTC, you’d be forgiven for expecting Microsoft to have a few words of quiet support for their hardware partners. However it seems Microsoft are quite looking forward to a general battle; speaking at an IP convention last week, Brad Smith, the company’s general counsel and senior vice president told amassed lawyers that ”the fact that there’s litigation in this area is not necessarily a bad thing.”

Microsoft seems rather eager when it comes to Apple introducing software patents as game changers in phones, as means of harming Linux as a free platform.

Let’s recall the Apple-Nokia lawsuit (it is a two-way battle now [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]) which involved two — not one — proponents of software patents, one of which uses Symbian and Linux (Maemo/MeeGo). Apple accuses Nokia of using “legal alchemy” to hide infringements. IDG covers this, but it wrongly uses words like “IP” (it actually means to say patents) and “theft” (infringement does not constitute taking away from the original) right in the headline.

Nokia last week asked a federal judge to toss out Apple’s antitrust claims, saying the iPhone maker indulged in “legal alchemy” when it tried to divert attention from its “free-riding” of Nokia’s intellectual property.

The filing last Thursday was the latest salvo in a battle that began in October 2009 when Finnish handset maker Nokia sued Apple, saying the iPhone infringed on 10 of its patents and that the U.S. company was trying “to get a free ride on the back of Nokia’s innovation.” Nokia demanded royalties on all iPhones sold since Apple introduced the smartphone in June 2007.

Earlier today we also reiterated the fact that developers for platforms like Mac OS X and iPhone are merely being exploited [1, 2]. This is discussed further by Dana Blankenhorn right now:

“If Apple wants to be a real leader, it should be fostering innovation and competition, rather than acting as a jealous and arbitrary feudal lord.”

Is that a quote from Richard Stallman? From Steve Ballmer? Some dirty hippie blogger like myself?

Nope, it’s Electronic Frontier Foundation lawyer Fred von Lohmann (right), responding to his own “get,” a copy of the iPhone Developer License Agreement, now posted on the EFF Web site.

Tim Bray, who used to be buying a lot of Apple gear, is now comparing Apple to “Evil” (that’s a strong word with somewhat religious connotation) as he joins the Android team [1, 2] (we mentioned this last night). Here is what he wrote:

The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet’s future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what. It’s a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord’s pleasure and fear his anger.

Bray would be a good asset to Linux/Android/Google. He is the co-inventor of XML (which didn’t really need much ‘invention’). Bray is an opponent of software patents, so hopefully he’ll wake Google up.

The inventor of the cellphone has also just dumped the iPhone and moved to Android (Linux):

It turns out that Martin Cooper, the man who invented the cell phone, is the proud owner of a Motorola Droid! In a story which aired on C-SPAN, Martin discussed the politics of cellphones, as well as his current device.

According to some preliminary figures, Droid alone (that’s just one phone running Android) is beating iPhone’s record:

Did you know that it took the iPhone only 74 days to reach 1 million units sold? Oh you’ve heard that, huh? Well, did you know that the Motorola Droid moved more units in the same time frame? Yeah, you probably didn’t expect that. Frankly, neither did we. The latest report from Flurry shows the Droid pushing 1.05 million handsets in the first 74 days of release, eclipsing the number set by Apple.

No wonder Apple is so nervous. Microsoft is going nowhere too. Matt Asay, formerly a huge Apple fan, has just said the following things about Linux versus Apple (when asked whether “Linux [can] compete with Apple”):

Asay: I’m not sure this is the right question, as Linux already competes with and beats Apple in a huge array of devices. Linux spans everything from HPC to embedded devices and everything in between. Apple cannot compete with that. Could you build a supercomputer using Mac hardware? Sure, but you’d be mortgaging your house to do so and even then, the Mac would likely lose.

Of course, Apple doesn’t want to compete in such markets. It’s famously focused and opts to do a few things very well, like its iPhone and laptops.

Can Linux compete in these markets? Yes. Of course it can. Look at Android as perhaps the best example of effectively competing with Apple in mobile. Apparently Apple agrees with me, as its patent infringement suit against HTC is almost certainly a shot over Google’s bow, as The New York Times recently suggested. Apple is worried. And it should be.

The Source commends Asay for some of his remarks which he made since had joined Canonical.

As a side note, although I expressed strong reservations when Mr. Asay was named Canonical COO, I haven’t heard anything from him yet that I find objectionable.

To summarise, Apple’s action against GNU/Linux is supported by Microsoft while several notable people move away from Apple and directly to Linux. Among them: co-inventor of XML, inventor of the cellphone, and former Apple enthusiast and blogger Matt Asay. █

“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.”

–(Usually attributed to) Mahatma Gandhi

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Links 16/3/2010: Amarok 2.3.0, SimplyMEPIS 8.5 Preview

Posted in News Roundup at 3:07 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Clip of the Day

Episode 11 – “Open Source Around The House”

Digital Tipping Point is a Free software-like project where the raw videos are code. You can assist by participating.

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Microsoft Bing in the Business of Deceit, Censorship, and Brainwash

Posted in Asia, Deception, Google, Microsoft, Search at 8:28 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Microsoft’s idea of “search” continues to incorporate business bias, unnecessary censorship, bribes, and advertisements that disparage Google

THE simple reality hurts Microsoft’s Bong [sic] because having about 3% in global market share is laughable, especially when one loses over $2 billion per year in this area. Microsoft is trying to compete with Google, but perhaps it just can’t understand that by fooling users with fake rankings it simply sends out the message that it’s not interested in search, it just wants to decide for users what (mis)information that should get.

Last week we wrote about Microsoft’s Middle East censorship ((this is now confirmed by more sources [1, 2]) and recalled that in China, for instance, Microsoft does even worse things which had the New York Times (NYT) call for a boycott (at least one writer of NYT called for a Bing boycott). Homophobia at Microsoft was also brought up because of this news (Microsoft still censors the subject in some places). So what is Microsoft to search really? It’s just a business looking to maximise profit. The integrity of the search and the honesty is placed very low because Microsoft believes that it can lie to customers as long as some accomplices like the Chinese government are happy. Not a smart strategy, Microsoft, not so smart. This only reinforces the perception that Microsoft is an innately “bad” company.

“This only reinforces the perception that Microsoft is an innately “bad” company.”“Microsoft Bing bribes Farmville enthusiasts on Facebook with farm,” says this report. It would not be the first time that Microsoft is accused of “bribing” to compete with Google [1, 2] and there is also the Verizon deal [1, 2] (Microsoft reportedly paid Verizon half a billion dollars to drop Google).

Microsoft now resorts to brainwash on British TV [1, 2, 3, 4] (Google never did this), it uses US-only numbers from a partner (comScore) to make claims that are difficult to trust because of many conflicts of interests [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10], and in MSN we find new changes [1, 2] which Microsoft boosters like Microsoft Nick are advertising in the form of articles and galleries [1, 2]. This is not reporting, but then again, it’s Microsoft friends from Ziff Davis [1, 2, 3]. Here is another article about the “new” MSN:

–Remember when Microsoft was, well, Microsoft? The House That Gates Built is trying to stand tall against Google with a newly redesigned page for its portal, MSN.com. The new-and-improved site is a little cleaner and a little fresher, but not significantly different. The main purpose of the page seems to be to steer people to Microsoft’s Bing search engine, which is a good deal better than previous Microsoft search offerings but, it must be said, isn’t a Google beater.

Rupert Murdoch, a friend of Microsoft and an ally against Google [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13], seems to be collaborating a little more with Microsoft, the abusive monopolist. Microsoft’s CNET booster writes about it gleefully and more details can be found here:

Now under new management, MySpace is looking to reinvent itself and rise like a Phoenix from the ashes. The once dominant social networking site fell from nearly 70 percent of the social networking market, to only 30 percent in less than a year, and was plummeting on the verge of extinction.

One of the ways that MySpace is looking to build some relevance again is through the Microsoft Outlook social connector feature–giving it some new business credibility it has always lacked. MySpace beat its social networking rival Facebook to the punch to integrate its member information and updates into Microsoft Outlook. Facebook and Windows Live integration is still listed as “coming soon”.

For those who do not know, MySpace is owned by Murdoch and it shows. █

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Government Should Avoid Proprietary Software and ‘Clouds’

Posted in Apple, BSD, Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Microsoft at 7:00 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Reporters wonder if Vivek Kundra (national CIO) can resist the temptation to just hand over government operations to private companies, some of which are abusive and dangerous to sovereignty

THE United States government should ideally deploy Free software, just as it used Drupal and LAMP to redo the official White House Web site. This gives the government full control of the software that it uses, which is crucial. Favouritism to some overpaid people who are hiding behind some company names is not an acceptable practice, especially given that the money comes from taxpayers and the government is often funded by those same companies that it returns favours to (Microsoft funded the Obama campaign for example).

According to this report, “Obama’s $79 Billion Tech Plan May Favor Web Programs”

Watch which companies are being listed:

Microsoft, Google and Amazon.com Inc. are all offering more databases and programs online, allowing customers to curb storage costs. Sharing software and data that way would shrink U.S. storage needs, helping to cut expenses after previous governments spent more than $500 billion on data centers and other technology initiatives in the past decade, Kundra said.

The government is able to employ its own IT staff that will build and maintain systems that are based on Free software. There is no need for a Microsoft or a Google or an Amazon.com. If businesses choose to do trade with them, that’s fine. It’s their choice. But governments are different, they are inherently obliged not to become just an extension of commerce for reasons we won’t go into.

“Steve Ballmer visits the White House a little too much given that he is not a politician (or isn’t supposed to act as one because he was never elected).”As we have already shown, Steve Ballmer visits the White House a little too much [1, 2] given that he is not a politician (or isn’t supposed to act as one because he was never elected). Ballmer and Obama’s CIO may have met at a university recently and Investor Spot now asks: “Will Steve Ballmer’s Microsoft & Obama’s Administration Share A Cloud?”

This would be a total farce if it became true. Likewise, as Apple/Mac developers find out that they are merely being exploited, one person finds it worthwhile to say (in IDG): “It’s time to end government-funded iPhone apps (and curb Apple’s control-freak tendencies)”

Now we’ve got Apple’s Developer License Agreement with terms so controlling that developers must seek prior approval from Apple before even commenting on the license itself. We only know this because the Electronic Frontier Foundation snared a copy from NASA via a Freedom of Information Act request (view PDF on the EFF site. Apparently, federal law still trumps Apple’s corporate attempts at secrecy. At least for now.

NASA also appears to have been intruded by Microsoft boosters [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], who in turn use NASA to block/turn away GNU/Linux and BSD users. █

“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 ‘Pulls a SCO’ in India (Against GNU/Linux)

Posted in Antitrust, Asia, GNU/Linux, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Servers, Virtualisation, Windows at 6:07 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

“[Microsoft's] Mr. Emerson and I discussed a variety of investment structures wherein Microsoft would ‘backstop,’ or guarantee in some way, BayStar’s investment…. Microsoft assured me that it would in some way guarantee BayStar’s investment in SCO.”

–Larry Goldfarb, Baystar, key investor in SCO

Summary: Poor Microsoft complains about a “mainframe monopoly” which does not run Microsoft Windows and the same strategies it used in Europe are being extended to India

THIS morning we wrote about the suggestion (not ours) that Microsoft had something to do with Apple’s patent lawsuit against GNU/Linux [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Evidence for this is lacking, whereas the following case is clearer because Microsoft owns part of the firm that is issuing the legal challenge against IBM. For background about Microsoft’s ‘second SCO’, those who have not read the following posts ought to consider reading them first. It’s rather clear that Microsoft uses at least one firm, T3, to attack GNU/Linux on the mainframe (the other potential one is Neon [1, 2]).

• 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

Based on the following two articles from the Economic Times (India), Microsoft seems to be doing in India what it has already done in Europe:

1. IBM accused of mainframe monopoly

Rarely do you see IBM under attack in India. But it is now. And IBM believes that it’s actually Microsoft that is behind the attack, under the facade of a forum called Open-Mainframe.

The issue first arose late last week when two Indian research bodies, the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and Indicus Analytics, released a report suggesting that IBM had misused its dominance of the Indian market for mainframes (high end computers used when the scale of operation is massive), and that if this misuse continued, it could adversely impact India’s efforts towards inclusive growth.

2. IBM, Microsoft point fingers at each other

IBM, the world’s largest IT services company, has accused Microsoft, the world’s largest operating system manufacturer, of sponsoring an India report released last week that criticises IBM India’s trade practices in the $500-million local server market, terming them as restrictive. The report calls for unbundling of hardware and software by IBM.

Microsoft accuses others of “monopoly”. Does that sound familiar? Microsoft also used firms in Europe against Google just a few weeks ago, by its very own admission. The company is almost gloating about it. From the past week’s news:

1. EC antitrust probe is latest clash in Google-Microsoft war

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer last week acknowledged his company’s role in pushing government regulators to pursue such investigations.

2. Ten Years After, Microsoft Reverses Its Role With Google

Hang on: Microsoft complaining that Google is being unfair? Yes, you heard that right.

Microsoft is being a huge hypocrite. Just because it faces strong competition from Google (and Microsoft is not used to competition), it tries to evoke laws that are typically used when one breaks the law and abuses rivals (like Microsoft did so many times).

A few days ago we wrote about Microsoft's sheer hypocrisy at SXSW, courtesy of Danah Boyd. This is now covered in the following posts:

• SXSW: Microsoft’s danah boyd on Chatroulette, Google Buzz and the Future of Privacy
• SXSW keynoter bashes Google Buzz in privacy talk
• SXSW: Boyd Calls Out Google and Facebook for Abusing Users’ Privacy
• SXSW: Microsoft Researcher Says Privacy Isn’t Dead

Microsoft is a nightmare when it comes to privacy [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], so how dare it pull this card? This is the behaviour of a company that sees itself as above the law, such that ends justify the means.

Going back to the IBM case, Microsoft would love to abolish GNU/Linux through hypervisors (its partners at Citrix already help in that regard). Other allies in India, companies such as Wipro [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], are signing new deals with Microsoft in order to keep Free software out of the country (Wipro has a history of going against standards too).

Bangalore, India-based IT services firm Wipro Technologies has embraced the cloud computing model and announced its plans to offer Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS).

Under a “Dedicated Advisor” agreement with Microsoft, Wipro Technologies will be able to assist its global enterprise customers in migrating to BPOS via a palette of professional services including assessments, migration and solution implementation accelerators, according to the company.

Microsoft’s scandals in India [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] are a broad subject that we won’t be repeating today. But in summary, Microsoft is now abusing the Indian system in order to declare mainframes running GNU/Linux “illegal” (monopoly abuse). █

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BSA Blames Lack of Patents for Europe Being ‘Behind’, EPO Loses €2 Million in Kaupthing Bankruptcy

Posted in Europe, Finance, Microsoft, Patents at 5:24 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

“Staff at the European Patent Office went on strike accusing the organization of corruption: specifically, stretching the standards for patents in order to make more money.

“One of the ways that the EPO has done this is by issuing software patents in defiance of the treaty that set it up.”

–Richard Stallman

Summary: More brainwash from Microsoft’s front group, the BSA (with former employees of Gates Senior); Europe’s patent office — not Europe itself — may be having problems

COMPARED to the rest of the world, Europe is doing pretty well (financially too) and China, where intellectual monopolies are mostly disregarded, has many countries owing it money. We don’t want to turn this into a discussion about national debts, but the point we are trying to make here is that the BSA, a Microsoft front group with Gates (senior) connections [1, 2] that’s quietly attacking Free software across the world this year [1, 2, 3, 4], is simply delusional. We have already shown that the BSA lobbies to legalise software patents in Europe [1, 2, 3, 4].

“We have already shown that the BSA lobbies to legalise software patents in Europe.”For a software developer, there are many advantages being located in Europe. It protects the developer from a lot of spurious lawsuits and in Europe there are very few patent trolls. Nevertheless, according to the BSA’a policy, “The business environment in Europe characterized by low numbers of IT patents was identified as holding Europe back.” Is that so? The author of Against Monopoly says that we shouldn’t take US patent law seriously “because it takes well over 8 years of litigation and thousands of dollars for an Appeals Court to determine that attaching a piece of memorabilia to a trading card is ‘obvious’ and thus, not patentable.”

Thanks to the president of the FFII for pointing out the BSA’s ridiculous statement. He also found out [PDF] that the “EPO lost money with the bankruptcy of the Icelandic Kaupthing bank? Read page 13 item 414 362.402.825 ISK == 2 Million EUR”

Later he argued that “Since EPLA area is not a constitution-based republic, appeal to national supreme courts and ECJ should be allowed http://i5.be/aB7” █

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Mono Influence Increases in the GNOME Foundation

Posted in GNOME, GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Mono, Novell, Ubuntu at 5:03 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Correction: Our reader was wrong to suggest that Paul Culter works for Novell, even though Mono is a Novell product.

Old headline: “Mono and Novell Influence Increases in the GNOME Foundation”

Summary: Incorporation of Microsoft into GNU/Linux (especially GNOME) continues unabated

THE problems associated with Mono are real and those who ignore them tend to just mock the messenger or vainly declare opposition of Mono to be coming from “fake” (or “faux”) members of the community. How conceited. As The Mad Hatter put it over the weekend:

I’ve been active in the Free Software community for four or five years now, including the Ubuntu sub-community. Like all such communities, there are certain people who seem to think that they have more rights than others. There are certain people who think that they should be leaders because of who they are, not what they do. There are certain people who think that they have the right to determine who is a ‘real’ member of the community, and who isn’t.

When it comes to Microsoft apologists (and MVPs like Miguel de Icaza), they pretend to be a friend while stabbing something or someone in the back. It’s an old trick used even in religious debates.

One reader told us that a “Red Hat employee [is] stepping down, being replaced by a Novell employee [note correction]” at GNOME. “He’s also a tomboy contributor,” adds the reader. Here is the message in full:

When I decided to run for the foundation board in 2006, many of the old timers where not running again and there was the feeling that new people are needed on the board. The board work has been very educational and rewarding for me, but given other engagements and all the new, capable, people on the board this year, I think it’s time for me to step down so I can focus on hacking.

The board has decided to appoint Paul Culter to take the seat. Paul has been doing wonders on the marketing team, GNOME Journal, and the sysadmin team. I’m sure this opportunity gives him more ways to contribute to GNOME even more.

Inatux has just published a review of Ubuntu 10.04 (test build) and wrote:

Lastly, we were sad to see F-Spot and Tomboy still being included, as with all their Mono dependencies.

There is actually more than that to Mono dependencies in Ubuntu, including new ones [1, 2]. With more Novell employees who are fond of Mono entering the GNOME Foundation, we are left somewhat concerned. Yesterday we found Jack Wallen promoting another Mono application, which is developed by a Canonical employee.

Docky is a little bit different. Docky is really nothing more than a front-end for Gnome Do (for more information on GNOME Do, check out my article “Don’t search, do – with GNOME Do“) that also serves as a really solid doc bar for the launching of applications in a very OS X like fashion.

Mono is the path to losing, not the path to winning. Microsoft wins if it becomes people’s ‘standard’ for development. One of our readers is currently preparing a video to explain and illustrate this simple point. █

“Every line of code that is written to our standards is a small victory; every line of code that is written to any other standard, is a small defeat.”

–James Plamondon, Microsoft Technical Evangelist. From Exhibit 3096; Comes v. Microsoft litigation [PDF]

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Schwarzenegger Sells Out to Microsoft

Posted in America, Antitrust, Bill Gates, Microsoft, Office Suites, Windows at 4:33 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Microsoft expands its indoctrination programme in California with endorsement from Arnold Schwarzenegger

“Elevate America” is a harmful programmes whose effects we have explained in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]. It’s similar to EDGI, but it happens in the West. State by state, Microsoft goes finding gullible politicians who can help turn citizens into volunteers who help Microsoft, a convicted monopoly abuser that states are suing at the same time.

The latest victim that Microsoft has found is Arnold Schwarzenegger, who agreed to let Microsoft indoctrinate individuals with support from the state.

Microsoft is giving California 166,500 vouchers for certification exams and e-learning classes as part of its Elevate America initiative.

As we learn from EDGI (i.e. Microsoft’s own words), it’s about getting people addicted to and dependent on Microsoft. According to an article from 2007, Microsoft already owes California hundreds of millions of dollars that it hasn’t paid (probably still to be ignored and not reclaimed). The news sites, unsurprisingly, are repeating the PR nonsense rather than expose what Microsoft is really doing here. They are not interested in real investigation [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] maybe because they are lazy and maybe because they are fearful (Microsoft is a major advertiser of theirs). The funniest headline that we found is “Microsoft Helping California’s Unemployed”. It’s like calling a drug dealer “a helper” (to people who are depressed).

“They’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.”

–Bill Gates

Microsoft uses the same tactics for sentimental merit with war veterans right about now. The monopolist is turning them into helpers of the Microsoft monopoly while pushing out PR nonsense about “donation” (where it actually refers to software [1, 2, 3, 4]).

This initiative builds on the company’s Elevate America program launched last year, designed for all Americans, to provide people with technology skills training, industry-recognized certifications and work force readiness tools to help them prepare for 21st century jobs.

Some sources claim $8 million in donation, but 75% of this money is fake. It’s just some price on licences to use binaries until they expire. They become dependent on Microsoft this way (higher exit barriers).

The Elevate America’s Veterans Initiative will spread the cash around to veterans service organizations, workforce agencies and community colleges. The Initiative also will provide training and help with job placement, child care and housing. The initiative is intended to support active duty service members who are transitioning out of the military as well as members of the National Guard and Reserves who are returning to their civilian jobs.

They neglect to talk about the proportions. It’s mostly just dumping of software, which creates a lock-in that in turn makes profit for Microsoft. Microsoft is not a charity, this is just a business decision. Assuming that knowing menus in Windows and Word is a “21st century” skill (as Microsoft puts it in the above), then this new class which makes people familiar with Microsoft tools is perhaps worth something. It’s worth a lot to Microsoft.

Saint Paul Central Library presents free computer classes on Microsoft Word, a word-processing software program that allows users to create documents and compose letters.

Since when does education mean “training”? And by the way, this is why Gates is giving money to libraries. The education system is one of the best mechanisms (state funded) for ensuring that people turn into Microsoft customers before they reach puberty. Why can’t people like Schwarzenegger see this? █

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