07.24.10

Teaching Our Children That Crime Pays Off

Posted in Dell, GNU/Linux, Hardware, Microsoft at 2:03 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

“We should whack them [Dell over GNU/Linux dealings], we should make sure they understand our value.”

Summary: Microsoft, Intel, and Dell too are exceptionally corrupt and it pays off for them

A FEW days ago we wrote about Corbis fraud [1, 2]. Corbis is Bill Gates’ company and the scandal was covered in some major publications. And yet, Bill Gates is considered the richest person in the world. Is fraud followed by reputation laundering what it takes to be a winner? That’s the impression an outside observer might get.

Also in the news this week we found this update on the Intel-Dell crimes/fraud. We wrote about this years ago when these bribes were first reported. Guess what happens? The SEC settles, as usual.

Dell and some of its top executives face penalties to close an SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) investigation into the company’s accounting disclosures and alleged financial omissions regarding its relationship with Intel.

What does this teach us? It shows once again that crime pays off. Intel reports what it claims to be the “best quarter” ever. It is hard to be sure about these numbers because of accounting tricks which Microsoft apparently uses again.

“The company that allegedly received kickbacks from Microsoft to block GNU/Linux is climbing. ”The SEC almost always settles, even when Microsoft got caught with financial fraud charges and more recently with Goldman Sachs (we covered this a lot in our daily links), to whom the settlement money was almost slush funds given the obscene profits extracted illegally from taxpayers and betrayed customers.

Speaking of bribes, watch who is climbing. The company that allegedly received kickbacks from Microsoft to block GNU/Linux is climbing.

Despite that fluff about “best quarter” (we put that in quotes due to accounting tricks), Steve Ballmer is still wanted out of the company.

Are the knives out for Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer

Here’s how tough the public relations environment is for Microsoft right now. On Thursday morning, The Daily Beast’s Peter Lauria speculated, with the help of a bunch of unnamed sources, about a “Brewing Coup Against Microsoft CEO.” Steve Ballmer is in trouble, suggested Lauria, because Microsoft’s stock price has been stagnant for a year and senior executives are getting restless.

Later that day, Microsoft reported its quarterly earnings — $16.04 billion in revenue and $4.52 billion in profit — handily beating the numbers reported earlier this week by Apple (and remember, that was the best quarter ever for Steve Jobs and Co.)

Here are some more fake numbers from Microsoft, this time regarding Vista 7.

In case of Microsoft something is missing. Microsoft’s operating system comes pre-installed on branded PCs. Every PC sold means another copy of Windows 7 is sold. The picture would become clearer if Microsoft shares the numbers of copies the company directly sold to end customers as compared to the number of mass-licences sold through OEM partners.

Many anti-trust advocates see this pre-installation as an anti-competitive practice. There are many competing operating systems including Gnu/Linux, BSD and OpenSolaris. PC vendors should offer Windows pre-installed as well as no pre-installed OS on their machines for fair competition.

We have already explained how Microsoft twists and warps Vista 7 sales figures. In business, Vista 7 is used by less than 10% of people, according to Dell, which received billions in kickbacks from Intel.

Speaking of these corrupt hardware companies (price-fixing/cartel is very prevalent there), Microsoft may be trying to become a hardware company and finally giving Intel a reason to walk away to GNU/Linux.

Microsoft & ARM Partnership Means End Of Wintel?

[...]

Intel has already publicly declared that Meego was launched because the company was frustrated by the lack of support from Microsoft for the Atom platform and it remains a mystery as to why Microsoft did not adapt Windows 7 to suit Intel’s requirements.

We wrote about the Microsoft-ARM deal yesterday and a reader told us earlier today: “I guess Intel isn’t Microsoft’s best buddy anymore. Never mind, they were useful in stifling Microsoft’s competitors.” For details about Intel, Microsoft, and Linux, see the Comes vs Microsoft antitrust exhibits outlined below. █

“Where are we on this Jihad?”

–Bill Gates

Share this post: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

Permalink Mail Send this to a friend

If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

Pages that cross-reference this one

What Else is New

District Courts' Patent Cases, Including the Eastern District of Texas (EDTX/TXED), in a Nutshell

A roundup of patent cases in 'low courts' of the United States, where patents are being reasoned about or objected to while patent law firms make a lot of money
The Federal Circuit's (CAFC) Decisions Are Being Twisted by Patent Propaganda Sites Which Merely Cherry-Pick Cases With Outcomes That Suit Them

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) continues to reject the vast majority of software patents, citing Section 101 in many such cases, but the likes of Managing IP, Patently-O, IAM and Watchtroll only selectively cover such cases (instead they’re ‘pulling a Berkheimer’ or some similar name-dropping)
Patents Roundup: Metaswitch, GENBAND, Susman, Cisco, Konami, High 5 Games, HTC, and Nintendo

A look at existing legal actions, the application of 35 U.S.C. § 101, and questionable patents that are being pursued on software (algorithms or "software infrastructure")
In Maxon v Funai the High 'Patent Court' (CAFC) Reaffirms Disdain for Software Patents, Which Are Nowadays Harder to Get and Then Defend

With the wealth of decisions from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) wherein software patents get discarded (Funai being the latest example), the public needs to ask itself whether patent law firms are honest when they make claims about resurgence of software patents by 'pulling a Berkheimer' or coming up with terms like “Berkheimer Effect”
Today's European Patent Office Works for Patent Extremists and for Team UPC Rather Than for Europe or for Innovation

The International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI) and other patent maximalists who have nothing to do with Europe, helped by a malicious and rather clueless politician called Benoît Battistelli, are turning the EPO into a patent-printing machine rather than an examination office as envisioned by the EPC (founders) and member states
The EPO is Dying and Those Who Have Killed It Are Becoming Very Rich in the Process

Following the footsteps of Ron Hovsepian at Novell, Battistelli at the EPO (along with Team Battistelli) may mean the end of the EPO as we know it (or the end altogether); one manager and a cabal of confidants make themselves obscenely rich by basically sacrificing the very organisation they were entrusted to serve
Short: Just Keep Repeating the Lie (“Quality”) Until People Might Believe It

Battistelli’s patent-printing bureau (EPO without quality control) keeps lying about the quality of patents by repeating the word “quality” a lot of times, including no less than twice in the summary alone
Shelston IP Keeps Pressuring IP Australia to Allow Software Patents and Harm Software Development

Shelston IP wants exactly the opposite of what's good for Australia; it just wants what's good for itself, yet it habitually pretends to speak for a productive industry (nothing could be further from the truth)
Is Andy Ramer's Departure the End of Cantor Fitzgerald's Patent Trolls-Feeding Operations and Ambitions?

The managing director of the 'IP' group at Cantor Fitzgerald is leaving, but it does not yet mean that patent trolls will be starved/deprived access to patents
EPO Hoards Billions of Euros (Taken From the Public), Decreases Quality to Get More Money, Reduces Payments to Staff

The EPO continues to collect money from everyone, distributes bogus/dubious patents that usher patent trolls into Europe (to cost European businesses billions in the long run), and staff of the EPO faces more cuts while EPO management swims in cash and perks
Short: Calling Battistelli's Town (Where He Works) “Force for Innovation” to Justify the Funneling of EPO Funds to It

How the EPO‘s management ‘explained’ (or sought to rationalise) to staff its opaque decision to send a multi-million, one-day ceremony to Battistelli’s own theatre only weeks before he leaves
Short: EPO Bribes the Media and Then Brags About the Paid-for Outcome to Staff

The EPO‘s systematic corruption of the media at the expense of EPO stakeholders — not to mention hiring of lawyers to bully media which exposes EPO corruption — in the EPO’s own words (amended by us)
Short: EPO's “Working Party for Quality” is to Quality What the “Democratic People's Republic of Korea” is to Democracy

To maintain the perception (illusion) that the EPO still cares about patent quality — and in order to disseminate this lie to EPO staff — a puff piece with the above heading/photograph was distributed to thousands of examiners in glossy paper form
Short: This Spring's Message From the EPO's President (Corrected)

A corrected preface from the Liar in Chief, the EPO's notoriously crooked and dishonest President
Short: Highly Misleading and Unscientific Graphics From the EPO for an Illusion of Growth

A look at the brainwash that EPO management is distributing to staff and what's wrong with it
Short: EPO Explains to Examiners Why They Should and Apparently Can Grant Software Patents (in Spite of EPC)

Whether it calls it "CII" or "ICT" or "Industry 4.0" or "4IR", the EPO's management continues to grant software patents and attempts to justify this to itself (and to staff)
Links 21/4/2018: Linux 4.9.95, FFmpeg 4.0, OpenBSD Foundation 2018 Fundraising Campaign

Links for the day
As USPTO Director, Andrei Iancu Gives Three Months for Public Comments on 35 U.S.C. § 101 (Software Patenting Impacted)

Weeks after starting his job as head of the US patent office, to our regret but not to our surprise, Iancu asks whether to limit examiners' ability to reject abstract patent applications citing 35 U.S.C. § 101 (relates to Alice and Mayo)
In Keith Raniere v Microsoft Both Sides Are Evil But for Different Reasons

Billing for patent lawyers reveals an abusive strategy from Microsoft, which responded to abusive patent litigation (something which Microsoft too has done for well over a decade)
Links 20/4/2018: Atom 1.26, MySQL 8.0

Links for the day
Links 19/4/2018: Mesa 17.3.9 and 18.0.1, Trisquel 8.0 LTS Flidas, Elections for openSUSE Board

Links for the day
The Patent Microcosm, Patent Trolls and Their Pressure Groups Incite a USPTO Director Against the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and Section 101/Alice

As one might expect, the patent extremists continue their witch-hunt and constant manipulation of USPTO officials, whom they hope to compel to become patent extremists themselves (otherwise those officials are defamed, typically until they're fired or decide to resign)
Microsoft's Lobbying for FRAND Pays Off as Microsoft-Connected Patent Troll Conversant (Formerly MOSAID) Goes After Android OEMs in Europe

The FRAND (or SEP) lobby seems to have caused a lot of monopolistic patent lawsuits; this mostly affects Linux-powered platforms such as Android, Tizen and webOS and there are new legal actions from Microsoft-connected patent trolls
To Understand Why People Say That Lawyers are Liars Look No Further Than Misleading Promotion of Software Patents

Some of the latest misleading claims from the patent microcosm, which is only interested in lots and lots of patents (its bread and butter is monopolies after all) irrespective of their merit, quality, and desirability
When News About the EPO is Dominated by Sponsored 'Reports' and Press Releases Because Publishers Are Afraid of (or Bribed by) the EPO

The lack of curiosity and genuine journalism in Europe may mean that serious abuses (if not corruption) will go unreported
The Boards of Appeal at the European Patent Organisation (EPO) Complain That They Are Understaffed, Not Just Lacking the Independence They Depend on

The Boards of Appeal have released a report and once again they openly complain that they're unable to do their job properly, i.e. patent quality cannot be assured
Links 18/4/2018: New Fedora 27 ISOs, Nextcloud Wins German Government Contract

Links for the day
Guest Post: Responding to Your Recent Posting “The European Patent Office Will Never Hold Its Destroyers Accountable”

In France, where Battistelli does not enjoy diplomatic immunity, he can be held accountable like his "padrone" recently was
The EPO in 2018: Partnering With Saudi Arabia and Cambodia (With Zero European Patents)

The EPO's status in the world has declined to the point where former French colonies and countries with zero European Patents are hailed as "success stories" for Battistelli
For Samsung and Apple the Biggest Threat Has Become Patent Trolls and Aggressors in China and the Eastern District of Texas, Not Each Other

The latest stories about two of the world's largest phone OEMs, both of which find themselves subjected to a heavy barrage of patent lawsuits and even embargoes; Samsung has meanwhile obtained an antisuit injunction against Huawei