Bonum Certa Men Certa

Good News for Linux: Apple Annoys Everyone and Microsoft Cannot Catch up With Apple

Bugle call



Summary: The software oligarchs fight each other to see who's more capable at restriction and pollution while Linux quietly emerges victoriously

MORE AND more people come to grips with the threats posed by Apple. The company was never truly committed to freedom or openness; the thing about Apple is, it's not Microsoft. One might say that Apple is the "anti Microsoft" choice, whereas GNU/Linux and BSD are the "anti slavery" choice. In any event, witness yet another new report about antitrust threat that Apple comes under in Europe at the same time Steve Jobs is leaving:



Apple's iPad tablet computer may be the perfect vehicle to view glossy magazines, but the iTunes subscription model has some publishers ready to turn the page.

On both sides of the Atlantic, publishers are grumbling about Apple's iTunes store. Some popular US publications, including the New York Times and Playboy, recently announced web-based subscriptions that will offer more flexible options and control over content than iTunes. But in Europe, Apple faces a probe by Belgian antitrust authorities over whether it is abusing its market position by requiring that publishers only sell subscriptions through iTunes.


It gets worse for Apple, which sank following the departure of Jobs. As longtime watchers of Apple already know, Greenpeace has called Apple one of the worst companies when it comes to polluting and poisoning (Microsoft is around the bottom too) and a new report reaffirms this position:

Apple comes joint last among IT firms in a transparency study drawn up by leading Chinese environment groups


Apple's hardware (it's actually just Apple-branded hardware) is very hostile towards just about anything, and as we noted some days ago, Apple screws customers when it comes to screws. Here is TechDirt's take on the subject:

One of the interesting questions we've been looking at for years is whether or not a business is an enabler or a gatekeeper. Being in the gatekeeper business can work for a period of time, but it's often difficult to sustain. Apple is an interesting company in that it certainly has elements of both, enabling in some areas, but being a very strict gatekeeper in other areas. As if to reinforce this point, Apple is apparently changing the screws on iPhones to make them much harder to open.


Thistleweb (Gordon) wrote in relation to the above: "Apple invents fool proof screws, to prevent fools ...erm...owners from getting inside their own devices"

“Apple invents fool proof screws, to prevent fools ...erm...owners from getting inside their own devices”
      --Gordon
Dr. Glyn Moody went even further by remarking: "whaddya say to that, #Apple fanbois?" (risking alienation of his Mac-using followers there)

Our reader A* wrote: "Oh, Chinese are already selling screw drivers for those screws. I believe the chinese screwed crApple. ;-D"

All these silly policies will surely help drive some people to Linux (Android, MeeGo, etc.), yet Woody Leonhard from IDG is conveniently forgetting the Linux option and making it seem like a pseudo-two-party competition between Microsoft and Apple. From his new summary regarding tablets:

Microsoft's marketing strategy for selling Windows 7 tablets to iPad-leaning enterprises proves, once again, Redmond doesn't get it


Watch Microsoft's pathetic PR/advertising in response to hypePad (still ignoring Linux). They are trying to persuade people to choose the dud called Vista 7 and apart from some kitsch, there is nothing there to compel people to leave XP/Mac OS/BSD/GNU/Linux. As Mr. Pogson puts it:

I don’t see anything in there that is new or worth the cost of migrating from XP to “7″. These are all minor tweaks that could mostly be obtained by reconfiguration of existing systems. Renaming something is not usually considered innovation or worth tons of money but M$ needs customers to believe this is innovation. I am surprised SJVN uses this as support for his thesis that “7″ is somehow so much better than XP for networking that a migration requiring replacement of almost every PC and server and a new set of paid software licences is justified.


It increasingly looks like tomorrow's competition will be between proprietary UNIX-like DRM traps from Apple and something more liberal such as Android, MeeGo, and CyanogenMod. The more restrictive Apple becomes, the more fanfare it will get from the old press (like Murdoch's scarce channels of distribution) and the less fanfare it will get from actual customers, who in turn will find Linux and software freedom.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

"Many of the Red Hat Employees Are Still Looking for Work"
Shame on IBM's CEO
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 04, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 04, 2025
Microsoft Started With Code Literally From The Trash, Nothing Has Improved Since
The reality is, there are systems and code that are reliable. But they're not Microsoft's.
BASIC Predates Microsoft by Over a Decade, Microsoft-Controlled Sites Like The Register MS Don't Want You to Know This
The state of the media is really bad when it relies a lot on oligarchs' money and is appointing editors who are working for oligarchs
Hypothesis That New McKinsey/Microsoft Executive Inside Red Hat Will Outsource Research and Development Operations to India (Like They Do in IBM)
IBM is floundering
Slopwatch: Scams, Fake Articles About "Linux", Plagiarism, and Worse
Perhaps some time soon the LLMs or the "Big LLMs" will run out of money (to borrow) and go offline, leaving those slopfarms in a tough place
Gemini Links 04/09/2025: Means of Production and Rusting Out
Links for the day
Links 04/09/2025: Science, Hardware, and Eyes on China
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/09/2025: Digital Minimalism and Social Control Media
Links for the day
IBM's GNU/Linux Divestment, Based on Hard But Anecdotal Evidence (IBM Fails to Recognise How Much Money It Made and Can Still Make From "Linux")
Love us or hate us, a lot of what we've been saying about Red Hat under IBM turns out to be rather accurate
Links 04/09/2025: Massive Microsoft Staff Cuts (Barely Reported), "Strange Conspiracy Theory Is Reportedly Spreading Inside OpenAI"
Links for the day
Activists Can Win, But Keep an Eye on the Ball and on the Trophy
GitHub is dying, it was a loss-making trap, not free hosting
Gemini Links 04/09/2025: Katrina Remembered, Distracted Driving, and Virtual Economics
Links for the day
At This Point It's No Longer Matthew Garrett But People Who Fund Matthew Garrett (or Companies That Fund His SLAPPs Against My Wife and I)
The only thing worse than misogynists are misogynists who fail to respect other people's right to go on holiday
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 03, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 03, 2025
The UEFI 9/11 - Part VI - This Serious Harm Was Planned for Over a Decade, Not an Accident or Merely Some Misfortune
The term "Serious Harm" is legally meaningful here
GNOME Unfit for Diversity and Inclusion
GNOME's leadership is using "bad words"
Brodie Robertson Addressing the Recently-Discovered Comments
Most people probably knew nothing about this until he wrote a response
Red Hat QA Team "Had Shrunk by Half Over the Past Year." (After IBM Divestment)
If Red Hat's workforce is being moved to the East, then RHEL can become a national security problem
Slopwatch: "Open Source" and "Linux" News Faked, Made by Bots and Entered Into Google News
Spam combined with slop about "Linux" has entered Google News
Links 03/09/2025: Microsoft Causes Mass Layoffs Outside Microsoft Also, "Google Can Keep Paying for Firefox Search Deal"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/09/2025: calendar.txt, Alhena 5.3.1, and ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
The Theory That the Man From McKinsey, Whom Red Hat Took From Microsoft a Month Ago as Executive, Wants 'Efficiency' (Lower Salaries)
So far... no "official" word
When Your Site's Articles Are Being 'Cheapened' by Slop as Feature Images
Dr. Farnell should become an advisor to The Register MS
Certificate Authority Let's Encrypt Drops to Only Half a Dozen Capsules and 0.2% of the Whole in Geminispace, Self-Signed is the Way to Go
It used to have hundreds, according to Lupa
Doing to Red Hat What They Already Did (and Still Do) to IBM
there seems to be a drive to hire cheaper staff, and it may be led by somebody Red Hat hired from Microsoft
Links 03/09/2025: Salesforce's Latest Mass Layoffs, 93% in Large Poll at The Register MS Say UK Government Should Dump Microsoft
Links for the day
Preparations for Our 19th Anniversary Have Already Begun
When we get back we'll probably sort out some balloons and venue for the next party
Pleased After 2 Years With team.blue
Moving from a Content Management System (CMS, dynamic) to a Static Site Generator (SSG) was a wise decision that made life so much easier
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is Being Attacked by Organisations Jealous of Its Principled Stance and Longevity
Nobody is perfect, but imperfection does not instantaneously imply sinister intent
If You Reject the Google Verdict in the US, Then You Should Also Reject the "Modern" Web (Do Something About It)
Gemini Protocol is still open; it cannot be hijacked or subverted because it's frozen by design and by intention
Open Source Initiative IRS Filing: Almost All the Money is Corporate, Stefano Maffuli (Executive Director) Takes About a Quarter of That Money for Openwashing of "AI" Ponzi Scheme
OSI is currently little but a PR/marketing agency of Microsoft
Many People Are "Leaving" Red Hat, Even High-Level Managers
Something is definitely going on at Red Hat
Techrights Has Been Subjected to Calls of Violence (and Death Threats), It Never Condoned Violence
I have no sympathy for people who call violence "free speech" and then get in trouble
Condoning Violent Behaviour and "Free Speech"
perhaps Microsoft Lunduke lost touch with what constitutes violence
Takeaway From the Google Verdict: GAFAM Has Too Much Control (Even Over the US Government and Courts With Government Appointees)
Many people feel disappointed but hardly surprised by the verdict
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 40 in One Month
As noted a few days ago, several times in fact, many people now recognise the importance of the FSF's mission, even if most people don't know what the FSF is
Many Microsoft "Assets" Are Fabricated Baloney (to Game the Numbers)
At times it seems like what we deal with are many weak patents (on algorithms), valuations or speculations based on hype ("hey hi"), and stocks held by Microsoft and its own staff
"Voluntary" Layoffs at Microsoft (to Game the Numbers, Sugar-Coating a Crisis)
"Employees interested have until the end of October to volunteer."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 02, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 02, 2025