THE FAMILIAR FUD tactics against Free software go a long way back. From portrayal as "communism" to portrayal as "patent violation", Free software has faced a variety of smears and became extremely popular despite those smears. Nowadays one is more likely to come across Android FUD than to see tired FUD tactics used against GNU/Linux. Techrights has already covered some patterns of FUD against Android (e.g. diversity as "fragmentation", even the "Nazi" smear), but increasingly we see the same abandonment of technical FUD and a transition into patent FUD, just as we recently explained in relation to Linux.
"First, Microsoft mostly ignored Linux, just as Ballmer pretended that OHA simply was a bunch of words on paper."The story we typically see after patent aggression is that the aggressor simply reveals its weakness. The aggressor fails to actually play the game by the rules and simply throws a fit instead. It's a bit like the SCO case. At first it gets a lot of media attention, then the public gets very angry and boycotts the aggressor. Further down the line the aggressor is just a shadow of its former self, still very angry but hardly worth anyone's attention.
As Google's market cap grows it might not be long before Microsoft becomes only the 4th biggest technology brand in the US (judging by market cap). There is definitely a transition happening and Microsoft is unable to become part of this tradition (e.g. phones, Web-based services, and form factors that replace some desktops, such as tablets). It is safe to assume that Microsoft's patent strategy is a short-term plan and by no means a sustainable strategy. It has already met the wrath of at least two companies that fight in court over Microsoft's patent allegations, putting at risk some of Microsoft's basis for racketeering. Sooner or later Google will be bigger than Microsoft, even though Google is a very young company.
In 2006 we dealt with patent FUD against Linux. When was the last time a server or desktop GNU/Linux vendor surrendered to Microsoft? That was years ago. We have essentially seen Microsoft changing strategies after failing to extort Red Hat, whose business is thriving and installbase is growing all the time. Android had not even been conceived (or hardly been conceived) back when Microsoft was busy extorting GNU/Linux distributors. This site currently deals a lot with Android FUD simply because it is Microsoft's latest target, as the many small deals signed and strategically announced at the end of June helped show, ushered by pro-Microsoft lobbyist Florian Müller, who exaggerates the threats and predicts doom for Android. Here is his latest FUD which he must have been pushing to journalists like a true lobbyist. "Mueller is back," says Swapnil Bhartiya. Yes, the Android FUD is back. That's this lobbyist's focus at the moment. ⬆
Comments
mcinsand
2011-07-18 16:31:20
Today, we have choices between multiple distributions where MS could never catch up to their quality, stability, or configurability... not to mention ease of use. The days of MS being competitive for hardware support are also long gone. From the standpoint of performance alone, FOSS users are not going to decrease, and there are enough to keep FOSS going.
As for the patent lawsuits, FOSS is now backed by some very big boys. Google and IBM have enough backbone to not fold to extortion. In fact, the patent trolls might dig their own graves if the backers fight, especially if antitrust can come into play.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-07-18 16:57:56
Needs Sunlight
2011-07-18 17:16:47
Apple is now valued at $336 billion. That makes anything it does, good or bad, more pronounced.
twitter
2011-07-18 17:58:33
Hopefully, the Barnes and Noble case can finish Microsoft's extortion. Barnes and Noble was smart enough to not sign a non disclosure agreement and is free to publish all of Microsoft's threats and proposals. Their lawyers have astutely claimed Microsoft's tactics amount to judicial extortion and trust act violations. If things work out fairly, Microsoft will be forced to compensate Barnes and Noble for lost business and the cost of the case. From there, other extorted vendors should sue to recover their costs. They had better hurry up before Microsoft runs out of money or the executives try to stuff all the cash into their pockets.
Needs Sunlight
2011-07-19 07:05:58
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-07-19 07:20:59
http://antitrust.slated.org/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/3000/PX03020.pdf
It has just occurred to me that one one of the main Comes vs. Microsoft mirrors is dead http://edge-op.org/iowa/www.iowaconsumercase.org/ Many dead links now, with criminal evidence... should we rewrite all the links to point elsewhere? And if so, where?
Needs Sunlight
2011-07-19 16:07:16
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-07-19 16:31:29
Needs Sunlight
2011-07-19 18:29:52
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-07-19 18:34:34
Needs Sunlight
2011-07-19 18:36:36
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-07-19 18:45:16
twitter
2011-07-20 01:27:57
That journal is also littered with nasty comments by Microsoft trolls and reminds me of why I don't bother with Slashdot much these days. In this comment, one of the trolls subtlety gloats about having gamed the system to suppress my my comments there. I'm particularly peeved at how easily the site was bamboozled by Florian Mueller who is still being quoted.