Summary: At times of dubious collaborations with a corporate serial killer, a reminder of how it always ends

CLASS ACTION lawsuit over Microsoft entryism at Nokia becomes more likely and Glyn Moody, for example, cites the following this week:

Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop has had a hard time getting his company to jump off the ‘burning platform’ onto the Windows Phone ship, and in their haste to do something quick they made a crucial compromise.

The first Nokia handsets running Windows Phone would remain stuck on version 7 with no upgrade path to WP8, a fact, according to our sources, that the Finnish handset maker was made aware of when it signed on last year.

And in doing so, the company left itself exposed to the ‘Osborne-effect’ but this time at Redmond’s making.

Nokia's days are numbered and this should be remembered as another deadly destruction by the cons from Rdemond. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols accuses Microsoft of "poisoning" yet more of its so-called 'partners':

First, Microsoft announces a vaporware tablet, Surface. On paper Surface is much better than anything its partners were building. Now, Microsoft has announced Windows Phone 8, a smartphone operating system that instantly makes every existing Windows Phone obsolete.

On behalf of ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Nokia, thanks for nothing Microsoft!

In the days since Microsoft announced its hybrid tablet/laptop I’ve talked to most of the major PC original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). None of them would go on the record with me on their reaction to the Surface. What I can tell you though is that every last one of them is as angry at Microsoft as a Boston Red Sox fan is at the New York Yankees after being swept at home.

Meanwhile, says one of our Finnish readers: "The old tactic of comparing competitors current offerings to vaporware is being carried over to new markets" (citing this nonsense from CNET). To quote:

CNET's Marguerite Reardon helps one reader decide if he should wait for new Windows Phone 8 smartphones or buy the Google Android smartphone du jour.

This is a classic Microsoft tactic. In Microsoft's own words: "In the face of strong competition, Evangelism's focus may shift immediately to the next version of the same technology, however. Indeed, Phase 1 (Evangelism Starts) for version x+1 may start as soon as this Final Release of version X." (source: Microsoft [PDF])

All we are seeing is Nokia being decimated down to nothing while its Linux-based platforms (and thus its Linux developers/jobs) get axed. Make that a warning to future Microsoft partners. It's all promises, except the knife that lands on the back; the latter is a sure thing, the question is when. Microsoft was founded by -- and continues to attract -- sociopaths. ⬆