09.29.12
Posted in Finance, Microsoft at 11:25 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: The accounting tricks of Microsoft attract some attention from Carl Levin, who is critical of the financial firms cartel in the US
Microsoft’s dodge from tax has been very apparent for a very long time, but almost no politician was willing to deal with this systemic and systematic corruption.
We are seeing signs of change as one outspoken (against financial misconduct) senator takes on Microsoft: “Microsoft has been accused of avoiding $6.5bn in taxes (over three years) by using a complex set of transactions with offshore subsidiaries located in Puerto Rico, Ireland, Singapore and Bermuda. The memo, issued by US Senator Carl Levin, did not accuse Microsoft of doing anything illegal, but simply put that they are using a loophole to domestic funds using non-traditional channels.”
The Microsoft boosters covered that as well: “A new report out by the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has found that the software giant used subsidiaries in Puerto Rico, Ireland, Singapore and Bermuda to avoid more than $6.5 billion in taxes, Bloomberg News reports.”
Microsoft foes such as Pogson are happy about this development: “Well, it looks like the oh so loyal USA is being betrayed by M$. All those $billions in revenue reported to SEC are not pumping up the US economy after all. In fact, M$ is a drain on the US economy by charging monopoly prices at home and effectively giving the rest of the world a discount.”
Whether something will change is a separate matter and that remains to be seen. █
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Posted in Antitrust, Europe, Microsoft at 11:17 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“We’re giving away a pretty good browser as part of the operating system. How long can [Netscape] survive selling it?”
–Steve Ballmer
Summary: Microsoft is angering regulators at the European Commission and action is expected
The controversy over EU decisions is often a manufactured one. Microsoft PR creates it.
Browser choice in Europe did not go far enough in punishing the offender, Microsoft. But even the little which was demanded has not been fulfilled because Microsoft characteristically ignored orders: “Microsoft is reportedly set to be whacked with a Statement of Objections from European Commission competition officials over the software giant’s foolish browser-choice gaffe in which users of the Windows OS were steered into using the firm’s IE software.
“According to Bloomberg, which cited two anonymous sources familiar with the matter, the alleged antitrust breaches could lead to Microsoft being hit with yet more fines. This is even though the company attempted to forestall the damage by apologising for the cockup, which saw EU mandated browser-choice dialogues fail to appear on many Windows PCs sold in Europe in recent times.”
Another charge is reportedly on its way: “Microsoft Corp will be charged for failing to comply with a 2009 ruling ordering it to offer a choice of web browsers, the European Union’s antitrust chief said on Thursday, which could mean a hefty fine for the company.”
“Browser choice in Europe did not go far enough in punishing the offender, Microsoft.”Microsoft PR staff, boosters, and even former Microsoft employees downplayed EU fines before. This one person who quotes Microsoft talking points is doing it again. Without disclosure of past employment at Microsoft Zack Whittaker uses a news platform to bias the debate. Contrariwise, Pogson says that “M$ promised to offer users choice of browser but they broke their word, 28 million times. No fine is too large, EU Commission. Hammer them!”
Here is the original report and a complaint about Whittaker, accusing the publisher: “ZiffGatesNet sides with #Microsoft on story about #EU fine – repeats “error” excuse http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-faces-eu-fine-over-browser-choice-error-7000004723/?s_cid=e550″
Rex Djere says that operating systems and not just browsers are the issue: “We have to directly fund hardware manufacturers that make the open platforms that we want. GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, Android etc. already provide the software openness; as soon as we introduce this same concept to hardware on a large scale, it won’t matter what Microsoft and other similar corporations do. Their closed systems will remain stationary on store shelves collecting dust.”
The FSF made a similar argument.
We covered the subject in posts such as:
- Cablegate: European Commission Worried About Microsoft’s Browser Ballot Screen Being Inappropriate
- Microsoft’s Browser Ballot is Broken Again and Internet Explorer 8 is Critically Flawed
- Microsoft’s Ballot Screen is a Farce, Decoy
- A Ballot Screen is Not Justice, Internet Explorer Still Compromises Users’ PCs
- Microsoft Not Only Broke the Law in Europe, So Browser Ballot Should Become International
- Browser Ballot Critique
- Microsoft’s Fake “Choice” Campaign is Back
- Microsoft Claimed to be Cheating in Web Browsers Ballot
- Microsoft Loses Impact in the Web Despite Unfair Ballot Placements
- Given Choice, Customers Reject Microsoft
- Microsoft is Still Cheating in Browser Ballot — Claim
- Microsoft Does Not Obey the Law
Will justice ever be restored? █
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Posted in Africa, FUD, GPL, Microsoft at 11:04 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: The latest FUD from Microsoft and some of those who attack Free software
Professor Moglen wrote about the case of a parasite versus Red Hat, noting that GPL violation is now being alleged by Red Hat: “Twin Peaks Software, Inc., which makes proprietary data replication and cloud storage software, sued Red Hat and its subsidiary Gluster for patent infringement back in February. Last week, Red Hat filed a counterclaim in that litigation, alleging copyright infringement by Twin Peaks in misappropriating GPL’d software.
“Red Hat’s counterclaim asserts that Twin Peaks has copied GPL’d code, from mount, into their proprietary mount.mfs utility, which is distributed to licensees of their data replication products. Red Hat holds copyright on most of the code in the relevant version of mount, which is part of the util-linux package.”
As put by another site, “Red Hat Says Twin Peaks In GPL Violation, Seeks Injunction”. As a reminder, it is copyright law that helps enforce the GPL. To quote the article: “If you remember, Red Hat was sued by a company called Twin Peaks over patent infringement. In its lawsuit filed in March 2012, Twin Peaks alleged that Red Hat and its newly acquired subsidiary Gluster infringed upon its U.S. Patent 7,418,439 Mirror file system. The patent was filed in 2001 and issued in 2008. According to the patent description, A mirror file systems (MFS) is a virtual file system that links two or more file systems together and mirrors between them in real time. Twin Peaks seek injunctions and damages for the alleged patents.”
So it is clear that the GPL finds copyright law a necessity, not wholly a nuisance. In that case, why does Microsoft continue to abuse the population of Kenya [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] by showering it with lies? Here is the latest lie: “Information Technology firms are warning of increased cyber-attack should the Government move to ditch copyrighted software.
“We expect Microsoft to play dirty and to lie as it always does in Kenya, based on what we saw.”The headline says “State warned on ditching copyrighted software”. To quote further: “Last week, the Government issued a warning that in the next three years it will move its IT operations to Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), a move that will reduce cost by more than half in IT expenses.
“Microsoft said the move is risky and bound to make Government systems more vulnerable to hackers.
““We agree with the open standards but not the free and open source software strategy,” said Paul Roy Owino, technology advisor, Microsoft East and Southern Africa.”
We expect Microsoft to play dirty and to lie as it always does in Kenya, based on what we saw. █
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