04.11.13

Gemini version available ♊︎

Microsoft is Using Proxies to Fight Linux/Android Yet Again, This Time Alleging ‘Antitrust’ Offences by Free Software

Posted in Antitrust, Europe, Microsoft at 2:24 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

arrows

Summary: Convicted monopolist Microsoft, upset that its monopoly is being lost as many OEMs move away to Linux, is trying to use antitrust law to stop this

A rather laughable story is developing in Europe. Microsoft claims to be the victim of antitrust violations. The alleged offender in this case is claimed to be Free/open source software. For a Free/open source system to be ‘too’ dominant when everyone — even the partly Microsoft-owned Facebook — can fork it is just ludicrous. Make no mistake. Timothy B. Lee says that “[a]ntitrust complaint against Android is an attack on open source” and it opens the door to future attacks as such.

The New York Times says “European antitrust regulators have received a formal complaint about Google’s Android operating system for mobile devices, even as they move to the final stages of their inquiry into the company’s search practices.”

Here it is from other, corporate-centric/biased press, CNN and USA Today, which says:

A group of companies led by Microsoft have called on European authorities to launch an antitrust investigation into Google and its hold over mobile internet usage on smartphones.

The “FairSearch” initiative of 17 companies – which includes Microsoft, Nokia, and Oracle -claims Google is acting unfairly by giving away its Android operating system to mobile device companies on the condition that the U.S. online giant’s own software applications like YouTube and Google Maps are installed and prominently displayed.

“Google is using its Android mobile operating system as a Trojan horse to deceive partners, monopolize the mobile marketplace, and control consumer data,” said Thomas Vinje, the group’s Brussels-based lawyer.

As put by this report, it is simple to see that Microsoft is using proxies:

Microsoft not fooling anyone by using FairSearch front in antitrust complaint against Google

Microsoft isn’t fooling anyone by hiding behind a trade group to complain to European antitrust regulators about Google and its Android mobile operating system, a legal expert said today.

“FairSearch.org is seen by many observers here as a Microsoft Trojan Horse,” said Nicolas Petit, a professor of competition law at the University of Liege in Belgium. “Everyone understands here in Brussels that it’s Microsoft versus Google.”

Here is a somewhat sarcastic take on it:

Microsoft was accused by its competitors of using its dominance on the desktop to monopolise the burgeoning online marketplace by requiring partners to offer Internet Explorer, rather than the rival Netscape Navigator, and to grant it “default placement ” on the desktop. Microsoft’s bundling of Internet Explorer with every copy of Windows was regarded as giving it an unfair advantage over other browsers; its rivals claimed there was a danger that Microsoft might repeat its “desktop abuses of dominance” as consumers increasingly turned to an Internet platform dominated by Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

The closeness of the parallels might lead you to believe that the FairSearch group are trying to build on the earlier, successful anti-trust action to bolster their case. But what’s interesting is that among the FairSearch group is Microsoft itself. So I thought it might be interesting to see what the company said when it faced exactly the same accusations that it is now levelling against Google.

Just think what a nerve it takes for Microsoft to file antitrust complaints like it’s the victim. It takes great insensitivity, doesn’t it? Microsoft is also pretending to be European via Nokia, which former Microsoft executive Stephen Elop abducted against employees’ will. AOL cites the much-maligned “Scoogled” campaign as part of it:

Microsoft is skewering Google again with ads and regulatory bashing that say as much about the dramatic shift in the technology industry’s competitive landscape as they do about the animosity between the two rivals.

The ads that began Tuesday mark the third phase in a 5-month-old marketing campaign that Microsoft Corp. derisively calls “Scroogled.” The ads, which have appeared online, on television and in print, depict Google as a duplicitous company more interested in increasing profits and power than protecting people’s privacy and providing unbiased search results.

Microsoft’s attempt to distract from its own offences and refusal to comply with punishment are so recent that it is just crazy to pull off this stunt at this time. It was only weeks ago that Microsoft was fined almost billions of dollars for antitrust violations and failure to comply with suggested remedies. Microsoft’s behaviour is very notable, outrageously so. “Since Google went public in August 2004, Microsoft’s online division has accumulated more than $17.5 billion in operating losses,” says one report. Here is another take:

INTERNET GIANT Google is at the centre of another European antitrust complaint orchestrated by Microsoft, this time relating to its Android software.
The antitrust complaint has been filed by Fairsearch Europe, whose members include the likes of Microsoft, Nokia and Oracle.
The group, which describes itself as an “organization united to promote economic growth, innovation and choice across the internet” is going after Google for its allegedly anticompetitve practices deployed with Android. It’s a pretty ironic moment, after Microsoft recently was slapped with a mammoth fine for monopolistic behaviour relating to browser choice on Windows devices.

Tux Radar intends to dedicate an imminent show segment to this issue as it polls listeners/readers and Pamela Jones calls this “[a]nother Cynical “Antitrust” Complaint From Microsoft and Its Buddies Against Google” (this is not the first).

Evidently, Microsoft and its proprietary friends didn’t get the result they hoped for from their first antitrust complaint against Google to the EU Commission. The latest news is that the first one is being amicably resolved, according to the New York Times. Instead of saying to themselves, I guess we were wrong, instead Fairsearch, the Microsoft-led group that seems to have no other reason for being but to attack Google, files another antitrust complaint.

Meanwhile, reveals this update from Thomas Claburn, Editor-at-Large at a large news site, the antitrust complaints against Microsoft are being kept away from the public. “In June 2007,” he writes, “I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to learn more about the basis for Google’s complaint that Microsoft’s implementation of desktop search in Windows Vista violated the terms of its 2002 antitrust consent agreement.”

Then he says: “After six years, the truth can finally be told. What follows is an excerpt from an email sent by Kulpreet Rana, Google’s director of intellectual property, to Justice Department attorney Aaron Hoag, dated Oct. 4, 2006.”

Microsoft is trying to use antitrust law as an insurance policy as its business is collapsing. Law enforcers are not helping free competition and they oughtn’t intervene with Free software going mainstream.

Originally posted in Linux Advocates

Share in other sites/networks: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Reddit
  • email

Decor ᶃ Gemini Space

Below is a Web proxy. We recommend getting a Gemini client/browser.

Black/white/grey bullet button This post is also available in Gemini over at this address (requires a Gemini client/browser to open).

Decor ✐ Cross-references

Black/white/grey bullet button Pages that cross-reference this one, if any exist, are listed below or will be listed below over time.

Decor ▢ Respond and Discuss

Black/white/grey bullet button If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

DecorWhat Else is New


  1. IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 07, 2023

    IRC logs for Wednesday, June 07, 2023



  2. The Need to Evolve on the Internet

    Tux Machines is one year away from its twentieth birthday and its increased focus on protocols aside from HTTP/S is paying off; Tux Machines also weaned itself off all social control media, including Mastodon and Diaspora (they're not the future, they're the past)



  3. EPO Management is Still Bullying the Staff (While Breaking the Law and Violating the European Patent Convention)

    Overloaded or overworked EPO workers are complaining about further deterioration at the workplace and their representatives say "this management style may well contribute to feelings of disengagement, depression, or even burn-out"



  4. His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Not Responding After 20 Days (Well-Founded Report of Tax Fraud) and British Police Pretending Not to Exist

    The crimes of Sirius ‘Open Source’ have helped unearth a profound problem in the British law enforcement authorities; What good is a monopolistic taxman (called after the British Monarchy even in 2023) that cannot assess its own tax abuses? Or abuses connected to it via a contractor? Meanwhile, as per what I was told, the police is not responding to my MP and that’s ANOTHER scandal (police not only refusing to act against crimes, committed against many people, but moreover not responding to elected politicians)



  5. Links 08/06/2023: Cinnamon 5.8 and Leap 15.5 Release Mature

    Links for the day



  6. Gemini Links 08/06/2023: Emacs and Thoughts on Bubble

    Links for the day



  7. Links 07/06/2023: Reddit Layoffs and OpenGL 3.1 in Asahi Linux

    Links for the day



  8. Gemini Links 07/06/2023: Jukka Charting Geminispace

    Links for the day



  9. IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 06, 2023

    IRC logs for Tuesday, June 06, 2023



  10. NOW LIVE: Working for the Public — Universities, Software and Freedom - a Talk by Richard Stallman at Università di Pisa (Italy)

    As noted a few hours ago, Richard Stallman is delivering a talk at Università di Pisa this morning



  11. Richard Stallman's Talk is in Two Hours and There's a BigBlueButton Livestream

    Dr. Stallman is in Italy to give talks at universities this week; he will soon give a live talk, accessible in his site or directly at the source



  12. Links 06/06/2023: Angie 1.2.0, New EasyOS and EndeavourOS Released

    Links for the day



  13. Gemini Links 06/06/2023: OpenKuBSD, GrapheneOS, and More

    Links for the day



  14. Links 06/06/2023: OpenSUSE Plans for Leap

    Links for the day



  15. Gemini Links 06/06/2023: Bubble 4.0, Neutral News, and Older Bits

    Links for the day



  16. IBM's War on Open (Look at the Pattern of Layoffs at Red Hat)

    By abandoning OpenSource.com and OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice IBM sends out a clear signal that it doesn’t understand or simply does not care about the community of Free software users; its siege against the FSF and other institutions never ended and today we look at who’s being laid off or shown the door (the work environment is intentionally being made worse)



  17. Links 06/06/2023: IceWM 3.4.0 and Liveslak 1.7.0

    Links for the day



  18. Gemini Links 06/06/2023: Apple Might Kill VR, Tea Tea Deluxe 1.2.7 and Tea Land

    Links for the day



  19. IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 05, 2023

    IRC logs for Monday, June 05, 2023



  20. Links 05/06/2023: Debian 12 Almost Ready, Hong Kong 'Cannot' Remember Tiananmen Massacre

    Links for the day



  21. Gemini Links 05/06/2023: New Ship in Cosmic Voyage, Stack Overflow Moderator Strike

    Links for the day



  22. IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 04, 2023

    IRC logs for Sunday, June 04, 2023



  23. Links 04/06/2023: Unifont 15.0.05 and PCLinuxOS Stuff

    Links for the day



  24. Gemini Links 04/06/2023: Wayland and the Old Computer Challenge

    Links for the day



  25. StatCounter: GNU/Linux (Including ChromeOS) Grows to 8% Market Share Worldwide

    This month’s numbers from StatCounter are good for GNU/Linux (including ChromeOS, which technically has both GNU and Linux); the firm assesses logs from 3 million sites and shows Windows down to 66% in desktops/laptops (a decade ago it was above 90%) with modest growth for GNU/Linux, which is at an all-time high, even if one does not count ChromeOS that isn’t freedom- or privacy-respecting



  26. Journalism Cannot and Quite Likely Won't Survive on the World Wide Web

    We’re reaching the point where the overwhelming majority of new pages on the Web (the World Wide Web) are basically junk, sometimes crafted not by humans; how to cope with this rapid deterioration is still an unknown — an enigma that demands hard answers or technical workarounds



  27. Do Not Assume Pensions Are Safe, Especially When Managed by Mr. EPOTIF Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos

    With the "hoax" that is the financial assessment by António Campinos (who is deliriously celebrating the inauguration of illegal and unconstitutional kangaroo courts) we urge EPO workers to check carefully the integrity of their pensions, seeing that pension promises have been broken for years already



  28. Links 04/06/2023: Why Flatpak and Wealth of Devices With GNU/Linux

    Links for the day



  29. Gemini Links 04/06/2023: Rosy Crow 1.1.3 and NearlyFreeSpeech.NET

    Links for the day



  30. IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 03, 2023

    IRC logs for Saturday, June 03, 2023


RSS 64x64RSS Feed: subscribe to the RSS feed for regular updates

Home iconSite Wiki: You can improve this site by helping the extension of the site's content

Home iconSite Home: Background about the site and some key features in the front page

Chat iconIRC Channel: Come and chat with us in real time

Recent Posts