Microsoft Deal Kills Barnes & Noble

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2013-07-13 16:22:56 UTC
Modified: 2013-07-13 16:22:56 UTC

Barnes and Noble

Summary: Barnes & Noble loses its CEO who rendered the company just another Microsoft prey

THE CEO of B & N quits after he agreed to be a puppy of Ballmer in exchange for a little bribe, turning the company from a Microsoft challenger into some kind of strange proxy like Novell. Let's look at some of the latest developments

A few weeks ago we started to mention how B & N had collapsed. Taking a bribe from Microsoft rather than suing Microsoft wasn't a smart move and the CEO of B & N quits now. How could he be so gullible? Has he not seen that dead path of companies at the entrance of Microsoft's cave? Anyway, he is out now. Pamela Jones writes: "That isn't how I view it. I view it that Microsoft is killing off anyone selling Android/Linux whenever possible, whether by partnerships (Nokia) or investments or litigation. The Nook was doing great until Microsoft entered the picture by trying to force Barnes & Noble to pay royalties allegedly owed for running Linux on the Nook. None of the patents were needed by Barnes & Noble, according to them, and next thing we hear is Microsoft has settled the case against it and will invest in Barnes & Noble, and next we see this."

Here is a later report with some numbers:

Not long after Microsoft’s investment, though, Nook sales began to decline precipitously. In the most recent quarter, Nook revenues fell 34 percent, and were down 16.8 percent for the year. It’s unclear why anybody would want to buy Nook Media outright now; there were rumors that Microsoft might do so, but months have passed without an offer (if it were interested, Microsoft could get a pretty good deal right about now).

We already called for a boycott of B & N, following those iffy moves that made the company more dangerous than beneficial to Android and Free software in general. Jones added : "If the point was to kill off another Android vendor, what would be the point of buying the company?"

A shame really. B & N ended up like Novell, which BN (Boycott Novell) saw turning into a Microsoft proxy following a horrible deal. ⬆

Silent Layoffs at Microsoft in 2026: Time will tell is there are investigative journalists out there who will quit parroting Microsoft (e.g. false layoff figures) and relying on LLMs controlled by Microsoft to spew out false "facts" for them
SLAPP Censorship - Part 91 Out of 200: Legal Aid in Support of Freedom of the Press and British Women (Attacked by Americans): bolstered by prominent counsels
Codecs and Software Patents - Part XII - GNU's Web Site Will Soon Have Many Recent Talks by Chief GNUisance Richard Stallman (RMS): GNU videos being transcoded or converted into AV1
The Fall of Slop (Even Microsoft Admits There's a Problem): If Microsoft admits that slop is too expensive and is for "entertainment purposes" because it cannot be relied upon, why would anyone other than the pushers and profiteers still insist that slop bears potential?
Censorship of Information Unflattering to IBM (or GAFAM): Years ago we gave a platform to a censored Microsoft whistleblower
[Video] Richard Stallman's Rapperswil (Switzerland) Talk Online: accessible without proprietary software
Trusting Trust is an Old Issue, Predating Rust and LLM Slop by Over Half a Century: Microsoft Lunduke wants to make a case against Rust and slop (LLMs), but the issues he addresses aren't exactly new or unique
California Should Have Abandoned So-called 'Age‑Verification Laws', Not Make Exemptions (for Now): This has nothing to do with 1) children 2) safety 3) safety of children
Links 29/05/2026: Cory Doctorow on Why the Internet Feels So Broken, American Pope on Defederation: Links for the day
Techrights Does Not Censor Information About IBM, It Platforms and Retains Suppressed Voices From Inside IBM: They don't like it when people criticise the management [...] panic attacks mentioned
Bob (Robert) Cringely Devoted Three Years of His Life Trying to Profit From LLM Slop and Now He Sounds Off, It's Just Not Working and It Can Crash the Economy Soon: "The labs raising money at valuations with too many zeros are happy"
Techrights After About 60,000 Articles in 20 Years: Sites fail if they don't offer anything new or if they wrongly believe that adopting slop to parrot other sites will give them exposure
Organised Plunder or Robbery: GAFAM and Hardware Companies Rely on Media Bribery to Perpetuate False Narratives and to "Drive Sales" (and Drive Prices Upwards): The price-fixing seems plausible and, if so, we need to demand action
Linux Foundation Destroys the Identity and History of Linux: Groklaw's PJ was thorn on the side of LF sponsors
The Problem of Microsoft Crimes: Opposing crime isn't "hatred"
Red Hat Will Die Inside a Dying IBM: IBM isn't where Red Hat came to thrive but where it came to die
Very Large Strike at the European Patent Office Today, "Production" Sank a Huge Deal: At this pace, we might be looking at tens of thousands fewer European Patents being granted this year
Gemini Links 29/05/2026: Leadership and Religion, the Board Game (Second Edition): Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, May 28, 2026: IRC logs for Thursday, May 28, 2026
Links 28/05/2026: Pakistan and Afghanistan Are Still Fighting, Iranians Back Online: Links for the day
"LLMs Are Not Much More Than Plagiarism Engines": the impact of LLMs on communities and software projects
Is Slop Profitable Yet? No.: Everything is a giant minus
Bob (Robert) Cringely Has Just Explained That After 3 Years of Hard Work It Became Apparent LLM Slop is Unfit for Purpose in Courts: Added moments ago to Daily Links
Links 28/05/2026: LibreSSL 4.3.2, "Jeff Bezos Is Afraid Of What Comes Next", Measles Making a Comeback: Links for the day
PCs That Are Made to 'Expire' and 'Secure' Boot Contributing to Planned Obsolescence: People who are responsible for this ought to be held accountable
Evil, Faceless Corporation: Google Steals Money From You If You Don't Purchase an Android Device for MFA: At this point, under the guise of "hey hi" (slop) Google is firing tens of thousands of workers
People Go Back to Basics, Abandon Microsoft's GitHub to Avoid Slop: The media didn't pay any attention to GitHub's de facto chief quitting Microsoft only a few months ago
SLAPP Censorship - Part 90 Out of 200: When Efforts to Silence His Spouse and Also the Wife of a Blogger in Another Continent Only Give More Exposure to Embarrassing Information: The Garrett trial ended in October 2025
IBM - Much Like the European Patent Office (EPO) - Gives the President (Head of Board and CEO) All the Money While Staff Drowns in High Inflation Rates: They're discussing the same sort of thing we often see mentioned in the EPO
"THE REGISTER EXPLAINER" as "Paid-for SPAM" at The Register MS With "AI" 40 Times in the Short Page: What will be left of The Register MS in a few years?
2025: EPO President Campinos Breaks the Cookie Jar, Steals Another Million Euros While His "Brother-in-Law" Does Cocaine at the Office and Staff Prepares Rolling, Indefinite Strikes: any additional month of Campinos in charge of the EPO is a liability not just to the EPO but the EU as well
Gemini Links 28/05/2026: Dumping Microsoft GitHub, Gopher Rabbit Hole: Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, May 27, 2026: IRC logs for Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Links 27/05/2026: TSMC Workers Next to Consider Strikes, Ceasefire Cracking: Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 89 Out of 200: SRA Admits Malfunction, That's Why Transparency is Paramount: There have been more efforts than we can to count or can enumerate (probably over 100 such efforts) to gag us and to prevent us writing about what has happened
Our Free Software Activist in Connecticut (USA): We'll soon revisit the latest round of legislation on "age" (surveillance, ID)
Links 27/05/2026: Living Without 'Smartphoones' and "Russia’s Biggest Attack on Ukraine in 18 Months": Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/05/2026: The USA as an "Experiment" and Some Ubuntu Manuals: Links for the day
[Video] Full Video of Richard Stallman's Talk in Rome: It seems inevitable that the official GNU site will have it
Slop is a Passing Fad, It's About Faking Productivity (Plagiarism, Misinformation, and False Positives): Slop is a bubble. Some people accept it later than others.
Anderon - Like Kyndryl - Could be Far Deeper in Debt Than Its Alleged Worth (Vapourware): Time will tell, but it seems like a Federal-enabled (by the Federal Government) accounting scam, nothing more, nothing less
The Media That Keeps Covering "AI" Because the Pushers of It Pay for Spam: 23 times in the page they mention "AI"
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, May 26, 2026: IRC logs for Tuesday, May 26, 2026
Codecs and Software Patents - Part XI - The Stance of RMS (Dr. Stallman) Reassured GNU Regarding AV1: cautioned against software patents since the early 90s if not earlier

Microsoft Deal Kills Barnes & Noble

Recent Techrights' Posts