05.28.10
Posted in Database, Europe, Microsoft at 12:17 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Inhumane practices are being implemented in the United Kingdom (UK) for Microsoft to become richer and the British population tracked through finger-based surveillance
MICROSOFT Corporation, the company which US congress accused of “enabling tyranny”, is now bringing its tyrannical practices to the UK. Having already helped implement an ID card scheme in India (the UK is canning its own plan for ID cards and thank goodness for that), Microsoft will now participate in the fingerprinting of toddlers, who shall be catalogued like books and numbered based on their small gentle fingers (which the “bad guys” would love to have). From The Telegraph:
Children, 4, ‘to be fingerprinted to borrow school books from library’
Students in Manchester are having their thumbprints digitally transformed into electronic codes, which can then be recognised by a computer program.
[...]
But critics said they were “appalled” at the system, developed by Microsoft which is also being trialled in other parts of the country.
Thank you again Microsoft for protecting those children from paedophiles, terrorists, and those evil evil evil people who borrow a textbook from the library without permission (we all know what a menace to human kind they can be, having gained knowledge!!). Sadly, you failed to protect the children’s fingers, which will now become a hotter commodity.
“Sadly, you failed to protect the children’s fingers, which will now become a hotter commodity.”Having already hijacked the irreplaceable British Library, Microsoft keeps looking for new national assets and institutions with which to make entire states totally dependent on Microsoft, even for curation and long-term access to historical records that are invaluable items.
With just a bunch of developers, Microsoft seems to be doing more damage than many years with Labour have wrought upon human rights (and I am not against Labour at all, just their policies that neglect people’s liberties and freedoms, which were long fought for). █
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03.08.10
Posted in America, Database, Europe, Microsoft at 2:00 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Microsoft hires Donna-Bea Tillman from the FDA in order to increase its influence in the United States government and help Microsoft control healthcare systems
MICROSOFT’S connections with the US government continue to be tightened. According to The Seattle Times, Obama’s CIO Vivek Kundra may have just met Steve Ballmer, who also visits the White House on occasions [1, 2].
After his San Francisco tour, Kundra is coming to Seattle for a day Thursday beginning with breakfast at Microsoft with Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and other local executives.
Microsoft will show Kundra advanced research projects before he speaks at the University of Washington in the afternoon. He’ll also meet with executives at Amazon.com before making an appearance at the Washington Technology Industry Association’s awards dinner.
This possible encounter is not the subject of this post though; it merely serves as a precursor and a reminder of Microsoft’s relationship with the government. Politics and commerce are never separate, unless one insists on oversimplification.
The FDA is connected to Microsoft through the pharmaceutical cartel, as well as the Gates Foundation, which works for Monsanto [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8] and has former Monsanto staff (which in turn has a notorious exchange of staff with the FDA). With high-level Monsanto employees inside the Gates Foundation, the connections to the government become a tad more apparent, but we won’t delve into it any further because that’s not the point.
The main story is the following one. According to this report from the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft is going to hire a Fed from the FDA.
The director of the Office of Device Evaluation, one of the highest-ranking positions at the Food and Drug Administration, is leaving this month to join the Washington office of Microsoft Corp., according to an email she sent Monday morning.
Donna-Bea Tillman, who has been with the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health since 1994, said in the email that she will become part of the software giant’s health solutions group as the director of regulations and policy. The FDA and Microsoft confirmed the move.
There is more information in the blog — details that didn’t make it into the main article.
You probably wouldn’t put Microsoft on the list of companies in the market to hire former FDA officials, but the software giant snagged a top medical-device regulator today.
Donna-Bea Tillman, head of the office of device approvals, says her jump to Microsoft isn’t as unusual as it may seem. She told colleagues in a memo she has long had “a love for all things computer.”
Here is another news article which cites the Wall Street Journal.
Donna Bea-Tillman will leave her post at Food and Drug Administration to join the Washington, D.C. lobbying office of Microsoft Corp., according to the Wall Street Journal
Donna Bea-Tillman, the director of the Food and Drug Administration’s office of device evaluation, will apparently resign her post to join the lobbying office of software giant Microsoft Corp., according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
[...]
Tillman told her colleagues in the email that she took the position with Microsoft because of the potential for health information technology to, “reduce the skyrocketing cost of health care,” according to a copy of the email obtained by the paper
So quite clearly, the purpose here it to lobby for control over people’s medical records [1, 2]. There needn’t even be speculation about it being just more Microsoft lobbying, which works against the interests of people and instead benefits a private corporation. If people learned something from the healthcare fiasco and the insurance companies, this ought to be it. To usher this whole campaign for Microsoft as the steward of health/patient records, Microsoft seems to have started a whole tour and media blitz. In the past week alone we’ve found a lot of press releases about Microsoft in health. The number of press releases was very, very unusual. It includes:
• Microsoft Case Study Spotlights OrthoCarolina and Mariner Partnership in Medical Practice Efficiency
• Cleveland Clinic/Microsoft Pilot Promising; Home Health Services May Benefit Chronic Disease Management
• Greenway Medical Technologies Advances Patient-Provider Benefits (about Microsoft)
• Patients will be granted the ability to see medical records with Microsoft Technology
• Cleveland Clinic, Microsoft project: Home health tracks chronic conditions better
Now, watch what else Microsoft is doing. “Microsoft Health Users Group Innovation Awards” are announced and from these “Innovation Awards” we get another press release:
• NextGen Health Information Exchange and Doylestown Hospital Recognized as Winners of Microsoft HUG 2010 Innovation Awards
Microsoft is even sponsoring/arranging a “hospital luncheon” (recall the “Screw Google luncheon”, which we last mentioned here).
Mission Viejo Microsoft Store takes title sponsorship for hospital luncheon
[...]
The Microsoft Store at The Shops at Mission Viejo is slated to be the title sponsor of Mission Hospital’s 14th Annual Valiant Women Luncheon on Friday, March 12, at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel.
Then, Microsoft uses Philips to storm the medical system and consume private data (also covered here). This a colossal mistake given Microsoft’s proven disregard for people’s privacy and very poor reliability in general. To seize control of the medical system becomes more of a matter of life and death in this case. Microsoft has abysmal record here, with Windows zombies becoming the menace of many hospitals. See for example:
People should be killing Microsoft’s attempt to invade hospitals before they kill people. Sadly enough, some reporters play along with this media blitz [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], which is backed by new lobbyists and marketing people, with people’s lives at stake (to Microsoft it’s just the smell of money and crucial dependency/lock-in).
“It’s not about embrace but about exploiting rivals’ platforms to help Microsoft, which has almost no market share in phones.”On a related note, Microsoft is trying to control (with patents) bar codes and it’s advertising this through Linux/Android phones [1, 2]. Just like Hyper-V drivers for Linux, it’s self serving. It’s also the same with Microsoft applications for iPhone — ones that merely have users connect to Microsoft services. It’s not about embrace but about exploiting rivals’ platforms to help Microsoft, which has almost no market share in phones. The reporters totally missed that or chose to ignore it. Mary Jo Foley looks at this news and wonders if Microsoft will use this strategy to also advance Silver Lie, much like Microsoft uses the *Spark programmes to achieve this (with free advertising from IDG).
Last but not least, Microsoft wants to manage people’s national identities [1, 2]. In India, Microsoft had NASSCOM facilitate this but in Germany too Microsoft apparently found some guinea pigs.
Microsoft released its new identity management software at the RSA conference on Tuesday and is working on a prototype national ID card system in Germany that is designed to give consumers control over the amount of personal data they share with specific organizations.
ID cards are a terrible idea for many reasons (including surveillance but a lot more than that). We won’t go into it. In any case, Germany ponders implementing an unnecessary system and even putting it in the hands of a private company from abroad, and one that’s highly abusive and irresponsible. What an utter disaster. █
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03.02.10
Posted in Africa, America, Asia, Database, Microsoft at 10:31 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Microsoft wants to control more aspects of people’s lives and those who enable this are identified and named
(Mis)Education
Microsoft is still exploiting the education systems for more control over the curriculum and the tools, just as it recently did with the IEEE (more on that here). Microsoft proceeds to Imperial College (London) and Washington University, based on the ‘Microsoft press’ which masquerades as academic media (1105 Media). They are advertising the Live@edu scam.
Health Vulture
Microsoft’s HealthVault uses Silverlight, so it punishes those who are not Microsoft customers, but there are worse things. For more control over people’s medical records [1, 2] Microsoft is now misusing the word "choice" and coercing HHS while unleashing press releases and attending/organising events. No medical system anywhere should allow a corporation to have private control of vital tools and patients’ data. Microsoft claims “choice and flexibility” in its press release, as long as you choose Microsoft (i.e. no choice and no flexibility). It even (mis)uses the word “open” in the title. Microsoft Nick and others have covered this [1, 2, 3], but they did not list the drawbacks or outline the deception. It’s more like ghost-writing or editing (of press releases), it’s not journalism.
India (Microsoft’s Future)
Over in India, Microsoft is to manage people's identities (it’s a scary thought) and Microsoft is still moving jobs over there. More recently it was the legal team and here is another new article about it:
Microsoft Outsources Legal Work to India Amid Budget Cuts
In a surprising move, Microsoft Inc. has inked a contract with a legal outsourcing provider to outsource to India. The provider CPA Global will employ lawyers in India to get the legal work done.
Law.com chose the headline “Tech Lawyers Say ‘Uh Oh’ as Microsoft Outsources Legal Work to India” and “India is critical to Microsoft’s strategy” says another news headline from last week. Expect more parts of Microsoft to move to India and reduce the company’s expenses.
Goldman Sachs Meets Microsoft Slime
We previously wrote about Microsoft and Goldman Sachs in [1, 2]. The ‘Microsoft press’ and the Seattle Times report from last week’s Goldman Sachs event where Microsoft promoted itself (including some of the above, namely ‘cloud’ services for government/public service to store data on Microsoft servers), with help from Microsoft booster Gavin Clarke, who is sliming Oracle by quoting Microsoft’s slurs.
Addressing Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco, California, Microsoft’s server and tools chief Bob Muglia criticized Oracle for peddling a return to “1960s computing,” as the rival company goes against industry trends and backs obsolete technologies.
This is utter nonsense. Muglia has said other darn things about Free software, going back several years ago [1, 2].
If Microsoft is so future-proof as Microsoft wants people to believe, then why did Bill Gates carry on dumping Microsoft (MSFT) shares last week? He seems to be dumping these as fast as he is allowed, being an insider. This has gone on for years.
Director of Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) William H Gates Iii sold 7,000,000 shares during the past week at an average price of $28.77.
He is investing in other monopolies.
Elsewhere in the World
Over in Jordan, Microsoft continues targeting the government and the business sector. Elsewhere in the Middle East Microsoft is trying to control Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
Microsoft Jordan hosted a training workshop for 150 of its customers and partners on the increasing importance of effective and integrated business intelligence (BI) solutions that will help drive better decision making across organisations and government institutions, resulting in improved IT skills, reduced costs and enhanced business performance.
Here is Microsoft exploiting UNESCO again. It makes a partnership while publishing this press release to start a whole lot of media fluff.
Microsoft Corp., in collaboration with UNESCO, has launched an initiative of its own kind to save several rare languages from being lost after they have been falling victim to the ever-changing cultural landscape.
The news is missing the point by repeating sound bites from UNESCO.
“Linguistic diversity is under threat,” UNESCO director-general director Irina Bokova said in a release. “This loss not only erodes individual communities and cultures, but more broadly, the very makeup of our societies.”
It is Free software — not Microsoft — that keeps languages alive. There are many examples to that effect, but it’s not what this post is about. In general, it’s sad to see that UNESCO sometimes plays along with a convicted monopoly abuser. UNESCO was previously promoting ODF [1, 2, 3], which is about communication across platforms (multilingualism being similar). As for the language issue, last month we explained the language game Microsoft is playing [1, 2]. It’s doing this a lot in Africa and South America, but the new examples which we gave last month were all from Africa. █
“It’s possible, you can never know, that the universe exists only for me. If so, it’s going quite well I must admit.”
–Bill Gates
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01.12.10
Posted in Database, Microsoft, Mono, SUN at 1:00 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Microsoft is preparing to poach users/customers of the most ubiquitous Free database software
SEVERAL MONTHS ago we showed that Microsoft was embracing and extending MySQL in some special sense. Now there’s this in the news. From Mary Jo Foley:
Microsoft tests tool for migrating MySQL to SQL Server
[...]
It’s no secret that even though MySQL has been a Microsoft partner, it also is a Microsoft competitor. And ever since Oracle made overtures to buy Sun and (get MySQL in the process), Microsoft’s been even more of a foe.
Given that context, it’s probably not too surprising that Microsoft is readying a tool designed to help customers migrate from MySQL to SQL Server and/or SQL Azure, Microsoft’s cloud-hosted version of its database. That tool is currently in the early test stage (Community Technology Preview 1), and is downloadable from the Microsoft Download Center.
Everyone knows that Microsoft is a terrible partner. Another very ubiquitous database, Sqlite, is being embraced and extended by the Mono people.
Those who have been speaking about Monty’s connections with Microsoft can make further speculations, but speculations are all they can ever be. █
Related posts:
- SAP/Microsoft Attack on Java, OpenOffice.org, Other Libre Products Culminates in Alliance
- The ‘Microsoft of Europe’ Instructs Oracle on Free Software
- Is Microsoft Lobbying to Burn Sun?
- Microsoft Has Lobbyists and Cronies Around European Commission, Working to Shatter MySQL and Defend IE Monoculture
- Why Does Microsoft Decide for the World?
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12.21.09
Posted in Database, Europe, Free/Libre Software, Microsoft, Oracle, SUN at 2:15 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“As if you could kill a dolphin by swallowing the ocean…”
–Marten Mickos, CEO of MySQL
Summary: Oracle commits to swallowing but not devouring the dolphin, whereas the creator of MySQL database, who is now with Microsoft’s CodePlex Foundation, lobbies with Microsoft against it
WE HAVE mostly abstained from saying whether MySQL should or should not be acquired by Oracle. Sun is at stake too, along with projects like Java and OpenOffice.org, so it’s a tough situation. Either way, based on reports, there is at least a promise from Oracle, which means that pressure from the European Commission paid off in some way.
A pledge in Oracle’s commitments to European regulators would continue to license MySQL, a key Web site software, for five years after Sun is acquired
An approval for Oracle is foreseen despite all the lobbying from Microsoft and SAP. Groklaw points out that Microsoft has just acquired the Toronto-based Opalis, which is a MySQL partner. Could this be strategic and intentional in some way? Who knows, but Groklaw found that important enough to mention.
“Monty could have changed the license prior to selling it to Sun, and he didn’t, so it’s a bit late now to worry about who owns it.”
–Pamela JonesNow that Michael Widenius is lobbying to block the acquisition, Groklaw’s Pamela Jones also writes: “I’m a MySQL user on Groklaw, and I think he’s serving up baloney, and definitely not anything to do with Open Source, since he’s suggesting the license on MySQL be changed to one that allows him proprietary possibilities. Monty could have changed the license prior to selling it to Sun, and he didn’t, so it’s a bit late now to worry about who owns it. I doubt the EU Commission will care about emails like this, but there’s no reason why people can’t send emails if they so choose. If so, it’s to comp-merger-registry@ec.europa.eu and mine, if I wrote one, would say, I see nothing wrong with Oracle buying MySQL.The GPL rights are irrevocable, so it doesn’t matter who owns the copyrights.”
Here are some opinions that Groklaw cites for support:
But the Oracle filing quotes several customers who said practically the opposite in response to the EU’s market survey. Vodafone Group PLC said it “does not consider that Oracle’s database offerings constitute direct substitutes to Sun’s offerings.” McAfee Inc. also said the two don’t “constitute direct substitutes.” As did General Electric Co., which added that while “both parties’ offerings may on the face of it share some functionality, they are qualitatively different.” Said Fujitsu Services Ltd.: “They operate in different markets.”
Widenius has said that Oracle’s promise is useless, but Jones disagrees when she writes: “If he claims the promises are empty, I’d not call that a success. If it is a success, then the promises must not be empty.”
What do our readers think? Is the European Commission doing the right thing by obstructing Sun (and Oracle)? Is it defending MySQL from a hostile takeover? We lost a great deal of confidence in the European Commission when Steve Ballmer met Neelie Kroes and bamboozled her until she accepted software patents. The president of the FFII wrote a few hours ago: “Nellie Kroes in bed with Microsoft for protecting their soft patents, commercial software redefined, champagne in Redmond!”
This was indeed a disappointment which we wrote about yesterday and also covered in [1, 2, 3]. Initially, the Commission caved and obeyed Microsoft lobbyists, later inviting Microsoft again. With several Microsoft cronies inside the Commission, this might not be entirely shocking. As someone who maintains about 20 MySQL databases, I’d appreciate input from readers. Who’s “right” and who’s “wrong”? █
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12.09.09
Posted in America, Apple, Australia, Bill Gates, Database, Europe, Intellectual Monopoly, Law, Microsoft, Mono, Novell, OpenDocument, Patents, Standard, SUN at 6:03 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Vigilant eye on laws that restrict or ban Free software, with new examples ranging from Microsoft to similar companies
THIS latest roundup actually begins with a weird new example where copyrights — not patents — are used by someone to ‘own’ SQL queries.
Can someone copyright a SQL query?
[...]
So back to the subject’s question: Can he really copyright this query? And if so, is modifying it ourselves a copyright violation? In my mind, a single query isn’t program code. It’s more a command line command. But I don’t know what it’s considered legally.
Need programmers now check every SQL query of theirs and ensure it does not infringe on copyrights? This is insane. What’s even more insane is a subject that was brought up before — that some companies are creating intellectual monopolies on methods vital to saving the planet. These are now being fast-tracked.
The US Patent and Trademark Office said Monday that it’s launching a test program that will greatly speed the review of “green” technology patents.
The new fast-track pilot program is expected to shave a full year off the patent review process, which takes an average of 40 months to reach a final decision, according to the USPTO.
It is suicidal to use patents to limit the use of such methods. It shows that the patent system prioritises profit — not betterment — of the industry.
Looking at some proprietary software giants, Apple is looking to reverse a decision regarding a patent (in Eastern Texas of course).
Apple has been told to pay OPTi $21.7m in damages after an Eastern Texas Court issued a final judgment in the firm’s long-running patent infringement case.
But reports this morning suggest the Mac maker’s next move will be sending an appeal to the ruling, rather than a cheque.
Microsoft is meanwhile getting together with a company that attacked Free software using software patents. That would be NetApp. It may have put ZFS in a life-threatening position.
Microsoft and NetApp have struck a 3-year strategic alliance centred on virtualised server environments and technology integration.
President of the FFII is unhappy about Peer-to-Patent’s extension into Australia because it only helps legitimise software patents as a whole. Pointing to this new report about threats to the European patent system [1, 2, 3, 4], he argues that “Bifurcation of infringement and validity will be a disaster, as it is completely one-sided in favour of patentees.” He also adds that “Mono Hackers [are] coming to HSB for FOSDEM, should bring some Microsoft software patents covering Mono?” We wrote about this before.
Those who are not paying attention to what Microsoft is doing in Europe do so at their own peril. We have already shown how Microsoft pressure groups CompTIA, BSA, and ACT were lobbying for software patents in Europe’s interoperability framework [1, 2, 3]. The FSFE is now highlighting their role in the successful perversion of EIFv2 (European Interoperability Framework version 2) and concludes as follows:
Based on the above analysis, we can only conclude that the European Commission is giving strong preference to the viewpoint of a single lobby group. Regarding interoperability and open standards, key places of the consultation document were modified to comply with the demands of the BSA. Input given by other groups was not considered on this issue. Beyond ignoring this input, the Commission has apparently decided to ignore the success of the first version of the EIF, and to abandon its efforts towards actually achieving interoperability in eGovernment services.
OSOR has written about this too. We previously wrote about EIFv2 in:
- European Interoperability Framework (EIF) Corrupted by Microsoft et al, Its Lobbyists
- Orwellian EIF, Fake Open Source, and Security Implications
- No Sense of Shame Left at Microsoft
- Lobbying Leads to Protest — the FFII and the FSFE Rise in Opposition to Subverted EIF
- IBM and Open Forum Europe Address European Interoperability Framework (EIF) Fiasco
- EIF Scrutinised, ODF Evolves, and Microsoft’s OOXML “Lies” Lead to Backlash from Danish Standards Committee
- Complaints About Perverted EIF Continue to Pile Up
- More Complaints About EIFv2 Abuse and Free Software FUD from General Electric (GE)
The ODF Alliance has just published a post which shows that the US administration wants “Open Formats”, but it is only a matter of time before Microsoft lobbyists redefine “open” in the United States too and then pressure the government to use proprietary formats instead. Microsoft’s top lobbyist [1, 2, 3], Bill Gates, is even making phonecalls to politicians to achieve such goals.
The Obama Administration’s Open Government Directive was unveiled today. Concerning open formats the key provisions are:
“each agency shall take prompt steps to expand access to information by making it available online in open formats……..To the extent practicable and subject to valid restrictions, agencies should publish information online in an open format that can be retrieved, downloaded, indexed, and searched by commonly used web search applications. An open format is one that is platform independent, machine readable, and made available to the public without restrictions that would impede the re-use of that information……..”
Just give us the data! That’s been the mantra of open-government enthusiasts, developers among them, who have created mashups – web-based tools that make the reams of government data more accessible and, importantly, put this data to effective public use. For example, Stumble Safely, highlighted in a recent New York Times article, links data regarding incidents of crime with popular locations, such as bars, restaurants and transportation hubs to help guide people home safely after a night out.
It seems safe to assume (based on experience) that Microsoft is already leaning on the right people. █
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11.28.09
Posted in Database, GNU/Linux, Novell, OpenSUSE, Review at 7:07 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: More reviews of OpenSUSE 11.2, the OpenSUSE Boosters Team, and site theme makeovers
THE release of the latest OpenSUSE is just weeks behind and one of its reviewers, Caitlyn Martin, has some followups on last week's review. In her blog she complains about what she describes as ‘the’ community, as though there is one happy family with a cohesive set of ideas and goals, all living in harmony. The reality is more complex because some factions advocate DRM, others exploit GNU/Linux for cost, and others value Freedom for example. There are many other dimensions of division. In O’Reilly’s domain, she writes some more about the subject in relation to her review of OpenSUSE. She did receive some abuse from people, but this is by no means unique to users of GNU/Linux. It is a little disappointing to see it attributed to people who are classified by the operating system that they use.
Read the rest of this entry »
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11.20.09
Posted in Database, Deception, Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, GPL, Microsoft, Mono, Novell, Oracle at 9:51 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: How Microsoft partners and former employees have reached the point of infesting and deforming “open source” as we once knew it
THE title is borrowed from a book of Christopher Hitchens, which was intended to alert using strong words. What we increasingly find in Microsoft’s “open source” endeavours is the “Embrace, Extend and Extinguish” strategy, which was explained many times before, even years ago.
Microsoft’s CodePlex Foundation, where Miguel de Icaza is working (and which is explicitly intended to help promote Mono), is making a lot of noise these days and Mono boosters, who are also former Microsoft employees (MindTouch), lend their voice to it. As we noted yesterday, they also suck up to Matt Asay and it's paying off.
MindTouch bills itself as the open source alternative to Sharepoint and recently named our own Matt Asay as the second most-influential executive in open source.
Matt Asay finally has this new post which bears an alarmist headline: “Microsoft’s embrace of MySQL could kill it”
Here are the opening words:
For those who have fret about Microsoft fighting against open source, I have news for you: Microsoft’s impact on open source may be worse as a friend than as an enemy.
Now with MySQL inside! Yes, we can.
Over the past few years, Microsoft has steadily warmed to open source, to the point that it now hosts its own open-source code repository and has seen its Microsoft Public License used more often than venerable licenses like the Mozilla Public License or the Eclipse Public License, according to new data released by Black Duck Software.
The open-source world should be worried.
We previously showed how Microsoft was lobbying to ruin MySQL [1, 2]. In emerging markets, MySQL is said to have a market share of 46% which is huge. No wonder Microsoft wants to ruin MySQL and with its big ally, SAP, Microsoft is doing a sort of Slog. To whit:
“Working behind the scenes to orchestrate “independent” praise of our technology, and damnation of the enemy’s, is a key evangelism function during the Slog.”
–Microsoft, internal document [PDF]
“[O]rchestrate “independent” praise of our technology,” eh? How might that be?
We once wrote about Black Duck promoting CodePlex. What too few people are aware of is the fact that Black Duck has a Microsoft genesis [1, 2] and the firm is selling fear about Free software. Black Duck is a purely proprietary software company with proprietary methods and proprietary data. It goes back to the post from Asay, but watch what Dana Blankenhorn is now parroting uncritically.
The latest Black Duck Software figures on open source license popularity make it clear.
Microsoft is gaining.
Is it really? Is the source of the claim unbiased? What is it measuring? A wise gentleman (or several gentlemen to whom it’s attributed) once said:
“Lies, damned lies, and statistics”
One of our readers warns us that Black Duck is currently selling fear in more places, for a fee. The same reader tells us that Novell’s “Michael Meeks and ex-Sun employee [are] talking about why Mono sucks.” The source, says our reader, are “some pictures of a friend of a friend on FB.”
Is it not curious that a Novell and GNOME developer bashes Mono? Even Novell employees seem to understand that Mono is technically inferior. The main reason to use it seems to be Microsoft’s contentment and its promoters include existing and former Microsoft employees. “Open Source” is being poisoned from the inside. Doing nothing would not resolve this issue. █
“[The partnership with Microsoft is] going very well insofar as we originally agreed to co-operate on three distinct projects and now we’re working on nine projects and there’s a good list of 19 other projects that we plan to co-operate on.”
–Ron Hovsepian, Novell CEO
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