03.07.14
Posted in Microsoft, Windows at 10:26 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Windows XP is almost officially dead now, so rather than cling onto it (as parts of China reportedly do) one needs to move to GNU/Linux
Microsoft is leaving Windows to rot (even where there is a large userbase [1]), so we should too. Sometimes in my job people who are mentally dependent on Windows (fearful of change) try to cling onto Microsoft APIs [2], Windows applications, server protocols etc. without quite realising that they only make their life more difficult, especially if they try to rely on GNU/Linux for the rest (especially on the desktop, not just the server). The right thing to do right now is to find alternatives to Windows which are based on GNU/Linux [3], protecting freedom [4] and dodging incarceration that proprietary software so gleefully promotes [5].
Some people said that 2014 would be the year of GNU/Linux on the desktop and based on what I see at work this is actually very probable. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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Windows XP is 13 years old and Microsoft has no obligation to continue supporting it — but failing to support it means that many of the most vulnerable or cash-strapped customers could end up playing host to an avalanche of malware or security exploits.
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If you were hoping to eventually be able to run Windows applications within Google’s Chrome OS environment via Wine, the possibilities of that working out well are very slim.
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Microsoft will soon no longer support Windows XP so current XP users will need to migrate to a newer version of Windows or possibly Linux. If they don’t migrate, they run the risk of serious security problems once Microsoft stops issuing updates for Windows XP.
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We need to protect the freedoms in which Linux was born and grew up.
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The OS is the core of your computing experience. There’s no point trying to run a fully legal setup if the base of it is illegal. Windows and Mac OS are the most known operating systems, however they aren’t free.
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03.06.14
Posted in Google, Microsoft at 8:48 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Rupert Murdoch’s special relationship with Microsoft and Bill Gates seems to be coming to an end
“News Corp dumps Microsoft for Google Apps,” says this report’s headline, shocking the world somewhat. So the Murdoch press itself (The Australian) announces that it is ditching Microsoft, and even more surprisingly for Google, which Murdoch famously hates (we covered many examples to that effect before, even a few years ago, noting Gates connections). Murdoch also hates net neutrality and the Internet/Web in general because it's competition (the Web has just turned 25 [1,2] and some worry about excessive control by few people [3,4], the erosion of basic principles [5], and the death of net neutrality in the US [6-10], rendering the Web not much more than a DRM and surveillance engine [11]). “I would have rather seen a move to Kolab or Citadel but this is a start,” says iophk about the news. “They’re still locked into Microsoft Office. It seems that LibreOffice should interest them.”
Using an office suite on the Web is a huge and unnecessary privacy mistake. It even tracks clicks. It’s worse than proprietary software that one installs locally in some ways.
Anyway, one must admit that when even Google’s big enemy is dumping Microsoft for Google, it means that Microsoft is going the way of the dodo. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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As the 25th anniversary of the World Wide Web approaches, 87 percent of U.S. adults use the Internet, according to a Pew Research Center survey.
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The people conducting the ceremony are part of an organization called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN is responsible for assigning numerical Internet addresses to websites and computers and translating them into the normal web addresses that people type into their browsers.
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Here’s a simple truth: the internet has radically changed the world. Over the course of the past 20 years, the idea of networking all the world’s computers has gone from a research science pipe dream to a necessary condition of economic and social development, from government and university labs to kitchen tables and city streets. We are all travelers now, desperate souls searching for a signal to connect us all. It is awesome.
And we’re fucking everything up.
Massive companies like AT&T and Comcast have spent the first two months of 2014 boldly announcing plans to close and control the internet through additional fees, pay-to-play schemes, and sheer brutal size — all while the legal rules designed to protect against these kinds of abuses were struck down in court for basically making too much sense. “Broadband providers represent a threat to internet openness,” concluded Judge David Tatel in Verizon’s case against the FCC’s Open Internet order, adding that the FCC had provided ample evidence of internet companies abusing their market power and had made “a rational connection between the facts found and the choices made.” Verizon argued strenuously, but had offered the court “no persuasive reason to question that judgement.”
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The Internet service provider and the streaming video service announced on Sunday that they had struck a deal that speeds up streaming of Netflix content into the homes of Comcast subscribers. In a joint statement, Netflix and Comcast hailed this “mutually beneficial interconnection agreement” that provides “a more direct connection between Netflix and Comcast, similar to other networks, that’s already delivering an even better user experience to consumers, while also allowing for future growth in Netflix traffic.”
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It was revealed over the weekend that Netflix and Comcast had struck a historic deal: for the first time the streaming-video service would pay the cable giant in order to ensure that the huge volume of data it was sending would arrive swiftly and smoothly in customers’ homes. This came after months of Netflix traffic performing increasingly poorly on Comcast’s network. Also at issue is the massive increase in the last few years of Netflix’s size; it grew to encompass roughly one-third of all internet data piped across the United States during prime-time video-viewing hours.
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Consumer groups and media watchdogs on Monday expressed “grave concerns” about Netflix’s landmark pact with cable giant Comcast for improved internet service.
Netflix, the world’s largest video on demand service, announced at the weekend that it had made an undisclosed payment to Comcast for direct access to the cable company’s broadband network, in order to ensure smooth delivery of its content.
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It’s hard to believe the World Wide Web has already been around for 25 years — the time since Tim Berners-Lee proposed a system that would allow computers to access files on other computers via the Internet.
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Posted in Apple, GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Patents at 8:28 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: The return of discussions about patent stacking and the role played by the anti-Android camp
ANDROID really took off not just because it’s Free/Open Source software but also because it was free. Now, a few years down the line, Android phones can cost as much as €699 (Samsung Galaxy S5) and although the main reason may be Samsung’s greed (knowing that some people would be willing to pay this price), we should not forget the role patent stacking plays. We have written about it for years.
Microsoft Nokia and Apple signed a secret deal which Samsung now formally complains about, as we covered earlier this week (the latest Google and Samsung complaint is in China). “Nokia,” explains Sosumi, is “now a patent troll and a Microsoft tentacle” (it has been like that for 3 years).
There is secrecy there that harms Android. Not only do Microsoft and Nokia pass patents to trolls who target Android; they also try to engage in patent stacking themselves. A pro-Apple site mentioned this latest twist the other day: “Last October, Apple filed a motion seeking sanctions against Samsung and its outside lawyers, accusing both of unlawfully sharing sensitive data about Apple’s 2011 patent license agreement with Nokia. Specifically, the motion stated that a Samsung executive informed Nokia that the terms of the patent settlement were “known to him”, and used that information to negotiate other patent agreements in Samsung’s favor. The license terms between Apple and Nokia were marked “Highly Confidential – Attorneys’ Eyes Only”, but were shared with other Samsung employees.” Bear this in mind whenever pundits try to claim that Nokia is befriending Android.
Patents which are based on secrecy like this are a matter of price-fixing and collusion. This should be against the law, but guess who writes the laws these days? In India, for example, one major newspaper now publishes the article “India must call the US’ bluff on patents” [1] and in Red Hat’s site Rob Tiller is finally slamming software patents [2] (which he rarely does), adding to increased opposition to software patents these days [3], in light of an imminent SCOTUS milestone event (Red Hat too is involved). █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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Apart from the deterioration of the business environment generally, which impacts both domestic and foreign investors, retrospective taxation has figured most prominently in the media as the principal cause of growing scepticism among foreign investors. Entirely missing from the discourse has been an equally potent factor with wholly foreign origins: the hijacking of the economic policy dialogue between the United States and India by pharmaceutical lobbies in the US. Big Pharma has convinced the US government that the country’s interests are synonymous with its own. With its own list of grievances against trade restrictions in India, the National Association of Manufacturers, a lobby group of the United States manufacturers, has lent its support to the pharmaceutical industry.
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Software patent thickets are often compared to minefields, but with a note of resignation, as though there’s no avoiding them. The U.S. Supreme Court now has before it a case that could go a long way towards addressing the litigation risks and business uncertainties created by software patents. The case is Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, and the issue is whether claims to computer-implemented inventions are eligible for patents.
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Public Knowledge is back at it, carving holes in dubious software patent claims by distilling supposedly “complex” ideas into a minimal amount of code. Late last year, Public Knowledge filed an amicus brief in a lawsuit involving Ultramercial, whose disputed patent basically involved appending “on the internet” to a very basic idea.
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03.04.14
Posted in Google, Marketing, Microsoft at 8:13 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: An appointment of Penn to the role of “chief strategy officer” says a lot about Microsoft’s strategy
IN ADDITION to trolling Google with patents (via proxies) Microsoft is running smear campaigns against Google. Microsoft is a political movement, not a technology company, and now it is hiring political astroturf figures and promoting them to the very top [1]. To quote this new report: “For Washingtonians, Penn’s appointment is of particular interest, given his time on the Clinton presidential campaign and his subsequent resignation after his public relations work raised conflict-of-interest issues. During his year and half at Microsoft, he has helped the firm use his penchant for negative advertising against tech competitors.”
Writing about this man’s promotion to “chief strategy officer”, Glyn Moody says that “if Nadella thinks “scroogled” is strategy, MS is truly in finished” (Nadella is not really in charge, Ballmer and Gates still control him behind the scenes and he serves mostly as a public face).
So the official Microsoft strategy now revolves around throwing libel at Google, based on Penn’s promotion. Sam Dean, often an apologist for Microsoft, asked yesterday [3]: “How Will Microsoft Respond to the Success of Chromebooks?”
Well, we think it’s very clear now: smears and patent litigation/extortion.
Welcome the ‘new’ Microsoft. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)’s newly-appointed Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella, in an effort to reignite growth, is shuffling management and putting former political operative Mark Penn in the new role of chief strategy officer, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
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As we’ve reported, although market research findings have been very bleak for PCs and PC equipment makers, Chromebooks–portable computers based on Google’s Chrome OS platform–have continued to sell well, and did especially well during the 2013 holiday season. These devices feature low prices, with some of the them going for $200, and a cloud-centric approach to working with apps and data. They also increasingly come with freebies, such as large amounts of free, online storage.
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Posted in Microsoft, Patents at 8:03 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: An update on Nokia, Intellectual Ventures, and other proxies of the Microsoft camp that pass patents for trolls who attack Android/Linux, FOSS at large, and the industry as a whole (everyone but Microsoft)
WHEN Bill Gates, hiding behind his tax evasion ploy, funded his close friend’s so-called ‘business’ Intellectual Ventures he must have envisioned the potential for abuse against Microsoft’s competitors. Over the past few years we have demonstrated this happening. It’s not a theory but practice.
Glyn Moody, writing this update about Intellectual Ventures, notes that there were layoffs (due to lack of money) and months ago the troll was reported to have “grown to 800 employees, 70,000 patents.” It’s a bubble.
As we demonstrated and repeatedly showed some years ago, Intellectual Ventures was lobbying together with Bill Gates, showing the alignment in agenda (they work on some projects together, extorting real companies). “Intellectual Ventures,” notes a new report, “which is one of the country’s top patent owners but makes few of its own products, filed to organize the committee with the Federal Election Commission this week.”
So they continue to interfere with politics.
Speaking of trolls, Microsoft’s troll Nokia (which also sends patents to other trolls) is now the subject of complaints for its trolling (after the European regulators warned about it also) [1]. “A little bit of revisionism there,” said iopkh, “the ground was lost because of Elop.” (A Microsoft mole)
Nokia, Intellectual Ventures etc. are just part patent-stacking techniques and elimination of fair competition by passing some patents to trolls (both Nokia and Intellectual Ventures use smaller entities for litigation). Meanwhile, as revealed in [2], the EFF continues to focus on “trolls” rather than software patents when it comes to patent reform. Perhaps they would do something to limit the ability of Nokia, Intellectual Ventures and others who are passing patents to troll as part of the current business model. Maybe Nokia, Intellectual Ventures, and others will just die quickly enough to reduce the damage they can inflict upon producing entities.
This is a serious issue. It deserves more attention. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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Google Inc. (GOOG:US) and Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) joined Chinese mobile phone makers in expressing concern to China that Microsoft Corp. (MSFT:US)’s bid to take over Nokia Oyj (NOK1V)’s phone business may result in higher patent licensing fees, two government officials familiar with the matter said.
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The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) urged the U.S. Supreme Court to crack down on patent trolls and the schemes they use to perpetuate their lawsuits in two amicus briefs filed today.
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03.03.14
Posted in Microsoft at 8:25 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Revelations based on hard documents, clearly stating policy and intent, remind everyone that no product of Microsoft is safe from criminal scooping
THANKS to the leaks from Edward Snowden, we now know for sure that Skype is a spy and Xbox Live is under surveillance.
As mentioned briefly in our daily links, even Kinect is now a target. To quote one article about the subject, “GCHQ identified Kinect as possible snooping tool; Microsoft denies all knowledge” (the same can be said about Skype, which the NSA spies on and seemingly stores videos from).
Coverage about it (e.g. [1,2]) is already being warped or marginalised by Microsoft boosters [3]. There are lots of denials and “damage control” from Microsoft (usually prepended or appended to articles, obviously at the request of Microsoft), which serves the NSA with bad or non-existent encryption (as other leaks showed). Xbox One makes it even worse and we can now assume that it too will be a target of surveillance, as we correctly predicted last year. The same can be said about Nokia phones and it is now confirmed by the Finnish media that Microsoft spies on users of Nokia phones. “Oddly,” says Christine Hall, “at just about the same time that Nokia’s announcing the arrival of a phone running open source Windroid, the folks in Redmond are pushing some more FUD, saying that FOSS users are nothing if not dissatisfied with their use of open source. As reported by Katherine Noyes on LinuxInsider, this latest FUD attack was mounted by Microsoft blogger Alexbuk, who wrote of the UK’s proposal to mandate the use of ODF.”
We are going to revisit that latter item later this month. In the mean time, however, let us remember that almost everything which comes out from Redmond (Microsoft and Amazon) is tainted with surveillance capabilities. Not only so-called ‘terrorists’ are targetted. Microsoft has become an espionage company. Business ties explain why. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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It’s not just the NSA that’s caught with their authoritarian pants around their legs. Apparently, the British have been up to it too. According to The Guardian, not only has the British intelligence agency GCHQ been storing massive amounts of webcam footage, but it also considered using the always-on Microsoft Kinect as well.
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Posted in GNU/Linux, Microsoft at 7:14 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Ford should avoid Blackberry’s QNX OS and instead go for a Linux-based OS
LAST WEEK we wrote about rumours that Ford was leaving Microsoft (the company’s key automobile partner for years). There are now some reports about it [1], which makes it look like more than a rumour. Ford was Microsoft’s biggest and perhaps only supporter when it comes to automobiles, so it must be a huge loss for Microsoft and perhaps the end of Microsoft’s escapades inside people’s cars (Microsoft has many problems others than that, even at the core business). What’s baffling, however, is the choice of Blackberry’s QNX OS; it’s proprietary, unlike Android, Linux, and all those massively-popular options for car operating systems (which can be tailored to the needs of pertinent companies large or small).
There are reports at the moment about Ford trying to appeal to the “Open-Source Community” (not necessarily software). One article said that “OpenXC, essentially an API to a car, is a combination of open-source hardware and software that lets enthusiasts extend their vehicles with custom applications and pluggable modules. It uses standard, well known tools to open up a wealth of data from the vehicle to developers.”
The problem is, unless Ford uses an Open/Free system that developers can tinker with (not just at API level), it will never attract much interest. Ford would be wise to move towards a Linux-oriented system (and not BSD-based but closed). Since we are only in the rumours stage, there is still room for change in judgment. Ford executives should explore a relationship with the Linux Foundation. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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Ford is reportedly set to replace the Windows-based Sync platform in its cars with an open-source based system used by several other automakers.
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02.27.14
Posted in Bill Gates, GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Patents at 7:30 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Secret deals and racketeering techniques elude journalists who are passing allegations as ‘facts’, damaging Linux for the most part
SOMETHING fascinating has been happening in the corporate press over the past few years (starting 2010 with HTC). Unlike with the Novell deal (Microsoft SUSE), when it comes to Android the press seems eager to push the “Android is not free” line. Even some pro-FOSS journalists are doing it, only to face opposition. To quote Pogson’s response to one of them: “I don’t often disagree with SJVN but I think his argument that M$ makes $billions from Android/Linux taxes is extreme. If that were happening, there would be some mention of it in M$’s SEC filings.”
Not only is this not happening based on any concrete evidence; the sources which make these claims are quoting some arbitrary analysts with Microsoft connections or Microsoft boosters/lobbyists who cite such people. Trace it all back to the source and it looks like make believe. It’s like a big lie that needs to die, at least until or unless there’s some kind of proof.
Those of us who see journalists perpetuating and spreading the claims that Microsoft makes billions of dollars from Android should respond to the authors/editors by equating them with so-called ‘conspiracy theories’ who throw around unsubstantiated claims. Microsoft has long been manufacturing dirt and lies, only to be caught some time later, after much damage had been done to the subject of libel. Bribed journalists often play a role in such big lies and nobody demonstrates this as well as the Gates Foundation, which is basically a lobbying and investment shell (masquerading as a charity and bribing the press to maintain this illusion). As Jamie Love put it yesterday: “The few reporters that have written about the trade disputes over cancer patents are not on the Gates payroll. [...] Gates has effectively aligned itself with Merck, Novartis and others, against cancer patients. Sometimes, discretely. [...] WHO is quite cautious on the IPR issues these days, because of fears that Gates will complain. [...] Gates Foundation funding of health news reporters, most health NGOs, contributes to lack of criticism of Obama’s actions on cancer patents” (we wrote about cancer patents before, including their impact on death). Remember that Gates received got a huge amount of money last year from this patent profiteering (gains of about 15 billion dollars). He is still all about patents and monopolies. Gates is also investing in patent trolls and collaborating with the world’s biggest patent troll, which he helped create (the head of this trolling entity is one of Bill Gates’ best friends).
As Joe Mullin put it the other day, frivolous litigation with baseless patents is still worthwhile in the US because the plaintiff never assumes the financial burden of the cases. This works well for trolls such as Microsoft, Bill Gates, and the world’s biggest patent troll which he created. It’s deterrence against defence. As Mullin puts it: “The American judicial system has long held to a general principle that each party in a dispute should pay for its own legal fees, win or lose.”
Microsoft is a patent troll based on its actions, signing secret deals using useless patents, knowing that the burden of a legal case would be put on the victim. As long as this kind of system prevails the corruption of the industry and the media (which cannot gain access to these secret deals) will continue.
Microsoft corruption is an immensely powerful phenomenon which now transcends the software industry. One way to address this issue is to work on changing the patent system (which is hard). █
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