Bonum Certa Men Certa

Europe Wants Disclosure, But Microsoft Opens Another So-called 'Interoperability Lab'

"'Innovation' is a convenient excuse and there is rarely any innovative value involved in deviation from standards."While at the airports, I managed to do some extensive reading on Microsoft's antitrust ruling in Europe and also on OpenDocument format. The texts said a lot more about how Microsoft never complied with standards. It showed that Microsoft was willing to take standard protocols and then make minor and pointless changes to them -- the way proprietary -- just to ensure interoperability would be broken. To Microsoft, proprietary protocols are whatever it wishes to call 'innovation', but in reality, Microsoft knows that proprietary protocols are just a lock-in method. 'Innovation' is a convenient excuse and there is rarely any innovative value involved in deviation from standards. The Commission's ruling exposed all of this.

Here we are today waiting for Europe's action to take effect. According to one of the latest articles on this matter:

It also upheld the EU executive's demands for the company to offer a version of its Windows software without its Media Player, and to share the software protocols or 'interoperability information' underpinning Windows for makers of rival products.


As we said several times in the past, with Novell's deal, which was 'bought', it is easier for Microsoft to argue that standards are not the way forwards. Instead, Microsoft wants companies to invest in and to purchase binary bridges. It turns out that Microsoft has just opened yet another establishment that it calls an interoperability lab (this time in India).

Microsoft has set up a lab in Bangalore where industry, government, and educational institutions can build test applications for their interoperability with open-source and other technologies.


Why can't Microsoft just embrace standards? This question was answered many times before, but never was the answer satisfactory. Novell used to fight for standards and openness along with the tiny Samba and FSFE. Then came the Microsoft money which had Novell change its mind. Novell sold out.

Sellout

Recent Techrights' Posts

Our Case is a Very Easy Win, the SLAPPs From Microsofters Were a Grave Error, and Censoring Information Won't Work (It'll Only Ever Backfire)
Censoring is what people do when they lose the argument
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 04, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 04, 2025
Slopwatch: Mindless Slop Pieces, Fake Images and Text, Linux FUD on the Cheap
spewed out by Microsoft-controlled LLMs
Links 04/06/2025: Workers' Strikes, Sudan Exodus
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: Linux Foundation PR Spam and Lee Jae-myung Wins Election
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Future Leaders of the World and Platforming Jordan Peterson
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: WSL Backfiring on Microsoft and "Disney, Microsoft Announce Massive Layoffs"
Links for the day
Say the Truth, the Rest Will Follow
There's no guarantee that writing the truth will result in an audience (or readership), but over time - in the long run - people generally gravitate towards what they know or feel to be crude truth, not just what's comforting (albeit false or self-deluding, usually groupthink dictated from above)
How to Expose High-Level Corruption Without Getting in (Too Much) Trouble
Democracy depends on free press and freedom of the press depends on being able to safely publish (and keep available) material that bad people don't want to be known to anybody
In-Depth EPO Coverage at Techrights Turns Eleven
11 years is a very long time
Windows Measured Below 10% in Afghanistan, GNU/Linux Gaining a Lot
about 80% are Android (Linux) users, compared to only about 10% for Windows
Poland's Political Predicament and Social Control Media
Democracy and fake "tech" don't mix well; the latter tends to interfere with the former and that's why we get more "Putins" out there
EPO: Taking Away From the Staff to Give More to the Rich
The Central Staff Committee (CSC) wrote to EPO staff earlier this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 03, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 03, 2025
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part I: It's a Lot Like the EPO
we can commence a series soon
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Inescapable Questions and Quitting All "Oligarch Tech"
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Linux FUD From Slopfarms, Blaming Linux for Microsoft Issues; Even WebProNews Has Become a Slopfarm (Googlebombing "Linux" With Slop Images and Fake/Plagiarised Text)
The Web is really getting bad; it's also overwhelmed by fake material or plagiarised material, wherein the plagiarism gets disguised/hidden by LLM sausage factories
Links 03/06/2025: Tiananmen Square Massacre Censorship and Growing Military Activities Around Taiwan
Links for the day
Linux is Already Dominant (Android), Let's Make GNU/Linux Dominant in Desktops/Laptops as Well
"Dr. Stallman recently warned everybody about Microsoft."
The Loyalty to Microsoft and the Salaries From Microsoft (Funding SLAPPs Against Techrights and Tux Machines)
Garrett always knows better. He knows everything best.
Windows Falls in Italy as GNU/Linux Jumps to 5%
Italy knows a thing or two about digital autonomy
Nigeria is All Android and Google
Windows down to almost nothing in Africa's largest population
Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Second Wave) Not Limited to Redmond
"More layoffs at Microsoft as axe falls in Washington and California"
Gemini Links 03/06/2025: Forth System and "Common Lisp is a Dumpster"
Links for the day
The Leaks Were Right: Mass Layoffs at Microsoft in May, Then Another Wave in June
Just as we've been saying for over a month
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 02, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 02, 2025