Bonum Certa Men Certa

Silverlight (and Moonlight/Mono, by Association) Becomes Part of the Antitrust Debate

Microsoft's history with standards repeats itself. Nothing has changed and more states are beginning to wake up and see this.

In surprise move, attorneys general in four states that previously said antitrust agreement was working now argue Redmond's "Microsoft's Windows monopoly is indisputably resilient."


Very few people have known about tomorrow's lock-ins, but that's because Microsoft keeps quiet about it. Microsoft knows why keeping quiet is the better way.

"It is a progressive hijack of the World Wide Web."A new report sheds some more light on the issues. Unsurprisingly, Silverlight, which we've warned about since the start (mind Novell's role as an accomplice and eyewitness), is in the middle of this debate too. We used to mention some complaints that had been made to the EU about this. It is a progressive hijack of the World Wide Web.

The states' report seems to imply that Microsoft will try to find a way to tie Silverlight to IE in the future, and leverage the 80 percent market share of IE on the desktop to try and edge out competitors like Adobe AIR.


To recaputulate, watch the following older articles (January this year).

ECIS Accuses Microsoft of Plotting HTML Hijack

An industry coalition that has represented competitors of Microsoft in European markets before the European Commission stepped up its public relations offensive this morning, this time accusing Microsoft of scheming to upset HTML's place in the fabric of the Internet with XAML, an XML-based layout lexicon for network applications.


Here is the text from an expired article that once appeared in CNN. It vanished for no reasons since then and even confirmed the suspicions that CNN's archive is selective (excluding some Linux stories as well, according to people whom I spoke to).

Software rivals say Microsoft's Vista illegal in Europe (at CNNMoney.com)

[...]

Software manufacturers, citing 2004 European Commission finding, contend the operating system violates server laws in Europe.

[...]

"Vista is the first step of Microsoft's strategy to extend its market dominance to the Internet," the ECIS statement said.

It said Microsoft's XAML markup language was "positioned to replace HTML," the industry standard for publishing documents on the Internet.

Microsoft's own language would be dependent on Windows, and discriminatory against rival systems such as Linux, the group says.

They said a so-called "open XML" platform file format, known as OOXML, is designed to run seamlessly only on the Microsoft Office platform.


So, XAML and OOXML are a major part of this hijack attempt, which can be made successful by leveraging the monopoly on the desktop. There's also SharePoint's role here:

Could SharePoint Be Microsoft’s New Mode of Lock-In?

This could be a tough one for IT leaders. Business users are comfortable with Microsoft. They know how to use the Office interface, and apparently like it to the point users will create their own mini-BI tools from Excel and opt out of the corporate system. But, if Asay’s right, vendor lock-in could cause unforeseen problems or major costs down the road.

After reading Asay’s column and the interview with Nicholls, at least you’ll know which questions to ask before investing in either SharePoint or an alternative solution.


Be aware that Novell's role here is not too obvious to see, but Novell not only supports OOXML (it began the OOXML translator project after it had signed the deal with Microsoft). Novell also uses the controversial Mono to support Microsoft's Silverlight. This can turn Linux into a second-class citizen on the Web [1, 2, 3]. Novell should have demonstrated against it rather than support it (partially). But Novell sold out.

Mono is the devil



Sharepoint, OOXML, XPS, SOA (REST) [1, 2, 3, 4], and DRM-'boosted' objects (maybe HD) are other components of tomorrow's lockin. One needn't look very far to find yet another component, which was officially announced just days ago -- unified communications.

“We’re moving along the continuum that started way back when in the CTI days,” says Robins. “And now, with the computing horsepower that exists, the standardization of IP as the protocol of choice in terms of communications, we’ve now got the foundation for this to really propagate everywhere. It’s a wonderful thing. The value that Microsoft brings to the table is that they’re really the 800-pound gorilla, especially in the PC desktop computing space. So Microsoft is in a position to really make this happen in a very big way. One day all PBXs will interoperate with the Microsoft communications platform, and we’ll see what happens on the mobile side.”


Where are standards? Recall our discussion about Microsoft's exclusive and closed relationship with Cisco. This is not a way to build an industry; it's a way to have it destroyed (owned entirely by mono/duopolists).

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

New XBox Leaks Probably Serve to Confirm XBox's Collapse (Many More Layoffs)
It's very much consistent with what many other sites have reported lately
 
Slopwatch: Serial Sloppers, Google News Gifting Slopfarms, and Fake News/Plagiarism About "Linux"
Google itself is a slop pusher these days
Qualcomm, the New Owner of Arduino, Blasted for Its Software Patents Tax on 'Smartphones'
A lot of Qualcomm's patents are on software. We wrote about this in prior years.
XBox Layoffs Rumours, Downtime, and Criticism From XBox Co-Founder
"everyone is ditching the xbox."
Links 10/10/2025: Honoring The Legacy Of Robert Murray-Smith, Many Articles on the Hey Hi (AI) Bubble
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: October Gothic and Reading Middle Earth Role Playing; C and Ada
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 09, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 09, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Farewell to Jane Goodall, California Bans Algorithmic Price-Fixing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Lost Wages and a Saga Of Continuing To Use Palm PDAs
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's Talk in Helsinki is Done. Tomorrow Göteborg.
There are scarce details in Finnish about Dr. Stallman's talk
The Slop Song
The train wreck marches on
LLM Slop/Advanced Plagiarism Flooding the Zone With Capital That Does Not Exist
Many publishers out there still participate in this bubble instead of calling it what it is
Links 09/10/2025: Sacked Microsoft Workers Make "Sackbird", IBM Taps CockroachDB for PostgreSQL
Links for the day
"Happy Hacking Day" Richard Stallman Talk This Afternoon (From 14:00 to 16:00) at Haaga-Helia University in Pasila
Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 08, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 08, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Impact of Microsoft Layoffs, More Data Breaches
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Autumn Blues and C IRC Bot
Links for the day
Slopwatch Appreciated by Real Authors of GNU/Linux Articles
We do try to keep on top of those things
Upgraded R.R.R.R.R.R. Today
The Web of 2025 is full of garbage, not limited to slopfarms
Freedom From Proprietary Prisons
Forking always an option
IBM's Watson Died in 1956, Now Watson Dies Again
IBM is becoming just a reseller of GAFAM and other stuff
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Google News
We've also just noticed more slop from UbuntuPIT
Microsoft Says That Constant Mass Layoffs Are Success, the Media Isn't Buying This Microsoft Narrative Anymore
If people in the media feel an obligation to repeat whatever lies Microsoft tells, what point will there be to the media?
Links 08/10/2025: "Mali Puts Free Speech on Trial" And Apple Enforces Dictatorship
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: ‘Death to Spotify’ and Law to Ban Loud Commercials on Streaming (Dis)Services
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Real Innovation and Nina.chat is Dead
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Y2K38 Bug is a Vulnerability, Chat Control in Europe a Threat
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows is No Longer an Operating System, It's Surveillance Project
Why is this even legal to preload on PCs outside the US?
How and Why Once-Legitimate Sites Turn Into Slopfarms
Many sites will go offline and many social control networks will shut down once they realise or even openly admit they spend money and time gardening a bunch of bots and slop
UbuntuPIT Became a Slopfarm and Gnoppix Tarnishes Its Own Brand With Slop
It fits all the characteristics of mildly-edited (if at all) slop
Slopwatch: Linux Journal and Other Slopfarms
GAFAM needs to go the way of the dodo
Gemini Links 08/10/2025: "Seek Seek Revolution" and Gradient Backgrounds
Links for the day
Qualcomm Arduino Takes Aim at Raspberry Pi
Qualcomm is a Microsoft partner
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 07, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 07, 2025
Stagnation of the Economy and What Free Software Can (or Could) Do For It
If your economic model is based on a pyramid of lies, it won't last very long
Social Control Media is Sinking
it would rightly seem like the era of centralised "social" sites (they're not social, they're about controlling the users) is ending, not overnight but gradually