Links 21/02/2008: Lots on Open Source, Lots of Trouble at Redmond, WA
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2008-02-21 15:12:17 UTC
- Modified: 2008-02-21 15:16:19 UTC
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Links 19/05/2026: Online 'Storage' (Surveillance) Accounts Lower Thresholds (Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos), Slop Debacles Expand (False Promises Made to Staff Regarding Compensation)
- Links for the day
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 81 Out of 200: SLAPP Censorship Does Not Work If Your Sole Strategy is Revenge (and You Attack the Family)
- Both yours and others'
- Techrights at 20 (Soon)
- It does not seek popularity or affirmation from "Establishment" outlets
- We Pay More for Less, for Things That Last Less Time and Are Almost Impossible to Repair
- Ever noticed how "modern" or "smart" TVs come with dumber and dumber (worse) controllers?
- Vista 11 Turns 5 in a Couple of Months. Not Many People Use It.
- It is the only supported version of Windows; many people move elsewhere
- Head of GitHub Recently Left, Microsoft Need No Longer Report Mass Layoffs There (User Activity is Declining)
- We've long said that LinkedIn and GitHub, which Microsoft bought, would likely end up like Skype
- The Slop Bubble is Already Bursting
- Slop is not desirable and the general public is growingly impatient, seeing that slop has improved nothing for them
- Gemini Links 19/05/2026: Reliable Old Tech, Collection of Essays
- Links for the day
- The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XXVII - European Patent Office (EPO) Became a "Toxic Work Environment" When Cocaine Addicts Put in Charge
- They are putting at risk colleagues by abusing them
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 18, 2026
- IRC logs for Monday, May 18, 2026
- Links 18/05/2026: Slop-induced Shortages, Solicitors Regulation Authority Says It's Unable to Deal With Complaints Load (So Regulation Does Not Really Exist)
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 18/05/2026: Ghost Essay and World Wide Web Considered Broken
- Links for the day
- Cooperation and Collaboration, on a More Personal Level
- Rianne, to me, isn't just a wife; she is also my best friend
- IBM Has Payroll Problems (Just Like Microsoft)
- It's a good thing that many nations around the world are, accordingly if not proactively, divesting from GAFAM
- Links 18/05/2026: 25 Years of OLDaily and Dangers of "Living With Too Much Tech"
- Links for the day
- Trips to London
- London isn't a bad place, but it's a long journey and we'd rather stay in Manchester and write about technology
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 80 Out of 200: Having Run Out of Time to Meet a Judge's Deadline, Microsoft's Graveley Had Garrett's Lawyers Argued My ~190-Page Defence and CounterClaim (DCC) Was Unclear About My Position
- Nothing could be further from the truth
- Working in the Shell (and Fish)
- Yesterday we spent about 5 hours on the shells and fish
- The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XXVI - Campinos Has Put Unfit-for-Employment Drug Addicts in Charge of the European Patent Office (EPO)
- How many months has Campinos got left before the delegates show him the door?
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 17, 2026
- IRC logs for Sunday, May 17, 2026
- Gemini Links 18/05/2026: Poetry, Sauna, and GNU Taler
- Links for the day
- "The Society of Media Lawyers" (UK) is a Truly Malicious Anti-Media Lobby Which Helps Rich/Abusive Americans and Hostile Countries Attack Actual Media Workers in the UK
- They typically source their money from aboard to besiege domestic actors (like honest journalists or independent outlets that document suppressed beats/topics)
- Slop Still Waning, Its Momentum is Driven by Companies That Stand to Lose a Lot (or Everything) When the Bubble Pops
- When it comes to LLM slop disguised as news, it's just not working out
- Gemini Links 17/05/2026: arXiv Brings Down the Hammer, UnderPOWERed, and Slopping With Tcl/Tk
- Links for the day
- Links 17/05/2026: Amazon Employees Herded Into Slop, Taiwan Sold Down the River by Cheeto
- Links for the day
- Links 17/05/2026: Society of Media Lawyers (Brett Wilson LLP et al) Lobby for More SLAPPs in the UK, “Courage in Journalism Award” Given in Oppressive Country
- Links for the day
- Finland Needs to Dump Microsoft (Microslop) for National Security Reasons and the Same is True for Hundreds of Countries
- "I don't see why Ryssäs would want Finns to use microslop products..."
- Cyber Show UK is Already Available Over Gemini Protocol
- This past week the total number of active Gemini capsules hit all-time records several times
- Fight Til the End
- This comes to show that persistence pays off
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 79 Out of 200: They Will Soon Reach the 100 KG (Kilograms) Milestone; Wheelbarrows, Not Justice (Quantity of Legal Papers Sent to Us)
- It's about the quality, not quantity (unless your sole aim is to drown out or "flood the zone")
- The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XXV - Not Bringing Intelligence to the EPO, Not 'Artificial Intelligence' Either (But Intelligence-Eroding Drugs)
- The EPO was meant to be about science and law. In practice, however, it's about breaking the law and being stoned.
- The Cyber Show on Why Coding is Important and Slop Cannot Change or Replace That
- Hand-crafting one's site has plenty of advantages
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 16, 2026
- IRC logs for Saturday, May 16, 2026
- Gemini Links 17/05/2026: Music Theory, Reticulum Git Repos, and Releasing Kiln
- Links for the day
Comments
CoolGuy
2008-02-21 16:45:45
steve got pwned by larry.
seriously i think M$ is loosing out and steve has lost control over what he is doing. this is a guy who has zero technical knowledge, has never written a single line of code, cant make out any difference between a asp or php code...lol. i dont know if any m$ executive has advised steve over the technical hurdles of moving yahoo to m$ technology.
rofl.i think no one will dare to go near the chair throwing ninja.
entire blame of M$ doom will be on steve and bill has side stepped out of this mess really easy.
by doing a hostile take over - this is really going to blow out of proportion. everyone is making fun of m$ so openly, they have become a joke of what m$ used to be a decade back.
look at the action figures / toys stuff m$ is doing lately. everyone is laughing at them. they are trying so hard to be like google. haha.
just cant stop laughing.
CoolGuy
2008-02-21 16:49:00
BoomBoom
2008-02-21 18:28:35
- A BB for a brain in an empty head. Shake him and hear him rattle! - A pile of stolen patents for things someone else invented! - Extra sweat! - Awesome monkeydance action! - Developers developers developers developers! - Buggy software that doesn't work! - Buggy patches for buggy software that *still* doesn't work! - A fake sense of security! (along with thousands of exploits and weaknesses) - An EULA written by the Ghost of Stalin and the RIAA! - MONO! (Both the poisonware and the disease) - Office chair grenades! - FUD machinegun! - Arrogance out the wazoo! - Megalomaniac world domination plans! - And not a snowball's chance in Hell of ever having a clue.
:P
Roy Schestowitz
2008-02-21 22:39:12
This VNUnet article dovetails nicely with the recent piece on Groklaw[1]
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2210121/microsoft-engages-proxy-fight
I wonder if a deep-cutting summary or analysis can be written to Slashdot without using the M-word.
The plan seems to be to lobby and intrigue behind the scenes to replace the board with a more obedient set. Before that happens, Yahoo should re-license Zimbra as GPL. Also, how big a contributer is Yahoo to open source development in general and BSD in particular? That could be one of the main motivations for hostile take over.
I also notice that the astroturfers have returned to slashdot in droves since about Monday or so and, probably related, there is article after article of advertising.
[1] http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071023002351958
Also, about the last attempts to save the cash cow :
Houston, we have a problem ... ... when trying to paint a nice face before the BRM ...
Google News Alert for: (OpenDocument OR ODF) AND ("Ecma 376" OR OXML OR OOXML OR "office open xml" OR "open XML")
Microsoft pledges not to sue over open source CNet News.com Blog - USA The company does not natively support the alternative Open Document Format, or ODF, standard in Office 2007. Although it does not mention ODF specifically ... See all stories on this topic
MS to publish free APIs for Windows, Office Electronista - Santa Clara,CA,USA Office 2007 has been a particular subject of investigation and has been criticized for its switch to the Microsoft-made Office Open XML (OOXML) standard, ... See all stories on this topic
Microsoft Promises Interoperability Digitaltrends.com - Lake Oswego,OR,USA Microsoft also says it won't sue open source developers who build or distribute non-commercial implementations of its protocols, although developers who ... See all stories on this topic
Microsoft is fighting. Don't give it too much room for manipulation.