Bonum Certa Men Certa

Breaking Microsoft's Two-pillar Strategy

"It's possible, you can never know, that the universe exists only for me. If so, it's sure going well for me, I must admit."

--Bill Gates, TIME magazine Vol. 149, No. 2 (13 January 1997)



The following short article comes from a reader, who strives to explain Microsoft's current strategy.




Microsoft must be very scared. Their monopoly is at stake (or as Eric Raymond says, if they don't get a monopoly lock-in their options will plummet and everything is over, so they will never behave). Their hopes to keep their monopoly remain in 2 fundamental pillars: Expect them to bury as much money as necessary to sustain these 2 pillars and get their way:

Pillar 1



Microsoft OOXML is a fundamental part of their strategy: Without the fixed revenue stream coming from governments they will suffer much, not only because they will lose one of their biggest sure captive customers (governments) but also because it would open the floodgates to competition. And they don't stand any chances against GNU/Linux in terms of cost, scalability, security, performance and so forth.

That is why if ISO refuses Microsoft OOXML and governments start to migrate to alternatives, they are doomed.

Their other captive customer (the OEMs) are starting to fail them. As hardware prices are lowered, the 'Microsoft tax' is becoming more and more visible. A computer without the extra tax -- and the extra requirements to run Windows -- is more competitive and successful: Think about the Eee PC. That's why they opposed so hideously to the OLPC project.

Pillar 2



The other pillar is Software Patents, which is the legal mechanism they are embracing in order to perpetuate their monopoly. Alas, software patents are illegal in Europe and we must be alert on this because they are trying to see them passed in the EU (heavy lobbying behind the scenes to our elected representatives), so this is another field where FLOSS has to fight and fight hard.

“And think about the economic crisis: It was already hard to try to prove their products were worth the ridiculous prices they ask for the licences, but it is getting harder every day.”They have extended a worldwide network of Microsoft Certified Partners, Microsoft certified developers, system administrators and satellite business that sell you anti-virus for systems they make insecure by design, and there is a huge amount of money in the whole game, much of it coming as a sure thing (the OEM tax, governments spending public funds on their products due to the lock-in, etc), and any member of this network can see its business menaced by people like you and I telling everyone that "The emperor just has no clothes". So expect the fight.

But at the end of the day we know -- as well as them -- we are right and they are wrong and they know it (I always try to imagine the cognitive dissonance inside Jason Matusow's head looking at how he bends the truth to serve his employer in his posts). Free Software has just started rolling and it is like a snowball now, but soon it will be an avalanche. Lies will be revealed sooner or later (documents coming out of legal processes show Microsoft has not changed an inch in more of 10 years).

And think about the economic crisis: It was already hard to try to prove their products were worth the ridiculous prices they ask for the licences, but it is getting harder every day.

So, let's keep up the good fight for software freedom, which is as well our freedom, the society's and the legacy we can fight from in our reduced field of action -- we are not world leaders or powerful entrepreneurs, but into our "everyday people" possibilities we do make a difference -- for the generations to come.




Remind yourself of this: Steve Ballmer keeps saying (and last said it just two weeks ago) that Linux is Microsoft's number one competitor. Remember this. Number one threat. Not Apple. Not IBM. Microsoft is meanwhile approaching debt and it may soon be tipped over the edge only to surprise everyone who previously fell for their constant lies (otherwise known as "embellishments").

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft Bankruptcy
"Microsoft unit in Russia to file for bankruptcy, database shows"
Techrights Does Not Compete With LLM Slop, It Exposes the Bastards, Plagiarists and Scammers Who Do That
People like Scam Altman, still facing a lawsuit from his own sister for sexual abuse against her
 
Google Bribes EFF. EFF Promotes LLM Slop as 'Fair Use'. To GAFAM It's a Low-Cost Lobby Hedge.
So the bribes pay off ("slush fund") and the word spreads
Slopwatch: Fake Text and Images, Financial Bubbles, and Scams in "Intelligent" Clothing
Sometimes what they mean by "AI" is just cheap labour somewhere else, as we discussed in IRC a few hours ago
Why Microsoft is Collapsing (Similar to What's Happening at IBM), As Insiders See It
IBM seems like one heck of a mess
Reliable Computing Means Free (Libre) Computing
Sites that want to promote security ought to deal with the biggest issues
Links 31/05/2025: US Court Orders Sides With RFE/RL, War Updates From Ukraine
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/05/2025: ARM Server and power_supply Subsystem
Links for the day
Links 31/05/2025: Slop Stigmatised as Disinformation, Catalyst/Driver of "Death of Communication"
Links for the day
Common Sense 101: Do Not Write Blog Posts Saying You Want to Murder Colleagues (or Yourself)
Only crazy people would think stabbings are a joke
Links 31/05/2025: Microsoft-Connected Builder.ai is a Fraud and US is Purging Students Based on Race/Nationality
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/05/2025: Limmat, Doomscrollers, and Arguments Parsing
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, May 30, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, May 30, 2025
The "AI" (Slop) Bubble Already Popped, But It's Not an Overnight Collapse
where Microsoft put its money
No More Steven Astorino at IBM, Chatter About Weekly/Nonstop Layoffs at IBM
What happened? Good luck guessing.
Looking at Corruption in Europe, Going Beyond the EPO
Expect a new series to kick off very soon
Slopwatch: Security SPAM and LLM Slop for SEO and FUD Purposes, Perpetually Tarnishing the Perception of Linux and (Open)SSH Security
A lot of this Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD) comes from Microsoft and its LLMs
Links 30/05/2025: Google's LLM Slop Pushers Are Killing Journalism and Shira Perlmutter Fails to Stop Bribed Regime From Legalising Plagiarism (in "AI" Clothing)
Links for the day
Links 30/05/2025: Offline Arts and "Threshold of Patience"
Links for the day
Signing Off Serious Lies With a Statement of Truth is No Joking Matter
It's not hard to see what's happening here
Links 30/05/2025: LLM Slop Already Ingests and Vomits Its Own Garbage, Facebook Exec Admits Copyrights a Concern Too
Links for the day
Mass Layoffs at Microsoft Result in More Whistleblowers From Microsoft
Microsoft's predatory pricing is further
Slopwatch: Planet Ubuntu Became LLM Slop and Some People Fail to See the Immorality of Plagiarism
it lessens the incentive for people to publish real articles
EPO Poll: 68% Dissatisfied With Quality of Slop (Wrongly Framed as "AI") for Patent Classification
Slop does not work, it's just falsely advertised with extra hype (funded by slop pushers that sponsor the major media)
Big Crowds Gather to Learn About Software Freedom From the Man Who Started GNU/Linux in 1983
"It was a great success"
Microsoft Layoffs Again in Bay Area
Microsoft relies on people's false belief that being "in LinkedIn" will get you a job; well, seems like even working inside LinkedIn really sucks and you lose the job
Gemini Links 30/05/2025: Fighting Against the Bad News, and Slop is Dehumanisation Disguised as "Intelligence"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, May 29, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, May 29, 2025
Links 29/05/2025: Chinese Cracking Against EU Institutions (Prague), More Assaults on Media and Its Funding Sources
Links for the day
EPO Workers Caution That the Officials Are Still Illegally Trying to Replace Staff With Slop (to Lower Quality and Validity of European Patents)
Nobody in Europe voted for any of this
Links 29/05/2025: US Health Deficit and Malware Disguised as Slop Generator
Links for the day
Links 29/05/2025: Turtle Roadkill, Modern 'Tech' as a Sting
Links for the day
Thanks for All the Fish, Linux Format
people who once wrote for it (or for other magazines) comment on the importance of this news
People's Understanding of the History of GNU/Linux is Changing
RMS is not a radical, he's just clever enough to see and foresee what's going on
Microsofters Were Scheming to Take Over This Entire Web Site (in Their Own Words!)
Money gets spent censoring/deplatforming people who speak about real issues; no money gets spent actually tackling those underlying issues
Bicycles for the Minds and the Story Harrison Bergeron
"The goal of having people in charge of the tools they use and that the tools should amplify ability" has long been abandoned
Links 29/05/2025: YouTube Problem and Giant Privacy Hole in Microsoft OneDrive
Links for the day
[Video] Cory Doctorow Explains DMCA: DRM in the Browser (or Webapp) Will "Make It a Felony to Protect Your Privacy While You Use It."
Pycon US Keynote Speaker Cory Doctorow
United States Courts With Sworn Testimonies Are on Our Side, We'll Present the Same Here
Chronicling what happened is a moral imperative
Serial Sloppers Ruin and Lessen the Incentive to Cover "Linux"
The Serial Sloppers (SSs) ought to be named and shamed, but almost nobody does this
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, May 28, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, May 28, 2025