Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft's Letters from the 'Dead' Tactics Return (Yet Again)

Just when you thought you had seen enough...

In recent months, Microsoft seems to have engaged in a 'distributed denial of service attack' when it comes to corruption. Those striving to keep track of Microsoft's dirty tricks, let alone have the company prosecuted and punished, are up for a real task.

“Microsoft reportedly did this in order to push OOXML right into the fast track -- a fiasco which many mind have already left neglected in the past.”The following report could easily translate into more labour (even burden) for the EU Commission to handle. It comes at a time when the digital complaint box has been filled -- so to speak -- topping its rim. That's what we mean by "distributed denial of service attack". When it rains, it pours.

Today's story comes from Singapore where Microsoft has been caught using an old class of dirty tricks. In the past (just under a year ago) we saw the company applying this tactic to ISO directly. We repeated this story on the first day of the BRM in Geneva. Microsoft reportedly did this in order to push OOXML right into the fast track -- a fiasco which many mind have already left neglected in the past.

Several weeks ago we saw similar tricks getting used in India. As we wrote at the time, Microsoft may have bribed charities in exchange for OOXML lobbying and pressure. It's appalling, and it's difficult to deny.

Now it's Singapore. Shocking. To conclude with just the closing sentence:

And the most hilarious letter of support comes from a Singaporean secondary girl's school, Crescent Girl's School. That's right folks, that's how desperate they were to get their "Approve" vote, they actually got a school to submit a letter of support...


To make this long story short (it is backed by compelling and undeniable evidence), Microsoft is one again flooding national bodies with template-imposed letters. It is using its many proxies, some of which have no relevance at all to this debate.

Back in 2001, Microsoft even used as proxies a variety of deceased people, whose bogus 'letters of support' written were written by a firm Microsoft had hired. Add such practices to academic kickbacks and AstroTurfing and you will soon realised what level of corruption it emitted from this company, which never ended misbehaviour.

It's another dark day for human decency, courtesy of Microsoft.

Amid several new complaints from the American Antitrust Institute, US Antitrust officials have made a promise to step up.

Bush administration officials vowed Friday to more strictly enforce antitrust law in their remaining months in office, while their European counterparts struck a more conciliatory tone.

In remarks to a lawyers' group, the goal seemed to combat the perception among many antitrust experts that the European Union enforces antitrust law with a vengeance in contrast to a too-lax approach in the U.S.

Thomas Barnett, the Justice Department's top antitrust official, said the agency will pursue "aggressive but appropriate merger enforcement." The department faced criticism earlier this week for clearing — without conditions — Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.'s $5 billion (€3.2 billion) purchase of its only rival, XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.


Will they be up to the task for a change? Words are not enough and signs of history say that citizens should demand deeds, not words. Words are cheap in an administration where politicians are controlled by corporations, who fund them directly. The infamous "letters from the dead" debacle (see above) is a good example of this because the letters were addressed at those responsible for antitrust action.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Happy 20th Birthday to OpenDocument Format (ODF)
nowadays many companies use "online" "webapps" to collaborate on various things
Passkeys Are Vendor Lock-in and Imperialism, Not Security, So Escape Them Before They Latch Onto Your Workflows
This is their 'grand vision' of computing. You merely 'rent' what you assumed you truly bought to own.
Let's Put Slop In the Casket Once and for All (Call Out the Sites and People Who Produce and Spread Slop)
Together, through a movement of integrity and solidarity, we can marginalise the spread of slop in all its forms, including code
Windows Down in the Largest Countries, Microsoft Cannot Dodge This Reality Forever
Talking about "clown" and "hey hi" (AI) - sometimes "Quantum" - is like telling bedtime stories to infantile investors who don't understand those buzzwords
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 03, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, May 03, 2025
Microsoft's Debt Grew 2.1 Billion Dollars in the Past 3 Months Alone or 8.2 Billion in the Past Half a Year
That's very different from what the mainstream press tells the public, including shareholders
Links 03/05/2025: Amazon and Apple Problems (the A's in GAFAM), Hard to Hide Any Longer; Australia’s Election
Links for the day
Why Law Firms and Courts in Particular Should Dump Microsoft
Giving a notoriously corrupt and chronically law-breaking company control over one's systems and data is a recipe for disaster
Gemini Links 03/05/2025: Showerhead Mod and Micro Dosing on LSD
Links for the day
Links 03/05/2025: Bribery in Dutch Microsoft DC Probe, Zuckerberg Conflates Slop With 'Friends'
Links for the day
Today is World Press Freedom Day, 3rd of May
2025 World Press Freedom Day
Gemini Protocol's Momentum Ahead of Its 6th Anniversary (Next Month)
The more capsules go online, the more people participate in writing, not just reading
Corporate Media, a Cheerleader of Wall Street Facade, Spent Days Saying "META" and "MSFT" Lifted "the Market", But Their Debt Soared
Facebook's debt has never been higher
Microsoft Windows Falls to a Meager 9% "Market Share" in South Africa While GNU/Linux Rises Above 5% in Desktops/Laptops
South Africa is where the founder of Ubuntu (or Canonical) comes from
Links 03/05/2025: Australian Election and manpage for Gemini Considered
Links for the day
Links 03/05/2025: UK Arrests for Bribery Connected to Microsoft Datacentres
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, May 02, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, May 02, 2025
Not Just an OSU Open Source Lab Issue
Prominent and very prolific news sites about Linux ask for help
GNU/Linux Has Risen to All-Time High in South America, Windows Has Fallen a Lot Due to Android
What will the rest of the year bring?
Richard Stallman (RMS) Says US "Magats" Have Destroyed Press Freedom in the US
Now they're exporting their attacks on the media to the UK
In Africa, GNU/Linux Rose From 3% to 4% in Just Two Months
So says statCounter anyway... What will it be like by the end of this year?
Gemini Links 02/05/2025: Bandcamp and Spying "Smart Glasses"
Links for the day
Microsoft Says Demand/Budget for "AI" is Decreasing, Bing is Also Moving Down and Down This Year ("Bing Chat" Was an Utter Failure, People Want Sites, Not Slop)
Skype is about to shut down, XBox will likely die soon
Asia is Running Away From USA-ware (Trump or 'Tariff Regime'), Including Microsoft Windows
The nationalism harms Microsoft
Data Shows Largest EU Economies Shifting to GNU/linux
all-time highs
Microsoft President Panics Over Europe's Abandonment of Microsoft/GAFAM/Trump's USA, These Figures Show Us Why
Microsoft is bluffing
Microsoft Windows Falls Below Quarter in "Market Share" (While Microsoft Fakes Rising Dominance... in Buzzwords and Fake Accounting)
Cooking the books while Windows gets 'cooked'
Links 02/05/2025: Expedia Group Undergoes Layoffs, Twitter Exodus in Europe
Links for the day
Techrights Statement: The Solution is Not More Censorship or Moving to Another Mastodon Instance, the Core Problem is Social Control Media Including Mastodon
Censorship typically leads to additional (new) issues
Good News, Bad News: Groklaw is Back Online, SoylentNews Apparently Loses Editor
Jan ought to change the resignation into a mere pause
Manchester Computing Centre (MCC) Made the First GNU/Linux Distro, But You Probably Never Heard of It
People like Owen are barely remembered, not because they didn't do valuable work but because they didn't suck up to "The Establishment"
Online Mobs and Crabs: Doing to Fabrice Bellard What They Did to Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds
They just don't want skilled people to be productive
E-mail is Not HTML, Web Pages Aren't a Form of E-mail
as an associate remains us, always use "plain text, it was good enough for Shakespeare"
Slopwatch: Stigma-Baiting by the Serial Sloppers and Latest Garbage From the Slopfarm LinuxSecurity.com (Also Slopping Away at "OpenBSD" With SEO SPAM Made by LLMs)
Microsoft et al are trying to profit from blurring away information
Links 02/05/2025: Mineral Selloff and Chinese Sanctions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/05/2025: Hens and Tmux
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, May 01, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, May 01, 2025