Bonum Certa Men Certa

More “Independent” Studies… Against GNU/Linux

...And Microsoft's war against Free Software, AKA 'piracy'

Not a week goes by without yet another Microsoft-sponsored pseudo-study. Microsoft's favourite acronym, TCO, is rearing its ugly head again. We mentioned the roots of this FUD pattern before and here comes the latest.

Microsoft: Windows and Linux offer same TCO in emerging markets



[...]

That’s the conclusion of a recent Microsoft-sponsored study from Vital Wave Consulting, which Microsoft is touting in new posting on the company’s Unlimited Potential (UP) blog.


Microsoft seems desperate to broadcast the message that poor countries should choose Windows and not GNU/Linux. It even shells out money to produce supportive 'evidence'. It is, in part, a matter of timing, as we have already noted in this post about Kenya, which also showed Microsoft confusing (obfuscating) "piracy" and "GNU/Linux".

Only last year, Microsoft's PR icon had an important message to bear and to share:

"It's easier for our software to compete with Linux when there's piracy than when there's not."

--Bill Gates



It's worth reading that again. Consider another way of phrasing/interpreting this: "if it were not for 'piracy', we would lose." In other words, so-called 'piracy' -- the culture of raping and killing (supposable) -- is actually on Microsoft's side. It chooses to characterise sharing which it favours and encourages as a criminal and violent act, hoping to earn sympathy in return for something that begs for guilt.

The statement above was made in a particular context -- being China -- although the validity is not restricted geographically. Also in reference to China, Gates once expressed his desire to get people "addicted" to Microsoft software:

“They’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.”

--Bill Gates



In other words, addiction comes first, later comes the 'pumping'. Here in today's news it can be seen that Microsoft is dumping copies of Microsoft Office almost for free, provided the customer is a young student.

Amazon offers this exceptional deal for €£49.99 delivered instead of €£99.99. This Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student edition will cost you only €£16.67 per seat.


But... that's just for students. OpenOffice.org is exceptionally popular among students, so this is no coincidence. Over in Asia, also based on this widely-kited article from Reuters, Microsoft is reducing the price of Office considerably. As always, it blames "piracy" rather than stiff competition.

Microsoft, the world's largest software firm, is among the hardest-hit victims. Pirated versions of Microsoft's Office software can sell in China for less than 10 yuan ($1.50).


The headlines are all about "piracy". It's just totally offensive. Here is one from the Financial Times: Microsoft aims to undercut Chinese pirates

Microsoft has slashed the Chinese price of its Office suite for home users by more than 70 per cent in a promotional campaign aimed at persuading consumers in the piracy-plagued market that licensed programs can be affordable.


The very same people who Bill Gates admitted he needs to "addict" he and his company are now calling "pirates", criminals. Having admitted that Microsoft needs "piracy" to compete with GNU/Linux, they now concede that billions of dollars are lost due to "theft". Which way will it be, Microsoft? There's no notion such as "theft" in Free software, which users are encouraged to share. The only theft is a case of refusing to share. The GPL makes it an equivalent of copyrights infringement.

Over in Malaysia it's even uglier. According to reports like this one, there's a new scare tactics propaganda forcing people to pay for something Microsoft had people accustomed to think of as free. With high pricing already 'in place', as well as "addicted" people, the monopoly from Redmond starts squeezing hard. We mentioned this some days ago, but this one has pictures.

Just yesterday, Microsoft Malaysia posted a new advertisement in a Malaysian daily which gloated that it now had control of all the software pirates in Malaysia. This new "feature" targets pirates by making the background of the desktops black, making it easy for law enforcers to fine the law breakers.


How does it feel to have been served "addiction" by the same companies which now sends out the hounds (BSA et al)?

"[Microsoft] are willing to lose money for years and years just to make sure that you don't make any money, either."

--Bob Cringely



"Bill Gates looks at everything as something that should be his. He acts in any way he can to make it his. It can be an idea, market share, or a contract. There is not an ounce of conscientiousness or compassion in him. The notion of fairness means nothing to him. The only thing he understands is leverage."

--Philippe Kahn



Let them eat Vista



Further reading:

  1. Bill Gates' Retirement Merely a Political Lock-in Crusade
  2. Microsoft 'Buys' Dubai Away from GNU/Linux, Calls it “Charity”; Paris Also?
  3. OOXML Sins and “Charity” Against GNU/Linux
  4. It's Not Dumping Because They Call it “Charity”
  5. Boosting Windows Vista Sales Using AIDS
  6. “Let Them Eat Vista...”
  7. Mysterious New Moves in the Gates Foundation
  8. Microsoft Carries on Dumping to Make Its Products a 'Standard'
  9. The Takeaways from the Giveaways
  10. Microsoft Must Be Absolutely Terrified

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

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
[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
 
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
Links 29/05/2025: YouTube Problem and Giant Privacy Hole in Microsoft OneDrive
Links for the day
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
Links 28/05/2025: 'Emulation Layers' (Measurements and Linguistics), Libraries, and Discomfort
Links for the day
Links 28/05/2025: More Arrests for Bitcoin-Connected Torture and Prosecutions for Dieselgate-Linked Executives
Links for the day
Even Microsoft (MSN) Covers Richard Stallman's Public Talk in Milan 2 Days Ago
He spoke in Spanish earlier this month (Alicante)
Gemini Links 28/05/2025: Techo-authoritarianism With Slop Plagiarism and "No Online June" (Going Offline)
Links for the day
Links 28/05/2025: GitHub MCP Exploited and MathWorks Discovers Huge Windows TCO
Links for the day
Very High Attendance Level at Richard Stallman's Talk Shows People Can Relate to His Message
Smear campaigns have their limits
Gemini Links 28/05/2025: Celsius-Fahrenheit, Endless Scrolling/Infinite Scrolling, and Trapping LLM Slop Bots
Links for the day
Prison gate backdrop to baptism by Fr Sean O'Connell, St Paul's, Coburg
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
More Photos From This Week's Milan Talk by Richard Stallman
The posts are in Italian, not English
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, May 27, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Links 27/05/2025: Science Defunded, India Arrests an Academic
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/05/2025: From Celsius to Fahrenheit and Deleting Social Control Media
Links for the day
Microsofters Have, in Effect, Attempted Extrajudicial Action Against Us
Courts and Judges (or Masters) don't exist to facilitate this kind of "bro" culture
UK High Court Masters Are Not Your Jesters, Microsoft
Judges aren't there for "funny" spectacles, they're there to act as arbiters in critical cases, not SLAPPs
Links 27/05/2025: Mass Layoffs at Volvo and More Evidence of 'AI' (Slop) Being a Passing Fad
Links for the day
The Code of Conduct (CoC) Gaslighting Phenomenon
There are still many people and projects foolish enough to outsource their labour to Microsoft via GitHub
They're Very Jealous of Richard Stallman and His Freedom (or Simple Lifestyle)
Jealousy is toxic because it can cause rational people to act irrationally and even severely harm themselves
Akira Urushibata on GNU coreutils
new message
Anouk Rozestraten (Deputy Director) Appears to Have Left the Free Software Foundation
Let's hope Rozestraten is still using and promoting Free software
There's Nothing Funny About Lawbreaking
There's plenty of room in society for humour, but "hacking" the state by breaking laws isn't cool or hip
More Mass Layoffs Coming Soon to Microsoft, Just a Question of When and How Many
Numbers from Washington were close to 5% and judging by prior rumours, it would be 5% + 5% (total 10%) at a later month
Links 27/05/2025: Bikes, Ideal Computers, and BYO
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 26, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, May 26, 2025
Richard Stallman's Milan Talk (Public Presentation) Was Packed, Video Available Soon
Looks like they even ran out of seats