Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft: 800 lb. Guerrilla

Guerrilla Against Apple



Microsoft's means of aggression against Apple, such as offering $15,000 for Mac bloggers to sell out, have almost culminated in moves that resemble their recent interference in a VMware conference [1, 2], crashing of PlayStation3 launch parties, the Linux Personas Web site and so forth. Microsoft seems to have used similar techniques against ODF [1, 2] and Novell is guilty of the same behaviour [1, 2].



A reader who prefers to remain anonymous has just sent us a pointer to this.

Microsoft Corp., engrossed in multi-million dollar marketing blitz to counter anti-Vista propaganda from rival Apple, Inc., is now using a portion of its budget to fuel guerilla retail tactics near the Mac maker's stores.


Says the unnamed reader: "See the poster on the right in the background: The product that just won't die.

“If it weren't for OEM lock-in BeOS, Amiga and Apple would have each bitten off a third each.”"If it weren't for per-processor fees and such, DR-DOS would have killed off Microsoft.

"If it weren't for OEM lock-in BeOS, Amiga and Apple would have each bitten off a third each.

"If it weren't for all kinds of lobbying and out-sourced marketing with off-the-scale marketing budgets, Red Hat and Ubuntu would have seen the end of Microsoft.

"It's responsible for 90+% of the world's spam, nearly 100% of the world's botnets, the vector for nearly 100% of the world's viruses and worms, in violation of most privacy and security laws, and yet the product line just won't die."

Guerrilla Against FCC



We previously discussed the relationship between Microsoft and the FCC, as well as with Comcast. A few months ago we also showed Gates' political intervention in the United Nation, which is part of a much broader phenomenon [1, 2] that shows Microsoft is a political creature no less than it is a legal, marketing and technical company. That last part too is in doubt...

"Usually Microsoft doesn't develop products, we buy products."

--Arno Edelmann, Microsoft's European business security product manager



Anyhow, another thing that was shown before is that Gates' lobbying for more visas was only for selfish gain [1, 2]. It was seen as unnecessary or even harmful at the time and earlier this month it turned out to be a fraud.

With all this knowledge in mind, can Microsoft and Gates be trusted as they approach the FCC regarding white spaces? Here are some bits from various articles in the news:

1. Gates, Microsoft lobby FCC for unlicensed white spaces use (Microsoft-influenced New York Times)

Microsoft is lobbying the FCC this week to allow unlicensed use of so-called "white spaces" television spectrum for wireless Internet services.


2. Microsoft urges FCC vote on airwaves access (Gates-funded Mercury News)

Microsoft Chief Strategy Officer Craig Mundie said a plan to use television airwaves for free Internet access may face significant delays if the Federal Communications Commission puts off a vote next week.


3. Microsoft's Gates steps up FCC 'white space' lobbying (FUD-mongering Reuters)

Bill Gates and other Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) officials stepped up lobbying of top U.S. communications regulators on Monday, ahead of an important vote next week to open up unused wireless airwaves.


Aren't governments supposed to think for themselves and make their own judgment? Are they not capable? Since when is Bill Gates a white space expert?

Guerrilla Against Yahoo and Google



Magnifying glass
Still searching for answers to Google



“Forty percent of servers run Windows, 60 percent run Linux...”

"Ballmer Still Searching for an Answer to Google"



According to Bloomberg, Yahoo is still gaining in search and the main loser continues to be Microsoft.

Yahoo had about 20.2 percent of queries in September, up from 19.6 percent in August, Reston, Virginia-based ComScore said today in an e-mail. Microsoft's share fell to 8.5 percent from 8.9 percent. Google Inc. handled 62.9 percent, compared with 63 percent in August.


Todd Bishop argues that Microsoft's attempt to pay users was unsuccessful.

[O]verall, those initiatives haven't had a lasting impact on Microsoft's share of the market.


According to another independent meter, Microsoft declined to 5.46%, down from 9.85% the year before. This statistic was shown around the same time that Microsoft began paying users in order to entice them to use its search engine (only to be spied on for harvesting behaviour of search and clicks).

These unsustainable strategies may not last for long though because Microsoft cut $400,000,000 in this particular area, due to lingering financial issues.

In reporting its latest quarterly results, the company last week said it will lower spending by $400 million to $500 million over the next year to weather the downturn.


Microsoft's last resort seems to be Yahoo, but that too would be costly (also to the consumer). One has to remember the referrer spamming that Microsoft uses, as well as other black-hat tricks and tweaked search engine results [1, 2, 3].

Several sources, all of which cite a report from the Wall Street Journal, claim that the Google-Yahoo deal is becoming less likely to materialise.

Google and Yahoo may abandon their planned search advertising deal as early as next week.


What's to blame? The very same department which Microsoft is known to have lots of control over.

Google is considering walking away from its advertising deal with Yahoo! because the Department of Justice is demanding too much in return.


We have already covered the abuse and the political games Microsoft has played to intercept this deal [1, 2]. It's always disturbing to find governments that are run by corporations.

"[If I ask you who is Microsoft's biggest competitor now, who would it be?] Open...Linux. I don't want to say open source. Linux, certainly have to go with that."

--Steve Ballmer (Microsoft's CEO), February 28th, 2008

Recent Techrights' Posts

YouTube is a Spamfarm, Slopfarm, and Clickfarm (a Lot of Numbers There Are Fake)
Those who don't fake look unpopular and unimportant
 
Links 25/07/2025: NOAA Cuts Endanger Lives, "Europe's Self Inflicted Cloud Crisis"
Links for the day
They Try to Lecture Us on Ethics
They even removed "master" from Microsoft GitHub
The Future of the Web is One Rendering Engine or 'Flavours' of Chrome
The future of the Web does not look bright at all
Best Sites Are Not Optimised for Any Browser, They Work Equally Well With All of Them
Red Hat (IBM) is making rubbish sites
We Don't Do JavaScript and Pages Are Small
Thankfully Gemini Protocol has nothing like JavaScript
'Tech' is Not Technology
Some people use terms like 'Old Tech'
IBM's Debt Rose by Almost 10 Billion Dollars in the Past 6 Months Alone
The "hey hi" circus is coming to an end
Yes, Master
Gaslighting by actual racists
Microsoft Bribes and Buys Politicians to Tell Europe What to Do About Free Software (Which It's Attacking)
Microsoft: we speak for the thing that we are attacking! Follow the money...
Making Backups Quickly and Reliably
Backups are imperative, more so in an age of uncertainty, unpredictable weather, and worsening standards (quality of products going down while prices go up)
Techrights Investigation: Estimating the Point in Time LinuxIac Turned Into LLM Slop (Part of the Time)
Bobby Borisov got lazy
10th Month, Ten Weeks From Now, at Ten AM
In Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 24, 2025
A Nadella Memo Distracts From Microsoft's Cheapening Of the Workforce
Right now the "MSM" (mainstream media) is flooded/overwhelmed by garbage pieces that relay lies for Nadella
Vanishing Faces of GNU/Linux
Free software projects do not depend on any one person or company to still exist
Microsoft Says It Lost 400 Million Windows Users, Now It's Waiting for GNU/Linux to Stop Booting on 'Old' PCs
When it comes to Windows, Microsoft is fully aware of the issue and statements it made earlier this summer suggest it lost 400 million Windows users
Slopwatch: LinuxTechLab, linuxsecurity.com, LinuxIac, and More
Also: The Register's Microsoft agenda (new editor)
Gemini Links 25/07/2025: Gemtext Aware Titan Editor and Gemini Protocol Comeback
Links for the day
Links 24/07/2025: Convicted Felon Quits UNESCO, "Vibe Coding Goes Wrong", and Signalgate Gets Worse
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/07/2025: Forgejo Woes and Smolnet Directory Week
Links for the day
Misinformation is Not Intelligence
It's low-grade plagiarism and it fails to show any signs of intelligence
Links 24/07/2025: Storage Tapes Still Kicking, Windows TCO 'on Steroids' (Microsoft-Induced Catastrophes)
Links for the day
Bobby Borisov (LinuxIac) Has Apparently Begun Experimenting With LLM Slop, So We Cannot Trust LinuxIac Anymore
So did LinuxIac become a slopfarm? Maybe not yet, but it's getting there
Informa TechTarget's ITProToday is Becoming a Slopfarm Generated by Microsoft Chatbots
Busted.
'Tech' Gimmicks Are for Advertising, Not for Usability
In the case of Microsoft, they latched onto slop
BetaNews Sacked Brian Fagioli and Deleted His Comments, But He Still Tries to Use the "BetaNews" Brand for Self-Affirmation
Fagioli takes the work of other people
[Meme] Hard to Be a Better Person?
Sooner or later they'll realise that for each pound I spend they need to spend about 1,000 times more
The LLM Con Artists Are Highly Destructive
Who will ever be held accountable for this scam?
Too Bribed by Microsoft to Move to Free Software?
Microsoft lies and Microsoft bribery (in politics)
New US Editor for The Register is a Microsoft Booster
"Avram Piltch has served as US editor for The Register since July 2025."
Microsoft Hiring European Politicians is Another Form of Bribery; There Should be a European Investigation
When Microsoft bribed people in Europe for OOXML (there's no denying this!) a European government delegate said that Microsoft operated like a cult
Reda Demanded That FSF Removes Its Founder, Now Reda Works Directly for Microsoft
A sellout and a traitor, first working for GAFAM, now Microsoft
PCLinuxOS is Raising Money to Support Development After Fire Incident at the Host
PCLinuxOS has not had announcements lately
Speed of the Site Should be Better Now
The "bot attacks" impact the speed of the sister site too
Getting More From AnalogNowhere
Recently we used many images from AnalogNowhere
Microsoft, Microsofters and 'Secure' Boot Shills Already Storming the LWN Report About Expiring Certificate, Shooting the Messenger
LWN has clearly stuck a nerve
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Disable "Secure" Boot Today (the Only Better Time to Do So Was Yesterday)
Don't trust anything Red Hat tells you about security
Links 23/07/2025: Windows Killed Company After 150+ Years, US Government Mimics Russia's Attacks on the Media
Links for the day
Freedom Generally Wins at the End, History Shows (But It's Constantly Attacked, Too)
At the moment people realise "Linux" (e.g. Android) isn't enough to guarantee any freedoms
Over 3 Months Later Brett Wilson LLP Still Unable to Recruit a Media Lawyer?
"Immediate start", but not found... still unfilled
“Inhumane” and “Disgusting” Mass Layoff Execution, According to Microsoft Staff
The workers are looking for other places to work
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has a New Slogan for Its 40th Anniversary
The freedoms are what's most important
Microsoft is Trying to "Pull a Nokia" on GNU/Linux as Desktop/Laptop Platform
We all remember that rather well, don't we?
LLM Slopfarms gbhackers.com, "Cyber Press" and CyberSecurityNews Are Drowning Google News (and Shame on Google for Feeding and Facilitating Them)
All are run by the same people
Links 23/07/2025: Droplets GUI Patent Monopoly Challenge, Nokia Leverages Illegal Patent Court Against Rivals
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Community in Geminispace and Challenges With Old Computers
Links for the day
Links 23/07/2025: Slop Patents Tackled, Slop Copyright Misuses Tackled by Politicians
Links for the day
Our Three Lawsuits Against Microsofters Are About to Become a Lot More Relevant to GNU/Linux
The Master will easily understand why Garrett has been attacking me since 2012
Links 23/07/2025: Retreating From Transparency on Jeffrey Epstein, We No Longer Have Press Freedom
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Piano and Food
Links for the day
New and Old
On Ageism in Tech
Slop Is Not Intelligence and It Does Not Enhance Productivity
Like voice dictation, which cannot tell the difference between "sheet" and "shit"
EPO Crimes Are Spreading to the British Court System
Society is now paying the price for failing to tackle crimes at the EPO
It's Time to Dump SharePoint and Here's What to Use Instead
Nextcloud, ownCloud, Bookstack, MediaWiki, and MediaGoblin
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 22, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Brett Wilson LLP Has Gone Silent
Sometimes silence says more than nothing at all
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Planet Ubuntu, and LinuxTechLab
some slopfarms show no remorse and they don't value their reputation at all
Links 23/07/2025: Book Bans, Storms, and Kangaroo Court for Patents Commits More Unlawful Acts of Overreach
Links for the day