Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft 'Advocates' Free Software by Suing the World

AS Microsoft's financial woes persist [1, 2], the 'nerve' to extract more money increases, even from those who can hardly afford to but are left with no choice because they got addicted. As Bill Gates once said, “they’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.” Well, this decade has apparently come.



Tough Times for Microsoft



At the end of last week, Microsoft suffered a major blow from a respected analyst who foresees red ink.

Microsoft Profit, Sales May Fall Short, Bellini Says


There is also a blurb about this in the Seattle P-I's Microsoft blog.

A Microsoft analyst thinks that the company might have to warn shareholders that its results won't match forecasts, according to Bloomberg News.


Microsoft's partner in collusion [1, 2, 3] does not do so well, either.

An Intel Corp. analyst lowered his outlook for the company Friday and said he thinks the chip giant will cut 6 to 7 percent of its work force.


Squeezing the Goose for Golden Eggs



Windows is very ubiquitous, but not many people pay for it. Those who do pay for it typically reside in affluent countries, yet in the majority of the world Microsoft turns a blind eye to illegal copying because it helps them against GNU/Linux and Free software that comes with it (e.g. OpenOffice.org).

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

--Bill Gates



This is a subject that was covered recently and worth reminding ourselves of is propaganda fueled by disgraceful words like "pirates" and "piracy". The executives or shareholders need more money, so they attack people who spread their software widely and distribute this digital commodity to those who can't afford it. Here are several examples from the past week's news:

1. Microsoft Targets Auctions in Counterfeit Crackdown

Microsoft continues to crack down on people it believes are counterfeiting and selling its software. On Thursday the company will add another 63 legal filings in 12 countries against individuals who it says are selling counterfeit Microsoft products.


2. Microsoft tackles auction pirates

Microsoft has launched 63 separate lawsuits against people peddling counterfeit software on auction sites.


3. Microsoft fights online auction pirates

Despite Microsoft saying that Vista sales are strong, they clearly aren’t if businesses favour XP to the extent that they’ll buy fake versions.


4. Microsoft sues counterfeit software dealers

"They're not going to cease selling XP because Microsoft has."


5. Microsoft goes after software pirates

Microsoft filed 63 lawsuits in 12 countries against software pirates, the company said today.


They are using the BSA as a front all across their world (there are BSA equivalents in some nations), as the following illustrates.

6. Microsoft Gulf and UAE Ministry of Economy

“Eliminating software piracy from the country is high on the agenda for the Ministry of Economy given the major negative impact piracy can have on the country’s growing economy. We will continue to work closely with the BSA and its members to curb software piracy across the UAE, and we are confident that our concerted efforts will bring in expected results," said Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz Alshihhi, MoE Undersecretary.


The Battle of Trafalgar
War on real piracy... when "piracy" meant
piracy and cracker was no hacker



Microsoft tries to portray itself as a victim (an addicting nonetheless) and those who use computers as vicious people who murder and rape, i.e. "pirates". The copyrights cartel shamelessly uses the same tactics.

Some of the articles above suggest that not even counterfeiters want Windows Vista. The site "Vista is Rubbish" seems fairly new and it tells how people feel about it.

The more Microsoft struggles financially, the more it will curse everyone else and try to squeeze out an extra buck. Here are lots more new articles that are packed with words like "piracy", which it is not.



Microsoft is not only suing old people in this process. There are other interesting stories about Microsoft taking action against those whom it did not mind before (because they made its software widespread).

At the Internet marketplace sell.com, Schaun Johnson largely earned rave reviews -- called the "best seller" and "recommended to everyone A+++" -- when dealing video games.

Microsoft Corp., the Washington state-based software titan, was less impressed, classifying Johnson, also known as skj8100, as a counterfeiter who allegedly was dealing operating systems illegally to unsuspecting buyers.


Here is Microsoft pinching the Australian aged care once again.

MICROSOFT Australia has accused aged-care services providers of illegitimately buying software through a discount licensing program.


Some people fight back. Here is another report about a story that was mentioned before.

Dutch firm says Microsoft is unfairly pricing EU stock higher than US

Dutch reseller HW Trading has launched a legal battle with Microsoft, accusing the software vendor of illegally inflating prices in the EU.

The case, began with a filing at the Californian Central Court back in May, accuses Microsoft of breaching Article 81 that forbids anti-competitive agreements. Owner of HW Trading, Samir Abdalla claims that by selling software for 30 per cent less in the USA, it is breaching EU law.


This is a good time to embrace Free software. This is the time when proprietary software companies squeeze hard for every penny they can get, having held people's skills set and data hostage (lock-in).

Microsoft’s Global Anti-Piracy Day campaign spans 49 countries, has initiated educational programs as well as legal actions, and will likely pick up speed in 2009. According to reports in October, Microsoft has filed lawsuits against 20 resellers in the United States suspected of selling pirated software (Source: Microsoft to describe anti-piracy campaign). In Singapore three retailers have already settled negotiations with the software giant after being caught in a raid that took place in April this year (Source: Microsoft launches global antipiracy campaign)


There is some more analysis here.

CIO.com offers a sobering reminder as to one potential downside to proprietary licensing: when vendors get desperate for revenue, auditing for "piracy" can help them clean up.


The harder the push for revenue, the more people will turn to Free software. This means that every crackdown on counterfeiting is in one way or another the best GNU/Linux advocacy money need not even buy. It's self-inflicted marketing of fear, uncertainty and doubt (about non-Free software and its consequences).

Recent Techrights' Posts

15 Countries Where Yandex is Already Seen to be Bigger Than Microsoft (in Search)
Georgia, Syrian Arab Republic, Cyprus, Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Belarus, Turkey, and Russia
FSF Has Made It Halfway to Its Target (Funding Goal) a Week Before Christmas Day
$400,000 definitely seems reachable now, especially if they extend the "deadline"
 
Links 19/12/2024: Astronaut Record and Observer Absorbed
Links for the day
Links 19/12/2024: Seven Dirty Words and Isle Release v0.0.3 (Alpha)
Links for the day
Links 19/12/2024: Nurses Besieged by "Apps", More Harms of Social Control Media Illuminated
Links for the day
Links 19/12/2024: Magnitude 7.3 Earthquake and Privacy Camp
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/12/2024: Port Of Miami Explosion, TurboQOA, Gnus
Links for the day
Fake Articles About 'Linux'
Dated yesterday
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, December 18, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, December 18, 2024
[Meme] The Master Churnalist
Speaking of press releases being passed off as "journalism"
Spamnil's TFiR: Still Pretending Press Releases Are 'Articles' (TFiR 'Originals' as Plagiarism or Fluff)
Same as last year
Links 18/12/2024: Zakir Hussain Dies, TuneIn Layoffs
Links for the day
Links 18/12/2024: Karate Love and Advent of Code
Links for the day
Windows (or Microsoft) Has Become the "One Percent" (Market Share) in Chad
How long before it falls below 1%?
Arvind Krishna, IBM's CEO, Will Eventually Suck Up to Donald Trump Like His Predecessor Did or the Watson Family Did With Adolf Hitler
Literally Hitler
Being a Geek Need Not Mean Being Sedentary
"In the past 18 months," Berkholz writes, "I’ve lost 75 pounds and gone from completely sedentary to fit, while minimizing the effort to do so (but needing a whole lot of persistence and grit)."
GAFAM Kissing the Ring of the Mafia Don
"resistance" to dictatorship and defenders of democracy?
Slop Spaghetti From the Chef, Second Time Today
Fresh slop ready out the oven!
IBM - Like Microsoft - Lies About the Number of People It's Laying Off (Several Tens of Thousands, Not Counting R.T.O. "Silent" Layoffs and Contractors/Perma-Temps)
How many waves of silent layoffs have we seen so far at IBM this year?
Links 18/12/2024: EU Launches Probe Into TikTok (At Last!)
Links for the day
Links 18/12/2024: Doha/Qatar Trafficking, Bloat Comfort Zone, and Advent of Code 2024
Links for the day
Saving What's Left of Decent and Independent Journalism on the Web
We increasingly (over time) try to make local copies (hosted on our server) of important documents; it's hard to rely on third parties
[Meme] Microsoft's Latest Marketing Pitch
"Stop Being Poor; buy a new PC with TPMs"
In South Africa, a Very Large Nation, Web Developers Can Already Ignore Microsoft Browsers (Edge Measured Below 3% in 55 Nations)
The dumb assumption you must naively test with Microsoft browsers is no longer applicable in a lot of places
Open Source Initiative (OSI) is the Voice of Bill Gates and Satya Nadella
Not hard to see what they've done with the money
Microsoft Boasts That Its (Microsoft-Sponsored) "Open Source AI" Propaganda Got Cited in Media (That's Just What the Money Did)
This is a grotesque openwashing campaign
In Many Places Around the World, Perhaps as Expected, Yandex is Nearly Bigger Than Microsoft (Like in Several African Countries)
Microsoft may soon fall to "third place" in search
Keeping Productive This Christmas
We've (pre)paid for hosting till almost January 2026 and fully back on the saddle
IBM and Canonical Leave Money on the Table Because Microsoft Pays Them Not to Compete and Instead Market Windows, WSL, Microsoft 'Clown Computing', and TPMs
Where are the regulators?
Other Editors Who Agree "Hey Hi" (AI) is Just Hype But Won't Say So Publicly as It Might Upset Key Sponsors
Some media would gladly participate in a scam to make money
Brian Fagioli's Latest "Linux" Article Appears to be Fake
Another form of plagiarism/ripoff using bots?
IBM (and Red Hat) is a Patent Troll, Still Leveraging Software Patents to Extract Money Out of Other Companies by Suing Them
Basically, when it comes to patents, IBM is demonstrably part of the problem, not the solution
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, December 17, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, December 17, 2024
[Meme] When the People Who Falsely Accuse You of Pedophilia Turn Out to be Projecting
When you attack something or someone using falsehoods, as happens a lot to Richard Stallman (RMS), there's risk that the attacks will backfire, badly
In Some Countries, Such as Greece, Almost 80% of Windows Users Are on Vista 10 and About 85% Need to Move to GNU/Linux for Security Patches
Vista 11 was a failure
[Meme] They Don't Want the Public to Know What "Responsible Encryption" Really Means
They also blame "China" for their own back doors (because China learned how to exploit those)
The Linux Foundation's Certificate Authority (CA) Significantly and Suspiciously Raises the Number of Certificates It Issues (Quantity Increase/Inflation) by Lessening Their Lifetime in the Name of 'Security' (That Barely Makes Sense!)
LE made 3 months the "standard" for most, soon to become just 6 days instead of 6 months?
Why I Continue to Believe That at the End Software Freedom Will Win
a short and incomplete list of factors which I believe contribute to the sentiment that we can - and will - win the battles over hearts and minds in the "Tech" realm
Links 17/12/2024: More China Sanctions, GOP Scheming to Prop Up Fentanylware (TikTok)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/12/2024: The Streisand Effect and Productivity-systems Desiderata
Links for the day
Technology: rights or responsibilities? - Part X
By Dr. Andy Farnell
Links 17/12/2024: More "Tesla Autopilot" and "Hey Hi" (AI) Blunders
Links for the day
Instead of Promoting GNU/Linux (or Ubuntu) Ahead of Vista 10's EoL Canonical is Marketing Microsoft's Proprietary Software
It's like Canonical employs people who work for Microsoft, not for Canonical
Links 17/12/2024: Many Abuses by Microsoft and War Updates From Ukraine
Links for the day
Content Management Systems (CMS) Bloat/ Static Site Generators (SSG) Trouble
some Web site management stories
DEI Room at fedoraproject.org Pretty Much Dead
We're not against diversity but against its weaponisation by greedy people who do not value diversity at all
The "Latest Technology News" at BetaNews is Slop About Slop
This is at the very top of the "news" (front page) at the moment
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, December 16, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, December 16, 2024