Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft FUD Alert

Novell coupons
Image from Wikimedia



MATT Asay and the usual trolls from ITWire continue to show their utter contempt for desktop GNU/Linux. It's the usual suspects and, suffice to say, the latter case is deliberate provocation that had us pondering a 'link embargo' on ITWire (or particular writers from there).



Elsewhere on the Web, what seems like Vista 'advertising' is almost disguised under the teaser headline "Hasta La Vista, Microsoft Vista." It tries marketing the unwanted operating system using the "inevitability" tune. This relates to a former Microsoft tune, which goes like: "computers are only desktops, and therefore Linux is not important." It's total nonsense and a case of aligning one's statistics to suit an agenda [1, 2, 3].

Another noteworthy item is Microsoft's choking of Xandros at ASUS, having tied them up [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], brought back XP, and begun selling it for very little, some say $0 (i.e. anti-competitive dumping).

One of our readers, Slated, remarked on such tactics yesterday:




> The plundering of the Earth by those that we call "businessmen" is a > fact that more people should be aware of. It seems that all sorts of > immoral, selfish, back-stabbing behavior is forgiven, if the result > is money made.

But just to be clear, I'm not anti-business. I'm anti-monopoly and anti-Corporatist, certainly, but I have nothing against legitimate business. In fact, as I've pointed out many times before, it's the Corporatists who are anti-capitalist, since they seek a state of monopoly which suppresses the Free Market Economy. This is nothing more than State-endorsed racketeering, just like any other form of monopoly (e.g. patents).

Microsoft are not unique in this regard, in fact they are not even the worst culprits, but in the context of Free Software they are the biggest threat to the kind of equal opportunities conducive to Freedom and choice.

> Could it be denied that Bill Gates and his cohorts "zealously" > perused their goals of dominating the markets that they participate > in?

Given that a "zealot" is merely a derogatory term for someone with absolute intolerance for others' ideals, then yes, it is perfectly accurate to describe right-wing extremists like Microsoft (or even any other Corporatists) as zealots. Their goals and principles are the antithesis of the Free Software community's, and they (Ballmer in particular) have made it perfectly clear in word and deed, that they utterly despise everything we stand for.

The flip-side of this is, of course, that since I am diametrically opposed to Microsoft's goals, and absolutely committed to opposing their right to pursue those goals, then it is technically accurate to describe me as a zealot too. But, as I said, it is a derogatory term, so I'd only expect to be denounced as a zealot by anyone who opposes my ideals. Given that those ideals are just the opposition of something immoral, it's highly inappropriate to describe such a position in a derogatory fashion, unless those making such comment are themselves immoral. Hence my assertion that "zealot" is a term which is only used in a derogatory sense, since intolerance is not in and of itself necessarily wrong, if that which is not tolerated is immoral.

And Microsoft's goal of monopolistic dominance is most certainly immoral, since this is not merely about making money; but they aim to make that money by denying others the opportunity to do so, and they accomplish this unworthy goal using the most depraved methods the law will allow (and even break those laws on occasion). That's not business, it's racketeering; totalitarianism; Corporatism. And worse still, having achieved this position of dominance, they then abuse it to force others to buy their products. This precludes the need for them to compete at all, and so they become complacent, to the point that their products become grossly substandard, but they have a captive audience who must accept these substandard products without choice. This situation may be improving with the emergence of products like Netbooks, but this tends to be an exception to an overwhelming rule of pre-installed Windows systems; bundled by OEM vendors who are bribed to do so, then bribed again to lie that the "[Vendor] Recommend Windows". Again - that's not business, it's an immoral means of securing profits; synonymous with racketeering.

There's business ... then there's "bizniz". I'm not opposed to the former, but I am certainly opposed to the latter. If that makes me a "zealot" then so be it. I suppose the EU Commission; the US DOJ, and I, all bear the the same "zealot" hallmark.



Thoughts are as welcome as always.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Peter Moon's (Computerworld) Interview With Richard Stallman
Stallman: If you want freedom don't follow Linus Torvalds
At What Point Does Outsourcing Constitute Malpractice?
Brett Wilson LLP's new staff page is misleading
From Do Your Own Research to Do Your Own Search
The Web is full of garbage; search engines amplify this garbage
 
Law Firm Burgess Mee Does Not Fully Deny Participating in Abusive Litigation for Serial Strangler From Microsoft
I am not unfamiliar with these tactics
The Modus Operandi of Wayland Pushers: Make It Political
do what I say or you're a nazi...
Links 23/06/2025: RFE/RL Contributor Vladyslav Yesypenko Released, Recording Industry Cutbacks
Links for the day
Brett Wilson LLP Solicitors (M): Over 99.9% of Our E-mail is Self-Marketing, We Send You 3.5MB E-mails for Less Than 1KB of Text
Why would tech people entrust legal matters to such people?
United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sailing to GNU/Linux, According to statCounter
countries in that region will quickly learn the price of neglecting digital sovereignty
More People Moving to Geminispace?
at age 6+ Gemini Protocol seems to have gained some maturity and it seems like more people use it
Permutation in LLMs Does, Inevitably, Change Meanings and Therefore LLMs Cannot Properly Rephrase or Summarise Texts
LLMs lack actual grasp or comprehension of what they spew out
Links 23/06/2025: Many Security Breaches, Population Declines
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/06/2025: "America at the Crossroads" and OpenWRT Surgery
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 22, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 22, 2025
Pure Dove
Different means different, and sometimes those who "deviate" from "the norm" have a point
Censorship is a Sign of Weakness Which Invites More Censorship Attempts
revolutionaries don't succumb to pressure from bullies
Why It's Unlikely That LLM Slop Will Dominate the Web in the Long Run
Slopfarms will eventually perish (they have no actual value) and "survivors" on the Web will be sites that never depended on search engines and social control media
GNU/Linux in Argentina Now Measured Near 5%
Like in central Europe, they must be seeing an increasingly hostile US
BetaNews is Fake News, Composed by LLM Slop
nothing in BetaNews is written by humans anymore
Links 22/06/2025: Giving Up on Smartphones and 'Jaws' at 50
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/06/2025: Furniture Construction and Bubble for Comments
Links for the day
Links 22/06/2025: Windows TCO Tales and YouTube Getting More Hostile to Users
Links for the day
The FSF Board and FSF Beard
So the FSF's Board has grown
Law Firms Facing the Consequences for Patently Abusive Litigation on Behalf of Microsoft Employees Who Got Arrested for Strangulation and Had Done Even Worse Things
Having spent 1.5 years bullying me with patronising letters on behalf of Microsofters, last week they got served a massive bill and, in effect, lost the Hearing
New Report From the EPO's Staff Representatives in The Hague (LSCTH) Reveals Many Unsolved Issues
Local Staff Committee The Hague (LSCTH) wrote to staff just before the weekend
LLMs Breaking Everything
Computing and the Net became a playground for scammers and "bros", like people who "invented" fake currencies and also try to tell us that LLMs spewing out things will have some real value
Links 22/06/2025: More Slop Lawsuits (Copyrights) and "America’s Oligarch Problem"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/06/2025: Gigantic Toolchest and Annoying Bots
Links for the day
The Calling
Persist and persevere, justice will come your way
So Far Every BetaNews 'Article' is LLM Slop, So BetaNews is Officially Just a Slopfarm
They just don't seem to value what they have
IBM Rumour: Mass Layoffs (RAs) Lists Being Made for Consulting, With Effect in July 2025
Bogus companies with no viable products and no world-leading (in their field) staff are doomed to perish
Links 21/06/2025: Data Breach With 16 Billion Passwords, Dutch Government Recommends Children Under 15 Stay off TikTok and Instagram
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/06/2025: Notes about Typst (and LaTeX) and Opos
Links for the day
Microsoft's Competition Tactics: Sabotage GNU/Linux Installs, Block Chrome
Edge is dying
1989: Free Software as "Open" Software (OSI Didn't Coin "Open Source", It Also Predates Linux)
"One man's fight for Free software"
The Microsoft OOXML Modus Operandi: Throw 1,000 Pages of Other People's Work for a Judge to Read Ahead of a One-Hour Meeting
No time to discuss this - that's the point
Formalities Officers (FOs) at the EPO Are in Trouble, Reveals Internal Report
We already know, based on an HR pattern we saw at IBM and elsewhere, that reallocating roles can be prerequisite for dismissal and those who do so expect many to resign anyway
The Web is Slop and FUD, Let's Go to Gemini Protocol
Lupa sees self-signed capsules at 92.4%
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 20, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, June 20, 2025
Links 21/06/2025: Phone Bans for Concerts, Tensions in Taiwan Strait
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/06/2025: Spoilers, Public Yggdrasil Node, Changes to AuraGem Search
Links for the day