Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft is Blocking Google and Antitrust Regulators Let Microsoft off the Hook

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

--Steve Ballmer (September 2008)



Summary: New indicators of new-age "banana republic"

SOME TIME AGO we warned that a Google-hostile lady (who sees no threat in Microsoft) was appointed antitrust chief. It is just one example among others which are similar and now we find this in Slashdot: [hat tip: MinceR]

Microsoft Family Safety Filter Blocks Google



I saw that part of the brand new Windows Live package is the Family Safety Filter, so I decided to give it a spin. Turned it on, set it to 'basic filtering' (their lowest level), and went to Google ... oops, it blocks Google!


It may seem innocent, but there are questions to be begged for here. Is the filter blocking each and every search engine, including Microsoft's?

According to this report, antitrust regulators in the United States promise to get off Microsoft's back in the near future despite the fact that they cannot anticipate, predict, or judge Microsoft's future actions.

Federal and state regulators have struck a deal with Microsoft Corp. that any version of Windows released after May 2011 will not be subject to the scrutiny mandated by a 2002 antitrust settlement.


Speaking of antitrust and Microsoft/Google, let's not forget the Barnett fiasco [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8].

Based on some other reports, it appears as though antitrust regulators are now collaborating with Microsoft on decisions and negotiating rather than imposing. This is a "banana republic" recipe.

Microsoft had agreed to an 18-month extension of federal court oversight of its business practices mandated by its settlement in a landmark antitrust lawsuit.

In court papers jointly filed by the US Justice Department and 17 states, Microsoft agreed to extend supervision until May 2011, rather than in November as previously scheduled. The extension will give government overseers more time to review technical information that Microsoft agreed to provide potential licensees of software that interfaces with the Windows operating system.


More here:

It's not hard to imagine that certain Microsoft execs had started a countdown; as things stood, the Department of Justice would only be monitoring their company for about seven more months. A new development has pushed the antitrust oversight period's end date out to May 12th, 2011, however.


There are good reasons to be concerned about Microsoft's special relationship with the new government. One concern is that, as we pointed out 2 days ago, the United States chooses Microsoft products almost blindly. We used Texas as an example and according to this new report, Texas will never learn, even when it's hit majorly by a Windows virus.

The Texas Department of Public Safety continued repair efforts Thursday after a virus hit one of its computer systems.

The DPS said the virus that hit Wednesday affected internal communications and some external services such as the issuance of Texas drivers’ licenses.


What is wrong with this picture?

"Our products just aren't engineered for security."

--Brian Valentine, Microsoft executive

Recent Techrights' Posts

“Twibel” Actions Against Comedians (and Why It's a Truly Low Blow)
they try to make up in quantities for a lack of merit or quality
Rewriting Things in Rust
How far would you go?
What Microsoft Reputation Laundering (With a Weaponised Law Degree) Looks Like in a Foreign Continent
You would expect this in uncivilised and primitive countries
Slopwatch: LLMs 'Write' Fake or Distorted 'News' About "Linux"
LLM slop disguised as news
 
The Mainstream Media Took 4 Days to Realise Microsoft Shut Down Its Operations in Pakistan and Fired Everybody
We estimate that Microsoft has had about 29,000 layoffs since January
Leadership in Free Software
Don't let IBM lead. It's a terrible flag bearer.
Linux Foundation Apparently Flirting With Slop (Marketing by LLM-Generated SPAM)
The Web is in a really bad state!
COVID-19 Sped Up Site Improvements in Techrights
A few months later we created our very own IRC network
Gemini Links 05/07/2025: Negative Questions and 'Touching Grass' (Going Outside)
Links for the day
Links 05/07/2025: Dalai Lama Succession as 90th Birthday Approaches, 40 deg C in China
Links for the day
Links 05/07/2025: Hungary and US Defecting to Russia, "Google's Hotseat Hypocrisy"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/07/2025: 4th of July 2025 and "Zig Roadmap 2026"
Links for the day
How to Combat the Exploitation and Abuse by Microsoft GitHub
Not to mention corruption and crimes against women
Bryan Lunduke is Actually Sending His Audience to Attack People
"[Lunduke] is actually sending his audience to attack people."
Even The Right Wing is Rejecting Bryan Lunduke
no wonder he became so irrelevant and marginal
Microsoft's MSN Helps Microsoft Spread Lies About the Layoffs' Scale (Well Over 25,000 People Laid Off This Year)
There seem to be monopolies on lies and on truth
The Death of X Has Been Greatly Exaggerated (by Compromised Media)
X.Org Server is alive and well
In 2025 Everything is "AI". Remember Blockchains?
Talk about what companies and things (services, products, software) actually do, not the labels they use
Julian Assange Has Been Free for a Year
Julian Assange and I disagreed on some things
Monopolies and Scalping
Monopolies gravitate towards price hikes
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 04, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 04, 2025
Microsoft's August Layoffs Wave: "August is Confirmed for Additional Performance Based Cuts"
"August is confirmed for additional performance based cuts from the recent connects along with additional organizational cuts."
Links 04/07/2025: Google Replaces the Web With Slop, "AI Might Kill Us All"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/07/2025: Mindfulness and F1
Links for the day
Weeks After Microsoft Bankruptcy in Russia the Company Shuts Down in Pakistan, Too
Last month Windows' share in Pakistan fell to an all-time low
Rob Musial's June 2025 Additions of Malware in Proprietary Software
Via the GNU Web site this week
Links 04/07/2025: Microsoft's H-1B Visa Applications Show Another Crisis Unfolding, Many More Deep Cuts and Shutdowns Revealed, Complete Microsoft Exits
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/07/2025: A Day To Remember and "Stop Killing Games"
Links for the day
Crime and Corruption at Microsoft GitHub Cannot be Covered Up by SLAPPs in Another Continent
We'll write about this for a long time to come
Slop Videos Are Disappointing Garbage, Nothing New, Just Brute Force up on Display or a Pedestal of Slop
Slop videos aren't a new thing
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 03, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 03, 2025
The War on Local Storage (People Hosting Their Files Locally and Privately)
There's nothing wrong with controlling one's computing
What Digital Independence Means
Independence in the digital realms means abandoning platforms like GitHub, not just rejecting proprietary software
NVidia is a Bubble
they temporarily see fortunes and wrongly assume perpetuity thereof
Fedora Does Not Care About Diversity and Inclusion, It's About Optics (Corporate Image)
any notion of inclusion is superficial and misleading
Don't Buy the Excuses for Microsoft's Mass Layoffs
Back in the 90s, Microsoft bought a lot of companies to get and stay ahead