Eye on Microsoft: Assorted Links on EU, Elsevier, NHS
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2009-06-24 23:04:31 UTC
- Modified: 2009-06-24 23:04:31 UTC
Summary: Spillover of news stories
●
MS vs EU: Microsoft does not control Windows anymore
From an European point of view at least they don't. You see the way the EU and the US deal with monopolies is completely different. In the US the state reaction when faced with a monopolistic company is to break it apart, something that almost happened to Microsoft during their first US antitrust investigation.
The EU doesn't break up companies, in fact they are usually quite OK with monopolies. For a long time water, power, cable and telecoms have been monopolies in most European countries and most people were OK with that. Of course there is a catch: in almost all cases the government owned a controlling share of those monopolistic companies and actually imposed some policies on them.
Now that most industries have been liberalized the state operate in a similar but subtly different way: You are entitled to operate a monopoly or quasi-monopoly as a private company, but you are expected to let the state have some control over your company in exchange. In other words from an European point of view if Windows is a quasi-monopoly then the state has the right to impose features and restrictions on Windows, as simple as that.
●
Elsevier Does a Microsoft with Open Access (see recent scandal [
1,
2])
Elsevier Does a Microsoft with Open Access
[...]
I've seen these kind of stories so many times in the world of open source, with Microsoft as the main protagonist, that they warm the cockles of my heart when I see them popping up in other areas like open access. Why? Because if a multi-billion pound company like Elsevier is starting to stoop to this kind of tactic, it demonstrates just how profoundly worried it is - and how close open access is to widespread acceptance.
●
NHS Gateway Reviews damn €£13bn IT decisions (NHS is
largely derailed by Microsoft and its suppliers)
Since the start of the programme the British Medical Association, representing doctors, has repeatedly questioned the systems being used and the management of suppliers.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- The Microsofter Who Kept Sending Threatening Post and E-mail to My Wife Has Been Joking He'd Work on Code for "Sexual Favours"
- For one thing, for software professionals (like for landlords), this is outright illegal and you'd get arrested for it, and moreover it's no joking matter because there are many real victims of such sexual exploitation
- We Seem to Have Abandoned Science and Replaced Sound Policy With Private Patent Shareholders and College Dropouts Like Bill Epsteingate
- Because of what they did there are now many people out there who reject all vaccines
- Many IBM Layoffs, Centred Around Expert Labs US in Atlanta (Offer of "Relocation" Where No Such Option Exists)
- So Techrights was assessing comments/gossip online and it was right about the Thursday cull
-
- Links 23/05/2025: Microsoft Openwashing at ZDNet, Signal Does It Wrong (DRM, Back Doors Still Intact)
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 23/05/2025: Clutter in Modern Interfaces and Dealing With DRM-Free Music
- Links for the day
- Links 23/05/2025: Tax Audits of Hong Kong's Independent as ‘Intimidation Tactics,’ Why "Regulating X Isn’t Censorship"
- Links for the day
- TecAdmin Took a Break From Linux to Push SPAM
- This happened hours ago, and it seems to have been posted directly by the site's "Admin" (Rahul)
- Links 23/05/2025: Violent Attacks on the Press, VMware Price Hikes, Vista 11 Considered Unsuitable for Any Confidentiality
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 23/05/2025: Balkan Tourism, UK Polls, Reticulum and Meshtastic
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, May 22, 2025
- IRC logs for Thursday, May 22, 2025
- Back to Basics, Folks, "AI" (Plagiarism) is Symptom of a Dying Industry Looking for Whatever Prey It Can Devour
- lousy/sloppy imitations
- Liam Proven's Thoughts on "AI" Being a Scam No Different From Religions, Alternative Medicine, and More
- "Is there anywhere outside of retrocomputing that doesn't have AI in it?"
- Slopwatch: Slopfarms That 'Hallucinate' (Yield Falsehoods) Cited as Credible Sources and Microsoft Media Gaslighting Everybody
- Part of the problem is, Google News
- More Media Coverage and Photos From Richard Stallman's Presentation in Liberec (Czech Republic)
- Here are some photos
- The Microsofter Who Kept Sending Threatening Post and E-mail to My Wife Has Been Spooking Women for at Least Two Decades
- censorship was the ultimate goal
- Links 22/05/2025: Openwashing, Dumping Microsoft's Entrapment (Microsoft GitHub), and New Climate Disasters
- Links for the day
- Richard Stallman's Next Public Talk is in Milan, Italy Next Week
- Happy hacking
- Gemini Links 22/05/2025: Crimson Pro Font and CGI in Bash
- Links for the day
- IBM Goes to India, Fires People in the United States (Under the Guise of "Relocation" or Similar), Accusation of Bribery in the Company
- LLM slop sites (some are pure slopfarms) from India say the IBM layoffs result in hiring "AI" (the "I" stands for India)
- Why We'll Continue Covering EPO Abuses (Other Patent Offices as Well, as the Need Arises) for Many Years to Come
- We're basically becoming Russia
- Links 22/05/2025: TikTok Laying Off Again, Microsoft-Backed Builder.ai Set for Bankruptcy, Scam Altman Uses 'Funny Money' to 'Buy' (Hire) Company
- Links for the day
- These Feet Are Made for Walking
- Humans are apparently so very clever that they decided to form a "progressive" consensus: feet no more
- The Evolution of Microsoft's War on GNU/Linux
- 13 sins
- OFTC Has Just Culled About a Third of Its Online Users
- It's not the first time they purge or force offline many people/bots
- My New Desk Arrangement (and More Breaks From the Keyboard)
- all in all yesterday I devoted 4-5 hours to redoing and shuffling stuff
- Central Staff Committee of the EPO Opposes Abuses Against EPO Staff, Challenging SuccessFactors Stunts
- Europe became institutionally colonised
- Gemini Links 22/05/2025: "Conspirituality" and Visiting One's Old University
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, May 21, 2025
- IRC logs for Wednesday, May 21, 2025
- Bigots and Lunatics Who Attack Microsoft Critics, Projecting Their Own Bigotry by Accusing Others of Imaginary Things (Which They're Innocent Of)
- "In psychology, projection refers to assigning your negative traits or unwanted emotions to others without being aware you’re doing it."
- "The Appeals Committee [at the EPO] Unanimously Stated a Formal Flaw in the Consultation of the General Consultative Committee (GCC) on the Reform"
- It's a truly horrifying situation
- Microsoft Killed the Term "Open Source" (by Bribing/Taking Over OSI, 'Linux' Foundation Etc.) and Now It Needs to Kill the Brand Linux (Because Windows Just Won't Run!)
- Why else would Microsoft falsely describe Windows as "Linux" and "Open Source"?
- Slopwatch: Liars for Microsoft, Plagiarism, and IBM Red Hat Markets Slop as "AI"
- Today was a bad day news-wise
- Links 21/05/2025: Climate Problems and Ceasefires No Longer Foreseen
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 21/05/2025: "Shrimps of Doom" and "ASCII-graphs"
- Links for the day
- Links 21/05/2025: GitHub Becoming Slop, MElon as a Drug Addict Considered National Security Risk
- Links for the day
- Slopwatch: Slopfarms 'Think' Redis is "Linux" (RedisRaider)
- Today we'll keep it short and to the point again
- IBM Has Allegedly Just Sacked Mr. McKinsey (McK), Clay Cowan, Its Fourth CMO in a Few Years
- To insiders he represented the company that's killing IBM or advising IBM on how to self-destruct
- Gemini Links 21/05/2025: Trips, 4D Golf, and Writing Software
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, May 20, 2025
- IRC logs for Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Comments
The Mad Hatter
2009-06-28 19:14:10
It's the same with government. One thing there is to like about the Pirate Party is their openness.
Roy Schestowitz
2009-06-28 19:17:50