Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Fights Google with More FUD, Lawsuits, and Lobbying



Summary: Some of Microsoft's latest moves against Google, including Google's endeavours that promote GNU/Linux

AS the battle between Google and Microsoft turns into a battle of office suites/collaboration and operating systems (GNU/Linux versus Windows), Microsoft grows more wary and nervous. It's not just search that's at stake anymore, as it's Microsoft's jewels (and cash cows) that are finally at risk. Windows revenue was down 40% in the last quarter and Office revenue was also down sharply. Paul Rubens writes about the subject and it is definitely worth pointing out that Microsoft is openly mocking Android/Linux [1, 2] -- a mockery that's indicative of Microsoft's fear of Google. Microsoft is now publicly mocking another product from Google:



Microsoft Teases Google Over New Storage Service



[...]

Microsoft didn’t miss the opportunity to ‘poke fun’ at the puny online storage capacity offered by the search engine giant and said in a statement that “Just a friendly reminder that Windows Live has been offering its more than 450 million customers 25GB of cloud-based storage space for free through Windows Live SkyDrive since 2008.”


Microsoft just can't help making fun of Google. It is a bad marketing strategy and IDG's Microsoft watcher/booster Nancy Gohring is doing her job belittling Microsoft competitors like Google, as usual. But there's more.

As we mentioned before, Microsoft is suing Google right about now (latest lawsuit among several) and the mainstream press does not miss this. It's rather blatant this time around:

Eleven-year-old Ciao was in 2005 bought by online market research surveys firm Greenfield, which was in 2008 acquired by Microsoft, which itself is trying to build a web ads operation to rival Google’s.


Apart from this new joke that Microsoft is buying Google for $300 billion, there is also real news about Microsoft losing control of Facebook, in which it put investments (probably in order to block a Google takeover).

Facebook stopped using Microsoft this month to sell graphical banner ads in some international markets. It may also drop those ads in the U.S., Robin Domeniconi, vice president of U.S. ad sales at Microsoft, said yesterday in an interview.


The original report is from Bloomberg.

Lastly, in addition to FUD and lawsuits, Microsoft is lobbying the government very heavily (but so does Google). Bill Gates is visiting the White House very frequently [1, 2] despite claiming to have retired from Microsoft. Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, is currently lobbying for public- and Google-hostile policies and he too visits the White House based on the following new report:

But when it comes to tech executives from the private sector, Google and Microsoft have both done well at getting into the White House. Former Microsoft boss Bill Gates even snared an intimate audience with President Obama back in March 2009 when only three other people were present. Steve Ballmer made three visits over two days to members of the Obama technology team. And Microsoft exec Craig Mundie put in an appearance.


The above article also speaks about Google visits to the White House, which are nonetheless fewer. Microsoft still uses publicity stunts to pressure and daemonise Google, even using Yahoo as a pawn [1, 2] to force Google to change its algorithm's retention.

Speaking of lobbying, Microsoft seems to be preparing and probably sponsoring some more bogus studies to assist with pressure on politicians.

MICROSOFT: Oil and Gas Pros Rapidly Embracing Social Media and Collaboration Tools, Yet Corporate Policy Lags, According to New



Nearly 75 percent of oil and gas professionals see value in using social media and collaboration tools at work an 83 percent jump from responses in last year's similar poll but corporatewide endorsement of these tools continues to lag behind, according to a Microsoft Corp. and Accenture (NYSE: ACN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) survey released today at Microsoft's Global Energy Forum in Houston.

The Microsoft and Accenture Oil & Gas Collaboration Survey 2010, which surveyed 275 professionals within international, national and independent oil and gas and related companies, found that social media and collaboration technology adoption is primarily a grassroots phenomenon within firms. At the same time, half of those surveyed said their companies prohibit or restrict the use of many of these publicly available tools, such as photo-sharing and social networking sites.


Microsoft is probably trying to sell something or to pass new laws. We will probably see the outcome/s in the coming weeks because there is usually this type of delay. They usually do this sort of stuff for PR and/or lobbying (very recent examples can be found in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]). ⬆

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Brigading Against Women - Part VII - 'Trolling' Courts and Legal Systems in America and in the UK (Europe) Costs a Lot to Taxpayers
They only attend hearings after being arrested
Dejan Panovski Outs linuxize.com as a Slopfarm, Another Site That Sold Out and Became LLM Garbage
From what we can gather, both images and text are slop
A Microsoft Lunduke OS (LCOS) is Not Even in Top 100 in DistroWatch, Microsoft Lunduke Just Games the Numbers Like Linspire Did (and Got 'Banned' for It)
Linspire used to send people to 'its' DistroWatch page to make the illusion of popularity
 
Microsoft's Attacks on Courts in the Netherlands Result in GNU/Linux Growing to About 10% There
One core issue that justified this and led to this outcome is Microsoft's interference with the administration of justice
They Create the Conditions for People to Leave, This Way They Don't Call it "Layoffs"
We keep seeing many stories like these
Gemini Links 28/09/2026: Wildfire, DOS, and Backups
Links for the day
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The Portuguese Talent For Bureaucratic Empire Building
Portugal’s success in securing senior executive appointments at the EUIPO and the EPO is a notable example of how countries seek to strengthen their influence within European intergovernmental institutions
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 27, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, September 27, 2026
Gemini Links 27/09/2026: Writing Well, Productivity, and a Relaunch in Geminispace
Links for the day
Making This Site More Useful to More People
Search engines (as a concept) are under attack
Exposing Crimes of Americans (From the UK)
We must ensure UK prisons are never misused to punish/silence people who expose crimes in America
Spam and Chatbot Spam in Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
Maintaining one's own IRC network requires some housekeeping, but it's simpler than outsourcing to malicious companies
Search Engine of Techrights Improved for Better Signal-to-Noise Ratio
Our growing community needs more search facilities
Microsoft: We Love Layoffs, We Do Silent Layoffs, More Microsoft Projects/Teams/Studios Confirmed to be Shutting Down
XBox is dying. Piece by piece.
Brigading Against Women - Part VI - On Garrett and Lozza, Defamation, Attempts to Crack My Wife's Accounts, Social Engineering to Try to Take Sites Offline, Subscribing Us to Mountains of SPAM
tried swatting us
Links 27/09/2026: "Provost of Dartmouth Busted Using Hey Hi (AI) Slop for His Own Writing in Newspapers and Academic Journals" and "UK Government Enforcement Reform"
Links for the day
People and Sites Wish a Happy 43th Birthday to GNU (Today)
We've collected some examples
Links 27/09/2026: Microsoft Fired People a Day After Promotion, "Fragility of Online Journalism"
Links for the day
Brigading Against Women - Part V - SWATTING, Extortion Against Webhosts, and Lawfare Under Sworn Oath (Perjury Also)
Matthew Garrett has no qualm about still collaborating with Lozza
20 Years Later
There's a strong anti-democracy movement brewing in many places
Gemini Links 27/09/2026: Telescopes/Gskyer, Writing for Writing's Sake, and Writing Tools
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 26, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, September 26, 2026
Gemini Links 26/09/2026: Computer Cases Dreary, Web Drowning in Botspam
Links for the day
Reform UK auditor: Electoral Commission accounts, Companies House accounts, a going concern or not?
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Temporary Public Office or Permanent Personal Feather-Bed?
there are no visible signs that the Administrative Council has the slightest interest in contemplating a change in leadership at the EPO
Brigading Against Women - Part IV - Death Threats, Threats to Women, and Threats for Pointing Out, Correctly and Based on Hard Evidence, That Garrett and Lozza Talk to Each Other About Me Every Year (for 4 Years)
Brett Wilson LLP too is a toxic manosphere
More GAFAM Layoffs at Apple, Second Time in Weeks (Silent Layoffs Silently Target Older and "More Expensive" Staff)
How many layoffs happen at Apple silently and go unreported or very scarcely reported?
Gemini Links 26/09/2026: Rant About Slop Ruining Crafts (Drowning the Signal With Plagiarism) and "Going Mechanical"
Links for the day
Links 26/09/2026: Microsoft Says Notification Data Breach/Surveillance Hole There by Design, EU Rapidly Dumping Microsoft for Digital Sovereignty
Links for the day
The Former Linux News Site ostechnix.com is LLM Slop
Please do not link to sites that promote and/or spread slop
Links 26/09/2026: Volkswagen Recalling ~50,000 Cars, US Attacks Its Own Media
Links for the day
Making Oneself Obsolete With Slop
Dr. Lemire also puts on display a degree of hypocrisy
Brigading Against Women - Part III - Racism Looms Large, Not Just Sexism
threats from a racist
Microsoft CEO Calls Layoffs "Streamlining" and Says Microsoft Layoffs Are "Great to See"
The lack of honesty here is only to be expected from Microsoft
Media silence deafening as Reform UK on brink of administration
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 26/09/2026: Travel, Group Insurance Death Spiral, Stargazing, and Lagrange Meets LLM Slop
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 25, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, September 25, 2026