Bonum Certa Men Certa

Windows Phone 7 is Dying, So Microsoft is Just Attacking, Extorting Android

Urban mirror



Summary: Microsoft plays an urban game as it fails to produce a compelling product and instead it wages war in the boardroom

LATER today we hope to cover these issues in TechBytes as the gist of it all is that Microsoft loses the battle and there is abundant evidence. For starters, my co-host Tim notes Microsoft's "largest dip in two years" and writes about more bricking/malfunctioning of Windows phones, noting: "When I predicted that the WP7 would be lacking even months before the first phone touting it had hit the shelves, little could I imagine the issues that the phone would have post-release. To say it beggars belief is an understatement.



"The upgrade problems/bugs of WP7 have been documented here, along with the features missing, the real sales figures that Microsoft seems to still be keeping close to its chest and the continuing search for me to actually find someone I know who owns one of these devices, so its only right we continue that tradition of pointing and laughing with this piece of news."

Here it is right from the horse's mouth: "Microsoft admits to more Windows Phone update problems"

Yet another problem has cropped up preventing some Windows Phone 7 users from getting two software updates, adding a new chapter to the update saga that started in February.

Microsoft acknowledged that some Samsung Focus owners in the U.S. haven't yet received notification that the updates are available for them. "They're looking into the situation, but I'm afraid there's not much to report yet," wrote Michael Stroh, a Microsoft employee who is answering questions posted to the comments section on the Windows Phone blog.


There is more information in Windows sites:

Today, Microsoft announced that they are halting the NoDo update for Samsung Omnia7 due to technical issues. According to Windows Team Blog writer Michael Stroh, the update team found a technical issue which is causing the update process to fail.


Microsoft simply cannot compete in this market, so instead it has been trying to make GNU/Linux more expensive than Windows, using extortion and market distortion. "It's a brilliant strategy," says Microsoft booster Matt Rosoff [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] in his new article "Microsoft Charges More For Patents To Use Android Than It Does To Use Windows Phone 7" (it sounds like he celebrates this). To quote:

Microsoft charges more to Android resellers for licensing six of its patents than it does for its entire Windows Phone 7 operating system.

It's a brilliant strategy, since Android's most obvious advantage is its "free" price for handset makers.


Yes, Microsoft is a patent extortion company and there are formal complaints being filed about it. We mentioned this at the end of last week [1, 2, 3]. Truthfully, Apple and Steve Jobs' friends at Oracle are not helping, either. "Oracle has won an early round in what is sure to be an epic battle against Google over Android's use of Java," says one report that gets cited by foes of Google and Linux, such as Microsoft Florian, who are desperate to use anything that can repel Android users, e.g. this story: [via]

Two Oakland County women have filed a $50 million class-action lawsuit against Google Inc. to stop the company from selling phones with Android software that can track a user's location.

The lawsuit, filed late Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, comes a week after Google acknowledged that phones running its Android software store some location data directly on phones for a short time from users who have chosen to use GPS services.


Ultimately, even Microsoft is coming to realise that patents are a bad thing and if enough cases like the i4i case get filed against Microsoft, then maybe the abusive monopolist too will have to step back and squash software patents along with everyone else. The following video is several months old:



Here it is as Ogg: (via TinyOgg)

[an error occurred while processing this directive]



The success of Linux is now hinged upon the success of abolishment of software patents. Week of software patents opposition resumes today even though it's Bank Holiday in the UK. According to the president of the FFII, "Microsoft NZ is organizing a seminar in Aukland "Patent and Intellectual Property Monetization Seminar" http://ur1.ca/41obc " (still trying to manage other countries' patent policies).

Based on "Think IP Strategy" (which links to IAM Magazine, a patents booster), Microsoft's and Gates' patent troll, Intellectual Ventures is not just lobbying for harsher patent laws but is also opening "EU: Opportunities [...] for NPEs with a new EU patent" (yes, of course, and we warned about this).

NPEs is a euphemism for patent trolls, which have thus far been rare in Europe. The new legislation can change that and patent trolls obviously like it, including Intellectual Ventures, an extorter of Linux/Android. From IAM Magazine we also have this new article:

Intellectual Ventures has issued a vote of confidence in Europe, says firm's Euro chief



Raymond Hegarty, the new head of Intellectual Ventures’ operations in Europe, is an excited man. I spent a few minutes talking with him on the phone on Wednesday to learn more about what IV plans to do now it is fully established over here. And while Hegarty was not giving much away there was no doubting that he believes a considerable opportunity has landed on his lap. Although Hegarty has been involved in technology and IP deal-making for many years, and has established a ...


"Patent Troll Intellectual Ventures pushing for the EU patent, EU patent could be a game-changer for trolls," remarks the FFII's president. It's not about products anymore. Linux wins based on merit, but can it defeat bad laws that Microsoft and Co. lobbied for?

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

GNU/Linux is 486 in Ireland
4.86% that is
"Secure Boot" is a Security Problem, Not a Solution
These people don't try to improve security but to undermine security
Don't Talk to Bullies
This serious matter is still being examined by British authorities
 
Links 18/08/2025: LLM Reputation Damaged, Australia Catches Google Foul Play
Links for the day
Geeks Like GNU/Linux
The technical community seems to be consolidating and rallying around GNU/Linux
End of Reliable Media
it makes the world a worse place, it renders the Web a misinformation machine
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 17, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 17, 2025
GitHub Won't Last Much Longer
Many things at Microsoft are going to go the way of the Skype (or "dodo"). GitHub will be among those.
We've Never Used Large Language Model (LLM)
we just never used an LLM
Gemini Links 18/08/2025: Retro and Endless Escape from the WWW
Links for the day
Working Whilst Away From Home
Decades ago being away meant all sorts of problems associated with workflows and connectivity
The Next Version of Windows Will Always be the Best (for Microsoft)
It's worse and slower over time
"End of the Smartphone Era" According to Jeffrey Epstein's Key Enabler
They call it "sour grapes"
Microsoft's Windows in Gabon: Still Moving Down
What is this Unknown? Who knows...
Links 17/08/2025: Strike Downs Air Canada, Postmortems of Putin's Red Carpet Summit
Links for the day
Links 17/08/2025: Slow Tools and Enshittification of YouTube
Links for the day
Links 17/08/2025: "The Performance of Power" and "My Undesirable Friends"
Links for the day
Growing Our Reach
Our goal was never "hits"
The Russian Vision of Technology
Russia's surveillance is very extensive
Sooner or Later Almost Everyone Will Know "AI" is Just a Go-To, Misused, Misapplied, and Grossly Overused Term of Liars and Con Jobs Who Ride a Ponzi Scheme
At the expense of people gullible enough to "invest" in this or take salaries/bonuses in the form of "stock" (tied to a Ponzi scheme)
The Register MS Has Begun Using Slop Images
It's not clear when it started; but it's definitely getting worse [...] Worst of all are 'articles' about slop that are themselves slop
Reddit Funded by Microsoft
Reddit is merely a filter and we knows who controls that filter (using money)
When It Comes to Technology, Mozilla and Firefox Are Illiberal
Last month in Planet Debian we saw one more person explaining to everyone how to "turn off" DRM in Firefox and hide the pop-up/s
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 16, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 16, 2025
The Open Source Initiative Has Many Scandals, We'll Try to Summarise Them All
Open Source Initiative (OSI) hates facts
Open Source Initiative (OSI), Wikipedia, Molly De Blanc, and Censorship/Reputation Laundering
OSI is like SPLC. The old name remains, the mission changed
Gemini Links 17/08/2025: Misunderstanding "Geminiverse" and Let's Encrypt
Links for the day
Links 17/08/2025: Breaches, Layoffs, and Scams
Links for the day
The Case for Software Freedom in Europe Becomes Stronger as GAFAM and the US Become Allies of Those Who Invade Europe
"One would think that both sides of the pond would be very interested in this valuable commons and work to not just protect it but cultivate it further, rather than work to saw the legs from under it by advancing software patents instead."
Slopwatch: Google News, LinuxSecurity, LinuxBSDos.com, and Garbage From Brian Fagioli
nowadays when people search the Web or when one researches some topic (looking not just for news in Google News) one is increasingly likely to land on a fake 'article' spewed out by some Microsoft LLM
Gemini Links 16/08/2025: Back After Hiatus and News Aggregators in Geminispace
Links for the day
Links 16/08/2025: mRNA Being Abandoned, Putin Plant Flags in Alaska, Faces No Sanctions
Links for the day
Links 16/08/2025: Science Besieged, Confidentiality Standards Breached
Links for the day
Links 16/08/2025: Loners and Vacation, Climate Issues
Links for the day
Links 16/08/2025: Chatbots Bad for Kids, Software Patents Apple Battle
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 15, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 15, 2025
Slopwatch: WebProNews and Google News Promoting Fake Articles About "Linux"
Google News is being flooded by these slopfarms, so when Linux news is being sought online (via Google News) many people will read bots that spew out FUD
Original European Patent Convention (EPC, 1973), Routinely Violated by the European Patent Office, Now in Geminispace
hundreds of thousands of European Patents must be immediately revoked
Gemini Links 16/08/2025: Politics and Alhena 5.2.8
Links for the day