Summary: As GNU and Linux make it big in various platforms (especially for mobile devices) Microsoft is again trying to make itself a parasitic adjunct, neither invited nor wanted

Now that Android is truly dominant, Microsoft is trying to pretend that the only party one needs to pay to (for Android) is Microsoft. It's the same thing Microsoft did to Novell and others. There might not be payments, but even pretense of payments is rather infuriating. It is a huge injustice which shows that we need to ostracise Microsoft.

GNU/Linux is quickly transforming into a market leader and the platform to catch up with. Microsoft is desperately trying to get a grip on Linux or "court Linux-based workloads with a new driver package that enables support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS 5.5 and 5.6." Having totally destroyed Linux at Nokia [1,2] (Nokia was a leading Linux contributor), Microsoft now uses its Novell moles to put code inside Linux, enabling dependence on proprietary software from Microsoft [3].

It is not hard to see why Microsoft resorted to this strategy of hijacking Nokia (alienating some other OEMs). Microsoft wants to control the hardware companies (like Dell) because with disasters like Vista 8 they just no longer pre-install (or rent) much of Windows [4]. Hyper-V is like a Trojan horse strategy and a Plan B, not just for servers. Microsoft is trying to dual-boot Windows along with Android devices right now. Nobody needs or wants it, but with enough moles it can become a reality.

Phones with GNU/Linux are coming (e.g. Ubuntu phones [5]), signaling a trend [6]. Even platforms which Microsoft tried to kill are coming back [7], notably WebOS (with Microsoft tax) and Tizen [8] (derived from MeeGo), not to mention Firefox OS [9,10] and Jolla's Sailfish OS. Microsoft will try to impose inclusion of Windows (we see this in the press these days), but we must reject it and work hard against it. "I once preached peaceful coexistence with Windows," Be's CEO Jean-Louis Gassée once wrote. "You may laugh at my expense -- I deserve it."⬆

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Nokia officially walks away from Symbian, MeeGo

   The company stops allowing developers to submit new applications or updates for the mobile operating systems.





2. So Previewing Smartphone Bloodbath Year 5: Who Is Still Left Alive

   When I started this ‘Bloodbath’ intense focus on the upcoming smartphone wars four years ago, I said the wars would bring a lot of change. Back in 2009 the world’s largest smartphone makers were very well known brands of the handset tech space such as Nokia, Blackberry, Palm, Motorola, HTC and SonyEricsson, with the upstart Apple iPhone having appeared only two years earlier. No Chinese smartphone maker was ranked in the Top 10. What happened has been dramatic, indeed the most volatile period of any global industry. Motorola and Palm died early and were sold. Ericsson quit the races leaving the partnership to Sony. Nokia was sold late last year. Blackberry is on the ropes and HTC is not faring much better. Four Chinese vendors have already crashed into the Top 10 (Huawei, Lenovo, ZTE and Yulong/Coolpad) with a fifth, Xiaomi likely to enter the Top 10 early in 2014.





3. Microsoft Updates Hyper-V Linux Integration Services





4. Is Microsoft Grasping at Straws?

   Two articles caught my attention this week and both of them came from The Verge. Both stories came out within 2 days of each other. In that they both dealt with Microsoft talking about or actually reversing previous decisions about Windows 8, I had to wonder if this was Microsoft damage control at work. It would seem so.
   
   It’s not just me. A lot of my friends in IT think the Windows 8 release was a disaster. Microsoft was seen as telling the computing public, “You will accept our new Windows and you will like it.”
   
   Uh, no they won’t.
   
   Early sales figures were far more than disappointing for the folks at Redmond. So disappointing in fact, that the company made public at least some intentions of making amends to their customers.





5. It Looks Like Ubuntu's First Phone Might Be For China





6. The rise of GNU/Linux-powered mobile OSes in 2013

   There’s no such thing as a saturated market — not at least for gadgets. And in the world of gadgets, there’s one field that happens to be a hot battlefield: MOBILE OPERATING SYSTEMS.

7. LG to bring Palm's webOS BACK FROM THE DEAD in TVs next week – report





8. First Samsung Tizen phone hits the FCC?

   Samsung’s first Tizen phone reportedly will debut at Mobile World Congress Feb. 23, and will reach consumers in Europe and Japan in the second half of 2014.





9. Run Android and Firefox OS on x86 chip with Revolution phone

   LinuxGizmos is reporting that a new phone is coming this year that will let you run Android and Firefox OS with an x86 chip.

10. New Geeksphone to run Android and Firefox OS on x86