06.05.16
Posted in Asia, Deception, Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Patents, Vista 10, Windows at 12:13 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Reputation laundering with sound bites like the ‘new Microsoft’
Summary: A look at the reality behind today’s Microsoft and what proponents of Microsoft (often connected to the company) want us to believe
THE aggressive company which is widely hated/loathed (and deserves this hatred, which is well earned based on its actions) just can’t help doing evil. Those who try hard to convince themselves that Microsoft has changed must not have noticed that the management is virtually the same and the company continues to operate like a death squad, attempting to prematurely destroy anything which resembles potent competition, based on suspicion alone.
“Those who try hard to convince themselves that Microsoft has changed must not have noticed that the management is virtually the same and the company continues to operate like a death squad, attempting to prematurely destroy anything which resembles potent competition, based on suspicion alone.”Several years ago we explained what Microsoft was hoping to achieve when it took over Skype (soon thereafter to enter NSA’s PRISM, right after Microsoft which was the first in the whole programme and had already provided back doors to the NSA for over a decade). Recently we saw Skype support for GNU/Linux (which was handed over to Microsoft) gradually being withdrawn and this new thread in Reddit says that “Microsoft is lobbying the Indian government to link peoples’ National IDs with their Skype calling” (no source to verify this with).
Microsoft has turned Windows into something as privacy-hostile as Skype itself, if not a lot worse. With Skype, for example, Microsoft spies on people’s private conversations and even follows links; in Vista 10 Microsoft has a keylogger, which spies on everything (even password typing) in real time. Vista 10 should be made illegal, as it is clearly malicious software and should be treated as such. Ironically enough, Microsoft is almost trying to make it impossible not to use Vista 10 and despite that, as Vista 10 infection rates are increasing, very few people actually use this ‘free’ (so-called ‘bargain’) piece of malware. As one report put it, “Windows 10: less than 15 per cent of those who can upgrade have bothered” and “The big question is whether Microsoft will hit the 20 per cent mark by the time the free offer is over.”
“Microsoft has turned Windows into something as privacy-hostile as Skype itself, if not a lot worse.”This is a disastrous result given the way Microsoft fooled and bamboozled people into installing it, even using malware tactics. According to some reports, Microsoft has just made it virtually impossible not to use this malware (one must supply an ‘upgrade’ date) and anyone who still thinks there’s a ‘new Microsoft’ must be either very gullible or bribed.
This new article, “Microsoft Meets Open Source,” is based on a Big Lie. It is not hard to see that Microsoft is attacking FOSS (Open Source), but this site is doing too many sponsored ‘articles’ (advertisements) these days, such as this one (see disclosure). We expect a lot of the usual Microsoft apologists to pretend Microsoft is fine and dandy and indeed, looking at the company’s boosters, we see exactly what’s expected. Microsoft Peter, for instance, continues to attack FOSS using Oracle’s lies. As iophk put it, “now Microsoft has spoken” (alluding to Peter, who very often relays the company’s positions) and given Microsoft’s propaganda sites’ effort to ‘Linuxwash’ SQL Server (also openwashing it, referring to Microsoft’s own employees/mouthpieces), we identify the old strategy which is to associate SQL Server (among other such pieces of proprietary software) with FOSS.
“We expect a lot of the usual Microsoft apologists to pretend Microsoft is fine and dandy and indeed, looking at the company’s boosters, we see exactly what’s expected.”Don’t fall for it. Some people do, but others have been falling for it for a number of years. Sam Dean, who works for a media company that has been receiving Microsoft money to embed propaganda within the articles (and got caught), is still promoting Microsoft proprietary software and repeats the Big Lie, starting with: “According to more and more people, Microsoft may have finally, truly warmed up to Linux and open source. CEO Satya Nadella (shown) has been much in the news for his comments on how he “loves Linux” and he has noted that much of the Azure cloud platform is Linux-based.”
That’s nonsense. It’s a media strategy which we explained before. What is the ‘real Microsoft’, which one might call the ‘new Microsoft’? It’s hardly any better than a patent troll. As Richi Jennings put it the other day in his IDG headline, “Xiaomi feeds Microsoft patent troll — pays patent toll” (Jennings quotes various comments about it).
“What is the ‘real Microsoft’, which one might call the ‘new Microsoft’? It’s hardly any better than a patent troll.”This article quotes Mary Jo Foley (a longtime Microsoft mouthpiece) as saying: “Microsoft is both continuing to collect patent royalties from Android [and defending] antitrust charges in China. … Some outlets are saying Xiaomi “bought” these patents [not] licensed them.”
We wrote about this the other day, noting that this came from Microsoft -- not Xiaomi -- and Xiaomi paid Microsoft for patents. Here is what the patent propagandists have said over at IAM: “Whichever way you look at it, the deal between Microsoft and Xiaomi which was announced earlier this week has to go down as one of the most significant of the year so far. There are the terms of the deal itself – Xiaomi gets 1,500 patents from the software giant’s global portfolio, Microsoft gets Office and Skype pre-installed on Xiaomi’s Android phones and tablets and the two sides put in place a cross-licence (which it’s probably safe to say is more valuable to the Chinese company).”
“What kind of drug does one have to take to believe Microsoft is a friend?”IAM, which is funded by patent trolls, has always been so Microsoft-friendly that it makes one wonder. Even its Web site, unusually enough, is Windows-powered (in 2016!) and another new article about Xiaomi says that “Xiaomi absorbs patent fund operator Zhigu as it re-shuffles IP team”. This too mentions the Microsoft extortion: “Yesterday, this blog covered a major deal between Xiaomi and Microsoft that saw the Chinese company acquire 1,500 patents along with a cross-licence. While the financial details are unknown, the fact that Xiaomi is now likely among the top 200 or so holders of US patents has to be seen as a coup for the smartphone startup. It also comes just three months after some big changes to its relatively young IP function.”
The bottom line is, Microsoft spreads malware, it spreads it forcibly, it lies about its proprietary software being “open” and it goes after the “open” rivals (such as Android) using software patents. What kind of drug does one have to take to believe Microsoft is a friend? █
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05.28.16
Posted in Microsoft, Vista 10 at 10:22 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: In spite of malware-inspired tactics that should land Microsoft in courts of law all around the world (as a defendant), Microsoft-friendly circles pretend that the company fights for people’s rights like privacy — all this when Microsoft installs keyloggers on people’s PCs without their consent and obviously against their will
“Microsoft fights for your privacy” should sound as perverse as “BP fights for the environment” (or puppies) and “the Mafia fights for justice,” but in spite of Microsoft’s close relationship with the NSA some rights groups help Microsoft with the latest publicity stunt or show trial. One Microsoft booster even chose the hilarious headline “Microsoft is going in to bat for your privacy” (after all that Microsoft has done against people’s privacy, overtly and aggressively).
Microsoft Jack, in his typical Microsoft-promoting fashion, answers (or claims to answer) 10 quick questions about installing Windows 10 (he means Vista 10, which is technically malware) in light of the latest controversy over Microsoft’s resort to malware tactics (where X means "yes"). “Microsoft won’t back down from Windows 10 nagware ‘trick’,” said the British press two days ago:
Microsoft is hurt and disappointed that people would think it was trying to “trick” them with a confusing Windows 10 upgrade dialog that scheduled an upgrade without users explicitly agreeing to do so.
Redmond recently created a new Windows 10 nagware reminder that presented a dialog asking you to install the OS. But if users clicked the red “X” to close the dialog – standard behaviour for dispelling a dialog without agreeing to do anything – Microsoft took that as permission for the upgrade.
Nobody in Microsoft has been put on trial, as usual, for reasons we explained before. The following day we saw the Microsoft-friendly BBC (lots of former Microsoft UK staff now run it) writing about “Microsoft U-turn on ‘nasty trick’ pop-up” (they even put scare quotes around nasty trick). To quote:
Microsoft has u-turned over changes it made to a pop-up encouraging users to upgrade to Windows 10.
Users were angry that clicking the cross to dismiss the box meant that they had agreed to the upgrade.
Based on “customer feedback”, Microsoft said that it had added another notification that provided customers with “an additional opportunity for cancelling the upgrade”.
The pop-up design had been described as a “nasty trick”.
Microsoft told the BBC it had modified the pop-up two weeks ago as a result of criticism: “We’ve added another notification that confirms the time of the scheduled upgrade and provides the customer an additional opportunity for cancelling or rescheduling the upgrade.
How many people have been ‘tricked’ into installing this malware on their PC/s? When if ever will there be a class action lawsuit? Who has been held accountable? Will Microsoft claim ‘triumph’ for Vista 10 because it forced several more millions of people to have this malware installed against their will? When will people finally realise that Microsoft is not an ordinary company but a company that cheats, bribes, deceives, and so on? █
“The government is not trying to destroy Microsoft, it’s simply seeking to compel Microsoft to obey the law. It’s quite revealing that Mr. Gates equates the two.”
–Government official
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05.26.16
Posted in Microsoft, Vista 10, Windows at 6:02 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
What next? Ransomware?
Albert Gonzalez is in prison, but Microsoft executives are too big to jail. Photo: U.S. Secret Service/US Attorney for New Jersey
Summary: Microsoft is essentially taking over people’s PCs and installing on them a large piece of malware, complete with keyloggers, against the will of these PCs’ owners
WHAT is the difference between Vista 10 and malware? Quite frankly, we can’t tell anymore. Windows is no longer just the host of state-developed malware like Stuxnet; it is itself malware, as per definition.
Days ago we wrote about further escalation of Vista 10's aggressive tactics and now it gets even worse, confirming what we mentioned earlier this week:
Once again, Microsoft has been caught out putting the security of its users at risk, by employing what has been described as a “nasty trick” to force an upgrade to Windows 10.
A BBC report said that the company had now changed the functionality of the pop-up that was used to encourage users to upgrade to Windows 10.
The red X at the right-hand top corner is normally used to close the pop-up, but the BBC said now clicking there activated the upgrade, rather than closing the pop-up.
One can only avoid the upgrade when another pop-up appears at the time scheduled on the first pop-up. The instructions provided by Microsoft are not exactly simple and will take up a fair amount of time.
Note that the instructions blithely say: “When you close this pop up, your PC will upgrade at the scheduled time,” as though closing a pop-up normally results in the activity specified therein running to conclusion!
“Better option is to upgrade to GNU/Linux,” iophk told us. “Mint is a good starter distro.”
Worth repeating is this assertion: if Microsoft was not so well connected in government, given it a sense of immunity, Vista 10 tactics would land people who developed it in prison (there are other reasons for this), or at least in courtrooms all around the world. █
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05.24.16
Posted in Microsoft, Vista 10, Windows at 12:26 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
…To use Elop’s own words (we shall write about Nokia separately some time later)
Summary: It’s not just Windows for phones that’s reaching minuscule market share levels but also Windows, but Microsoft is skilled at hiding this (cannibalising Windows using something people do not even want, then counting that cannibal, Vista 10)
THE REASON why Microsoft is not being covered here as much as before is that it’s not as relevant. Right now even Microsoft’s and Bill Gates’ friends at Gartner admit that Windows Phone market share is approaching 0%. Rumours we have been hearing suggest that Windows Phone will be called off and die not too long from now. Even Microsoft’s biggest fans (some of whom pretend to be journalists) have dumped Windows Phone (usually in favour of Android). We didn’t write about it when it happened because we worry more about what Microsoft intends to do with its patents (recall IBM) as its business is reduced to rubble.
“Rumours we have been hearing suggest that Windows Phone will be called off and die not too long from now.”For those who have not seen or heard the news, “Windows Phone market share falls below one percent”, according to a Microsoft-connected firm. As iophk put it: “Market share or sales? The numbers might be lower still.” They probably are. To quote CBS: “Microsoft’s Windows Phone may not be long for this world. Although the first quarter of 2016 saw a 3.9 percent increase in global smartphone sales year-on-year, Windows Phone saw a nearly 2 percent drop in sales. According to the latest Gartner report, Windows Phone sales went from 2.5 percent and 8.27 million units in Q1 2015 to 0.7 percent and 2.4 million units in Q1 2016.”
Glyn Moody cites this as proof that Microsoft won’t come back to greatness (in the market share sense) any time soon, or ever. Here is another article about it, this one titled “Windows Phone market share sinks below 1 percent” (also from a Gates-connected source). There are even more pessimistic reports in other places. FOSS proponent Sam Varghese notes that “Android sales were the highest (84.1%).” We have intentionally chosen Microsoft-friendly sources so as to show just how serious the problem is. Even the Microsoft choir cannot spin its way out of it.
“Microsoft’s Vista 10 installs itself without consent, still.”On the desktop, Microsoft is forcing people to use what Microsoft tells them to have, basically by hijacking people’s PCs. As the Bill Gates-funded The Guardian has just put it, “Microsoft has ruined my day, and possibly my life” (article by Michele Hanson). the summary says: “An unwanted software update has moved my files, broken my printer and stopped the sound on iPlayer” (which was originally notoriously Microsoft-friendly, as we noted over the years).
“Microsoft is in shambles.”As a matter of preference and priority, we don’t write much about Vista 10 anymore, but we keep hearing new stories about forced ‘upgrades’. For instance, “yesterday,” said one person, “Microsoft updated to windows 10 without my consent…” [1, 2]. Microsoft’s Vista 10 installs itself without consent, still. The solution? Goodbye Windows, hello GNU/Linux. Much to our disgust, Microsoft continues to exploit the “Linux” brand in its miserable effort to whitewash Vista 10, based on what Microsoft published yesterday. Is this whole provocative charade not over yet? Microsoft does not love Linux, it just realises that now, as Chromebooks outsell Apple-branded PCs, GNU/Linux is the growing/huge force not only in mobile (tablet/phones) but also on the desktop (or laptop rather). Microsoft does not love Linux and it does not love FOSS either. Yesterday, for instance, we learned of yet another case of Microsoft censorship [1] because someone dared to suggest making Visual Basic FOSS upon its 25th anniversary [2].
Microsoft is in shambles. To use Elop’s words (from that infamous memo), Microsoft’s operating systems are now “burning platforms”. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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05.21.16
Posted in Microsoft, Vista 10, Windows at 5:53 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: A reader’s experience being nagged by Microsoft, as documented and explained by this reader
The attached screen capture shows what the update procedure looks like.
On 19 May 2016:
The update utility showing KB3122862
The official Microsoft info on KB3122862
What third parties are saying [1, 2]. The previous attempt to dump Win10 on my machine was less than a fortnight ago, on 7 May 2016
The second update is this time classified as
“important” rather than “optional”.
Uh oh, time to grab the barge pole…
Another “innocuous” sounding update on 8 April 2016.
And on 13 April 2016, there were a lot of updates, no Win10 stuff, but I had to go through them one by one to check that nothing sneaky was included.
I’m almost ready to make the switch to Linux but it’s more complicated than I thought, I’m running into technical problems which I don’t really want to have to deal with, e.g. video drivers. I’ve been getting familiar with OpenSUSE for the last few years, and reviewed many other distributions. I’ll stay away from Ubuntu as they seem to be in bed with Microsoft, and after I looked into the other choices (Mint, Debian, Fedora), I’ll stick with the devil I know. █
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04.12.16
Posted in GNU/Linux, Vista 10 at 7:33 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Article as ODF
2016-04-06
Mike Gerwitz <mtg@gnu.org>
Ha estado habiendo much charla alrededor de una combinación única: GNU—elel completamente free/libresistema operativo —y Microsoft Windows—el sistema de vigilancia másivo que NIEGA la libertad , controla al usuario. También ha habido una gran cantidad de información engañosa. Me gustaría compartir mis pensamientos.
Antes de que podamos discutir esta materia, necesitamos clarificar la terminología: Tenemos un free/libre sistema operativo llamado GNU. Usualmente, usado con la Linux kernel, y es en su conjunto llamado GNU/Linux (or GNU+Linux) sistema operativo. Pero eso no siempre fué el caso. Por ejemplo, GNU puede ejecutárse en su propia kernel (núcleo), El GNU Hurd (GNU/Hurd). Puede ser ejecutado en un sistema con una BSD kernel (e.g. GNU/kFreeBSD). Pero ahora, tenemos una situación en la que tomamos a GNU/Linux, removemos Linux, y añadimos en su lugar una Windows kernel. Esta combinación es referida como GNU/kWindows (GNU con la Windows kernel añadida).i
GNU valora las libertades del usuario. Windows hace exáctamente lo contrario.
Cuando los usuarios hablan del sistema operativo “Linux”, lo que a ellos se refiéren es a el sistema operativo GNUcon la kernel Linux añadida. Si usted esta usando el sistema operativo GNU de alguna forma, muchos de los programas con los que eres familiar en la línea de comando son GNU programas: bash, (g)awk, grep, ls, cat, bc, tr, gcc, emacs, and so on. Pero GNU es un remplazo completofree/libre Unix, n simplemente una colección de programas GNU. Linux es la kernel que apoya lo que el sistema operativo esta tratando de hacer; provee lo que las llamadas del sistema dirige a la kernel a realizar ciertas acciones, como fork nuevos procesos o asignar memoria. Esta es una distinción importante —no sólo llamar a todo este software “Linux” es incorrecto, pero desácredita al proyecto que ha creado un completo remplazo free/libre a Unix -GNU.
Este problema del nombre esta tan difundido que la mayoríá de usuarios no reconocerán lo que GNU realmente es, incluso si ellos estan usando sistem operativo GNU/Linux. Reciéntemente leí un artículo en el que se referíá a GNU Bash como “Linux’s Bash”; esto simplemente es una cachetada en la cara a todos los hackers que por más de 26 años han estado escribiéndo lo que es una de las más ampliamente usados shells en sistemas similares a Unix (incluyendo a Apple’s proprietario Mac OSX), y todas las GNU hackers.
Microsoft and Canonical aparentemente han estado trabajando juntos para escribir un subsistema que traduzca Linux system calls en algo que Windows entienda — una capa de compatibilidad. Así, software compilado para ejecutarse en un sistema con la Linux kernel trabajará en Windows a traves de una llamada de sistema traducido. Muchs artículos están llamando a esto “Linux en Windows”. !Esto es una falacia, la kernel Linux no tiene nada que ver con esto!De lo que aquí somos testigos es el sistema operativo GNUejecutándose en un kernel Windows en vez de Linux.
Esta es sin duda una ventaja técnica para Microsoft – Los usuarios de Windows quieren hacer su computación en un ambiente superior con el que pudieran estar familiarizados, el GNU/Linux u otros sistemas operativos basados en Unix, comoel Mac OS X de Apple que niega la libertad a sus usuarios. Pero pensar de esta manera pierde un concepto esencial:
Cuando los usuarios hablan de “Linux” como el nombre del sistema operativo, evitan hablar de GNU. Y al evitar mencionar a GNU, ellos también están evitando una discusión de los principios ¨core¨, básicos en los que GNU esta fundado—e principio/creencia que los usuarios merecen software que otorgue las cuatro libertades esenciales: La libertad de usar el programa con cualquier propósito; La libertad de estudiar el programa y modificarlo para adaptarlo a sus necesidades (o que alguien lo haga en su nombre); la libertad de compartir el programa con los demás; y la libertad para compartir sus cambios con los demás. Llamamos a ese software que respeta estas cuatro libertades free/libre software.
Free software es absolutamente esencial: asegura que los usuarios, quienes son los más vulnerables, estén en control de sus computación no los desarrolladores de software o corporaciones. Cualquier programa que niega los usuarios de cualquiera de suscuatro libertadesno es libre (opropietario)—eso es, software que niega las libertades. Esto significa que cualquier non-free software (software proprietario), no importa sus características o rendimiénto, será siempre inferior al software libreque realize las mismas tareas.
A no todos les gusta hablar acerca de la libertad o de lafilosofía del free sofware. Este desacuerdo resultó en lametodología de desarrollo de “open source”, lq que existe para vender los beneficios del free software a negocios evitandodiscutir estas esenciales consideraciónes idelógicas. Bajo lafilosofíá de “open source”, si un programa propietario provee mejores carácteristicas o rendimiénto, entonces seguramente debe ser “mejor”, porque ellos han sobrepasado a la metodologíá de desarrollo de “open source”; non-free software no siempre es considerado ser una cosa mala.
Así que ¿por qué los usuarios quieren usar GNU/kWindows? Bueno, probablemente por la misma razón por la que quieren herramientas de GNU en Mac OS X: quieren utilizar el software que desean utilizar, pero también quieren las ventajas técnicas de GNU que les gusten. Lo que tenemos aquí es la filosofía de”open source”, pero si el usuario realmente valora su libertad, entonces usaría un sistema operativo totalmente libre como GNU/Linux. Si un usuario está usando de Windows (es decir, antes de considerar GNU/kWindows), entonces ella ganar un poco de libertad mediante la instalación de GNU: ella tiene más programas en su sistema que respeten sus libertades, y su situación es mejor gracias a eso.
Pero ¿qué si tu ya esta usando GNU/Linux hoy? En ese caso, es un mayor downgrade/retrocesocambiárse a un sistema GNU/kWindows; al hacerlo, tu estásentregando tus libertades a Microsoft. No importa cuán brillántes características Microsoft pueda introducir a su sistema de vigilancia que niega las básicas libertades; unsistema operativo que respete tus libertadessiempre será una elección superior. Haríamos todo lo posible para disuadir a los usuarios para cambiar a un sistema GNU/kWindows por los beneficios técnicos que GNU provee.
Así que tenemos un par de diferentes problemas—algunos objetivos, otro filosóficos:
Primeramente, por favor, no se refieren a GNU/kWindows como “Linux en Windows”, o cualquier variante de lo misma; haciendo esto simplemente propaga la información errónea que sólo confunde a la situación, y al mismo tiempo desacredita los miles de hackers que trabajan en el sistema operativo GNU. También sería mejor evitar el calificativo de “Ubuntu en Windows”; no es una declaración errónea-está ejecutando la distribución Ubuntu de GNU pero se evita mencionar el Proyecto GNU. Si desea dar crédito Ubuntu por trabajar con Microsoft, por favor llamelo “Ubuntu GNU/kWindows” en lugar de “Ubuntu”. Al mencionar GNU, los usuarios podrán hacer preguntas sobre el proyecto, y pueden investigar a fondo por su cuenta. Leerán acerca de la filosofía del software libre, y empezarán a entender estos temas, temas que podrían haber sido no conscientes al empezar.
Secundariamente, cuando veas a alguien usando un sistema GNU/kWindows, cortesmente pregúntales el porque. Explicales que hay un sistema operativo mejor en existencia—el sistema operativo GNU/Linux—que no sólo provee esas carácteristicas, pero también la más importante libertad! Explicales lo que el free software es, y trata de relacionárlo a ellos, para que así entiéndan porque es importante, e incluso práctico.
Es bueno mirar a la gente beneficiándose de GNU; pero no podemos ser felices cuando está siendo vendido como medios de atracción a un contrario sistema proprietario de vigilancia, sin tanto mencionar nuestro nombre, o de lo que representamos.
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03.26.16
Posted in Deception, Microsoft, Vista, Vista 10 at 10:21 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Both were terrible in terms of acceptance, so rigged statistics (biased by selection) come to Microsoft’s rescue and wrongly generalised/extrapolated!
Pro-Microsoft sites (the above is a Microsoft advocacy site) have a new ‘source’ to lean on, just like the Microsoft-connected Net Applications
Summary: New examples of Microsoft-leaning brainwash, telling us that Vista 10 is a “success”, just like “Microsoft loves Linux”
AS we noted here the other day, Vista 10 is now being compared to Vista (even in the corporate media). Both are massive failures that Microsoft prefers to forget about. Just look at the latest financial results; it’s chaotic. At the same time, Microsoft is desperate to convince the public to adopt (if not force the public to adopt, as in the case of Vista 10, through covert ‘updates’, not just secret OEM deals) based on the false perception that “everyone else is doing it!” and it’s “inevitable” (or something along those lines).
“Digital Analytics Program (DAP) is quite meaningless and not a proper indicator of market share (never mind if inside the US or outside of it).”Microsoft must be frustrated that people aren’t as gullible as Microsoft needs them to do. The ordinary people know that Vista 10 is terrible and many people actively avoid it by all means possible (even if that means not buying a new PC, or only buying a Chromebook or something along these lines). Microsoft’s ability to fool the public is surely eroding. The typical folks know they don’t need Windows anymore and they know that Microsoft cannot love FOSS. As Christine Hall has just put it: “As for Microsoft’s continuing open sourcing? There’s nothing new here, move on. When Redmond loves Linux and open source enough to quit suing open source projects over patents it claims it has — that will be news.”
We were rather disturbed to find this new IDG brainwash titled “Windows 10 passes 20% share in the U.S.”
“The title and the summary say very different things,” iophk wrote to us. “This reeks of desperation.” Did the editor at IDG choose this misleading lie? IDG equates “Digital Analytics Program” with “share in the U.S.” What next? Digital Analytics Program (DAP) is quite meaningless and not a proper indicator of market share (never mind if inside the US or outside of it).
“Don’t be so shocked that DAP is Microsoft Windows-powered and even distributes MS Word files (rather than ODF or PDF).”“For the first time,” says this article, “Windows 10 accounted for more than one-fifth of the visits to sites tracked by the Digital Analytics Program (DAP), which mines traffic to more than 4,000 websites on over 400 different domains maintained by U.S. government agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service and the National Weather Service.”
Don’t be so shocked that DAP is Microsoft Windows-powered and even distributes MS Word files (rather than ODF or PDF). Something doesn’t smell right. DAP has been used to disseminate other pro-Microsoft talking points at IDG (same writer). A lot of government employees are simply forced to use Windows and are not given a choice of browser, version, etc.
Next up: let’s judge the market share of GNU/Linux in the US based on universities’ research departments. █
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03.25.16
Posted in Microsoft, Vista 10, Windows at 11:30 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Insults which earn attention and cannot be blamed (no liability) on the attention seeker
A Donald Trump-like media strategy
Summary: The media keeps obsessing over some apparent fluke which gives Microsoft press iota/attention it wouldn’t get otherwise, but the real news is buried deeper inside the papers
WHILE the media is obsessed with a Microsoft fluke which some of our readers interpret as a clever Microsoft publicity stunt (attracting media attention) [1-3] there are much bigger things going on, other than the recent Microsoft layoffs. One reader, for instance, told us (or made claims) about Microsoft’s role in F-35 failures [4] which the media compares to BSoD, some point out that Yahoo is under attack again [5], and there is even news about Vista 10 being a total disaster [6] that’s now being compared to Vista [7] (not by us but by the British media). Don’t be misled by what’s known as the “news cycle”. There’s a lot going on at Microsoft right now that’s a lot worse than some bot (nonhuman) called “Tay”.
As one reader of ours who specialised in marketing put it, the fluke is “a win win in terms of publicity [...] publicity about making a big deal about this bot in the first place, and then after the obvious happens [...] marketing 101 [...] It’s the Trump method as well [...] if this was an “experiment” it would have more likely have been done in the way I described [...] hence why I am incredulous towards the idea that Microsoft was just naive [...] wouldn’t it be more useful to introduce this bot in an unknowing public environment to see how it interacted without interference or bias? [...] if they wanted to avoid this, they would have not advertised what this bot is in the first place, then nobody would know what it did and assume it’s just another twitter user [...] I have no doubt that some of these are done in ignorance on the company’s/organization’s part, but this one, seems too obvious [...] note that I have no proof that Microsoft knew this was going to happen, this is just an opinion based on recent trends [...] that said, it is incredulous that an supposedly-Internet-savvy company like Microsoft wouldn’t know this would happen, especially consider the amount of incidents in the past, like the Coca-Cola one where Gawker caused their campaign-bot to quote Mein Kempf [...] how do you sexually harass something that is incapable of perceiving anything, has no feelings or self-awareness, and oh yeah ISN’T ALIVE and is technology? [...] but don’t worry, money-hemorrhaging Microsoft, laying off employees and killing products and divisions, still can assign a team to address this “issue” [...] I bet those fired employees can sleep easy now [...] I think they knew this was going to happen [...] a PR stunt, so they can promote the “dangers” of AI harassment or some other nonsense [...] not that long ago there was an article about Cortana “harassment” (weird questions being asked etc) and how MS actually set up a research team to deal with the “issue” of AI “harassment” [..] so by playing the unknowing victim here, MS can promote this agenda and gain regressive-left points [...] I hypothesize that MS in addition to becoming a patent troll/fog computing company is also appealing more to the regressive left and using more PC [political correctness] tactics.”
MinceR, responding to the above, said that “playing the victim is popular among crybullies [...] PR experiment [...] Microsoft is not a tech company or a science company.” █
Related/contextual Microsoft items from the news:
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In one highly publicised tweet, which has since been deleted, Tay said: “bush did 9/11 and Hitler would have done a better job than the monkey we have now. donald trump is the only hope we’ve got.” In another, responding to a question, the program said, “Ricky gervais learned totalitarianism from adolf hitler, the inventor of atheism.”
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Tay, programmed as a 19 year old, was created as a machine learning project meant interact with peers between 18 and 24 years old. Users can play games with her, trade pictures, tell stories, and ping her for late-night chats. That last activity went awry Thursday when the chatbot began regurgitating inappropriate messages that skewed anti-semitic, used the n-word, and condemned feminism.
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A day after Microsoft introduced an innocent Artificial Intelligence chat robot to Twitter it has had to delete it after it transformed into an evil Hitler-loving, incestual sex-promoting, ‘Bush did 9/11′-proclaiming robot.
Developers at Microsoft created ‘Tay’, an AI modelled to speak ‘like a teen girl’, in order to improve the customer service on their voice recognition software. They marketed her as ‘The AI with zero chill’ – and that she certainly is.
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In another exercise, conducted by the Marine Corps in May 2015, the exercise was delayed because file formatting problems meant target information couldn’t be uploaded to the aircraft. The US Air Force had similar problems, aborting a test after none of the aircraft could fly due to startup problems requiring software and hardware shutdowns and restarts.
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Activist hedge fund Starboard Value LP, which is leading an investor revolt against Yahoo Inc’s management team, is seeking to remove the entire board of the struggling Internet company, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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AIM-listed tech distie Northamber’s sales are again withering on the vine, with blame falling on Microsoft’s Windows 10 and pesky human beings who are failing to buy more computers.
Sequestered in an industrial estate in deepest Surrey, Northamber has made a living from selling IT for the past 35 years but might just have seen its best days – peaking at £299m in the early noughties.
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So, Windows 10 isn’t the saviour of the PC industry after all – and is beginning to look more like a Windows Vista than a Windows XP.
PC growth predictions have been revised down by IDC. A range of companies including HP Ink and Northamber blame Windows 10 for flagging sales.
“We have not yet seen the anticipated Win10 stimulation of demand that we would hope for,” HP Ink’s CEO Dion Weisler told analysts in January.
Windows Vista drove Microsoft’s marketing team to despair, because when they blind tested it on users around 18 months after launch (on hardware capable of running Vista well), the users liked what they saw. They couldn’t reconcile the positive experience of using Vista with Vista’s noxious reputation. This was the Mojave Experiment, unfairly derided at the time. The lesson from Mojave was that a reputation sticks.
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