Summary: “OpenSUSE boosters” get their plan together, preparations are made for the release of OpenSUSE 11.2, new OpenSUSE Board is required
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Summary: Another milestone passes by at Boycott Novell
STEADILY but surely we approach post #10,000. Thanks to all those who subscribed and invited peers to do the same. It’s readers who keep us going. 8,000 is a special number because it’s also roughly the number of unique IPs (visitors) we get per day. █
Summary: “I have it from Acer that Windows 7 isn’t doing much for sales,” argues an informant of ours, who knows and works with people inside Acer.
We do not have a direct quote from Acer, but we have indirect words. Partial log below.
Oiaohm later adds: “I still have a feeling that MS sales this quarter will be a lot of existing charity licence conversions.” This is partly how they inflated figures. It’s a trick. He also writes: “You could cite a computer shop for me but kinda not far. We have seen a slow down after the release of Windows 7. Almost a dead stop in sales since.”
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“I’d put the Linux phenomenon really as threat No. 1.”
–Steve Ballmer, 2001
Summary: Response to over-inflated complaints and FUD about Ubuntu 9.10, which seem to have begun with known Microsoft boosters
THE launch of Vista 7 was not a success. Even Microsoft's CEO knows it. So what would a company like Microsoft naturally do? Well, its ecosystem of Internet trolls/AstroTurfers has been attacking Ubuntu 9.10 for several weeks now, both in Web sites and in Internet forums.
One might jokingly suggest that Microsoft is applying in reverse the same “hype machine” it used for Vista 7, this time aiming it against the #1 rival of Microsoft, namely GNU/Linux (even on the desktop). Inevitably — however belated it is — Microsoft listed Ubuntu as a “risk” in its last SEC filing (Microsoft must do so, as shareholders can otherwise sue).
My most recent install of GNU/Linux was one of Ubuntu 9.10*. I tested it 2 months before the release and reported some bugs that I found (mostly minor, no show-stoppers). It has worked almost flawlessly for me since alpha (with KDE), meaning that all the hardware worked out of the box and hitherto there have been no substantial technical issues. People whom I speak to report similarly-positive experiences.
A couple of days ago we linked to the following post, which says:
The Myth of the Bad Ubuntu Release
[...]
OK, so there’s something that always disturbs me when release time comes around. Here’s a rough chronology of every Ubuntu release (at least since I’ve been involved, so that goes back to Breezy Badger) and what the “buzz” around the internet says:
1. Alphas come out: buzz says, “not much to see here folks, move along.”
2. Beta comes out: buzz says, “wow, great release, but where’s the new artwork?” and I’m thinking “How on earth can the pull this off?”
3. RC rolls around: buzz says, “new awesomeness right around the corner!” and I’m thinking “darn it, there’s a lot more to do.”
4. Release day: buzz says, “OMG I have to download this” and I’m thinking “phew, that’s over, I’m glad I rsync’d/zsync’d yesterday”
5. The week after a release: buzz says, “Noooooo, this is the worst Ubuntu release EVER!” and I’m thinking “wow, they really did pull it off”
6. Rinse and Repeat[...]
So my conclusion, for what it’s worth, is that while some Ubuntu releases are a bit better than others, this periodic buzz around the internet that the latest Ubuntu release is an epic FAIL is a self-perpetuating myth, mostly caused by people needing something to complain or write about.
Another post from the same day correctly says that “No distro is perfect. Exaggerated reports or isolated cases will not be very helpful either in assessing these things.”
“What happens with 9.10 is not much different than usual, but the reaction is biased and exaggerated.”What the above group of posts is about are reports which label Ubuntu 9.10 a failure. A lot of people who claim such an issue (without testing for themselves) are linking to Microsoft booster Gavin Clarke, who was probably one of the first to attack Ubuntu 9.10 (in The Register). Too many people are taking his words blindly and then parroting them; it’s like an echo chamber.
Canonical has just responded in its blog, also naming Gavin Clark [sic] as one of the culprits. What happens with 9.10 is not much different than usual, but the reaction is biased and exaggerated.
The much misunderstood Ubuntu 9.10 upgrade poll
[...]
I upgraded to 9.10 a while ago. Flawlessly. So I saw little need to go tell a forum. This is where people go when they have problems. Gavin and Serdar were shocked to find people with support issues on a support forum. I have no doubt the help line at Microsoft has taken a lot of calls recently, but I would not extrapolate from that a large percentage of Windows users are having upgrade problems.
Tellingly and almost the last word on this are the polls from our previous releases, none of which were considered or reported as upgrade disasters:
A very useful summary of these findings by Nicholas Ipsen is here. I am linking to these polls not because I want to provide evidence that the Karmic upgrade experience is or was good or bad, there are other more qualified to comment on that, but that there is nothing new here.
Canonical’s Jono Bacon also wrote about this subject, apparently trying not to alienate people who did genuinely have problems (all users of all operating systems encounter issues sometimes, even though these issues do not get amplified equally).
In the interests of keeping things in perspective, I just wanted to remind us all of some of the things going on in the background that I think are worth remembering. Take these for what they are, but I think they go a long way in helping to understand the picture before us.
The “picture before us” was absolutely fine for about a week (even after the release), just before Clarke and other known FUDMeisters took it upon themselves to link and quote very selectively, thus seeding material for opponents of Ubuntu. By the way, Ubuntu has opponents even inside GNU/Linux. █
_____
* I still recommend Mandriva for new users, but at the time of my most recent install it didn’t have KDE 4.3.1 in a mature enough form.
My Kubuntu 9.10 desktop; Click for full-sized image (4.4 MB)
Summary: Microsoft inverses truths, calling itself the opposite of what it really is as it tries to cast proprietary software as “open”
MICROSOFT’S relationship with the pharmaceutical cartel is an issue we covered here before [1, 2]. It’s a broad topic and life is at stake.
Glyn Moody has discovered that Microsoft uses something it calls the “Biology Foundation” to spread shameless lies that would make even George Orwell turn in his grave. Watch how Microsoft describes itself:
Gotta love the segue from “strong tradition of open development, code sharing and cross-platform support” to “here, take these patent-encumbered .NET Framework toys to play with”.
The point being, of course, that once you have dutifully installed the .NET framework, with all the patents that Microsoft claims on it, and become locked into it through use and habit, you are part of the Microsoft-controlled ecosystem. And there you are likely to stay, since Microsoft doesn’t even pretend any of this stuff will be ported to other platforms.
We have previously shown how the Gates Foundation too is excluding Windows rivals under the guise of goodwill. Gates Keepers continues exploring the things which the Gates Foundation hides from the public, noting that there is currently a “media blitz”. The author notes: “There is a media blitz being conducted by the Gates Foundation these days. Lest we forget about Bill Gates on November 11, you can see one of his most prolific fans talk with him in New York. Bill would autograph books at this event but he has not ‘written’ one in a decade. Though you can bet Matthew will be flogging his new edition.”
“It’s about reversal, it’s about changing terminology”More on the PR efforts of the Gates Foundation (ensuring the media tells only one side of the story): “A corporate communication person is just what the Gates Foundation needs to lead their corporate communications. Why communicate with communities anyway? And hey, isn’t Glaxo Smith Kline Tachi Yamada’s old outfit?”
Going back to Moody’s analysis, some days ago he wrote about the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) being subverted [1, 2] by front groups associated with Microsoft [1, 2, 3]. They defined “closed” as “nearly open”. It’s about reversal, it’s about changing terminology. The OSI has just written about the subject:
The Open Source movement is consistent with a larger democratic proposition that the more that we can all be involved in affairs that concern them, the better off we’ll all be. But sometimes the involvement of some people, whose concern is the maintenance of monopoly and control, doesn’t serve the great good. Glynn Moody uncovers the sinister results that are threatening to emerge from a committee in Europe in a blog posting titled EU Wants to Re-define “Closed” as “Nearly Open”.
Yesterday we wrote about Microsoft's attempt to combat Free/libre CMS software using pseudo-open source called Oxite. It’s just a ramp for a bloated, proprietary software stack. We warned about it one year ago and now we find that a project called Orchard is intended to achieve something similar.
Microsoft has a secret, although it’s not completely secret. They are getting ready to offer a new open source content management application code named Orchard.
This is not Free software. It’s a bunch of stuff (or fluff) that enables Microsoft to sell proprietary software like Windows, IIS, SharePoint, and SQL Server. These are prerequisites. This should be labeled what it really is, and it’s not open source. it’s even worse than open core; it’s Windowsware. █
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Summary: Microsoft mocks rivals by pretending that office suites are a Microsoft “innovation”; another XML patent sneaks through
MICROSOFT has got a lot of nerve and arrogance; as we showed some days ago, it claims credit for the GUI even though it took the idea from others. Likewise, Microsoft wants people to think that Microsoft Office is the “real” product by calling its rivals “fake Office”. To quote some commentary about it:
One of the reason why Microsoft attracts so much bad press is their trash talk. If you follow Microsoft’s recent track record you will see a pattern. It begins with Steve Ballmer or any spokesperson from Microsoft making a disparaging comment about something, usually a competitor’s product. Later the product goes on to become a huge success and those blockheaded comments come around to kick Microsoft on their ass. More often than not, Microsoft ends up eating their own words.
Microsoft is not only pretending that products like Windows and Office are the first of their kind. As we showed before, Microsoft also claims ownership of parts of XML, with examples that we wrote about in:
A few days ago Microsoft was granted the following US patent whose title is “File formats, methods, and computer program products for representing presentations” and abstract says: “File formats, methods, and computer program products are provided for representing a presentation in a modular content framework. The modular content framework may include a file format container associated with modular parts. A file format includes logically separate modular parts that are associated with each other by one or more relationships where each modular part is associated with a relationship type. The modular parts include a presentation part representing a start part for the presentation, a slide master part associated with the presentation part, and a slide layout part associated with the slide master part. The modular parts may also include a document properties part containing built-in properties associated with the file format, a thumbnail part containing associated thumbnails, and a slide part containing a slide in the presentation. Each modular part is capable of being interrogated separately, extracted from the presentation, and/or reused in a different presentation.”
Aside from the fact that this is a software patents (and should thus be put in the wastebasket), it is yet another example of Microsoft’s patent strategy. It can’t make enough money from selling products (thus the offshoring and layoffs), so it is focused on making money from other companies’ products. █
Summary: Vista 7 issues persist and Microsoft’s friend NPD does its usual shilling by delivering meaningless, selective, rigged statistics
EARLIER this week we gave some examples of compatibility problems in Vista 7 [1, 2]. We saw it coming (with evidence) months ago [1, 2].
As the following post shows, where GNU/Linux has compatibility issues Microsoft is sometimes the cause. Microsoft is being trailed for violations in Europe over these matters, but cronyism stands in the way.
The Danish TV station TV 2 has been using Microsoft’s Media player to display its content on Sputnik for a long time. This has caused several problems, especially for those not using Windows or Internet Explorer.
As another new item about Windows, consider the following video which shows Vista 7 crashing on Japanese television. We gave 2 similar examples from Japanese television stations just over a week ago.
I loved the two clips from Japanese television demonstrating the new Windows 7 release – or rather, demonstrating that it still crashes!
It ought to be added that Microsoft is currently lying (with style) about sales figures, just as we anticipated. The same Microsoft-leaning NPD which said Linux had 4% market share in sub-notebooks (the real figure is somewhere around 30%) uses the usual tricks for clients like Microsoft. That’s how NPD makes money.
Readers have told us about ways in which Microsoft miscounts Vista 7 sales and sometimes offers massive discounts in particular shops, maybe precisely those where NPD is counting (they only use a sample and extrapolate wildly). Those who know NPD’s history with Microsoft will also know that the Zune never became the hit NPD said it would be; NPD and Microsoft are one heck of a mischievous pair which even fellow analysts ridiculed for delivering incomplete numbers and lying with a straight face (it’s the “obligation to shareholders”). The sad thing is that there is no law against lies of this kind. We will probably elaborate on this later. █
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Summary: More “critical” flaws are revealed and a lesson on the importance of security is delivered
AS we have shown repeatedly in recent months, not only is Windows insecure but it is also not being properly patched (violation of the agreement) and Vista 7 is as vulnerable as previous versions of Windows. Here again are some links:
There’s more coming on Tuesday: “Three critical fixes in store for MS November Patch Tuesday”
Microsoft plans to deliver six updates – three critical – as part of its November Patch Tuesday cycle.
Several days ago we mentioned the following incident which ought to serve as an important lesson. Computer security can be a matter of national security.
Mossad reportedly used a Trojan to hack into a Syrian official’s laptop while he stayed in a London hotel.
Here is Schneier’s take on it. █
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