Summary: Microsoft’s extension Ignition Partners is putting money and board members inside yet another company that spreads Free software
LAST week we mentioned how former Microsoft executives who became Juniper managers [1, 2, 3] could lead to more services being offered to Microsoft and now we find this press release. For several years we have also argued that XenSource being sold to Citrix would render it irrelevant to Linux and this did actually happen. RHEL 6 won’t even have Xen anymore.
CBR says that “Citrix unveils new version of XenServer” and Microsoft is giving it “full endorsement” [1, 2].
XenClient, says Wasson, will be included in the “next major release” of XenDesktop and was developed not only in conjunction with Intel, but also PC makers Hewlett-Packard and Dell, which will be on hand to endorse XenClient at Synergy. Wasson said that Microsoft has given XenClient its “full endorsement” too.
Ruby cloud behemoth Heroku has sucked in some heavyweight power courtesy of two influential ex-Microsofties.
On Monday, Heroku announced that it’s been given $10m in VC funding, and the round is led by Ignition partners, home to Brad Silverberg – who established many of the Microsoft products you now take for granted – and Microsoft’s former chief information officer and chief financial officer John Connors. As part of the cash deal, Connors has joined Heroku’s board.
Heroku is home to 60,000 Ruby applications and it’s used by developers of all sizes, including giants like US consumer electronics retailer Best Buy. The company claims 1,500 applications are being added to its cloud each week.
Microsoft already has IronRuby [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14] and we know extremely well Silverberg's participation in many of Microsoft's illegal activities because we have possession of evidence. Heroku now has Microsoft’s former CFO inside the board. It’s part of the deal. Why would former Microsoft thugs be interested in a company which is home to 60,000 Ruby applications? Judging by what they did to Xen, there is reason for distrust. See our previous analysis of Ignition Partners. It’s just loads of Microsoft veterans and they can use money to promote Microsoft’s agenda. █
Summary: A company on the block warns about “Linux licences” being all scary and dangerous (and Protecode offers the ‘medicine’ to them)
THE OTHER day we mentioned a company called Protecode in a post about Microsoft’s harm to Free/open source software. Protecode is a proprietary software company which is spreading FUD about GNU/Linux and Free software for a living (it does other things too).
This company has just ‘injected’ a very long advertisement (disguised as article) into IDG (shame on IDG for collaborating). The disclosure appears only after one skips 5 pages and discovers that it’s the same trick telemarketers and snake oil marketers use. The FUD piece which names both “Linux” and “open source” licences (there is no such thing as “Linux licences”) came from Dr. Mahshad Koohgoli, the CEO of Protecode. He is trying to spread some fear after receiving ammunition from the Gartner Group (and Microsoft would probably be grinning too from afar)
Basically, this a classic business model: exaggerate problems in order to then sell a solution to those problems (usually more perceived than real). Black Duck is doing this too. It’s in the business of selling fear because wherever there is fear there is a business opportunity and if people can be misled, they will pay. Black Duck has Microsoft roots and so does OpenLogic [1, 2, 3], which does something similar. The following new article nicely classifies open-source (open minus source) companies as follows:
Recently a colleague from Apache commented to me that there are no such things as open-source companies. Instead, he identified a few types of companies that “make money out of open source”:
• via expertise in consultancy
• hoarding copyright ownership for a big sale
• providing additional value on top of open-source products
• licensing fear, uncertainty and doubt (choosing GPL to make users who fear GPL pay)
[...]
The second model where GPL is used is to protect code and force companies to buy a commercial (i.e. non-open-source) license. The logic is simple: Most companies don’t like GPL. The company that owns the copyright to a GPL codebase can re-license the code under a different license to those willing to pay.
One ought to pay careful attention to former Microsoft employees who create companies that not only spread fear of Free software but also enable those former Microsoft employees to make money in the process (win-win situation). █
A California judge Friday ordered the unsealing of the search warrant affidavit that led to a police raid on the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen, who paid $5,000 for a prototype 4G iPhone.
It turns out that Apple had direct involvement in police action and threats from the top, going as high as Steve Jobs. Regarding this article, Pamela Jones wrote in Groklaw: “The affidavit clarifies some things I’ve wondered about. First, that Jobs tried to solve the matter quietly and directly first. And two, that the affidavit includes at least two sentences that seem, to me, to indicate they were at least looking into the possibility that the journalist also may have done something they considered wrong also: ‘Upon receiving the stolen property, Chen disassembled the iPhone, thereby causing it to be damaged. Chen created copies of the iPhone prototype in the form of digital images and video, which were subsequently published on the Internet based magazine Gizmodo.com’”
Apple CEO Steve Jobs intervened in the Case of the Purloined iPhone, personally contacting Gizmodo editor Brian Lam to ask for the return of the missing iPhone 4G prototype.
That tidbit – told by Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell to Detective Matthew Broad of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office – was revealed today by the unsealing of the search warrant behind the search of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen’s home. A copy of the full set of search warrant documents can be found here (thanks, Wired).
Apple pressed local police to investigate the loss of a next-generation iPhone a day after Gizmodo published photographs, telling investigators that the prototype was so valuable, a price could not be placed on it, according to court documents made public Friday.
Apple will share a few pennies with people who enrich its environment
Summary: 80% of developers who target Apple’s platform (hypePhone App Store) are said to feel betrayed; thus, the value of software freedom is hopefully realised
“Apple rejects Wi-Fi sync app,” says this new article which reminds us that the “i” in Apple’s hype-labeled devices means “I” as in Apple’s (or Steve Jobs’). It’s all just extremely Apple-centric and only the gullible will run to Apple (and later feel betrayed).
Evans Data is one source which we consider to be quite reliable based on past output. According to some new work from Evans, as many as 4 out of 5 people who partnered with Apple as developers actually feel betrayed (it depends on how questions are phrased)
Eighty per cent of North American developers believe that the iPhone App Store’s revenue split is unfair, according to a new study from research outfit Evans Data.
How do people who manufacture hypePhones feel? Well, it would be harder for Evans Data to ask them because they live in a prison/factory where access is restricted and many of them commit suicide out of misery. Here is another new example:
Another suicide at Apple’s Chinese supplier
[...]
The Associated Press reports that the 24 year-old woman’s death brings the total of suicidal Foxconn workers to eight for the year. Bloomberg puts the total at six. The Taipei Times notes that two other Foxconn employees tried to take their own lives this year, but failed.
To be fair, it’s not just an Apple supplier. Microsoft too has something to do with it. Either way, people who work for Microsoft and Apple are often left betrayed and exploited. Those who work for Free software enjoy radical freedom and true control, which makes it harder for them to be disempowered and feel depressed. The manufacturing dilemma is partly resolved through reuse (no planned obsolescence). █
Mossberg loves dancing with the stars and he was on the Charlie Rose show praising Jobs’ questionable creation (photo by Joi)
Summary: How Apple interacts with the media and with the world in order to ensure it gets positive reviews
Apple relies on a certain dosage of fake hype. It’s like those AstroTurfers of Microsoft whose job is similar to audience managers (or ‘plants’ or extras) in comedy-filming studios where they stimulate laughs among the crowd. We wrote about that around yesterday or the day before that (depends on time zones) and HypePad too was a good example of hype generation through selective gifting.
And, more recently, there were some concerns over the NY Times’ lack of disclosure concerning its relationship with Apple when reporting on the iPad.
Here is the older corresponding post from TechDirt.
Dan Gillmor shares these concerns, but notes an even more concrete conflict of interest — Apple’s advertising of the iPad consistently features a screenshot of the New York Times app, including of course the Times’ logo. Although Apple no doubt hopes to show that its device can be used to read the Times, surely attractive content to many of its target consumers, the image is also terrific advertising for the New York Times. Gillmor indicates that he has no doubt that Times’ reviewers truly believe the contents of their swooning coverage of the iPad, but argues that the benefit that the Times is receiving is a conflict of interest that ought to be overtly acknowledged and discussed by Times management. Yet, he reports, nobody from the Times has been willing to respond to his questions about the issue, such as whether the Times has received any compensation for the display of its logo on the iPad as shown in the ads. Gillmor raised these concerns a week ago, and the Times has yet to address publicly the possible conflict.
Now, watch this new post from Joe Wilcox, the Microsoft watcher who some years ago said “I’m a huge fan of guerrilla marketing.”
He argues that “Microsoft pays for enthusiasts Apple gets for free,” but it’s not entirely true that Apple gets all enthusiasts for free. Some of them are paid and Apple too has this job title called “evangelist” (which is akin to being an AstroTurfer).
On the one hand, I commend Microsoft for using company blogs as marketing tools and for doing some aggressive evangelism around Windows 7 products. Microsoft critics are quick to wave the monopoly flag — arguing that Windows sales are automatic. Oh yeah? Then explain the Windows Vista fiasco in terms of monopoly might. The majority of Windows XP users stayed put. Now their PCs creak at the bones and it’s time for some fresh Windows 7 blood. Given the large number of Windows XP users who should be easy Windows 7 upgrades — at least according to the monopoly might theory — Microsoft should be able to sit back and collect the license fees. Instead, Microsoft is marketing the hell out of Windows 7, which is evidence enough that monopoly has more limited benefits than critics admit.
[...]
But that was decades ago. Today, Microsoft engages enthusiasts from its Websites and by using social networking and sharing tools. The approach is good, but larger Microsoft brand and product problems hamper the work. Enthusiasts are any company’s best evangelists. Microsoft’s number has dwindled over the years, while Apple’s numbers increased — at least as measured by the volume hype. Noise about Apple is so much louder than for Microsoft.
In summary, hype is coming from agents of Microsoft and Apple too. In some cases, Apple receives reviews from people whom it pays in one way or another. Apple is nowhere near as bad as Microsoft, but it does require vigilance. A lot of Apple hype is fake or exaggerated. █
Summary: As Apple’s fight against Linux continues, new lawsuits against Apple arrive, new patents are granted, and Theora is affected too (Mozilla employees who uses Macs ought to rethink their choice of relationships)
IN THE mobile industry, everyone is suing everyone else these days (Fennec is potentially affected). As we mentioned the other day, Wired highlights this serious issue because there are no winners here except the lawyers. It makes no sense. Apple is among the aggressors, not the defenders. Nokia is the same and its case against Apple we have already covered in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10].
There are some articles out there which describe HTC’s counter action against Apple as offensive. The Inquirer‘s headline says “HTC sues Apple again” (not again, that’s for sure). HTC is not the aggressor, but a lot of the mainstream press — MSBBC included — paints it that way. In the following video, the people in the studio get it wrong, but the lady whom they speak to corrects them.
Please someone explain how casio linux Qt-based pdas 12 years ago with touch screens did not infringe patents but todays Qt-based Nokias and Andriod Nexus does?
* Patent #6,999,800 – Method for power management of a smartphone
* Patent #5,541,988 – Telephone dialer with a personalized page organization of telephone directory memory
* Patent #6,058,183 (PDF) – Telephone dialer with a personalized page organization of telephone directory memory
* Patent #6,320,957 – Telephone dialer with easy access memory
* Patent #7,716,505 (PDF) – Power control methods for a portable electronic device
Apple has filed a patent to enable info and apps to be automagically loaded onto your iPhone/Pod/Pad based on your location – but exactly how it would affect location-based ads remains fuzzy.
The patent application, “Location Specific Content”, was published by the US Patent and Trademark office this Thursday, after originally being filed in November of 2008.
As the web format battle between HTML5 and Adobe’s Flash heats up, the creators of an ad-building tool called Virtual Iris say they can deliver the rich media experience of Flash in HTML.
Much of the interest in HTML5, which is the latest update of the basic format of the web, has been fueled by Apple, which doesn’t support Flash on the iPhone and the iPad (leading to back-and-forth insults between Apple and Flash-maker Adobe). Apple has also announced an ad-building service called iAd, which will feature HTML5 video. Not wanting to be left off by Apple’s devices, startups like Scribd have abandoned Flash for HTML5, and ad-building startup Sprout, which was initially all about Flash, now supports both formats.
Apple uses these offensively and it also fights against Theora — a move that in turn harms GNU/Linux and Mozilla for reasons that we mentioned in:
“The Firefox project has opted to exclude certain features due to software patents,” posts the FFII’s president who points to this new article.
Wild Fox: Firefox Fork with H.264 Support
[...]
Mozilla, sticking to its ideals of the open web, decided long ago that support for the patent-encumbered H264 codec would not be included in any of its products. Not only is H264 wholly incompatible with the open web and Free software, it is also incredibly expensive. Mozilla could use one of the open source implementations, but those are not licensed, and the MPEG-LA has been quite clear in that it will sue those who encode or decode H264 content without a license. Software patents, however, are only valid in some parts of the world, so an enterprising developer has started a project that was sure to come eventually: Firefox builds with H264 support.
Wild Fox may be valuable (and legal) outside the US and Japan, but its main problem is that it would encourage webmasters not to choose and to spread Ogg Theora. Mozilla would have to pay about $5 million per year for MPEG-LA licences (mostly covering places where software patents are not legal) rather than use the same amount of money to pay 50-100 more programmers.
The quality of this video is considerably high. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with Theora.
As a bonus point for Apple, the Theora FUDMeister and saboteur, here is another lawsuit that might teach them a lesson if not anger them:
Bear and Monkey smack Apple with patent suit
[...]
Apple has been slapped with another patent infringement lawsuit – but the suit says more about the festering sore that is the US patent system than it does about the individual patents involved.
The lawsuit was filed by Austin, Texas inventor Eric Gould Bear, President and CEO of interface design firm MonkeyMedia. The core of his infringement claim is that his patents cover a user-interface concept that he calls “Seamless Contraction” – essentially a set of techniques to narrow the display of information to that which is most “salient,” to use his term, to the user’s needs.
Might Apple ever join the fight against software patents? It’s extremely unlikely. Apple actively uses those patents to harm competition, notably Linux/Android at the moment. █
Summary: WePad mysteriously renamed “WeTab” and reasonable speculation grows that Apple had something to do with it
AS PEOPLE MAY recall, Apple’s hypePad was a case of trademark violation that Apple eventually sorted out. While we cannot confirm that Apple has pressured the Linux-powered WePad to change its name (WePad is about us the customers, whereas hypePad is about “I”, Apple that is, due to restrictions abundance), it seems like a defensible guess.
“Jobs also tried to extort Sun over a project it made available to GNU/Linux.”For quite some time Apple has been bullying companies over the use of the “i”. Another example in Australia appeared last year, so despite Apple firing warning shots, some companies still try it and Apple hunts them down. iHate Apple? Sue me, Apple. iInsist.
Anyway, if it can be proven that WePad changed its name to WeTab only after Apple had contacted the company and made veiled threats, then Apple is going way too far. In Wikipedia, “wePad” already redirects to “WeTab”. Who owns “Pad” now? Could Apple have had a role in the following:
Then I found this. They’ve changed the name from WePad to WeTab. Speculation is that they are pre-emptively avoiding entanglements with a certain company that seems a bit more eager to sue competition.
In a statement, the German company said the name change was to “clearly differentiate our products within the international market for tablet computers.” A WeTab representative declined to comment on whether Apple influenced the name change.
Did they recieve a phone call from Steve Jobs? It’s not ideal to rename a product AFTER presenting it to the public, but I think they know for sure why they renamed it…
In a later part of this series we will show that Steve Jobs does make threatening phone calls. Jobs also tried to extort Sun over a project it made available to GNU/Linux. What an aggressive guy. For someone who was rescued by an organ donation, he sure could use some morals and ethics because he is suing Linux for no good reason. But anyway, that’s the subject of the next part. █
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