Summary: The distributor which pays Microsoft $50 per copy (for patent assurance) seems to have gone silent

ONE distribution we only ever hear about in historical context is Xandros, which pays Microsoft for GNU/Linux (although SUSE is still Microsoft’s favourite child). It is usually mentioned in reference to Eee PC. Actually, we find a great deal of revisionism in this area. Rather than explain how Microsoft distorted the sub-notebooks market in anti-competitive ways, the newer pieces pretend that GNU/Linux should be blamed. But either way, how many people still use Xandros? It has virtually no existence in the news because the distribution, which is oddly enough still up for sale, is many years old. Xandros as a company seems to have gone missing and it even sold Scalix last month, making a bit of a wave at the time (more like a ripple though).

Is anybody aware of a business which still uses Xandros somewhere? If so, we would like to know. Using the latest Debian would be a lot better than using some ancient “Xandros”, which is a controversial ripoff job that many Debian GNU/Linux developers are not too happy with.

Summary: Reiteration of the foolishness seen in the latest Microsoft deal (sellout) of Attachmate, which put its men in charge of SUSE

Nearly 5 years after signing a patent deal with Microsoft, Novell is no more. Attachmate took over the company, whose Web domain is mostly inactive except when new faces appear as in this case:

It’s been about 2.5 months that I have been in the role of President and General Manager of Novell, and since joining The Attachmate Group, Novell has taken many steps towards defining the next great chapter in its evolution and history.

What has Attachmate actually accomplished so far? It recently renewed the patent deal with Microsoft, which only leaves OpenSUSE in more of a scandalous scenario. The project is mostly idle, much like some Tumbleweed in the wind (there is a new article about it).

Christine Hall further solidifies the stance that we should keep the same attitude towards SUSE. She writes:

Indeed, it did seem that Boycott Novell had outlived it’s usefulness, until Monday’s announcement that Microsoft had renewed their deal with SUSE and would be putting $100 million into the Linux distro’s coffers. Although the announcement on the SUSE web site made no mention of patents, tech news sites like InformationWeek have indicated that it’ll be business as usual, with MS’s patent FUD being given the perception of legitimacy through SUSE..

[...]

Techrights is probably right, even after this development. Really, nothing has changed, it’s just the same old deal extended for another four years. There may be nothing about this deal that doesn’t stink, and stink badly, but there’s nothing new here. Sadly, the Microsoft/SUSE connection would seem to have become a legacy with which we are doomed to live for as long as both companies are viable.

This is a real shame. There was a time when SUSE was considered by many to be the Rolls Royce of distros. Now it’s basically “Windows for Linux.” All they need to do now is add a “Start” button, a registry, and put it on a file system that’s prone to rapid fragmentation.

Like we said before, people should strongly urge other people to boycott SUSE and choose other distributions instead. It’s very feasible and the boycott does work. The only use left for Novell is its case against SCO (which Pamela Jones continues to cover), but just like any company that falls into Microsoft’s hand, there is no future left. Former Novell employee Dr. Bill gets it wrong about how Novell got SUSE and how Attachmate gets SUSE in the following new video. Basically, he wrongly asserts that Novell bought SUSE from SUSE and that Attachmate bought SUSE from Novell rather than just buy the whole of Novell.

Novell was bad news for SUSE all along, especially after the Microsoft deal. Now that SUSE is in Microsoft-friendly hands, there is no reason to feel loyal to SUSE based on its old self. The move back to Germany is not a sign of independence or self-liberation, it is the increased dependence on Microsoft under leadership from Attachmate (previous SUSE leaders left or got nudged out). Let this entire affair teach us that Microsoft deals are suicide. Another sign of this is that, as we covered before, Xandros recently sold Scalix — a piece of news that even the Canadian press has covered a while later:

Fresco Microchip, a Toronto company with Ottawa operations that develop television imaging technology, has raised $9 million in new financing. Celtic House Venture Partners, Ventures West and others put the money into Fresco which previously raised $39.3 million Xandros, a New York company which develops Linux business software in Ottawa, has sold a Scalix Linus email product line for $12 million in cash and stock to Sebring Software of Sarasota, Florida.

They too break the company into pieces as though it gets liquidated (Attachmate’s deal was hinged upon given Novell’s patents to Microsoft). It wasn’t long ago that Xandros actually bought Scalix. █

Summary: The companies that want to be like Windows die together, along with the lawsuit surrounding their merger/acquisition (as well as the sale of Scalix!)

IT HAS BEEN almost years since we regularly mentioned the second and third GNU/Linux vendors that agreed to pay Microsoft for patents. One bought the other, but this was followed by a long and ugly dispute between employees/managers of Linspire. Ever since then the court proceedings received little attention and the companies got mentioned as an historical reference in articles such as this one which mentions Linspire. Xandros vanished after Presto, although it got mentioned a lot in relation to ASUS returning to Linux, e.g. here and dozens of other publications in many languages. For the curious, we still have our Linspire/Xandros pages, which go all the way back to the time Kevin Carmony sold out to Ballmer, right after he had insulted GNU/Linux and used the “piracy” word. Anyway, the good news is that Carmony lost the legal case (plus legal expenses) in his attempt to defeat his former boss. According to a new report:

San Diego entrepreneur Michael Robertson claims he has scored a win in a lawsuit against the former CEO and CFO of Linspire. According to legal documents released by Robertson, former CEO Kevin Carmony and former CFO Chad Olson are liable for fraud, conspiracy, breach of fiduciary duty, and other counts in a spat over disagreements after Linspire was sold to Xandros.

And in other news, Scalix gets out of Xandros just years after Xandros bought it. Not a good sign for Xandros, eh?

Sebring Software Inc. (symbol: SMXI) acquired the Scalix Email and Calendaring Platform from Xandros Inc., a New York-based firm, for $12 million.

To complete the acquisition, Sebring will pay Xandros $5.75 million in cash over six months, plus 6.25 million shares of Sebring’s common stock, being valued at $1 per share, a release says.

There is more information about it in [1, 2]. █

Summary: Techrights’ fight against ‘Linux tax’ from Microsoft is getting a lot more attention this Friday

“BOYCOTT NOVELL” was all about stopping Microsoft tax on GNU/Linux. More people are beginning to wake us and realise that our cause was all along on target, as several distributions of GNU/Linux which paid Microsoft for this ‘privilege’ simply went extinct (Xandros' price was $50 for Microsoft patents). Our goal was to ensure that people/companies do not become dependent on Microsoft-taxed distributions, as that would simply serve Microsoft’s goal of making GNU/Linux its own cash cow. SUSE, Turbolinux, and Linspire were also part of this problem and all those companies went into the ashtray of history. There are more such companies, but they sell hardware, not purely software.

Everyone appears to have just ‘discovered’ that “HTC Pays Microsoft $5 Per Android Phone” and there is already a lot of coverage about it. Quoting The Register:

Buy an HTC smartphone and $5 of what you spent on it goes to Microsoft – even if you’ve just bought an Android device.

So says Citi analyst Walter Pritchard in a note sent out to investors today, according to Business Insider.

Microsoft announced the royalty payment deal – the result of a legal settlement – last year, but the amount the software giant receives was not made public. MS has alleged Android infringes its intellectual property, and has other smartphone vendors in its sights.

Pritchard reckons Microsoft is pursuing other Android handset makers for a royalty of $7.50-12.50 per device. HTC clearly got of relatively lightly by settling Microsoft’s claims out of court.

[...]

Microsoft can’t be too forceful. If can’t afford to overly annoy those vendors who’re also selling phones based on its Windows Phone OS – they might just drop it, in a huff. Or they may trade lower royalties for a stronger commitment to WinPho – something Microsoft needs far more than even a few hundreds of millions of dollars in royalty payments.

Saumsung, LG, and Kyocera Mita also pay Microsoft for Android. There might be more such companies, perhaps not prominent ones though. Faced with a price tag, people act surprised about it even though our site has highlighted this issue since 2007 when Samsung signed the first such deal and in order to discourage similar deals we called for a boycott. The bottom line is, we do have a problem here, but it is not a new problem. We even found one anti-Linux propagandist writing: “This is just fraud. I really like HTC phones with their Sense interface but I have a Galaxy S II on order and I will not buy any HTC phone again while they give in to Microsoft’s blackmail.”

According to other news from today, Lodsys wants to go after Android developers. “Patent holding company Lodsys caused a stir recently when it demanded money from iOS developers using in-app payments,” says this report, “something it holds a patent for. Now it appears that Android developers could be next in line for a stern email from the firm.

“Android Community has spotted one developer who is claiming to have received a request for payment in relation to integrating in-app payments into an Android app. If true, it could stir up another hornet’s nest of anger in the development community.”

“Saumsung, LG, and Kyocera Mita also pay Microsoft for Android.”This is actually not news and we alluded to it before. Apple, unlike Google, is a patent aggressor, so it is not the same situation for Android and Apple’s hypeOS. Interestingly enough, Microsoft’s ally Nokia is also giving a hard time to Apple. How long before Microsoft uses Nokia to sue Android distributors too? Nokia has given hints about it. Microsoft’s strategy is to tax Linux from as many directions as possible. It’s blackmail [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7], so regulators should step in to intervene. █

“That’s extortion and we should call it what it is. To say, as Ballmer did, that there is undisclosed balance sheet liability, that’s just extortion and we should refuse to get drawn into that game.”

–Mark Shuttleworth

Summary: Some quick update on the state of Xandros Linux

IT has been a long time since we last wrote about Xandros. We had written about it extensively back in the days. Someone has just informed us that “it appears that Xandros server IS dead. We ordered and headr through our supplier that the software was “not supported”. Nitix has [been] gobbled by IBM.” For those who do not remember, Xandros agreed to pay Microsoft for GNU/Linux. █

Summary: “Microsoft tax” in tablets is recalled now that Linspire meets MeeGo and Vista 7 allegedly meets the HP “Slate” again

SOME DAYS AGO we wrote about Linspire disputes following the sale of the company’s assets, including invisible ‘assets’ like the “Linspire” trademark.

Well, trademarks are a touchy subject in the Free software world and “Linspire” was never truly used as a trademark by Xandros which bought it. It has been MIA for 2 years.

Xandros is hardly mentioned anymore (with few exceptions like this one) and Linspire is rarely but still mentioned as a supported platform.

Earlier today we learned about this “Linspire on MeeGo” tablet thing, which is baffling as no other source seems to be covering it and it’s not clear what Linspire has to do with it.

The Linspire-MeeGo tablet will likely support touch-based input methods and gestures. Linpus will be creating touchscreen-specific apps to run on MeeGo, such as an eReader, maps, mail, a browser, and a media player. Linpus will also include a contact manager.

We were pretty sure Linspire (Ballnux) was in its grave by now; given that it was a Microsoft-taxed distribution, no love was lost. Is this “Linspire-MeeGo tablet” taxed by Microsoft for imaginary patent violations? What would Nokia say now that its CEO is a former Microsoft president (also see [1, 2, 3])?

Speaking of tablets, in our previous posts about the HP-Hurd scandal [1, 2, 3, 4] we explained that Microsoft entryism at HP seemed to have had the effect of making the company neglect Linux and bring back Vista 7 to the “Slate”, even after HP had officially abandoned it. According to this new video (“Supposed HP Slate prototype video”), Microsoft cronies at HP may have had their way.

It’s a Windows 7 version of the same old Microsoft Tablet PC form factor, but this time, with a finger instead of a stylus. They used to call these “slate”-type Tablet PCs. They were slaughtered in the market by the “convertible” type that had the flip-around laptop keyboards, because most Windows software simply works much better with a keyboard and trackpad.

This was brought to our attention by lnxwalt, who dented: “HP “Slate” video: http://cl.ly/2W0J via @mikegrace@twitter.com — should have killed it; #WebOS tablets should be *much* better. [...] Holy cow! That thing is awful! Is it Flash that makes it so slow?”

Well, Vista 7 is not suitable for portable devices. That’s why Linux/Android does so well on these form factors whose sales grow. █

Summary: SCO’s sale of the software business is approved, bringing back memories of Linspire

SOME TIME earlier this month we wrote about SCO looking to raise more money after a seemingly-fake bankruptcy. An author who is typically a SCO sympathiser has just caught up with the news about the court approving SCO’s sale of its software business.

The SCO Group’s software business is up for sale, but that might not mean an end to its controversial lawsuits against IBM Corp. and Novell Inc.

Judge Kevin Gross in Delaware has approved procedures for selling off the Lindon company’s Unix business before the end of this year.

Such sales of assets are not so rare. In last week’s news, for example, we also learned about Novell’s familiarity with the practice. From Jon Oltsik about HP:

They company backed this up when it sold its identity management portfolio to Novell.

Two years ago Xandros bought Linspire’s assets (and threw away the trademarks, which it never truly used). Linspire failed for reasons which are explained in this month’s article from a former Xandros user and the sale of Linspire to Xandros is also mentioned in this new press release about Michael Robertson and others.

Here is where Xandros is said to be today:

Xandros – If you prefer a Linux distribution with a Microsoft connection, Xandros is the one for you. Rumors aside, Xandros and Microsoft collaborate in what’s known in technical circles as “cooperatition.” This means that they compete cooperatively. To find out more about this unique perspective, check out the Xandros About page.

It does not seem like anyone really uses or buys it anymore. It’s out of date. The same goes for Presto, which very rarely gets a mention anywhere. Xandros — like KNOPPIX — has not much of a story to tell anymore. The main Debian derivative which gets all the attention is Ubuntu, as pointed out now that Debian turns 17.

Many popular Linux distros are based on Debian and still heavily rely on ‘upstream’ development including the very popular Ubuntu, but also KNOPPIX, MEPIS, Xandros and many others. In turn, these distros have each been used as the basis for many other Linux flavors.

It would be interesting to know what Ian Murdock, Debian’s founder, is up to now that OpenSolaris/”Project Indiana” received a blow from Oracle. Murdock has been exceptionally quiet for years (especially since he joined Sun Microsystems). █

Summary: Only days left for Xandros to decide that it wants to keep the Freespire domain alive; CNR Warehouse down for over 3 months

IT HAS been a long time since we last wrote about Xandros, which absorbed Linspire (both companies had signed a patent deal with Microsoft).

Xandros has already killed Linspire (the distribution), as it announced shortly after it bought the company. It said it would stay committed to Freespire, but it never made a release, not even of Xandros, for which it offers Microsoft patent 'protection' at the cost of $50. According to this thread, Xandros has only days left to renew the Freespire domain name. Will it do it? One former user is convinced that Xandros will make it “officially dead” (we too let our “Boycott Xandros” and “Boycott Linspire” domains expire last month):

According to this thread on the Freespire forum, the Freespire website and domain will expire on August 22, 2010, which at this time is a mere two weeks away. If Xandros doesn’t renew the website and domain and allows the Freespire website to go offline, then Freespire will be officially dead. Xandros cares more about kissing Microsoft’s ass and making insignificant OEM deals and killing off everything associated with Linspire, especially Freespire and CNR. The CNR Warehouse has been down for at least THREE MONTHS. Xandros, do you realize the money you could make from selling “Click N Buy” software on CNR?

That’s just what happens to almost every company which signs a submissive Microsoft deal. █

Summary: Another Novell employee moves to Red Hat and Novell continues to focus on initiatives that make Microsoft stronger

Novell has not been particularly healthy to SUSE’s reputation, especially after it signed that patent/collaboration deal with Microsoft. Jakub Steiner left Novell last month and he is joining Red Hat, which also scooped up Novell’s director of ISV ecosystems last month.

Today was my first day at Red Hat.

As SUSE people move to Red Hat, Novell is left with Mono and Moonlight. Its developers keep developing such Microsoft enablers and there is little news apart from that. To Novell, OpenSUSE is just a volunteers magnet from which to produce SLES/SLED, which Microsoft makes money from. Novell helps Microsoft in HPC using SUSE as a ramp (Microsoft finds other routes) and Microsoft also profits from Xandros, by imposing its patent tax on Scalix which was last mentioned in this press release.

Scalix, the award-winning Linux email, group calendaring, and messaging subsidiary of Xandros, Inc., today announced that Ecommerce, Inc., a world leader in web hosting solutions (IX Web Hosting), has chosen Scalix as the premium groupware of choice for their customer base.

There is nothing else in the news about Xandros and very little about Novell, except the OpenSUSE 11.3 release which Stephan Kulow writes about ahead of parties in places like Nürnberg (not much anywhere else). The RC of OpenSUSE 11.3 is now out:

Two weeks after the first release candidate arrived, the openSUSE development team have issued the second and final release candidate (RC) for version 11.3 of the openSUSE operating system. According to the developers, the latest development preview is a “final check” aimed at making sure that “11.3 is polished and in good condition”.

To OpenSUSE’s credit, it gives a fair deal to KDE [1, 2]. With Mandriva having difficulties (Red Hat hired some of its developers), OpenSUSE remains essential to cutting-edge KDE.

wstephenson announced on the opensuse-kde@ mailinglist that openSUSE 11.3 will ship KDE SC 4.4.4, so you want might to test those packages.

OpenSUSE ought to distance itself from Novell/Microsoft, but this requires a name change because the “OpenSUSE” trademark is owned by Novell. █

IT WAS almost exactly 2 years ago (prior to Independence Day) that Linspire threw itself at Xandros’ arms, only to see everything from Linspire dusted away into a nearby ashtray. Both Xandros and Linspire had signed patent deals with Microsoft and shown the world what happens to those who sidle with the convicted monopolist.

“Stick a fork in Xandros,” writes one blogger today, “it’s done.”

Xandros hasn’t released a new version of Xandros Desktop since November 2006 when they released Xandros 4.1. That’s almost four years without a new OS.

Xandros hasn’t released a new version of Xandros Server since May 2007. That’s over three years.

Xandros’ Presto OS pretty much came into the market with a whimper and went out with a sigh – most likely in the span of one month.

DistroWatch has declared Xandros Desktop to be a discontinued distribution.

Many former Xandrosians – myself included – have moved on to other OSes such as Ubuntu, Mint, and PCLinuxOS. Most abandoned Xandros when they sold out to Microsoft’s racketeering scam (the “patent agreement”). (I should note that I abandoned Xandros upon release of Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake LTS.)

SUSE suffered from Novell’s deal with Microsoft as well. Listen to this new episode of Linux Basement. About 15 minutes from the start they begin explaining why they left SUSE (as did yours truly). OpenSUSE needs to distance itself from Novell, otherwise it will continue to scare existing and prospective users.

At the moment, Novell blurs the gap between SUSE (in the SLE* sense) and OpenSUSE. It is selling SUSE appliances and advertises them massively in its PR blog. Just looking at the past week alone we found three examples [1, 2, 3], one of which focuses on the mainframe:

As employee number 135 at SUSE (bought by Novell in 2004), Joerg Eberwein has seen it all. With a small team of engineers and partners—numbering around 10 in the early days—they were able to rely on innovation, teamwork and each other to create a product that has been around a decade.

[...]

“We saw the chance and we took it,” said Eberwein. “We started to spread the message of Linux on the mainframe.”

Novell does not grant the user much control. In fact, it is moving control away from the user [1, 2] while at the same time spreading FUD about SaaS, e.g. when losing a contract in Los Angeles.

With NetWare SMB ‘AccountName’ flaws and BSM failure, Novell is headed nowhere, just like Xandros. Last week it advertised [1, 2] its recently-acquired BSM assets (buyout one year ago) but this BSM’s CEO quit Novell last year. It doesn’t look particularly good for any of Novell’s business areas. Even the marketing people (after some major departures) can’t get their grammar right:

Within the Novell BSM solution we speak in terms of the Configuration Management System (CMS) accessing data at it’s source as data in memory (or federated in real-time) because the value is joining the data metrics in a model providing the relationships that illustrate “value” through the creation of “information”.

Novell — like Linspire — might be sold for some of its assets to be buried and others to be sold away cheaply (those that have positive market value). The boycott against Novell has fulfilled itself almost entirely. Meanwhile we saw massive companies like Nokia and Google leveraging GNU/Linux and bringing it further into the mainstream. █

Summary: Mandriva gets rid of Beagle in the 2010.1 (Spring) release

SOME moments ago, as the log at the bottom shows, we found out that Mandriva had removed Beagle from the latest version of its GNU/Linux distribution (one of my favourite distributions). This is encouraging news which comes right after Ubuntu's removal of F-Spot and Fedora’s removal of Mono as a whole. Two years ago we warned Mandriva that it had created an unnecessary Mono dependency in OpenOffice.org and Mandriva responded by fixing it.

“This is encouraging news which comes right after Ubuntu’s removal of F-Spot and Fedora’s removal of Mono as a whole.”Mono dependents are fine, but probably not in a default installation of a GNU/Linux distribution.

The good news is that, as time goes by, GNU/Linux is advancing in many areas and vendors that sold out to Microsoft (decided to pay Microsoft for Linux, unlike Mandriva) are going extinct. Novell will probably be sold shortly and Xandros (which includes Linspire) is hardly ever mentioned in the news anymore. Presto is mentioned here and Xandros is mentioned here, but it’s more of an historical mention. █

DaemonFC	schestowitz: Mandriva is moving away from Mono a bit	May 25 07:43
schestowitz	How so?	May 25 07:44
DaemonFC	2010.1 will replace Beagle with Tracker	May 25 07:44
schestowitz	Nice	May 25 07:44
schestowitz	Good proof?	May 25 07:44
DaemonFC	yes	May 25 07:44
schestowitz	Page/screenshot?	May 25 07:44
schestowitz	Just in case	May 25 07:44
DaemonFC	http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/2010.1_RC	May 25 07:44
Techrights	Title: 2010.1 RC – Mandriva Community Wiki .::. Size~: 61.51 KB	May 25 07:44
schestowitz	I want to verify to avoid mikstakes	May 25 07:44
DaemonFC	Tracker is now replacing Beagle as document search engine.	May 25 07:44
schestowitz	DaemonFC: thanks	May 25 07:44
schestowitz	what mono is left in it then?	May 25 07:44
DaemonFC	the runtime itself and F-Spot I believe	May 25 07:45
schestowitz	no tomboy/gnote?	May 25 07:45
DaemonFC	oh, forgot about that	May 25 07:46
DaemonFC	doesn’t say anything about getting rid of Tomboy, 2010 had it	May 25 07:46
DaemonFC	Beagle uses a hell of a lot of resources though	May 25 07:46
-BNtwitter/#boycottnovell-[nsisodiya] Now searching for a girl assistant for various task at my company. btw operation was successful and I am OK.		May 25 07:47
DaemonFC	it’s not uncommon for it to sit there and take 80 MB of RAM just for itself while indexing	May 25 07:47
DaemonFC	Tracker usually takes more like 30	May 25 07:47
DaemonFC	those little mono applets here and there gang up on you, take up way more resources than they’re worth	May 25 07:48
DaemonFC	Tomboy takes about double the memory of Gnote	May 25 07:48
schestowitz	Recoll took gigabytes	May 25 07:49
schestowitz	The index	May 25 07:49
schestowitz	Not the program	May 25 07:49
schestowitz	For my home dir	May 25 07:49
DaemonFC	I have to wonder what the hell these distributions are thinking when they needlessly pile these things on	May 25 07:49
DaemonFC	makes it useless on older PCs with less than 1 GB of RAM	May 25 07:49
DaemonFC	and while there are equivalent programs that use half the memory all over the place	May 25 07:50
DaemonFC	Beagle is like WinFS for Linux	May 25 07:53
-BNtwitter/#boycottnovell-[zoobab] With multiple patents, stronger patent rights can have the perverse effect of stifling, not encouraging, innovation http://ur1.ca/038r1		May 25 07:55
Techrights	Title: Fast forward >> – The H Open Source: News and Features .::. Size~: 37.78 KB	May 25 07:55
DaemonFC	hmmm, Indiana University isn’t mirroring the RC	May 25 07:56
DaemonFC	nor is Purdue	May 25 07:56
DaemonFC	those have always been the fastest mirrors for me	May 25 07:57
*Diablo-D3 (~diablo@pool-64-222-232-11.port.east.myfairpoint.net) has joined #boycottnovell		May 25 07:57
MinceR	beagle isn’t like winfs for linux. beagle actually exists.	May 25 07:57
DaemonFC	MinceR: part of WinFS ended up in Windows 7	May 25 07:57
DaemonFC	as “libraries”	May 25 07:57
DaemonFC	more irritating than helpful	May 25 07:58
MinceR	that describes m$ products in general	May 25 07:58
DaemonFC	“You can’t save here you idiot!”	May 25 07:58
DaemonFC		May 25 07:58
-BNtwitter/#boycottnovell-[zoobab] Absolute power has corrupted the MPEG-LA absolutely http://ur1.ca/031fu		May 25 07:59
Techrights	Title: Nero Files Antitrust Case Against MPEG-LA .::. Size~: 30.37 KB	May 25 07:59
DaemonFC	so they end up making you scroll through C:\Users\<user name>\My Music for example	May 25 07:59
DaemonFC	you can’t just click Music and Save	May 25 07:59
DaemonFC	so I redid it all so that the actual folders are in my favorites	May 25 07:59
schestowitz	Let me see, hold on….	May 25 08:00
DaemonFC	and it ends up “My Documents” “My Music” My Pictures” etc. on top of “Music” “Documents” “Pictures”	May 25 08:00
DaemonFC	still aggravating and no way to turn it off	May 25 08:00

Summary: It’s “better with Windows” and “ASUS recommends Windows 7″ when Microsoft pays for such text to be shown, but the reality is very different

IN an overly dramatic new headline, SJVN asks, “Has ASUS abandoned netbook Linux?”

The answer is no because ASUS is back to Linux, sometimes in the form of Android. We gave several examples in recent months. Regarding abandonment of Xandros for sub-notebooks, the following posts show Microsoft’s role in it.

• Russia’s Antimonopoly Service Targets ASUS, Toshiba, H-P, Samsung and Dell for Potentially Colluding with Microsoft
• ASUS Enters the Slog Business
• More Suspicious Moves from ASUS
• It’s Unofficial: Microsoft Pays ASUS (Kickbacks) to Block GNU/Linux. Will EU Commission Step in?
• ASUS: “Currently, We’re Closely Tied up With Microsoft”
• What is Going on with ASUS and GNU/Linux?
• ASUS Profits Fall 94% After Getting “Closely Tied Up with Microsoft” at the Expense of GNU/Linux
• Microsoft Embracing, Extending, and Extinguishing Sub-notebooks
• Does Microsoft Blackmail Sub-notebooks Vendors?
• What Microsoft’s Anti-Linux Taskforce in Wal-Mart Teaches Us About Sub-notebooks

To SJVN’s credit, he does mention Microsoft’s role but he also writes:

I’m sure that the real reason is Microsoft has pressured Asus into abandoning Linux. On ASUS’ site, you’ll now see the slogan “ASUS recommends Windows 7″ proudly shown.

ASUS is being paid to put that text in there. It doesn’t mean that it’s sincere. It is a fake endorsement which Microsoft pays many OEMs for.

In summary, Microsoft escaped antitrust fines for its misconduct in sub-notebooks, but it is losing the bigger race anyway, especially now that Linux replaces Vista 7 on the Slate [1, 2] and Courier dies [1, 2] due to intense competition. Almost every electronic reader is powered by Linux. When Microsoft thought it scored well in a single round (by cheating) it saw its profit sinking at alarming rates and the future looks bright for GNU/Linux. █

Summary: The software squid on the face of the Earth expands its perimeter of negative influence and subjugation

LAST week we wrote about belittling of Google, courtesy of a highly paid de facto Microsoft ‘insider’, groomed to replace Yang (currently mentioned in this new article) and wed with Ballmer. It turns out that a lot of other sources covered this too and mocked her for hypocrisy, with the exception of Microsoft partners like Ziff Davis and MSBBC [1, 2]:

• Tech Irony: Yahoo CEO Says Google Needs Help
• Yahoo’s New Battle Plan: Attack Google

Microsoft bloggers are raving about Microsoft’s use of Yahoo! as a de facto subsidiary [1, 2, 3] (the only other example of coverage comes from WebProNews), which is either hilarious or sickening. It probably depends on one’s mood. What Microsoft did to Yahoo! ought to teach everyone in the industry why Microsoft staff is corporate poison and why Microsoft is a bully without boundaries. It should be treated like a dangerous cult, which is exactly what a government delegate compared this company to.

Joe Wilcox, a former Microsoft watcher, says that “Microsoft cannibalizes Yahoo search share”

Microsoft sure is gaining search share fast. Too bad it’s cannibalizing Yahoo rather than gaining on Google.

Microsoft merely arranged the passing of traffic from Yahoo! to Microsoft. The tragic thing here is that a search option has been removed by Microsoft. Anyone who wishes to avoid Google might as well be stuck with Microsoft. This is another fine example of how Microsoft ruins the market, kills products, harms innovation, and puts people out of work.

Indeed, according to other articles too [1, 2], the only firm which gauges US search market share and is not receiving payments from Microsoft^* says that Bong [sic] lost market share in April, despite losing (‘investing’) billions of dollars per year by paying companies to drop Google [1, 2]. It couldn’t get much worse for Microsoft. Or maybe it could [1, 2].

Anyway, as Search Engine Journal points out, Microsoft also uses its search/advertising business to exclude competition in the Web browsers and operating systems space:

Here are some things I’ve seen change and LOVE:

* AdCenter Desktop Editor – My only qualm here is that this is only for PC (come ON Microsoft, stop it, we are computer users too, and no this is not making me want to buy a PC).

[...]

* Support Your Competitors Products – They aren’t your competitors when it comes to your advertising. Get over it, k?
o Mac Support for Excel Plugin and Desktop Editor (while you’re at it can you tell the Excel people to make Excel Mac like Excel PC? Thanx.)
o Google Chrome Support (it works, but can we remove the warning?)

Typical.

Now that Yahoo! is hijacked by Microsoft, we are not surprised to see Microsoft’s bedfellow Samsung putting Yahoo! on Linux phones to not only make money for Microsoft (patent racket) but send users to Microsoft’s datacentres too.

Yahoo and Samsung are expanding their partnership so that mobile services such as Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Search will be preloaded on Samsung phones running the proprietary Bada and Google Android operating systems.

We will say more about what Microsoft is doing to Linux/Android phones in the next post. Samsung makes it a Ballnux and just like Xandros, it is paying Microsoft for Android. Those new Samsung phones are therefore not a victory and the same goes for LG’s new Android-powered phones, which are ‘taxed’ by Microsoft. How about HTC, which also became a victim?

Two Android ROMs crammed onto HTC Hero

If you’d like to give it a go, you’ll need at least some knowledge of the rooting process, and a computer running a flavour of Linux. Be aware also that the process takes some time to complete – around 15 minutes to “dualize” the handset, and slow boot-ups the first few times that you start your dual-booting handset.

HTC is also paying Microsoft for Android. HTC is based in Taiwan, whereas LG and Samsung are based on Korea. They all pay Microsoft for Android and we can’t quite see the Taiwanese government stepping in to stop this abuse because Microsoft has just become a partner of the government there (smells like corruption).

The Taiwan branch of U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp. showcased cloud computing applications created by local companies on Microsoft platforms, at a summit Tuesday in Taipei, with the aim of forging closer partnerships in a country known for its technology strength.

Why on Earth is the government assisting the very same company that it found guilty of breaking the law (about twice last year and even before that)? This ‘news’ from MSN (we knew about it months ago) makes no sense and it takes us back to yesterday’s news about what Microsoft does in Panama and some other countries whose sovereignty it takes away. Governments should by all means avoid everything that's classified as 'cloud' that's managed by another party.

“Governments should by all means avoid everything that’s classified as ‘cloud’ that’s managed by another party.”Microsoft’s relationship with Taiwan’s government is all about taking people’s data using the so-called ‘cloud’ which it makes a lot of noise about [1, 2, 3, 4] because it’s viewed as an opportunity for further lock-in, with both proprietary software and users’ loss of data possession. They are using buzz terms like “private cloud” to insinuate that the user has privacy or ownership. If it’s proprietary, however, then it’s not private, it’s rented. Free software is required for privacy in a so-called "private cloud".

Watch how Microsoft is painting everything as “cloud”, even Exchange. In the same way, Microsoft is painting everything that's Windows with the "seven" brush these days. It’s all just branding and marketing.

Here is a former Microsoft intern who says that “UC Davis scraps Gmail pilot: Privacy levels ‘unacceptable’” (not that Live@Edu is any better).

E-mail should only belong to or be seen by routers and maybe ISPs, not so-called ‘cloud’ providers. Nobody needs to have a mail account on a service whose storage capacity costs just a cent and a half and is given in exchange for spying and advertising. Hotmail is just as bad as Gmail, but the former Microsoft intern from ZDNet is more concerned about Google (where the FUD is better placed). Microsoft’s booster Ina Fried (from a sister Web site of ZDNet) has a new Microsoft boosting piece which shows how Microsoft was changing Hotmail (along with screenshots), but it’s important to remember that Microsoft ruined Hotmail ever since it took over, turning it from a leader into a follower that causes problems to the Internet as a whole. Microsoft also turned Hotmail into a spying trap, just like Google. These boosters/employees of Microsoft are being hypocrites and they know it. █
____
^* Two of the other meters, namely comScore and Nielsen, receive money from Microsoft and they all just measure something in the United States, with perhaps one exception (that’s rarely cited by the English-speaking press).

Summary: In the aftermath of the Acacia case it is important to point out that SUSE is still encumbered with unjustified patent tax (Microsoft’s racket)

COVERAGE of the Acacia case can be found in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9] and there is decent coverage from Joab Jackson (also in [1, 2, 3, 4]). We covered the ending of this case in the following posts, so we won’t repeat the same old arguments and analysis.

• Red Hat Appears to Have Done More Against Acacia (Patent Troll)
• Acacia’s Case Against GNU/Linux is Dead
• Behind the Microsoft Puppetmaster: SCO-Type Libel, Acacia-Type Patent Trolls, and Novell-Type Patent Deals to Make GNU/Linux Not Free (Gratis)
• Patents Roundup: Red Hat on Patent Trolls; Apple Antitrust; Microsoft Attacks Theora, Which is Needed to Save Our Video Culture
• The Cost of Patent Trolls Who Attack Linux
• HTC-Microsoft Was Not an Agreement, It Was Apparently an Extortion

What we found interesting is that Acacia issued a press release just to announced that it had lost the case.

The jury determined that the patents were invalid and not infringed.

There will not be an appeal.

So, what does that tell us about Red Hat and Novell? Most of the press (see [1]-[3] from the news below) deals with those two companies as peers, but this apparent parity neglects to say that Red Hat remains free, whereas Novell just won’t pay more patent tax in addition to Microsoft’s. This is why we insist on using a label like “Ballnux”, to clearly indicate that a particular distribution of Linux comes with patent tax which is paid to Steve Ballmer and fellow extortionists. Not all distributions of Linux are created equal. Companies or home users in need of a good server should choose Debian, Red Hat, Red Hat clones, or just about anything but SUSE and Xandros. █
____
[1] Aberdeen Releases New Research Into Mainframe Technology: Complexity, Sustainability, and Talent

The Aberdeen Group Mainframe Technology Toolkit is made available due in part to the support of Novell.

[2] Cray mimics Ethernet atop SeaStar interconnect

Supercomputer maker Cray doesn’t talk much about the systems software that runs on its massively parallel, midrange, or entry HPC gear, but it probably will start doing so more because of the work it has done to make its non-standard XT boxes look a little less proprietary as far as Linux applications are concerned.

[3] SGI Announces Next-Generation Altix(R) ICE Scale-out Supercomputer

Altix ICE 8400, with its innovative blade design, easily and affordably scales to up to 65,536 compute nodes with integrated single or dual plane InfiniBand backplane interconnect. Open x86 architecture makes it equally simple to deploy commercial, open source or custom applications on completely unmodified Novell(R) SUSE(R) or Red Hat(R) Linux(R) operating systems.

Summary: IBM and Novell grow a little closer; Verizon and SpagoBI make use of SUSE as well; other Ballnux distributions have little to say

SUSE (SLES/SLED)

MOST of the SUSE news this week relates to IBM and/or Studio, starting with this article about IBM’s Power7.

The Power7-based blade servers can also run Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5, which was just tweaked two weeks ago to support the Power7 chips as well as all the new x64 processors from Intel and AMD. Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP3 will support the new Power7 blades, but you’re going to have to wait until SP1 to get SLES 11 for these machines.

Novell is left behind RHEL in this case. When it comes to appliances, Novell beats this drum a lot. There is a new LinkedIn group, SUSE Studio blog [1, 2], and this announcement about SpagoBI.

An open-source business intelligence appliance powered by Suse Linux has been released by database maker Ingres and Italian infrastructure software provider Engineering Ingegneria Informatica.

The SpagoBI appliance, announced on Thursday, is based on the open-source business intelligence (BI) suite SpagoBI, along with the Ingres database and Novell’s Suse Linux 11.

Verizon’s new relationship with SUSE is one that was mentioned last week. Here is the press release about it and also some news coverage [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

This brings us to IBM, whose new arrangement with Novell (see corresponding press release) led to Sutor’s chat that can be viewed below.

There is another new IBM chat with Novell, but the lady there concentrates on System z.

Here is the news coverage from Server Watch:

IBM is turning to technology from Novell to build Linux OS powered software appliances — a move that aims to deliver easy-to-deploy software for physical, virtual and cloud-based environments in use at small to midsized businesses.

The new software appliances deliver solutions for IBM Lotus, Websphere and Cognos software applications. Specifically, IBM will be offering software appliances for the IBM Lotus Foundations collaboration suite as well as the Lotus Protector for Mail Security. IBM’s WebSphere Application Server is also benefiting with a software appliance aimed at virtualized environments, while Big Blue is ramping up its analytics offerings with appliances for its Cognos Now! and IBM Smart Analytics Optimizer packages.

The new solutions leverage technology from Novell’s SUSE Appliance Program, which enables software vendors to build and deploy software appliances using a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) operating system base.

This is also covered in some other news sites [1, 2, 3].

According to the company, the initiative, which leverages the SUSE Appliance Program from Novell, enables IBM to deliver ‘plug and play’ appliances that lower the cost and complexity of deploying applications for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and help independent software vendors (ISVs) expand their routes to market.

The press in Pakistan covered a talk from Novell in a fashion that promotes SUSE.

Apurva Shah, Alliance Manager for Novell in India and Pakistan was the keynote presentation at the event where he talked about how Novell and SUSE Linux solutions power enterprises with efficient and intelligent systems.

Novell Support Advisor 2 is released to help support SUSE, but is it enough to beat RHEL?

Xandros

Xandros is mentioned in relation to MeeGo [1, 2] and few other articles. But Xandros is generally nowhere to be seen; Linspire too is treated just as part of history.

Samsung and LG

These two Korean giants which pay Microsoft for Linux both make Android handsets. There are new examples from both Samsung [1, 2] and from LG [1, 2], showing that they continue to make Ballnux phones.

This is the last “News Summary” of this type; we will continue to cover news of this nature, but the format will change. █

Summary: “It should be widely known by now. No matter why, when and where, join MS and you will be dead.” –Abe

Richard Hillesley has just published “The lost world of the Xandros desktop,” which is an article that looks at Xandros’ past and present. To quote some bits from this long article:

The latest release of the Xandros Linux desktop edition was in June 2006, which is several lifetimes in the history of Linux. Is this the end of the line for the Xandros desktop?

[...]

The ‘patent covenant’ with Microsoft has had a detrimental effect on Xandros’ ongoing relationships with the Linux user and developer communities. Ostensibly the purpose of the deal with Microsoft was to license protocols to enable Xandros’ BridgeWays and Scalix products to work with Microsoft networks.

Actually, Scalix came later. Xandros bought Scalix in July 2007 (July 9^th to be precise), whereas Xandros sold out to Microsoft on June 4^th.

We have found some new comments on the subject, including one in Tux Machines:

Xandros propaganda for smartphones ? giving up on netbooks ?

Netbooks were born for children. But had a future for enterprise applications because of HDTV(broadcasting news or training film) 16:9 video format(DVD player format). So, Asus sold more XP(sp3). But for individuals, dual boot with Ubuntu maybe a choice, until Firefox shot itself in the foot(not flash9 compatible).

In the comment titled “Join MS”, Abe from Linux Today writes:

Those who forget history are bound to repeat it.

It should be widely known by now. No matter why, when and where, join MS and you will be dead.

Those who ignore the warnings can’t blame but themselves.

We have a detailed list of companies that lost their GNU/Linux focus after signing Microsoft deals. Xandros of one of those companies. It’s "Microsoft's touch of death". █

“I once preached peaceful coexistence with Windows. You may laugh at my expense — I deserve it.”

–Be’s CEO Jean-Louis Gassée

Summary: A survey of the past two week’s news shows where SLES is gaining and where it is losing

NOVELL’S SLES is occasionally being listed as a supported platform on a variety of servers, but there are barriers to it. Red Hat is still way ahead of SLES when it comes to deployment:

Today’s data centers are moving toward only two important non-mainframe server operating systems — Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Windows — dominating the commercial operating system market. Proprietary Unix is on the downswing, with many Unix systems (AIX, HP-UX and Solaris), and the SCO operating systems being migrated to Linux or Windows. NetWare has been on a very steep decline for several years and Novell recently ended general support for Netware. IBM’s z/OS and z/VM are still holding their own as mainframe operating systems.

[...]

The questions are: Why is Novell, the second-largest commercial Linux server operating system vendor, being discounted as a serious Linux operating system vendor over the next few years?And what does this mean to you, the IT director?

Nat Friedman was promoting SLED (see these two videos which have just been uploaded [1, 2]), but he left Novell some months ago and Novell keeps talking about Vista 7 rather than SLED.

There are some new videos about SUSE Moblin and SLED, but Novell is not doing enough.

On the server side, Timothy Prickett Morgan mentions SLES as supported here, here, here, and here (along with RHEL).

IBM’s i 7.1 and AIX 5.3 and 6.1, and Red Hat’s Enterprise Linux 5.5, and Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP3 are supported on the blades. SLES 11 will be supported later this quarter when SP1 for that OS comes out.

Another one from Timothy Prickett Morgan shows the relation to IBM:

Big Blue juices OS formerly known as 400

[...]

This can be done quickly, and a partition can be trashed when the testing is over. i 7.1 logical partitions can create guest partitions based on i 7.1 or i 6.1. Guest partitions can also be spun up for AIX 5.2, 5.3, and 6.1 as well as the Linux distros from Red Hat and Novell.

Novell’s tag-team act with IBM (intended to sell its proprietary products) will lead to even more promotion of SaaS rather than Free software on one’s own desktop. Novell’s special relationship with IBM mainframes can also be seen here. SaaS at Verizon will involve SLES but not RHEL, which is not entirely odd but Verizon used to work a lot with Red Hat. Did half a billion dollars from Microsoft change Verizon’s mind?

Verizon also expanded the applications and operating systems supported by SaaS, adding SUSE Linux, which is commonly used in ERP packages; and Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) SQL Server 2008, which has been added as a click-to-provision server option. The addition of SUSE Linux and SQL Server 2008 augments the support for Windows, Red Hat, Apache and SQL Server 2005 that CaaS already supports.

More about Verizon here:

Enhancements to the CaaS offering include support for server cloning and the SUSE Linux operating system.

Here is the corresponding press release:

The SUSE Linux operating system is now supported on the Verizon CaaS platform as a standard service offering. Linux software is used with commonly deployed enterprise resource planning packages. In addition, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 has been added as a “click-to-provision” database server option.

Here is Microsoft piggybacking SUSE into HPC yet again. How does IBM feel about it? The Microsoft boosters sure seem happy about the whole thing.

The Linux and Windows interoperability efforts from Microsoft and partners such as Novell have evolved to the HPC market.

Ingres got closer to SLES recently. It’s because of Studio appliances, which the company covered in three new videos [1, 2, 3] and also mentioned in a press release.

The SpagoBI Analytical Appliance integrates SpagoBI, the only entirely open source suite covering all the analytical areas of business intelligence projects, Ingres Database, the leading open source database that helps organizations develop and manage business critical applications at an affordable cost, and SUSE® Linux Enterprise 11 from Novell®.

SGI still supports both RHEL and SLES, based on its new press release which says:

At the system software level, Cyclone offers a flexible computing environment with choice of Novell(R) SUSE(R) or Red Hat(R) Linux(R) operating systems, further performance-optimized through the addition of SGI(R) ProPack(TM).

Novell is the last distributor of GNU/Linux which poses a real problem because it pays Microsoft for each copy of SLES. Xandros is mostly unheard of at this stage and the only mention of it that we have found this month (in English) was to do with Linspire, which it had acquired only to bury. Michael Robertson still deals with litigation:

Robertson, the controversy-courting founder of MP3.com and Linspire, is preparing to roll out a new online music service called BYO.fm. He said that BYO taps into Web radio’s potential to enable users to act as their own program directors.

Michael Robertson’s lawsuit against Carmony (and vice versa) seems to have ended rather quietly. Maybe it’s better that way. █

Summary: Typical entities promote the same old agenda whereby GNU/Linux is managed by Microsoft and its cost advantage removed by Microsoft

THE Microsoft-associated media is promoting 50-dollar Microsoft patent tax on GNU/Linux by advancing this forgotten variant/derivative of Debian. It’s all about Xandros, which GCN claims to be a path to migration that beats existing ones that are free and do not participate in Microsoft’s patent racket. From the article:

Past versions of Xandros have always been good. It’s a well-known adaptation of the KDE flavor of Linux that has always concentrated on playing well with Microsoft. Unlike many other versions of Linux in this roundup, Xandros not only operates some Microsoft software, primarily Office, but also plays nice with the Microsoft New Technology File System. Xandros users can now read and write to NTFS drives. Xandros even can authenticate with Microsoft Windows networks. So you can use it as a node on a fully Windows network, and it can share files and printers with other Windows machines.

As readers are probably aware, Techrights has a boycott against Novell and against Xandros. It’s about defending — not about harming — GNU/Linux.

In other news, Microsoft uses Hyper-V to discriminate against GNU/Linux. Here are some new and very important observations:

Guest operating system support: Microsoft’s conflict

[...]

To me, that statement read, “To promote a unified support model between the many applications, OSes and marketing teams within Microsoft, we are imposing artificial limitations on Hyper-V support.”

We have seen Microsoft impose such limits this before, as it did in adjusting its virtualization licensing to limit the advanced VMware features that Microsoft’s own virtualization products could not support. As soon as Hyper-V could support these features, Microsoft made its licensing models more friendly. Windows has been restricted to promote Hyper-V, and now Hyper-V has been restricted to promote newer Microsoft OSes.

Let’s not forget Microsoft's virtualisation tricks near the BIOS (this led to antitrust concerns before Microsoft retreated). Here is some context:

This beta supports Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP3, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4, on all versions of Hyper-V. The beta can be downloaded from connect.microsoft.com.

Microsoft went as far as violating the GPL [1, 2, 3]. Planted by Novell in Linux, the code soon became the centre of a PR campaign from Microsoft. But that’s just history. Darryl K. Taft, an occasional/habitual Microsoft apologist from Ziff Davis, writes about this latest “update” only to receive hostile responses from Linux Today readers. Jose_X writes:

Microsoft want’s people to run Linux on top of Windows so that their software retains control of Linux and retains top performance rather than have to deal with customers doing the reverse.

While it is true that Greg K-H, who has done most of the fixing, is getting money from Microsoft indirectly through Novell, perhaps he does expect at least a little help from Microsoft proper: http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/News/Kroah-Ha rtman-Remove-Hyper-V-Driver-from-Kernel

Of course, true to form, Microsoft trumpets that “the community” has received their code well because “the community” has submitted many patches to help fix the code.

Art Cancro writes:

Seriously, is there anyone left in the world who still trusts Microsoft? I can’t imagine any data center manager in his right mind would want to virtualize Linux on top of Windows. (And anyone who’s serious about virtualization is running bare metal hypervisors such as VMware ESX anyway.)

The only people I could see using this are small-time Windows fanboys who have to grudgingly deploy some sort of Linux application that they need – either because it only runs on Linux or because it’s delivered as a virtual appliance.

oldvaxman writes:

Yes any *SERIOUS* admin is running *BARE METAL* hypervisors. MS just wants control if it isn’t dependable running on plain servers why would I want it controlling VM’s? just the opposite would be the beneficial way …. GNU/Linux controlling MS VM’s at least I know that “my base” will be solid

Right after the Novell/Microsoft deal had been signed, Novell’s CEO stressed that they agreed to have SLES run under Windows. It was part of the deal. █

Summary: Debunking the increasingly-widespread myth that Microsoft has changed and that it has an interest in Free/Open Source software

THERE seems to be some kind of “Open Source” PR effort from Microsoft. Usually, reporters are not gullible enough to fall for it, but Microsoft partners like like Ziff Davis [1, 2, 3] and IDG [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] have accommodated Microsoft-sympathetic people who run their “open source” sections and comply with Microsoft’s publicity stunts, even linking to Windows- and Microsoft-only fluff. They probably do this out of ignorance, not deliberate deception. Another Microsoft apologist from Ziff Davis, Darryl Taft (they got rid of people who tell the true nature of Microsoft, such as SJVN), is parroting PR messages and not paying attention at all to deeds. Then again, eWEEK coverage is rarely accurate and when it covers “open source” is seems to be focused even on Mono promotion (for Windows). To be fair, eWEEK did not have this obvious bias in the past. It had different writers and we rarely found it striking deals with Microsoft, such as those deals that promote Windows Vista in exchange for payments from Microsoft and Dell. What’s really sad is that such publications are deceiving the public through repetition and those who appeal to authority are then able to cite such Web sites and justify Microsoft sympathy or a decision to help Microsoft at the expense of peers’ liberty.

“What makes Microsoft exceptionally hostile towards Free software is also what puts it in a rather unique position.”It was disheartening to see Borys Musielak (of PolishLinux), for example, neglecting to account for Microsoft’s corruption of ISO, instead stating that Microsoft “started to work with standarization bodies like ISO”. It sounds like comedy, but he probably meant it. What makes Microsoft exceptionally hostile towards Free software is also what puts it in a rather unique position. Most proprietary software companies are not in this position because they don’t rely on proprietary operating systems for their revenue (Office, for example, still relies on Windows). Microsoft wants to hurt GNU/Linux after a series of illegal activities (with convictions) against other rivals.

Additionally, Microsoft is obsessed with software patents because of the increasing abundance of source code out there. We’ll expand on that point in the next post about Microsoft’s lobby for software patents in India, South Africa, and of course Europe. Microsoft is also a DRM proponent and one of the least ethical companies out there, based on present deeds. Musielak’s post did receive some responses, such as “Microsoft has made noises and PR about it being OSS friendly, but it’s all show.” Oiaohm says that it “reads very much like a MS supporting PR guy,” but it’s far from it. All it shows is that Microsoft’s PR campaign is deceiving some people whose judgment is usually sound.

“All it shows is that Microsoft’s PR campaign is deceiving some people whose judgment is usually sound.”Matt Asay, for instance, was going to go to work at Microsoft (true story) but instead he ended up working for Canonical and we continue to worry as we repeatedly find that he indeed had something to do with a Microsoft and software patents booster [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] attending OSBC with him [1, 2] (he once invited Microsoft too [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]). They are trying to emulate proprietary software and still call it “open source” (or “open core”, which is far from Free software but sometimes defended by Mac users and others who believe in “open source” as just a component of proprietary systems). Microsoft too has this type of vision where Windows, Office, SQL Server and other proprietary software become the services on which “open source” relies. This is not software freedom because the developers are locked into a platform which is controlled by a vendor (no less than an evident bully, too).

On a separate note, Canonical makes the mistake of still tying (via Yahoo!) [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] its GNU/Linux distribution with Microsoft’s lie machine, also known as “Bing”. It’s not a search engine and it wasn’t intended to be one. It’s heavily censored in a way that favours Windows and demotes GNU/Linux, even Free software. It’s probably not a violation of any particular law, but it is a reason to drop this service like a hot potato. At the New York Times, calls were even made for a boycott of Bing.

Here is a new post that’s titled “Is Microsoft Bing Trying To Kill Open Office?”

Microsoft Bing has many flaws, but this one seems to be the most outrageous one. If you try to search for OpenOffice on Bing, it will not show you the actual OpenOffice.org website but will show pages from random websites like OpenOffice.com or other non-OpenOffice.org websites.

On the other hand Google search shows OpenOffice.org as the first search result. Bing has gone to an extent that in fact you will not find the OpenOffice website even in the 5th page. So, a Bing surfer will never land on OpenOffice.org website.

Microsoft really loves “Open Source”, eh? It loved OpenOffice.org so much that it decided to extort its users behind the scenes. Microsoft’s illusion of search does the same thing to “Ubuntu”, according to readers of ours (we have not checked to verify this because it would only feed Microsoft).

Ultimately, Microsoft is trying to demote GNU/Linux, sometimes with Novell’s help and some help from Xandros. This new Microsoft whitepaper shows that Microsoft is still trying to manage GNU/Linux from the Windows side, using “System Center”.

It was approximately two years ago that Microsoft announced that customers running System Center would be able to leverage automated management across mixed source environments. It was at the Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) 2008 that Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft, revealed UNIX and Linux support in System Center. Fast-forward a couple of years, and it appears that customers are asking about the Redmond company’s plans to support future releases of UNIX and Linux as they will be released, according to Robert Hearn, Sr. program manager Customer & Partner Community System Center Cross Platform & Interoperability.

The headline and article above come from a known Microsoft booster, who also publishes “PHP on Windows Training Kit Gets Updated”. Let’s not forget Microsoft’s vision. It’s described by Steve Ballmer as follows: “I would love to see all open source innovation happen on top of Windows.”

They are already trying to use software patents to suppress uptake of GNU/Linux. Fortunately, it’s not working for them, not just because people distrust Microsoft and Windows is expensive. Microsoft products are generally very flaky, so PHP applications, for example, are deployed on GNU/Linux almost all the time. Nearly 4 years of a relationship with Zend have brought Microsoft next to nothing and here is new food for thought:

In 1991, during the Gulf war, American Patriot missile was deployed to combat Iraqi scud missile. In one of the incident, Patriot missile missed the Scud and that resulted the death of 28 American soldiers and 100 others got injured. There was an arithmetic error during calculation which resulted inaccurate calculation since Boot.

[...]

Microsoft’s Zune player stopped working on December 31, 2008 because of a simple software bug. The software was written in such a way that it would never terminate if the year is leap year and the total number of days is 366.

Had more servers run Microsoft software (the majority of Web servers run GNU/Linux, with confirmed estimates hovering at about 60% and probably more than that for Apache), where would the Internet be? The client side, i.e. Windows desktops, is where most issues occur. Should we not spread GNU/Linux on desktops then? “Open Source” or “Free software” developers should focus on technical merit, not Microsoft’s ‘religious’ beliefs about platforms that it totally controls (that would be surrender, not a liberation of developers and users). █

“Microsoft allowed us to [remove Internet Explorer from Windows] but we don’t think we should have to ask permission every time we want to make some minor software modification. Windows is an operating system, not a religion.”

–Gateway Computer Chairman Ted Waitt

Summary: News and coverage concerning the distributions which joined Microsoft’s patent racket against GNU/Linux

SUSE (SLES/SLED)

GroundWork continues to favour SLES for some reason and there is a new press release about it.

GroundWork Open Source, Inc. (GWOS http://www.gwos.com), the leader in commercial open source systems and network management software, today announced it will conclude the GWOS barCAMP Deux sessions with an exclusive release of a SUSE powered Virtual Appliance package that integrates GroundWork Monitor Enterprise 6.1 with Zendesk (www.zendesk.com).

At the high end, IBM deploys SLES for some large companies with mission-critical systems.

Implementing an IBM System z10 Enterprise Linux Server helps EFiS EDI Finance Service AG save money and the environment

Here is some guidance for anyone who wants SLED 11 installed on this HP hardware:

However, we still tested the stock version and came away impressed. For the vast majority of computing tasks – using Evolution to check your POP mail, burning a DVD disc using LightScribe (included with this SLED build) and even playing games or watching movies – the Elite 7000 is up to the task. Where we noticed a performance degradation is when we compared Linux-to-Linux between this system and a home-built PC that uses an SSD drive, an Nvidia Quadro CX graphics card and has 6GB of RAM. There was no comparison, of course – the home-built system was snappier even for popping up Firefox, copying files and running simulations with a program like Autodesk Revit Architecture (which normally prefers a workstation PC).

That’s about it when it comes to SLE*.

Xandros/Linspire

Another distribution that we name “Ballnux” would have to be Xandros because Linspire and Turbolinux are more or less history. Here is a little new rant about Xandros:

Linpus and Xandros aren’t looking quite so exciting. Of course, that could change as smartbooks with ARM-based processors start to hit the market, since they’re not capable of running Windows.

Not looking like Windows does not make something deficient. People don’t need Windows, they just need something that works. But anyway, Lindows, which was bought by Xandros in its “Linspire” form, is now being called one of the “worst products ever”.

9. Lindows
The hype was palpable surrounding Lindows: it was going to be a Linux operating system that provided full compatibility with Windows. Microsoft didn’t take kindly to this and even sued, unsuccessfully, saying that Lindows was infringing its Windows copyright. The court case just added to the excitement.

Xandros never did anything substantial with Linspire, not even with CNR.

Samsung

Microsoft is also extorting Linux phones and Samsung lets Microsoft get its way. Here is a new discussion about Samsung’s Android phones and about Bada:

Many people think of it as a poor thought, but Samsung has made it clear that Samsung Bada is being launched to make smartphones accessible to everyone. The smartphone market is still in its growing phase and Bada platform aims at improving the current situation.

Bada is mostly a layer and the platform that’s underneath benefits Microsoft if people buy their phones from Samsung. █