12.04.09

LSE Dumped Windows for GNU/Linux; Microsoft Should Do the Same (Bing Crashes)

Posted in GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Servers, Windows at 10:58 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Reliability issues with high-demand servers hit Microsoft’s very own clusters, not just LSE’s

THE London Stock Exchange (LSE) last crashed about a week ago, so we recently reminisced the pattern of failures accompanying the selection of Windows [1, 2]. The LSE decided to dump Windows and so should Microsoft’s search engine, which has just crashed according to the BBC.

Microsoft has apologised for a brief outage which saw its search site Bing disappear from the internet.

The outage lasted for nearly 30 minutes between in the early hours of 3 December. At that time anyone visiting the site got an error message.

This is good news to Free software not just because it demonstrates the weakness of Windows and the rest of the Microsoft stack; Microsoft’s presence online is poisonous because its search results are hostile towards Free software (by design) and Microsoft again uses its “MSN” portal to attack GNU/Linux and Free software. We gave many examples like this before, but this one is brand new.

Microsoft is also hooking standards-hostile software onto its Web presence, as this new article reminds us:

Today at their Bing Fall Release event, Microsoft showed off some nice updates to their search engine, including further information about how the much anticipated Twitter and Facebook data integration will work. But by far the most interesting thing they showed was the new beta version of Bing Maps. While it looked very nice, the real reason why it was so interesting is what it requires: Silverlight.

The Microsoft-faithful crowd is fraudulently spinning this as “open”, as we noted yesterday.

It is worth adding that Google is no angel either and according to some new reports, “Google expands plan to run own internet.”

Google has launched Google Public DNS as an alternative domain name service for any Internet user. Designed to replace the DNS services provided by ISPs or companies, Google says that its DNS will be faster and more secure than many other DNSs, and won’t filter content.

Google has entered the domain name resolution business, part of its ongoing effort to control just about everything you do on the net.

This morning, the Mountain View Chocolate Factory unveiled the free Google Public DNS, a service that lets you resolve net domain names through Google-controlled servers.

In order for the Web to stay free as in freedom (Independence) and open as in accessible, it is highly important to ensure that no single vendor has too much power over it, not even Adobe. █

Share this post: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

Permalink Mail Send this to a friend

If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

Pages that cross-reference this one

What Else is New

Links 9/1/2017: Civilization VI Coming to GNU/Linux, digiKam 5.4.0 Released

Links for the day
Links 9/1/2017: Dell’s Latest XPS 13, GPD Pocket With GNU/Linux

Links for the day
Update on Patent Trolls and Their Enablers: IAM, Fortress, Inventergy, Nokia, MOSAID/Conversant, Microsoft, Intellectual Ventures, Faraday Future, A*STAR, GPNE, AlphaCap Ventures, and TC Heartland

A potpourri of reports about some of the world’s worst patent trolls and their highly damaging enablers/facilitators, including Microsoft which claims that it “loves Linux” whilst attacking it with patents by proxy
Mark Summerfield: “US Supreme Court Decision in Alice Looks to Have Eliminated About 75% of New Business Method Patents.”

Some of the patent microcosm, or those who profit from the bureaucracy associated with patents, responds to claims made by Techrights (that software patents are a dying breed in the US)
Eight Wireless Patents Have Just Been Invalidated Under Section 101 (Alice), But Don't Expect the Patent Microcosm to Cover This News

Firms that are profiting from patents (without actually producing or inventing anything) want us to obsess over and think about the rare and few cases (some very old) where judges deny Alice and honour patents on software
2017: Latest Year That the Unitary Patent (UPC) is Still Stuck in a Limbo

The issues associated with the UPC, especially in light of ongoing negotiations of Britain's exit from the EU, remain too big a barrier to any implementation this year (and probably future years too)
Links 7/1/2017: Linux 4.9.1, Wine 2.0 RC4

Links for the day
India Keeps Rejecting Software Patents in Spite of Pressure From Large Foreign Multinationals

India's resilience in the face of incredible pressure to allow software patents is essential for the success of India's growing software industry and more effort is needed to thwart corporate colonisation through patents in India itself
Links 6/1/2017: Irssi 1.0.0, KaOS 2017.01 Released

Links for the day
Watchtroll a Fake News Site in Lobbying Mode and Attack Mode Against Those Who Don't Agree (Even PTAB and Judges)

A look at some of the latest spin and the latest shaming courtesy of the patent microcosm, which behaves so poorly that one has to wonder if its objective is to alienate everyone
The Productivity Commission Warns Against Patent Maximalism, Which is Where China (SIPO) is Heading Along With EPO

In defiance of common sense and everything that public officials or academics keep saying (European, Australian, American), China's SIPO and Europe's EPO want us to believe that when it comes to patents it's "the more, the merrier"
Technical Failure of the European Patent Office (EPO) a Growing Cause for Concern

The problem associated with Battistelli's strategy of increasing so-called 'production' by granting in haste everything on the shelf is quickly being grasped by patent professionals (outside EPO), not just patent examiners (inside EPO)
Links 5/1/2017: Inkscape 0.92, GNU Sed 4.3

Links for the day
Links 4/1/2017: Cutelyst 1.2.0 and Lumina 1.2 Desktop Released

Links for the day
Financial Giants Will Attempt to Dominate or Control Bitcoin, Blockchain and Other Disruptive Free Software Using Software Patents

Free/Open Source software in the currency and trading world promised to emancipate us from the yoke of banking conglomerates, but a gold rush for software patents threatens to jeopardise any meaningful change or progress
New Article From Heise Explains Erosion of Patent Quality at the European Patent Office (EPO)

To nobody's surprise, the past half a decade saw accelerating demise in quality of European Patents (EPs) and it is the fault of Battistelli's notorious policies
Insensitivity at the EPO’s Management – Part V: Suspension of Salary and Unfair Trials

One of the lesser-publicised cases of EPO witch-hunting, wherein a member of staff is denied a salary "without any notification"
Links 3/1/2017: Microsoft Imposing TPM2 on Linux, ASUS Bringing Out Android Phones

Links for the day
Links 2/1/2017: Neptune 4.5.3 Release, Netrunner Desktop 17.01 Released

Links for the day
Teaser: Corruption Indictments Brought Against Vice-President of the European Patent Office (EPO)

New trouble for Željko Topić in Strasbourg, making it yet another EPO Vice-President who is on shaky grounds and paving the way to managerial collapse/avalanche at the EPO
365 Days Later, German Justice Minister Heiko Maas Remains Silent and Thus Complicit in EPO Abuses on German Soil

The utter lack of participation, involvement or even intervention by German authorities serve to confirm that the government of Germany is very much complicit in the EPO's abuses, by refusing to do anything to stop them
Battistelli's Idea of 'Independent' 'External' 'Social' 'Study' is Something to BUY From Notorious Firm PwC

The sham which is the so-called 'social' 'study' as explained by the Central Staff Committee last year, well before the results came out
Europe Should Listen to SMEs Regarding the UPC, as Battistelli, Team UPC and the Select Committee Lie About It

Another example of UPC promotion from within the EPO (a committee dedicated to UPC promotion), in spite of everything we know about opposition to the UPC from small businesses (not the imaginary ones which Team UPC claims to speak 'on behalf' of)
Video: French State Secretary for Digital Economy Speaks Out Against Benoît Battistelli at Battistelli's PR Event

Uploaded by SUEPO earlier today was the above video, which shows how last year's party (actually 2015) was spoiled for Battistelli by the French State Secretary for Digital Economy, Axelle Lemaire, echoing the French government's concern about union busting etc. at the EPO (only to be rudely censored by Battistelli's 'media partner')
When EPO Vice-President, Who Will Resign Soon, Made a Mockery of the EPO

Leaked letter from Willy Minnoye/management to the people who are supposed to oversee EPO management
No Separation of Powers or Justice at the EPO: Reign of Terror by Battistelli Explained in Letter to the Administrative Council

In violation of international labour laws, Team Battistelli marches on and engages in a union-busting race against the clock, relying on immunity to keep this gravy train rolling before an inevitable crash
FFPE-EPO is a Zombie (if Not Dead) Yellow Union Whose Only de Facto Purpose Has Been Attacking the EPO's Staff Union

A new year's reminder that the EPO has only one legitimate union, the Staff Union of the EPO (SUEPO), whereas FFPE-EPO serves virtually no purpose other than to attack SUEPO, more so after signing a deal with the devil (Battistelli)
EPO Select Committee is Wrong About the Unitary Patent (UPC)

The UPC is neither desirable nor practical, especially now that the EPO lowers patent quality; but does the Select Committee understand that?
Links 1/1/2017: KDE Plasma 5.9 Coming, PelicanHPC 4.1

Links for the day
2016: The Year EPO Staff Went on Strike, Possibly “Biggest Ever Strike in the History of the EPO.”

A look back at a key event inside the EPO, which marked somewhat of a breaking point for Team Battistelli