11.23.09
Demo of Amarok 2.2.0 (KDE 4)
Summary: Short video which shows the features of the latest Amarok, an audio player
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General Electric (GE) Attacks Free Software, Microsoft Style
Summary: Microsoft’s friend and ally, General Electric, is doing some dirty laundry in the FUD department
Despite having issues with patent trolls, GE has been lobbying (jointly with Microsoft even) for software patents in Europe. This is indicative of a schizophrenic attitude that prevails in large companies like IBM because GE uses GNU/Linux (OpenSUSE) internally on the desktop. Even staff that does not want it is forced to use it. GE is not primarily a software company, so we typically mention it only when it comes to control of the media [1, 2] (also a joint venture with Microsoft and conglomerates).
“[G]iven that GE uses GNU/Linux internally (on desktops), this shows how bigoted some GE staff can be.”A reader has just mailed us this new article, from which he quotes: “chief information officer for engineering giant General Electric (GE) has said that open source software is only suited for internal “playground” applications and that businesses that use it for mission critical infrastructure are taking a huge risk…”
This is just funny. As if visibility of program code is indication of quality. Well, actually, good code is code that’s easier to share and “expose”, as Diebold teaches. Firefox, Apache, and Linux are high-quality programs that are used widely. Even agencies of the United States government (including the White House) would beg to differ, but the FUDmeister from GE continues: “I think open source is great for own internal playground type of things but if it’s running vital mission critical applications – networks running on open source for example – then that is a huge, huge risk to the organisation…”
“Who’s been feeding him this stuff,” asked our reader. It is hard to tell, but given that GE uses GNU/Linux internally (on desktops), this shows how bigoted some GE staff can be. █
“Anyone wonder why the Microsoft SQL server is called the sequel server? Is that because no matter what version it’s at there’s always going to be a sequel needed to fix the major bugs and security flaws in the last version?”
–Unknown
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Microsoft Sued Over Xbox 360 Again, Lawsuit for Banning Likely Too
Summary: Microsoft is to be sued massively for sociopathic behaviour; Microsoft is already sued again for the Red Ring of Death
OVER the weekend we wrote about a looming lawsuit over Xbox Live bans. Yes, another Xbox lawsuit. Microsoft is preparing for it because it is likely to come now that a law firm accumulates claimants.
But more curiously, aside from the banning lawsuit, Microsoft is now facing another problem. It has just been sued by an individual over Xbox 360.
The agoraphobic PS3 owner who sued Sony because he was banned from the PlayStation Network has launched two new lawsuits, this time against Microsoft and Nintendo.
Other coverage of this indicates that it was originally to do with bans, but now it’s about the Red Ring of Death.
Erik Estavillo, the agoraphobic Resistance player who keeps attempting to sue Sony for banning his trolling arse, has now decided to try and get some money from Microsoft and Nintendo as well. His last case against Sony was thrown out of court, but it seems that Estavillo is desperate to leech some cash off at least one game company.
As we showed last week, buyers may be avoiding the Xbox 360 because of these bans whose scale Microsoft denies (600,000). Microsoft refuses to give the real numbers, so what good are these denials? Microsoft also denied high error rates, despite surveys (even current ones) repeatedly showing these to be around 60%. According to IDG, “US PS3 Sales Leap 70% in October”, so Xbox 360 is going nowhere, fast. This product has financially weakened the main advisary of Free software and GNU/Linux. █
Windows at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and NASA
Summary: The impact of aeronautics in the United States becoming dependent on outdated proprietary software from Microsoft
WE PREVIOUSLY wrote about the United States FAA, which stands for Federal Aviation Administration [1, 2, 3]. Due to secrecy, outsiders were unable to know what platform was for blame for the many prolonged downtimes that the FAA was suffering, leaving passengers stranded and putting aircrafts at risk. A couple of days ago Groklaw shared the following finding and added: “This is the system that just failed, is it not? If you compare with the news report (“Flight plans are collected by the FAA for traffic nationwide at two centers — one in the Salt Lake City area and the other in the Atlanta area, Bergen said. She did not know which center was affected Thursday.”), it seems to be. They chose Windows as “an open platform”??! See why definitions matter?“
Just a couple of hours ago we showed how Microsoft was ruining the word "open", which it also used to describe a NASA platform that excluded "open source" platforms. Microsoft essentially used “open” against “open source”, which is a devious thing to be doing. But Microsoft went even further last month when it snatched NASA data that US taxpayers had been paying for. What on Earth is happening at NASA (pun was not originally intended)?
Now they strike another deal (this link is to the press release) and The Register calls it “child labor”. Here is what it’s about:
A new website launched by both NASA and Microsoft aims to enlist the help of both professional astronomers and keen members of the general public to help map Mars and make sense of the data coming back.
The BBC offers superficial coverage for people who fear technology and looking at the Web site, it says: “This site was created under a Memorandum of Understanding between NASA/JPL-Caltech and Microsoft.”
MoU, eh? We know those from internal documents and we always see the effects.
For NASA to be associated with a convicted monopolist that bribes and corrupts is just wrong, but the mainstream media has no problem with that. Government agencies must stop procuring based on ‘religious’ inclinations. █
“Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.”
–Albert Einstein
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Microsoft Builds Coalitions of NGOs, Makes Political and Educational Changes
Summary: Microsoft grooms its alumni to acquire influence; Microsoft captures more academic environments and its political agenda is at stake
IN ORDER to understand how “non-profits” work for Microsoft, one need not look further than the Gates Foundation. There are other similar foundations (like Rockefeller’s) that serve similar functions, but they are beyond our scope.
This long post looks at a variety of new ways in which Microsoft helps itself by helping others. The links below are less than a week old.
We begin today’s journey by noticing that former Microsoft employees are given money from Microsoft, just like the world’s biggest patent troll. Microsoft is grooming entities that will be helpful to it in the future. From the Seattle Times:
The Microsoft Alumni Foundation awarded its first “Integral Fellows” awards to three nonprofits started by company alumni.
Each receives a $25,000 grant “as well as access to the talents and skills of alumni to help support their ongoing efforts.”
It is almost as though Microsoft is building little coalitions outside the company. Microsoft is buying influence this way. For instance, see how Microsoft may have bribed many NGOs in India for OOXML pressure.
The press release is purely promotional, Seattle coverage is a little more informative, but this new article reveals the scale of this phenomenon.
She’s one of the more than 150 former Microsoft employees who have started nonprofit organizations, taking with them the same philanthropic impulse of their former employer, company founder Bill Gates, whom Time magazine recognized as a Man of the Year in 2005 for his humanitarian actions.
That’s the same Time magazine that glorifies its funders and publishes articles from the Gates Foundation itself (husband of the head). Those who engage in research into the Gates Foundation will discover its many dark sides, which are always concealed by extensive PR that acts as a moral shield. The above suggests that Microsoft garners influence groups, such as Ignition Partners. People who leave Microsoft sometimes continue to serve Microsoft as alumni.
One of Microsoft’s most effective illusions of “charity” is internally known as EDGI. It is ultra-anti-competitive, possibly illegal. It is still ongoing, but the public identity of it changes (“Unlimited Potential”, “*Spark”, “Elevate America”, et cetera). We are currently finding more dumping against Free/libre software. Here, for example, is “BizSpark One”, which we wrote about in:
- Poor Microsoft Gives Poor Software to Youngsters, Hoping to Remain Relevant
- Microsoft’s Anti-Linux Dumping Crusade: Chapter 11.1
- Microsoft Tries to Fight Libre with Gratis
- An Open, Gentler Microsoft: The Best Illusion Only Novell Can Buy
- Microsoft’s Last Breath: BAD (Bribing, Addicting, Dumping)
- Microsoft’s B.A.D. (Bribing, Addicting, Dumping) Comes to the Philippines
- Down with Microsoft… in India (Updated)
- Microsoft Takes Dumping Tactics up a Notch
- The EDGIfication of the Philippines
- Microsoft Tries to Associate Itself with Open Source in Order to Spread Lock-in, Dump Proprietary Software on Clients
- Beware the Microsoft Bearing Gifts
Microsoft has just picked up more BizSpark (“BizSpark One”) members and more dumping partners for the “WebsiteSpark” programme. We wrote about WebsiteSpark in [1, 2, 3], so it’s probably not worth explaining again.
Another similar technique of dumping is Live@edu and it continues to do harm in Australia thanks to lazy, negligent (and possibly bribed) staff.
The South Australian Employment, Training and Further Education Minister, Michael O’Brien said today that Microsoft’s ‘Live@edu’ email service and collaboration platform has won the contract and will be available across all TAFE SA campuses ready for the start of classes in 2010.
Microsoft is now dumping some more in the United States, this time at the Dimock Community Center. (emphasis in red is ours)
Along with sending technology and volunteers to places like Dimock Community Center, Microsoft supports larger organizations locally such as the United Way with both cash donations and volunteer support. And sharing the education spotlight with Dimock is Microsoft’s apprenticeship program through Citizen Schools that has employees teaching middle school students. In fact, during Citizen Schools’ May fundraising weekend, Microsoft donated $854,000 worth of software to the organization.
[...]
Interesting philanthropic activities: Microsoft supports Citizen Schools with apprenticeships in which Microsoft employees teach junior-high students.
Software cannot be donated because it’s immaterial. In this case, these are licences that ensure students don’t walk away to non-Microsoft software and additionally, in exchange for this bogus “donation”, Microsoft staff will get to brainwash students (one-on-one). This is not the exception, it’s typical.
What’s even more shocking is that entire states are now falling for the same type of scam at a macro scale. The latest victim is North Carolina, whose administration sold out to Microsoft.
The software company is teaming with the N.C. Community College System, the N.C. Department of Commerce and the N.C. Employment Security Commission to distribute 23,700 training vouchers during the next 90 days across the state. Courses cover basic to intermediate skills.
This is also covered here, here, here, here, and here. State by state, Microsoft imposes "American EDGI", turning people into slaves of Microsoft with consent from the short-sighted local government which gets deceived by propaganda. That makes a total of 8 states so far, reveals Advantage Business Media.
Needless to say, funding and other resources will go only towards Microsoft indoctrination (GNU/Linux is always excluded [1, 2, 3]), turning those who are residents into Microsoft’s future workforce. They are rarely given another choice.
So, how does Microsoft manage to obtain such great leverage over curriculum? First of all, there are former Microsoft employees like Doug Burgum, who was invited to be president of North Dakota State University earlier this month. Watch what he is getting right now: “Burgum receives North Dakota’s highest honor”
Gov. John Hoeven presented the award to Burgum Friday during a surprise ceremony at Fargo’s Microsoft Corp. campus, where Burgum served as the company’s senior vice president. He’s the 37th person to receive the award.
But Burgum is small potatoes compared to people who run the world (not literally). This brings us back to the Gates Foundation, whose role in (mis)education we wrote about before [1, 2]. It’s an international issue. This self-congratulatory bubble manages to portray itself as educator of the public when in fact doing the very opposite. It’s PR skill, turning self-servitude into what seems like an act of goodwill.
“This self-congratulatory bubble manages to portray itself as educator of the public when in fact doing the very opposite.”But Microsoft investors don’t do “charity”, they invest. In the cases above, Microsoft is just doing what’s right for Microsoft profits and influence on education comes from its #1 lobbyist, Bill Gates [1, 2, 3]. As Associated Press put it a few weeks ago, “The real secretary of education, the joke goes, is Bill Gates.” Now watch this from the news: “Microsoft Co-founder Bill Gates Donates $90 Million To Memphis City Schools”
Well, well…
Isn’t that adorable? That’s the same Gates who together with Abramoff ensured that when these children grow up they will have no job. Yes, and the H-1B fiasco is back not because of Grassley but because many citizens of the United States increasingly realise that Gates and his elite friends are ruining the US economy.
H-1B Visa Beef May End Up in Supreme Court
[...]
H-1B visa opponents have turned to the Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort to overturn a 2008 Department of Homeland Security decision that the Programmers Guild, the Immigration Reform Law Institute and others claim is a back-door circumvention of the H-1B visa cap.
For those who are interested in Microsoft’s labour affairs, here is the latest.
The Labor Department gave Microsoft Corp. final authorization Thursday to fund benefit risks through the Vermont branch of its Bermuda-based captive insurance company.
It ought to be added that Microsoft and Gates are dodging tax. █
O’Reilly Does Not Know What Open Means (Let Alone Free)
“Open” can also mean open sores
Summary: Microsoft’s perversion of the word “open” (as George Orwell once warned) put in perspective
IN SEPTEMBER we showed that O'Reilly had grown closer to Microsoft, then a few days ago noting that both are neglecting web standards. There is a new article in eWEEK, going under the headline “Why Tim O’Reilly Sees Microsoft as a Proponent of the Open Web”
This is not intended to be humour. To quote from the opening paragraph, “O’Reilly says Microsoft’s recent deals to index Twitter tweets and use Wolfram Alpha’s APIs for computational data show a shift in its willingness to work with other Web companies.”
“When a company uses APIs or makes some available, it is merely looking for increased use, it has nothing to do with Freedom.”O’Reilly’s perception of “open” is a very biased and personal one, like “Web 2.0″. He eyes APIs as “open” when in fact there is no such thing as “open APIs”; an API is open by definition, for it begs to be used as an access point to Free or non-Free code. When a company uses APIs or makes some available, it is merely looking for increased use, it has nothing to do with Freedom.
O’Reilly must also have forgotten about .NET, which is proprietary and even a platform lock-in. It’s a case against the cross-platform, GPL-licensed Java. Microsoft boosters/bloggers are also busy at the moment spreading FUD about the GPL, helped by some other useful idiots who echo Microsoft talking points.
In the previous post we showed Novell’s de Icaza sharing this post from Mary Jo Foley about XAML as an anti-GNU/Linux weapon (Chrome OS specifically). Novell’s de Icaza then praised Silverlight.
Will Microsoft’s Silverlight dampen the appeal of Google’s Chrome OS?
[...]
First, as others have noted, Google’s Chrome OS is a new windowing system layered on top of Linux that is being customized to run on netbooks.
Microsoft is fraudulently trying to characterise Silverlight as “open source” [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], usually with Novell’s help.
This is clearly an attack on web standards, making parts of the Web Windows-only (and blocking Google spiders, not just end-user software). So how can O’Reilly be so blind to deals and partnerships that only make a Closed Web, not an “Open Web”? Whose side is he on? Reality? Or marketing? It’s not even about Microsoft, it’s about standards and those who oppose them, including Adobe whose blobs are now required to read O’Reilly-published literature. And just to think that O’Reilly used to stand for “open” (whatever “open” means). Richard Stallman was right all along about “open”. █
[More Open Than Open]: “I am constantly amazed at the flexibility of this single word.”
–Jason Matusow, Microsoft (for background see [1, 2])
Novell’s Vice President Could be Tweeting for Microsoft Dollars
Summary: Miguel de Icaza shows excitement over proprietary Silverlight, proceeds to promotion of closed-source software paradigms for developers; Microsoft’s strategy with F/OSS is explained
ONE of our Indian readers has shown us some new tweets from Novell’s vice president — tweets that I was unable to view because they are “protected” (maybe he blocked me). Tony Manco quotes them as follows:
“RT @spouliot: “Chrome OS Success May Be Dampened By Silverlight” http://tinyurl.com/yezgk8v -I have a suggestion if anyone #google care” [Source]
“OMG OMG OMG OMG #silverligh4 has everything I wanted on it: full desktop apps with full system access” [Source]
We wrote about Microsoft’s Twitter AstroTurf in, e.g.:
- More Microsoft AstroTurfing (aka ‘Technical Evangelism’) in Twitter
- User “Microsoft Incentives” Wants to be Your Friend, Too
- Microsoft’s Twitter AstroTurf Continues
- Who is Pumping MSFT and Pimping Microsoft in Twitter?
- Microsoft Hires Federated Media for Twitter AstroTurfing
- Does Microsoft Still Create Twitter Accounts for Guerilla Marketing?
- Microsoft’s AstroTurfing, Twitter, Waggener Edstrom, and Jonathan Zuck
- Microsoft Offers Gentle Bribes to People Who Mention Vista 7 in Twitter
Yes, Microsoft also offers small bribes to people who tweet about Microsoft products and our reader Goblin tweeted yesterday (based on evidence): “wow..the Microsoft marketing machine seems to be flooding twitter with schemes to win a free piece of MS tech.”
He later added: “For those interested yet another MS themed Twitter account has popped up: slashsoft !”
Well, Miguel de Icaza does not need those prizes as incentives. He works for Microsoft's CodePlex Foundation.
Our reader Brandon refers to Miguel de Icaza’s gentle attack on Free software (mentioned last week when he attended Microsoft’s event). As Brandon puts it:
“Keep it proprietary” is something you could say that would label you a traitor to the FSF. Such attitude doesn’t appear over night.
Young developers without a lot of obligations can more easily consider doing open source projects, de Icaza said. But someone with a family and tuition to pay has to tread carefully when taking a technology to the open source route.
This statement is a little misleading because there have been people who brought new technology to open source, and ended up getting hired to keep working on it. (Pulseaudio[1], and Linux Kernel contributions are at the top of my mind). Greg Kroah-Hartman mentioned at this linux plumbers conference for example that Intel wanted to get recruiters into the talks. Recruiters? Oh yeah cause its easy to get a job with Open Source.
A couple of days ago we showed how Microsoft was proprietarising Free software by "embracing" it. The warning came from Matt Asay, who in turn cited IBM’s Savio. In response to this, Pamela Jones from Groklaw wrote: “Now think about Oracle and the EU Commission complaints. Then think about Microsoft supporting Apache. Embrace is followed by what, again?”
Separately, about Microsoft pretending to have embraced “open source”, Jones wrote: “Ballmer has already told us that Microsoft wants all Open Source apps to run on Windows instead of the Linux kernel. So I take this as an indication of their progress toward that goal, not as indicating any new openness on Microsoft’s part. Windows isn’t any more open. I doubt it ever will be. This is Brand X openness, then, almost openness, open apps but running on a proprietary system. And like the song says, Ain’t nothing like the Real Thing, Baby.”
Novell’s Mono/Moonlight team is helping Windows at the moment [1, 2, 3]. It’s not surprising at all. There is more of that coming soon. █
“Our partnership with Microsoft continues to expand.”
–Ron Hovsepian, Novell CEO
Google’s (Staff) Index Poisoned by Microsoft
Image from Wikipedia
Summary: Google makes a mistake by hiring from the company that’s attacking it, but Microsoft is left without response to Google; Microsoft and Murdoch turn out to be colluding, Icahn style
ONE hour ago we wrote about mistakes of hiring Microsoft staff. Google does not learn any lessons, unless its recruiters too have come from Microsoft. Last week we wrote about Google hiring a Microsoft “evangelist” [1, 2], which is euphemism for professional AstroTurfer on the company’s payroll [1, 2, 3, 4] (Boycott Novell was a victim of one who offered no disclosure). As part of “perception management” [1, 2] for Microsoft, this “evangelist”, Don Dodge, was promoting Novell’s patent deal with Microsoft and sometimes attacking Google. As Gawker puts it: “Will Evangelize Your Tech Company for Food” (like Andre Da Costa [1, 2, 3])
Don Dodge used to be an official evangelist for Microsoft, hyping the company’s software and insulting its competitor Google. Then Microsoft laid him off, and Google hired him. Cue the bitter, flip-flopping blog post in which Dodge loudly switches sides.
There is a lot of coverage about it in the news, but most sources refuse to say that Don Dodge is shill for hire; you pay him money, then he acts as a marketer. It’s like a little Scoble, whose business model is similar.
We have already warned about hiring corporate poison and forgetting what lies inside. How could Google allow itself to absorb people from the company that is currently conspiring against Google in very vicious ways? As Seeking Alpha puts it, Rupert Murdoch is being stupid and his help to Microsoft we have covered in:
- Microsoft Colludes Against Google
- Microsoft’s Search Endeavours: Resorting to Bribery, Deception, and Intimidation
- Microsoft’s Use of Bribes for Search, Only 4% of Microsoft/Razorfish Clients Used Microsoft Search
- Mainstream Media Finally Discovers Microsoft’s Anti-Google AstroTurf
- Microsoft’s Anti-Google Whisper Campaign
- What Makes Mr. Murdoch Tick
- Spoof: Behind the Google Scenes
Rupert Murdoch once said that “everybody in the communications business is paranoid of Microsoft, including me.” Well, now it’s confirmed that his attack on Google has something to do with Microsoft. A reader has sent us this pointer from BoingBoing: “Murdoch-Microsoft deal in the works”
But there’s one gamble which does make some twisted sense: that Microsoft is an irrational consumer. It’s easy to believe that it may spew senseless riches into publishers’ pockets, radically distorting the news market, just to spite Google. In this case, Murdoch could be wringing cash out of a market he knows is doomed to implosion or assimilation. And he doesn’t even have to be an evil genius, either: he just has to be smarter than Steve Ballmer.
From the Financial Times: “Microsoft and News Corp eye web pact”
Microsoft has had discussions with News Corp over a plan that would involve the media company’s being paid to “de-index” its news websites from Google, setting the scene for a search engine battle that could offer a ray of light to the newspaper industry.
This very well explains Murdoch’s attack (indefensible public outburst) on Google. Let us remember what Microsoft did with Icahn against Yahoo! Microsoft uses rich people against search engine rivals.
As we showed yesterday, Google also hurts Microsoft's operating systems franchise, so Microsoft loses partners.
How Microsoft Blew Its Verizon Deal (MSFT, VZ, GOOG)
[...]
It was a huge coup: the search underdog teaming up with the largest mobile carrier to try to create some momentum in the next great digital battlefield of mobile. So why, then, is rival Google all over Droid, the object of Verizon’s $100 million holiday blitz?
In what seems like a “suicidal attempt,” as one site puts it, Microsoft is attempting to “change search engine dynamics.”
Doing it by collusion?
This whole thing is another stain in Microsoft’s reputation and the New York Times has published this item calling for a boycott of Microsoft search (see Slashdot for context).
If you search a term on Bing that is politically sensitive in China, in English the results are legitimate. Search “Tiananmen” and you’ll find out about the army firing on pro-democracy protesters in 1989. Search Dalai Lama, Falun Gong and you also get credible results. Conduct the search in complex Chinese characters (the kind used in Taiwan and Hong Kong) and on the whole you still get authentic results.
But conduct the search with the simplified characters used in mainland China, then you get sanitized pro-Communist results. This is especially true of image searches. Magic! No Tiananmen Square massacre. The Dalai Lama becomes an oppressor. Falun Gong believers are villains, not victims.
This was mentioned before and it adds to the belief that Microsoft is going nowhere in search, despite huge investments (spendings).
Several months after the extravagant launch of Bing, Microsoft executives still recommend Google.
Interop: Microsoft Exec Says ‘Google Me’
A Microsoft executive speaking at Interop Thursday unwittingly highlighted the challenge his company faces in building brand recognition around its Bing search engine. The exec told audience members seeking his contact info to “Google me.”
Priceless.
How does Microsoft feel about being surrounded by non-Windows users who favour Google? Truth hurts. From Microsoft’s shareholders meeting:
I don’t really think this shareholders comment will come as a surprise to anyone.
All four of my kids in undergraduate got Macs. When they went on to graduate school, they all got Macs. They claim that 65 percent of college students have Macs. They claim that Microsoft, the evil empire, is stodgy on the current ad that Apple has, you all look like a buffoon.
If Microsoft are not aware of the stiff competition it appears in my opinion that atleast its shareholders are:
Just a really short question. I’m a rather new shareholder and I would like to know why Microsoft can’t beat, together with Nokia, Apple iPhone, and Google’s Android. What are you going to do about it?
As stated earlier, they lose to Linux, partly because of Google (Android). The enemy of the enemy can sometimes be a friend, even a temporary one. █
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