03.22.10
Posted in Asia, Bill Gates, Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Office Suites, Search at 3:52 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“Linux” is the new “democracy” in China if Microsoft gets its way
Summary: As Google makes new moves to render Office obsolete, Microsoft warms up to communism and tries to capitalise on Google tensions in China
WE are not advocates of Google, but one must remember that Google helps weaken Microsoft and it also spreads GNU/Linux. It does a few other things that are beneficial to Free software, notably Summer of Code. For all practical purposes, Google is better off avoided for a plethora of other reasons. Google is valuable to search, but in other areas it likes to get hold of people’s data under promises of “cloud computing” and other fluffy new jargon.
Microsoft’s booster Gavin Clarke writes about Microsoft and Google in the following article which makes a quote-worthy observation:
In health, for example, you have Microsoft HealthVault and Google Health – two growing repositories that are seeing Microsoft and Google set themselves up as massive gatekeepers of information. They have recognized that in the information age, survival comes not by adding more features to applications or operating systems but by owning the information itself and then letting others access it. Talk about buying your way into the future.
Microsoft has resorted to government lobbying in order to gain possession of this data. It’s a very serious matter. But in other news, it appears as though Google is poaching Microsoft’s business customers as the fight for people’s personal data and mail carries on [1, 2].
Earlier this month we wrote about Google's DocVerse acquisition (which is still in the news). It’s about poaching Microsoft Office customers. One financial op-ed says that “Microsoft [is] in Danger if Office Margins Fall to Google App Levels”
Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Office Suite is a group of desktop applications used primarily for word processing (Word), spreadsheet preparation (Excel), presentations (PowerPoint), and email (Outlook).
Microsoft is releasing the full version of the new Office 2010 to businesses starting in May 2010. The May release will include a web-based version of Office for the first time. This is response to Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) cloud-based Google Apps productivity software which has been available online since 2007 and is increasingly gaining traction amongst both consumers and businesses.
We believe that the shift to more cloud-based software is likely to continue and result in a decrease in Microsoft’s Office software margins. Microsoft will incur higher costs as a result of delivering a cloud-based version of Microsoft Office and this can have an impact on the Microsoft’s stock.
There is also this in the news:
Microsoft Mum on Plans to Answer Google Apps Marketplace
Microsoft may one day counter Google Apps Marketplace with a third-party integration shop for cloud computing of its own, but if there are any such plans in the works, Microsoft won’t share them as it competes in the cloud with Google, IBM, Salesforce.com and others. IDC analyst Melissa Webster says Microsoft, which has always worked well through channels, may consider offering such a store in the future. Google Apps Marketplace Product Manager Chris Vander Mey tells eWEEK that four Marketplace partners have each logged over 1,100 domains installed.
Google moves further by targeting Outlook users with migration tools (Novell’s GroupWise is also targeted by this, as we showed over the weekend). Coverage in the news includes:
• Google Builds Microsoft Exchange Escape Route
• Google Apps Migration Tool Makes Ditching Microsoft Easy
• Google Tool Moves Users from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps
• Global CIO: Google, At Last, Goes For Microsoft’s Throat
• Switch from Microsoft Exchange says Google
• Now migrate between Google and Microsoft
Another chapter has been added to the ongoing cold war between Google and Microsoft. Google has come up with a new tool to give a big advantage to its enterprise business by this latest application that it offers.
• Google Apps punts kill-Microsoft-Exchange-now tool
While Microsoft has been failing to outfox Google in the web search and ad game, Google has – apparently – swiped a few of Redmond’s customers away from MS Office.
The Mountain View Chocolate Factory gloated on its corporate blog that 25 million people worldwide had switched to Google Apps in the past year.
IBM pressures Microsoft too (services built on GNU/Linux) and Microsoft is being compared to “a dinosaur” by NetSuite, which Microsoft tries to fight rather aggressively using incentives.
An internal memo from NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson dismisses Microsoft’s bid to attract NetSuite customers as “the last gasp of a dinosaur trying to protect its Stone Age software products.”
Now comes the more interesting part. According to reports that Google declines to comment on, the company has been put under pressure that may lead it to leaving China within weeks. This would be good news for Microsoft [1, 2], but Fortune/CNN writes the post titled: “Who wins when Google leaves China? Microsoft and Baidu might not like the answer”
Some industry watchers suspect that there may have been Microsoft manipulation intended to game the Chinese government and drive Google out of the country. Bill Gates and others from Microsoft have special relationships with the Chinese government, as we showed before. From a Wall Street Journal blog:
However the Google episode pans out, it’s likely to have a lasting impact on the way foreign companies deal with China. Over the years, foreign executives have frequently made the mistake of copying the way that Chinese officials deal with their superiors. The approach is best summed up in the Chinese phrase “pai ma pi” – “slapping the horse’s rear”. The problem with sycophancy isn’t so much that it’s offensive to watch, but that it’s a lousy business strategy. China may enjoy the kowtow, but it doesn’t respect it.
As a side note, let’s remember what led to the diplomatic tensions between Google and China. It all started when Microsoft’s Internet Explorer led to attacks on Google [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]. After this incident/episode, Google stopped censoring results, whereas Microsoft continues to collaborate with totality and suppression, which Microsoft is so akin to anyway. Here is another new statement which merits discussion.
However, with possible success in China, it is possible that Microsoft’s acquiescence with Chinese censorship may cause the company to face heat in the United States.
Microsoft’s ‘search’ is already all about censorship (even in the West where there is deliberate demotion or exclusion of Microsoft’s competitors), so why would Microsoft have any special sense of guilt in China? On Chinese phones that run Android/Linux, Microsoft already tries to sneak in its illusion of 'search'. █
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Posted in America, Asia, Bill Gates, Finance, Microsoft, Office Suites, Steve Ballmer, Windows at 2:31 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Latest examples of Microsoft entering the non-commercial arena and influencing decisions so as to help its bottom line
THE FCC family grows and the latest addition is covered by BusinessWeek, which says:
‘Sexiest Man’ Joins Navy Admiral, Microsoft Veteran at New FCC
[...]
Also among Genachowski’s recruits are retired Navy Rear Admiral James Barnett Jr., 56, who is chief of the FCC’s bureau of public safety and homeland security; Steven VanRoekel, 40, the agency’s managing director, who came from Microsoft Corp.; and Steven Waldman, 47, founder of beliefnet.com, which offers prayers and commentary to help users seeking spiritual guidance. Waldman, a former Newsweek correspondent, heads an FCC task force on the state of the media.
[...]
VanRoekel oversees the agency’s day-to-day operations. The former Microsoft executive and aide to founder Gates on speeches and strategy says he has worked to boost technology use since arriving to find an agency where “the status quo was the norm.”
We wrote about this tactless appointment before [1, 2]. The FCC took on Apple just weeks after VanRoekel had become the Managing Director of the FCC. But anyway, why does BusinessWeek care so much about a man’s appearance? It’s not as though people should vote for someone based on whether he is “Sexiest Man” or not.
Apropos, a couple of weeks ago Schwarzenegger put himself in Microsoft's pocket and now he’s getting bitten in the rear. From the San Francisco press we now learn:
Glitches in Microsoft’s California vouchers
[...]
Last week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger visited Microsoft Corp.’s Silicon Valley campus to announce that the tech company would hand out more than 70,000 training vouchers through the state’s One-Stop Career Centers. The idea was to give Californians – whether unemployed or working – a chance to take online computer courses and get free tests to certify their skills.
This Microsoft-sponsored program, called Elevate America, mainly offers intermediate training in office programs – Word, Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Vista – with some vouchers set aside to provide advanced online training to people hoping to work in computer administration.
[..]
Microsoft has run this same program in 12 other states and officials say the average completion rate has been just 30 percent – giving local workforce boards a chance to improve on that ratio by making sure that Californians follow through and take advantage of the training.
This is just nationwide dumping, as we have already explained. Microsoft tries to indoctrinate everyone by means of Windows and Office “training” that it “donates”. This programme is mostly being used in the US, but there are similar things going on in the UK. We gave examples.
To the US government, Microsoft is the tail that wags the dog. Last month we showed that a former Microsoft manager (Hunter) had entered the government where he is now helping Microsoft escape tax [1, 2, 3]. Microsoft’s darling press, the Seattle Times, still seems to be unwilling to cover this blunder; instead it says that “State tax break entices tech firms to build data centers”
Legislators and businesses have been worried about losing new data centers to other states since Microsoft, citing the state’s tax law, moved its cloud- computing platform Azure out of Washington to another U.S. data center. The news was distressing to the Grant County town of Quincy, where Yahoo, Microsoft and Intuit have built large server farms, drawn to the county’s cheap and green hydropower.
Server farms send data and software across the Internet to users and to Web sites around the world. Microsoft continues to operate a data center in Quincy but chose last year not to expand Azure there. Running a server farm requires large amounts of energy and bandwidth.
The Seattle Times should be shamed of itself for continuing to ignore a serious fiasco that hurts citizens of Seattle. Is this publication paid by Microsoft in any way (directly or indirectly)? There’s quite a déjà vu here because other Seattle or Redmond ‘publications’ are dedicated just to Microsoft boosting and some masquerade as government-oriented Web sites that offer impartial advice to governments.
“The Seattle Times should be shamed of itself for continuing to ignore a serious fiasco that hurts citizens of Seattle.”Here is the latest example of Microsoft promotion as an ‘article’ in one these Web sites; Microsoft seems to have gotten its own magazines to sell its products and deceive readers (under the the illusion that these are “news” sites). Here is one new example and another one. These new articles may seem like news, but they are embedded in sites that are named after Microsoft products. It’s an insult to real news sites and it dilutes authentic reporting as a whole. Shouldn’t the FCC look into such issues of misreporting (or improper media centralisation)? Oh wait, the FCC would not care because it’s partly run by a former colleague of Gates and Ballmer. It’s all just PR from a highly PR-dependent company that he used to work for, so why would he care?
Speaking of government influence, Microsoft will have a conference in Costa Mesa next week and we also learn that it has “workshops” in Bahrain, where these simply enable Microsoft to send instructions to people who make decisions:
Furthering its commitment to promote good government practices through the use of technology, Microsoft Bahrain today announced that it hosted a workshop for senior technology executives from the various entities within the Government of Bahrain.
This is wrong on very many levels. No wonder so many governments blindly sign contracts with Microsoft and sometimes get sued for it by their citizens. In some cases, the lawsuits come from competitors. Take Switzerland for example. We covered it in:
- Microsoft Sued Over Its Corruption in Switzerland, Microsoft Debt Revisited
- Can the United Kingdom and Hungary Still be Sued for Excluding Free Software?
- 3 New Counts of Antitrust Violation by Microsoft?
- Is Microsoft Breaking the Law in Switzerland Too?
- Microsoft Uses Lobbyists to Attack Holland’s Migration to Free Software and Sort of Bribes South African Teachers Who Use Windows
- ZDNet/eWeek Ruins Peter Judge’s Good Article by Attacking Red Hat When Microsoft Does the Crime
- Week of Microsoft Government Affairs: a Look Back, a Look Ahead
- Lawsuit Against Microsoft/Switzerland Succeeds So Far, More Countries/Companies Should Follow Suit
- Latest Reports on Microsoft Bulk Deals Being Blocked in Switzerland, New Zealand
- Swiss Government and Federal Computer Weekly: Why the Hostility Towards Free Software?
- Switzerland and the UK Under Fire for Perpetual Microsoft Engagements
- Lawsuit Over Alleged Microsoft Corruption in Switzerland Escalates to Federal Court
Microsoft’s manufactured ‘studies’ are another important subject that we mentioned last week (Microsoft uses these for government lobbying) and here is the latest example.
Microsoft’s Worldwide Utility Industry Survey 2010 is their latest attempt at doing this, and while this is not really a major study, there are a handful of meaningful conclusions that I think will – and should – resonate with utilities.
In the next post about the Gates Foundation we will show the latest ‘studies’ that they fund to serve themselves. This type of behaviour ought to be exposed because it only adds ‘noise’ to the debate and it harms citizens for the benefit of few large corporations. █
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03.21.10
Posted in Asia, Finance, Microsoft at 5:23 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: The Great Microsoft Exodus carries on, particularly in a division that loses obscene amounts of money
MICROSOFT has suffered from some very major departures in recent years. Vice presidents, for instance, are dropping like flies. It’s easy to see why. Looking at Microsoft’s online business, it loses over $2 billion per year and there is no turnaround foreseen (or proven).
Microsoft’s financial situation is worse than most people realise. This is perhaps why Microsoft’s online man in China has just decided to leave after 5 years. Except for reports from China, everything else points at Reuters:
—Microsoft: Xiao Chen, MSN China’s VP of sales is leaving at the end of March to start up his own company, Reuters reports. He had been with the Chinese MSN venture since it it launched in 2005.
From BusinessInsider:
Microsoft is losing one of its top sales executives in China, Reuters reports.
Finally, here is the original, which comes in two versions:
Microsoft (MSFT.O) said on Thursday its vice-president of sales for its MSN China joint venture would leave the firm at the end of March to pursue his own start-up.
So, it’s not quite over. The Microsoft staff could potentially extend the company’s presence (ecosystem) from outside its main operation. We saw that before and it’s not an alien concept.
Here is another key man who quits Microsoft because Midori has “failure” written all over it.
It’s been awfully quiet on the Midori front lately. But here’s one bit of news related to Microsoft’s (mostly) secret operating-system incubation project: Midori team Jonathan Shapiro is leaving the company after less than a year.
Midori is just a lot of hype. Does anyone remember “Singularity”? █
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03.16.10
Posted in Asia, Deception, Google, Microsoft, Search at 8:28 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Microsoft’s idea of “search” continues to incorporate business bias, unnecessary censorship, bribes, and advertisements that disparage Google
THE simple reality hurts Microsoft’s Bong [sic] because having about 3% in global market share is laughable, especially when one loses over $2 billion per year in this area. Microsoft is trying to compete with Google, but perhaps it just can’t understand that by fooling users with fake rankings it simply sends out the message that it’s not interested in search, it just wants to decide for users what (mis)information that should get.
Last week we wrote about Microsoft’s Middle East censorship ((this is now confirmed by more sources [1, 2]) and recalled that in China, for instance, Microsoft does even worse things which had the New York Times (NYT) call for a boycott (at least one writer of NYT called for a Bing boycott). Homophobia at Microsoft was also brought up because of this news (Microsoft still censors the subject in some places). So what is Microsoft to search really? It’s just a business looking to maximise profit. The integrity of the search and the honesty is placed very low because Microsoft believes that it can lie to customers as long as some accomplices like the Chinese government are happy. Not a smart strategy, Microsoft, not so smart. This only reinforces the perception that Microsoft is an innately “bad” company.
“This only reinforces the perception that Microsoft is an innately “bad” company.”“Microsoft Bing bribes Farmville enthusiasts on Facebook with farm,” says this report. It would not be the first time that Microsoft is accused of “bribing” to compete with Google [1, 2] and there is also the Verizon deal [1, 2] (Microsoft reportedly paid Verizon half a billion dollars to drop Google).
Microsoft now resorts to brainwash on British TV [1, 2, 3, 4] (Google never did this), it uses US-only numbers from a partner (comScore) to make claims that are difficult to trust because of many conflicts of interests [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10], and in MSN we find new changes [1, 2] which Microsoft boosters like Microsoft Nick are advertising in the form of articles and galleries [1, 2]. This is not reporting, but then again, it’s Microsoft friends from Ziff Davis [1, 2, 3]. Here is another article about the “new” MSN:
–Remember when Microsoft was, well, Microsoft? The House That Gates Built is trying to stand tall against Google with a newly redesigned page for its portal, MSN.com. The new-and-improved site is a little cleaner and a little fresher, but not significantly different. The main purpose of the page seems to be to steer people to Microsoft’s Bing search engine, which is a good deal better than previous Microsoft search offerings but, it must be said, isn’t a Google beater.
Rupert Murdoch, a friend of Microsoft and an ally against Google [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13], seems to be collaborating a little more with Microsoft, the abusive monopolist. Microsoft’s CNET booster writes about it gleefully and more details can be found here:
Now under new management, MySpace is looking to reinvent itself and rise like a Phoenix from the ashes. The once dominant social networking site fell from nearly 70 percent of the social networking market, to only 30 percent in less than a year, and was plummeting on the verge of extinction.
One of the ways that MySpace is looking to build some relevance again is through the Microsoft Outlook social connector feature–giving it some new business credibility it has always lacked. MySpace beat its social networking rival Facebook to the punch to integrate its member information and updates into Microsoft Outlook. Facebook and Windows Live integration is still listed as “coming soon”.
For those who do not know, MySpace is owned by Murdoch and it shows. █
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Posted in Antitrust, Asia, GNU/Linux, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Servers, Virtualisation, Windows at 6:07 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“[Microsoft's] Mr. Emerson and I discussed a variety of investment structures wherein Microsoft would ‘backstop,’ or guarantee in some way, BayStar’s investment…. Microsoft assured me that it would in some way guarantee BayStar’s investment in SCO.”
–Larry Goldfarb, Baystar, key investor in SCO
Summary: Poor Microsoft complains about a “mainframe monopoly” which does not run Microsoft Windows and the same strategies it used in Europe are being extended to India
THIS morning we wrote about the suggestion (not ours) that Microsoft had something to do with Apple’s patent lawsuit against GNU/Linux [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Evidence for this is lacking, whereas the following case is clearer because Microsoft owns part of the firm that is issuing the legal challenge against IBM. For background about Microsoft’s ‘second SCO’, those who have not read the following posts ought to consider reading them first. It’s rather clear that Microsoft uses at least one firm, T3, to attack GNU/Linux on the mainframe (the other potential one is Neon [1, 2]).
Based on the following two articles from the Economic Times (India), Microsoft seems to be doing in India what it has already done in Europe:
1. IBM accused of mainframe monopoly
Rarely do you see IBM under attack in India. But it is now. And IBM believes that it’s actually Microsoft that is behind the attack, under the facade of a forum called Open-Mainframe.
The issue first arose late last week when two Indian research bodies, the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and Indicus Analytics, released a report suggesting that IBM had misused its dominance of the Indian market for mainframes (high end computers used when the scale of operation is massive), and that if this misuse continued, it could adversely impact India’s efforts towards inclusive growth.
2. IBM, Microsoft point fingers at each other
IBM, the world’s largest IT services company, has accused Microsoft, the world’s largest operating system manufacturer, of sponsoring an India report released last week that criticises IBM India’s trade practices in the $500-million local server market, terming them as restrictive. The report calls for unbundling of hardware and software by IBM.
Microsoft accuses others of “monopoly”. Does that sound familiar? Microsoft also used firms in Europe against Google just a few weeks ago, by its very own admission. The company is almost gloating about it. From the past week’s news:
1. EC antitrust probe is latest clash in Google-Microsoft war
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer last week acknowledged his company’s role in pushing government regulators to pursue such investigations.
2. Ten Years After, Microsoft Reverses Its Role With Google
Hang on: Microsoft complaining that Google is being unfair? Yes, you heard that right.
Microsoft is being a huge hypocrite. Just because it faces strong competition from Google (and Microsoft is not used to competition), it tries to evoke laws that are typically used when one breaks the law and abuses rivals (like Microsoft did so many times).
A few days ago we wrote about Microsoft's sheer hypocrisy at SXSW, courtesy of Danah Boyd. This is now covered in the following posts:
Microsoft is a nightmare when it comes to privacy [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], so how dare it pull this card? This is the behaviour of a company that sees itself as above the law, such that ends justify the means.
Going back to the IBM case, Microsoft would love to abolish GNU/Linux through hypervisors (its partners at Citrix already help in that regard). Other allies in India, companies such as Wipro [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], are signing new deals with Microsoft in order to keep Free software out of the country (Wipro has a history of going against standards too).
Bangalore, India-based IT services firm Wipro Technologies has embraced the cloud computing model and announced its plans to offer Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS).
Under a “Dedicated Advisor” agreement with Microsoft, Wipro Technologies will be able to assist its global enterprise customers in migrating to BPOS via a palette of professional services including assessments, migration and solution implementation accelerators, according to the company.
Microsoft’s scandals in India [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] are a broad subject that we won’t be repeating today. But in summary, Microsoft is now abusing the Indian system in order to declare mainframes running GNU/Linux “illegal” (monopoly abuse). █
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03.08.10
Posted in Asia, Boycott Novell, GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Windows at 10:55 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: How Microsoft and its executives take positions of power in other companies and countries, which in turn suffer as a result
Microsoft is feeling the pressure [1, 2, 3, 4] and it wants to world to become as dependent as possible on Microsoft’s existence. The company is having some kind of a rally in the Middle East [1, 2, 3], as we have shown and covered on many occasions (with examples) in recent months, including some in Jordan. The government continues to put its arms around Microsoft (also here):
AMMAN – The government will sign a JD14 million agreement with Microsoft Corporation to provide the country’s ministries and public agencies with software and training, a government official said on Wednesday.
This is a big mistake. To embrace Microsoft is to put one’s future in the hands of yet another company/entity; it’s an increased risk, not just an increase in cost. Microsoft has sold many people the illusion that it is not troubled and won’t vanish, but this is totally false and PR agencies help this myth spread itself. In reality, Microsoft kills many of its products and suffers layoffs.
Another problem that we spotted last week is that a former Microsoft executive entered MOD Systems. Here is a press release on the subject.
MOD Systems, Inc. announced today that notable technology industry executives Will Poole and Dan Gerrity have joined the company’s Board of Directors. Poole and Gerrity have spent decades developing early stage companies and building successful organizations in the software, retail and digital entertainment industries. Their support of MOD Systems comes as the company prepares to introduce a broad digital entertainment solution that brings movies, television shows, music and games to consumers through kiosks in retail and other out-of-home environments. Poole and Gerrity join MOD Systems’ existing board members Michael Towers and CEO Anthony Bay, along with board observers from NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR) and Toshiba Corporation. NCR and Toshiba are MOD Systems’ largest investors.
This is a mistake because Will Poole is loyal to an abusive company; he may have already undermined GNU/Linux at NComputing [1, 2, 3, 4], which slipped into obscurity now that it competes without any distinguishing factor. In the following new article that covers NComputing, the author doesn’t name any platforms other than Windows
Previously, NComputing offered similar setups for schools using a generic PC running a personal version of Windows XP or Vista. But with Microsoft’s new server software, schools will have a fully licensed operating system for their host PCs that is designed for simple installation in education and library settings and is fully supported by Microsoft. In the past, some educators were uneasy about similar setups because of the licensing question and the lack of support from Microsoft for these arrangements.
What about GNU/Linux? And why are NComputing’s GNU/Linux offerings no longer mentioned (at least in the above text)? NComputing grew closer to Microsoft after it had let a Microsoft executive enter its board. And now what? Here is another former Microsoft executive entering Move.
In an effort to reverse its losses, Move last year hired Steve Berkowitz as its CEO. Berkowitz’s background includes stints as CEO of Internet search engine Ask.com and as an executive in Microsoft Corp.’s Internet division.
How can these companies employ people who worked for a convicted monopolist by choice, let alone make them CEOs (like Juniper and VMware)? No wonder they are so troubled. The headline of the report above is “Move’s 4Q loss deepen amid real estate woes”. █
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03.04.10
Posted in Apple, Asia, GNU/Linux, Google, Kernel, Microsoft, Patents at 3:31 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Microsoft to be paid for Linux-powered products from I-O Data and Apple wants ‘Linux tax’ (from Android) too
SOFTWARE PATENTS are not illegal in Japan (it’s one of the very few countries that accept them rather than except them), but Microsoft continues to refuse to tell what makes its racketeering justified (see the Amazon deal for example [1, 2, 3, 4]).
Sanyo, which is based in Japan, is one of the companies that fell for exFAT, but what patents does I-O Data think that it’s paying Microsoft for? It will not tell. And so Microsoft’s extortion carries on:
This time it says “Linux” in the title of the press release from Microsoft. They get more and more aggressive all the time, deal after deal.
REDMOND, Wash. and KANAZAWA, Japan, March 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Microsoft Corp. and I-O Data Device Inc. have entered into an agreement that will provide I-O Data’s customers with patent coverage for their use of I-O Data’s products running Linux and other related open source software.
Here is the coverage so far:
• I-O Data takes up Microsoft patent license
• Microsoft In Linux Software Patent Deal
Redmond-based Microsoft Corp. said late Wednesday that it is in a deal with Japanese firm I-O Data Device Inc., where it will provide I-O Data’s customers patent coverage for their use of I-O Data’s products running Linux and other open source software. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, however, the firms said that I-O Data is compensating Microsoft for the IP coverage. Microsoft has been inking a number of deals with companies–many of them network attached storage providers like I-O Data–over possible patent violations in Linux.
• Microsoft Provides Patent Coverage for Linux-Based Devices from I-O Data
• Microsoft embraces another Linux company
• Microsoft, I-O Data in patent deal
• Microsoft licenses Linux software to Japanese firm
• Microsoft’s Linux Patent Scare Trumps SCO
Just this week, Microsoft convinced Japanese hardware vendor I-O Data to sign up for Microsoft patent licensing to protect against Linux patent issues. Over the last three years Microsoft has been successful at getting multiple vendors including Amazon, Novell, Brother International Corp, Fuji Xerox Co. Ltd, Kyocera Mita Corp., LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and TomTom International BV to buy into their argument that they need protection from Linux patent infringement.
SCO was never that successful.
Time and again, people in the open source community have asked that Microsoft lay their patents on the table so that Linux vendors could deal with Microsoft’s concerns. To date Microsoft has not done so.
So why has Microsoft succeeded where SCO failed when it comes to Linux patents?
• Microsoft and I-O Data Sign Linux Patent Deal
This is similar to the deal with Melco, which Microsoft reportedly sued in order to extort.
Microsoft seeks to normalise unthinkable extortion and it needs to be stopped. Where are companies like IBM hiding when this extortion is happening? Don’t they see it as a duty to challenge this? Well, some of these companies like IBM and Google quietly support software patents, but with this conspiracy of silence they continue to hurt Linux, and especially Free software.
Microsoft’s attack on Linux is now joined by Apple’s attack on Android [1, 2, 3]. They both use software patents and make a lot of people very angry, including (former) supporters of themselves. Even Apple enthusiasts are left with a bad taste.
There are two aspects surrounding Apple’s patent litigation against HTC that demand further consideration. First, the severe problems with the U.S. patent system as a whole, particularly with regard to software patents. Second, the strategic implications of Apple’s decision to file suit.
Apple is challenging the whole of Android (and to an extent Linux too), as one member of the FFII put it. “Apple is a public danger that use[s] software patents to suppress competition,” says FFII’s president.
Most software and Internet firms have pledged not to sue unless someone first sues them. Sun, Google, Oracle, Cisco and many more think that patents would have an ugly effect on the market otherwise. Apple appears to have left that defensive ideal by waging patent war with Android using HTC as its proxy.
The problem is proprietary software, which usually goes hand-in-hand with software patents (IBM and Google are predominantly proprietary too). Support Free software and call for the abolishment of software patents internationally. █
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03.03.10
Posted in Asia, Free/Libre Software, Microsoft at 4:06 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Novell supports the BSA et al, thus harming some of its own interests as an arguably “open source” (or “mixed source”) company
A LOT of people may not know this, but Novell is a backer of the BSA and its clique, which has been attacking Free software recently, along with other front groups.
Here is a reminder or two from this week’s news that Novell is with the BSA.
Watch what happens in Vietnam after its statements that promote broad support of Free software in government (and also ODF [1, 2, 3]). See what was posted in an education forum (edu.net.vn) on behalf of the BSA:
I am writing with regard to Draft Circular No. /2010/TT-BGDDT of the Ministry of Education and Training, providing for the use of free and open source code in academic institutions, particularly by providing for “the list of and methods to exploit and use free and open source code software in management, teaching and learning, R&D activities in academic institutions” (Art. 1).
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) welcomes this opportunity to comment and supports the purposes for the issuance of the Draft Circular, which includes reduction and elimination of software piracy (Art. 4.3), enabling compatibility with similar products which are closed source code commercial software (Art. 4.5), ensuring security for IT infrastructure and information and database (Art. 4.6) and use of open standards (Art. 4.7). However, BSA expresses its concern that mandating the use of OSS will not accomplish the Draft Circular’s stated purposes and may, in the long term, stifle the growth of Vietnam’s software industry.
Look at some of the replies, for example: “BSA is a lobbying group paid by microsoft among others, whatever they say it’s tainted by the fact that they are not an advisory group they are promoting the solutions of the organization that pays them.”
Why is Novell still feeding the BSA? If the BSA not only enforces compliance with proprietary software licences but also attacks Free software through lobbying avenues, then Novell is no friend of Free software. But we already knew that, didn’t we? █
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