08.16.09
Microsoft Influence in Juniper, NSS Labs, Madrona, and Telstra
Summary: The impact of Microsoft staff entering the ranks of other companies, paid-for research, and other dealings
MICROSOFT is growing smaller, but what will be the impact on other companies now that Microsoft employees find a new home inside these companies?
Juniper Networks is run by several executives from Microsoft now that it installed a Microsoft executive as CEO. There is another recent addition and we have already seen possible impact with even newer potential evidence. Juniper is now protecting Windows, which according to this new article from SJVN is almost impossible to secure.
So, to start with his question, Botnets are networks of Windows PC, which have been taken over by malware programs. While it’s theoretically possible that a Mac or a Linux desktop PC could get a botnet malware bug, in practice, their better security makes them harder targets for botnet creators so they avoid them.
Microsoft is refusing to patch a serious (and known) flaw for 2 years, so it is Microsoft’s fault; it is arrogance and negligence which only complacent monopolies can afford to get away with. At the same time we see Microsoft using its former employees (masquerading as a research firm) or using its wallet to paint a deceiving picture.
Microsoft has sponsored two reports by NSS Labs that test web browser security. Unsurprisingly, Internet Explorer 8 comes out on top in both sets of tests.
Should NSS Labs be expected to report anything else after Microsoft paid? As we have seen before, Microsoft is in control of so-called 'studies' that it sponsors. It can even break the rules to achieve this.
Further to the Juniper example, we have another executive who quit Microsoft, although — to be fair — he didn’t stay at Microsoft for long and part of his company got torn off this month. He is now on Clearwire's board and also a managing director of Madrona (covered also here).
Former Microsoft ad executive and aQuantive CEO Brian McAndrews is joining Madrona Venture Group, a Seattle-based venture capital firm, as a managing director.
Why is this important? It is valuable to track those in Microsoft who influence in a potentially subversive fashion. From Australian IT:
Telstra, Microsoft get cosy … again
THE alliance between Telstra and Microsoft has borne fresh fruits after the two companies today made available IP telephony services on a range of the software giant’s Office applications.
[...]
Telstra and Microsoft entered into an alliance in November last year to collaborate on mobile devices, hosted business applications and unified communications.
When Telstra was going to move to GNU/Linux and StarOffice Microsoft resorted to EDGI tactics (anti-GNU/Linux dumping and funds). Later we saw Telstra's attacks on net neutrality and attacks on OpenOffice.org. It’s just like it became a totally different company, maybe from the inside out. █
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