Intel and Microsoft defend their cash cows with artificial limitations

Summary: Two monopoly abusers are said to be orchestrating sets of rules that harm consumers and harm GNU/Linux

YESTERDAY we wrote about Microsoft colluding with OEMs in order to stifle GNU/Linux adoption on sub-notebooks and thus also harm consumers. Just over a week ago we saw the latest conviction of Intel for its many crimes that a lot of consumers do not pay attention to. Right now in the Inquirer we find potential evidence that Intel and Microsoft are colluding again. This would not be the first time. See for example:

• Microsoft on Intel's Anti-Linux: “Please Keep Confidential. This is a Nightmare”
• Microsoft Accused of Profiteering ($1.5 Billion) from Crime with Intel
• A Gradual Fall of W|Intel... Thanks to OLPC?
• A Federal Court Judge Might Force Microsoft to Pay Up Money It Hardly Has
• Microsoft Accused of Profiteering ($1.5 Billion) from Crime with Intel
• William Poole of NComputing (Formerly Microsoft) Blamed in the Big Collusion
• Might Steve Ballmer be Deposed for Collusion After All?

Here is the latest shameless attempt to elevate profits at Intel and Microsoft

IF RUMOUR is to be believed, Intel is up to its dirty tricks again, this time by way of a pact with Microsoft to secure a 10.2 inch screen size maximum for netbooks sporting Windows 7, leaving poor old Via and its 11-inch and above segment out in the cold.

[...]

What the move means in practice is that netbooks bigger than the specified 10.2-inches won't be eligible for the lowest Windows 7 licensing rates, meaning firms like Via - which don't restrict vendors' spec choices - and OEMs making 11.6-inch Atom Zxx-based netbook product lines will have to cough up more cash for a heavier version of the OS.

This, in turn, will ensure that Intel clings on to its 10-inch netbooks price advantage whilst kicking the 11-inch and above netbooks segment where it hurts. Of course, it's also in Intel's interest to make netbooks as small and basic as possible, with Chipzilla desperately seeking to limit any further cannibalization of the market for its faster chips that get bunged into more expensive notebooks.

Even Microsoft's biggest fans are growing tired of apparent price-fixing practices.

Even a $100 upgrade fee would be "cheap" for Ultimate, cheaper than the $700+ price charged in Australia, but still $100 more than Ubuntu.

Then there are those alleged ASUS-Microsoft kickbacks [1, 2, 3] and new anti-Linux Web site. Is it not ironic that this Web site needed GPLv3-licensed software to be produced?

Micorsoft uses GPL V3 software to promote windows against Linux

[...]

After that, a quick visit to www.flowplayer.org will tell you that Flow Player is an Open Source GPL V3 software.

Couldn't Microsoft be decent enough and use any other software from their "oh so great ecosystem"?

GNU/Linux-powered sub-notebooks are causing great harm to Microsoft's bottom line, which saw a huge decline in profit as a result of that. Microsoft fights back with lies [1, 2, 3], so it is worth keeping an eye on. ⬆