Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Watch on Microsoft vs Google and Microsoft vs Sub-notebooks

Picturesque - sunset



Summary: Microsoft hates sub-notebooks but wants to control them; likewise for so-called 'clouds'

Microsoft is against sub-notebooks and against affordable PCs, not just GNU/Linux. This is something that more and more people come to realise and I4U has just written this rant, specifically about the issues at hand.

The whole reason netbooks are attractive to customers is because they are low-cost, quick-booting, portable computers with good battery life. The 'low-cost' part is crucial, because it's what has allowed so many people without the money for a new desktop or notebook to pick up netbooks. Unfortunately, that benefit of the platform may soon be fading away, leaving us with another example of why you should never trust Microsoft.

[...]

There's still a hope for the netbook market, and its name is Google Chrome. It looks like manufacturers are backing away from Android as a netbook OS, and no Linux distro is ever going to be popular enough to draw a substantial amount of customers away from Win 7 products.


The post-Wilcox Microsoft Watch is almost always pro-Microsoft under the pen of Nicholas Kolakowski, but Goblin disagrees. Goblin says that Microsoft Watch is "returning to the good old days of Linux advocacy due to the majority of its readers being Linux users!" This doesn't seem to agree with the evidence, such as this essay where Kolakowski quotes Microsoft booster Enderle [1, 2] on competitors of Microsoft as though he is an impartial observer.

"The public cloud is perfect for certain things but maybe not for business," Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group, told me in an interview a few weeks ago. "It's not something you should build your business on, particularly if your revenue is based on being able to stay in contact with people."


Isn't it funny that Microsoft accepts the whole 'cloud' hype and wants businesses to eventually go there (but only if their choice is Azure)? It's just that Microsoft is so far behind that it still needs to simultaneously spread 'cloud' FUD, especially against Google which the article above is all about. Microsoft is scared enough of Google Apps that its former employees seemingly join the FUD party. Google appears to have just embarked on a big advertising campaign for Apps. From The Register:

Mountain View plans to slap Google Apps adverts on billboards in major US cities from today in its latest attempt to woo businesses away from Microsoft’s Office suite.


In another new essay, Kolakowski shows a little more balance. Watch this essay which says: "Microsoft's solution to the netbook problem - which it keeps insisting is not a problem - seems to be to try to shift the entire PC industry in a slightly different direction. Setting the monster's lair on fire could work - if customers are willing to spend on a bigger and sleeker system. The recovering economy, as with all such things these days, could be the ultimate arbiter."

“Microsoft has to suspend the "free" market for their own self interest”
      --Fewa
"That's called monopoly abuse," claimed Fewa, who describes the above as "[a] huge ad campaign to make people think they need expensive, heavy, low-battery life systems."

Another reader points out that the above is "repeating the Microsoft lies about market share in sub-notebooks." It is a lie indeed.

"Microsoft has to suspend the "free" market for their own self interest," concludes Fewa.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

People Who Assault Women Are Not Victims of "Distress"
It seems like an American tradition. In a country with almost 50 presidents, not even one was a female.
Adoption of Gemini Protocol Still Growing
Gemini Protocol is being obscured by the media - it doesn't help that Google 'hijacked' the word "Gemini" - but people still manage to find out about it, download a client, and use it
Brett Wilson LLP "Takes it Personal" (Character Assassination, Not Professionalism). Everybody Can See That.
On behalf of violent men
Pissing Contests and Pissing Off Everyone
people who came from Microsoft are trying to vex and divide the community
Microsoft Repeats the Mistakes Made by the EPO After We Exposed a Major Microsoft/EPO Scandal 10 Years Ago
That scandal was all over the media, not just in English
 
Changing One's Name Won't Change One's Past
People who have earned a bad reputation are not magically "entitled" to reset
Slashdot Media Turned Linux Journal Into a Slopfarm and Now Slashdot Actively Promotes Anti-Linux Slopfarms
Yes, "no-nonsense" apparently means actual nonsense
Links 14/07/2025: Arresting Photographers, Threats to Revoke US Citizenship Over Criticism
Links for the day
More EPO Leaks on the Way
We hope that Mr. Rowan will actually try to refute what we say and show, not merely point the finger at the messengers
Decommodification is a Corporate Strategy Against Communities
systemd is led by Microsoft and hosted by Microsoft
copyleft.org 'Hijacked' by the People Who Attack the Person Who Created Copyleft
So far there's nothing "tasteless" in copyleft.org, but that can change at any time in the future
Asking People to Take Down Articles and Videos Only Makes These More Popular and "Viral"
If you do something bad, one of the worst things you can possibly do it try to silence those who speak about it
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 13, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 13, 2025
Two-Thirds Towards FSF Goal, Richard Stallman to Give Talks in Europe
There are 67 left before reaching the target
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: Politicised Tech and "Leaving GitHub"
Links for the day
The Demise of LLMs
We've just checked BetaNews again. They've dropped all the slop and went back to human authors.
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Sonpo Museum of Art and FCEUX
Links for the day
Links 13/07/2025: UnitedHealth's Censorship Campaign, Australia Wary of China
Links for the day
Firing Away With Nonsense
Or fighting fire with fire
Links 13/07/2025: Climate Crisis, GAFAM Poisoning the Water
Links for the day
Turns Out LLMs for Code Don't Save Time and Don't Improve Quality
Neither legal nor useful
The Microsofters Will Have an Obligation to Compensate Us
This story isn't just about Microsoft. It's also about corruption, there are many women victims, there is abject "abuse of process", and many more scandals to be illuminated in years to come.
Reproducing at the EPO Instead of Producing Monopolies for Foreign Monopolies With Their Price-Fixing Cartels
Does the EPO recognise the need of well-educated Europeans to bear kids?
Valnet Inc. Dominates Real (Not LLM Slop) GNU/Linux Coverage in 2025
And likely in prior years, too
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Fund Raiser Goes on
Later this month we'll expose another OSI scandal
EPO Staff Representatives Issue a Warning About Staff's Health and Inadequate Care
Even the EPO's own stakeholders (money sources) are openly protesting against what the EPO became
Links 13/07/2025: Partly Assorted News From Deutsche Welle and CBC
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Board Games and Battle Styles
Gemini Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 12, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 12, 2025
Plunder at the Second-Largest Institution in Europe
cuts, neglect, health problems, even early deaths
Links 12/07/2025: Political Developments, Attack on Opposition, Climate Actions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: Melodic Musings and Small Web July
Links for the day
Links 12/07/2025: Jail in China for Homoerotica, South Korea Discriminates Against Old Workers
Links for the day
If Only Everything Was Rewritten in Rust, We'd Have No More Security Issues?
Nope.
Links 12/07/2025: Birdwatching and Fake/Misleading Wall Street 'Valuation' Figures
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: How to Avoid Writing, Apps for Android
Links for the day
Using SLAPPs to Cover Up Sexual Abuse and Strangulation
The exact same legal team of the Serial Strangler from Microsoft and Garrett already has a history fighting against "metoo"
EPO Staff Committee on Harassment in the Workplace
slides
Adding the Voice of Writers to UK SLAPP Reform
The journey to repair antiquated (monarchy era) laws will likely be long
EPO Takes More Money From Staff for Speculation (Pensions), Actuarial Study Explains the Impact
"The key change in this year’s Actuarial Study, due to cascading the new “risk appetite” from the financial study, is a significant increase of the total pension contribution rate of 5.7 percentage points, up to a total of 37.8%. This is driven by an unprecedented decrease in the discount rate of 105 bps down to 2.2%."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 11, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 11, 2025