Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Breaks the Law Again for the Sake of Office and Manages to Get Away with It

Runaway



Summary: Microsoft's case with i4i takes another turn, but at the same time, Microsoft Office dominance continues to erode

MICROSOFT has learned very well over the years that crime pays. It pays well. It apparently pays more than obeying the law, so Microsoft continues to break the law and then lie, bribe, collude and whatnot to somehow get away with it. Extraordinary allegations require extraordinary evidence, but nothing about Microsoft's crime is extraordinary and the evidence is abundant enough to occupy one's lifetime to study. One of our contributors opines that Microsoft has the habit of hiring people who have become familiar with Microsoft's violations of the law because paying them means that they are removed from the "gene pool" of those who can tell the story and provide satisfactory material to support strong claims.



Coverage in the press is still somewhat disheartening. It's lacking and it is largely biased. Gizmodo, for example, does quite a job concealing Microsoft's OOXML corruptions and continued attacks on interoperability and open protocols/formats. In an article with a provocative headline and the following opening, Gizmodo sells the false perception that Microsoft has changed. It hasn't [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].

The other week, we explained how Apple influences a ton of what goes on in tech by shaping industry-wide standards. This week, we're gonna look at Microsoft, and what's it's done with standards.

Microsoft obviously has a more complicated relationship with "industry" standards, because anything it decides is its standard—even proprietary ones—becomes a kind of de facto standard for everybody else, simply because of Microsoft's overwhelming marketshare.


As we showed yesterday using a document from Microsoft, the company sees itself as the only standard. It refuses to accept standards that are created outside Microsoft. But to make matters worse, it is attacking anything that 'dares' to pose a threat to this Microsoft 'standard'. For instance, patent law does not apply to Microsoft if it puts Office at jeopardy, never mind the case of the victim [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10].

According to some of the latest reports about the i4i case, Microsoft sees nothing wrong with breaking the law if Office continues to feed Microsoft and its ecosystem. As in the document above, Microsoft perceives itself as a 'chosen one' and all those who harass it must therefore be inherently dangerous and evil. Microsoft proponent Stuart Johnston gives a voice just to Microsoft's side, as expected, whereas Gregg Keizer is a lot more sober and balanced in his coverage for IDG:

Microsoft Corp. marketed i4i Inc.'s XML software to potential customers at the same time it planned to drive the small company out of business by infringing on its patent for the technology, according to court documents filed last week.

In a brief submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal District in Washington, Toronto-based i4i argued that an injunction blocking Microsoft from selling current versions of Word should stand.


There is also this from Keizer and the Canadian press (i4i comes from Canada) accuses Microsoft of "thievery".

Microsoft Word may contain thievery



American software giant accused of stealing Canadian software in latest version of word processor


Since the trial takes place in the United States, it is likely that Microsoft will summon enough political support to win the case, settle in a self-serving fashion, or drive i4i to total bankruptcy by dragging things on in the courtroom.

The only positive outcome of this case is that Microsoft Office is distracted and there is uncertainty over its future. Google and Free software are among those which capitalise on it; According to the pay-to-say firm IDC, Google Docs is gaining very fast.

The poll, conducted in July, showed 19.5% of respondents claiming Google Docs is widely used in their organization, up from 5.8% a little more than a year and a half ago. Some 27% of respondents are either already widely using Google Docs or expect to be widely using Google Docs a year from now.


This contradicts the FUD from former Microsoft employees (dressed up as "analysts") and there is wider coverage of this in IDG, including notable case studies.

Google announced today at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., that it's tailoring cloud computing services for agencies within the U.S. government. That means, for instance, that an agency can get its hands on the Web-based Google Apps that meet regulatory requirements.


For the record, it's not just Google that's gaining. From Business Week:

Google, Zoho Challenge Microsoft Abroad, Too



In India and China, upstarts aim to erode Microsoft's dominance by delivering business productivity software that's cheaper and more accessible


The money made from Microsoft Office has declined for quite some time now, even in the financial report of April 2008. That was despite the crimes Microsoft had committed to have OOXML passed by ISO on the very same month.

"Microsoft corrupted many members of ISO in order to win approval for its phony ‘open’ document format, OOXML. This was so governments that keep their documents in a Microsoft-only format can pretend that they are using ‘open standards.’ The government of South Africa has filed an appeal against the decision, citing the irregularities in the process."

--Richard Stallman, June 2008

Recent Techrights' Posts

Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Google News
We've also just noticed more slop from UbuntuPIT
Microsoft Windows is No Longer an Operating System, It's Surveillance Project
Why is this even legal to preload on PCs outside the US?
Qualcomm Arduino Takes Aim at Raspberry Pi
Qualcomm is a Microsoft partner
 
Links 09/10/2025: Impact of Microsoft Layoffs, More Data Breaches
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Autumn Blues and C IRC Bot
Links for the day
Slopwatch Appreciated by Real Authors of GNU/Linux Articles
We do try to keep on top of those things
Upgraded R.R.R.R.R.R. Today
The Web of 2025 is full of garbage, not limited to slopfarms
Freedom From Proprietary Prisons
Forking always an option
IBM's Watson Died in 1956, Now Watson Dies Again
IBM is becoming just a reseller of GAFAM and other stuff
Microsoft Says That Constant Mass Layoffs Are Success, the Media Isn't Buying This Microsoft Narrative Anymore
If people in the media feel an obligation to repeat whatever lies Microsoft tells, what point will there be to the media?
Links 08/10/2025: "Mali Puts Free Speech on Trial" And Apple Enforces Dictatorship
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: ‘Death to Spotify’ and Law to Ban Loud Commercials on Streaming (Dis)Services
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Real Innovation and Nina.chat is Dead
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Y2K38 Bug is a Vulnerability, Chat Control in Europe a Threat
Links for the day
How and Why Once-Legitimate Sites Turn Into Slopfarms
Many sites will go offline and many social control networks will shut down once they realise or even openly admit they spend money and time gardening a bunch of bots and slop
UbuntuPIT Became a Slopfarm and Gnoppix Tarnishes Its Own Brand With Slop
It fits all the characteristics of mildly-edited (if at all) slop
Slopwatch: Linux Journal and Other Slopfarms
GAFAM needs to go the way of the dodo
Gemini Links 08/10/2025: "Seek Seek Revolution" and Gradient Backgrounds
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 07, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 07, 2025
Stagnation of the Economy and What Free Software Can (or Could) Do For It
If your economic model is based on a pyramid of lies, it won't last very long
Social Control Media is Sinking
it would rightly seem like the era of centralised "social" sites (they're not social, they're about controlling the users) is ending, not overnight but gradually
Participation in Cancel Culture Detrimental to One's Career
A cautionary tale
Passion Wins
we've increased the number of birds we feed to 100+
How Solderpunk and Sean Conner Started Gemini Protocol (and, Collectively, Geminispace) Back in 2019
Based on the "official" history
Arduino is Now a Patent Bully (Qualcomm)
Qualcomm has just bought Arduino
Many Years of Microsoft Cancellations and Faked (Acquired) Revenue "Growth"
XBox is basically the "next Skype"
The Comment TheLayoff.com Has Just Censored for Criticising a Ridiculous Puff Piece of IBM Management
If comments get censored for their "style" rather than their substance, then society will be worse off
The Power of Writing Down Facts
The more we write and publish, the more people will know what happened
Microsoft's Non-Denying Denial About XBox's Death is Already Being Shattered to Pieces
Like Microsoft's 'open' 'hey hi', heralding meaningless non-committing agreements with AMD is little more than vapourware
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT Joins the Slopfarms Club
Slopfarms gonna slop
Links 07/10/2025: Privacy at Risk, GAFAM Remains Off the Hook
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/10/2025: Modern Retro Console Idea and Batch vs Bash
Links for the day
Links 07/10/2025: International Criminal Court (ICC) Convicts Ali Kushayb; Moroccan Imprisoned for 'Offensive' Shirt
Links for the day
Links 07/10/2025: EU' Chat Control is Back, US Cracks Down on Democracy
Links for the day
Techrights Pursues Justice and Truth Because, Without Those, Society Descends Into Chaos
most people reject dogma and pseudoscience
Upcoming Talks by Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Göteborg, and Rome
Join with him and share the software
Something Bad is Happening in the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
The latest OSI blog post is from a Microsoft operative and a few weeks ago the Executive Director left
TLS 1.3 Dominates Geminispace (99% of Known Capsules)
it's nowadays safe to assume almost every capsule can handle TLS 1.3
Why soylentnews.org Has Been Having Technical Difficulties Lately
The network has been going up and down quite a lot this past week
A Statement Against Violence
The facts are on our side
They've Run Out of Things to Rebrand or Label as "AI"
The next few years will be interesting because if Microsoft lays off tens of thousands of workers each year, there won't be much left except mountains of debt and dying brands
The Register MS is Still Being Paid to Participate in the "AI" Ponzi Scheme Which Will Crash the Economy
The Register MS is hoping to get lucky by tricking people into a scam
Richard Stallman Confirms His Talk in Göteborg This Coming Friday
"The hosts say that the list will not be given to the state"
Most of the "Linux" Results This Morning in Google News Are LLM Slop From the Same Slopfarm, Plagiarising Phoronix
The main question is, does Google even care at this point?
Gemini Links 07/10/2025: Civil War and "Goodbye Web"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 06, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 06, 2025