Bonum Certa Men Certa

De Facto Microsoft Press Already Rewrites the Story of Microsoft's Destruction of Yahoo!, Other Stories

Temple



Summary: Distortion of the truth as seen coming from the people who always work on embellishing Microsoft's history

REVISIONISM from Microsoft is a crucial ingredient and technique for improving the company's image, especially after crimes are committed. We wrote about Microsoft revisionists many times before, e.g. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].



The 'Microsoft press' is currently whitewashing, pretending for the second time in a week that Microsoft's recent bullying scenarios do not exist and never happened.

“Revisionism from Microsoft is a crucial ingredient and technique for improving the company's image, especially after crimes are committed.”Recent examples include the predatory actions against Linux [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], against Yahoo!, and against Google (most recently the Murdoch plot [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13]). Some articles still say that "Microsoft may pay newspapers to avoid Google" (there are more newspapers coming up), but Microsoft denies it.

The same 'Microsoft press' (which we last complained about last night) is using miserable measures to sell the illusions Microsoft is lusting. It is citing US-only figures from partners of Microsoft such as comScore [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8].

Microsoft's PR placer, Ina Fried, is giving only Microsoft's side of the Yahoo! story whilst others are daemonising those who try to restore some justice, notably the European Commission which blocked the deal [1, 2, 3, 4]. Microsoft Nick is among those who prod the party line of Microsoft. Scott M. Fulton, who actually supported/advocated oversight, has this to say:

While Almunia could carry out existing penalties imposed against Microsoft and Intel, it's conceivable he could leave future penalty guidelines to the Court of First Instance to determine, or at least to the Commission itself to legislate in advance.


Microsoft apologists/revisionists can also be seen here, in an article which is feeding Microsoft Nick for some more PR. What fuels his revisionism are statements like:

Microsoft is nevertheless a very different company today - and the perception of it throughout the region's technology hotbed has shifted dramatically too.


That's utter nonsense. Microsoft is not a different company when it comes to its business practices. It's just a tired talking point which they parrot endlessly. Right now, having fought Yahoo! (proxy battle), Microsoft wants people to believe it's a mutual arrangement. But the real thinking goes like this: "we don't want to spend much money on you, Yahoo, so just pass over all your visitors and customers."

This type of bullying from Microsoft, which eventually hijacked Yahoo! and drove away the talent, is something that we covered here before [1, 2, 3]. The mainstream press totally avoids the reality and spins this as Yahoo! running to Microsoft rather than the other way around. With the one-sided deal likely to be finalised shortly (we explained the absurdity of this deal in [1, 2]), one reader of ours ponders the impact on Yahoo's BSD (and Free software) endeavours. He writes:

It looks like the hostile takeover of Yahoo's board of directors has succeeded in shutting down Yahoo!

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Search-Engines/...

So now, Yahoo may become a fascade for Bling, which is a crappy front end for Wolfram Alpha. It would be a smarter move, if Yahoo's engine is being gutted, to skip Bling. That would improve reliability and content: http://www.itwire.com/content/view/29820/53/

One could cut out all the middlemen and just go straight to Wolfram Alpha: http://www.wolframalpha.com/

Yahoo management has also recently been heavily infected with Microsoft staff. But none of the changes brought about by Microsoft activists, either on the board of directors or on Yahoo staff, are really about service or function, are they?

Now, since Yahoo! was a major developer and contributor to FreeBSD and PHP development, it would be very important to get out in daylight how these two valuable tools will be affected. With PHP, it probably means that a lot of web activity will move back to Perl or over to Python.


As our reader points out in the above, Microsoft has gotten into the business of 'consuming' other people's services, which are typically running on GNU/Linux and Free software. Examples are given in this new article.

Rather than developing a direct rival to Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, Microsoft is working with those services to incorporate their features into its own products.


Microsoft is increasingly becoming dependent on GNU/Linux then. None of these services rely on Microsoft software (they persist with the LAMP stack).

Next, it brings us to Microsoft's search downtime (it uses Windows) -- a predictable downtime which Mac sites are cheering and Microsoft PR folks like Ina Fried try to play down. Others from the Microsoft crowd and press ignore the simple truth and Microsoft Nick is playing along with the Microsoft talking point. Another Microsoft booster, Stuart Johnston, uses this downtimes as an excuse to promote Microsoft. What has ever happened to objective reporting? It is actually bound to get worse.

A few days ago we wrote about the Comcast/NBC situation, noting that Microsoft's impact on the media is expanding. Now comes this update from a Microsoft-sponsored blog:

NBCU deal could bring Microsoft and Comcast back together again



[...]

I followed up with Microsoft this morning to find out the specific implications of the Comcast-GE announcement for msnbc.com, and the company referred me to an NBC Universal representative. I'll update this post depending on the response.

Unless there's an unexpected twist, the deal would put Microsoft and Comcast in business together, via msnbc.com -- potentially giving new life to a corporate relationship that appeared to have fizzled out. Microsoft in January sold its remaining 7.3 percent stake in Comcast, ending a relationship that had started with the Redmond company's landmark $1 billion investment in the cable company in 1997.


Last week we showed that MSNBC/MSN is still publishing Linux- and open source-hostile articles and now we find it recommending Microsoft's stock. No conflict of interests here?

"Consumer Groups Cry Foul on Comcast's NBC Play," says the headline of this new article. It also mentions Microsoft.

Comcast and General Electric's long-anticipated merger agreement -- which would see see the cable giant take a controlling stake in NBC Universal -- is already facing strident opposition from consumer groups, and concerns from lawmakers around the alliance of content with distribution.

To critics, the deal to create the nation's biggest entertainment conglomerate invites a host of scenarios where Comcast could unfairly favor NBC programming through its television and Internet services.

"Antitrust regulators must ensure that all content providers are treated fairly on the Comcast platform, and that Comcast does not get undue advantages in gaining access to programming," Sen. Herb Kohl, chairman of the Senate antitrust subcommittee, said in statement today, saying he planned to hold a hearing on the matter.


Microsoft is still focusing on commercials, despite complaints even from a parents group. "‘Family Guy’ content not so family oriented," says this new article which covers the same subject. At Microsoft, it's all about spin/PR.

"Government attorneys accuse Microsoft of using its monopoly position to bully, bribe and attempt to collude with others in the industry, while illegally expanding and protecting its Windows franchise."

--The antitrust case: a timeline

Recent Techrights' Posts

Michael “Monty” Widenius: It Started in 1983 With Richard Stallman (RMS)
The other co-founder of MySQL is a bit notorious for confronting RMS rather viciously
For the Second Time in a Few Weeks Microsoft Lunduke Makes False Accusations Against Senior Red Hat Staff to Incite a Despicable 'Troll Army'
Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims of says can be trusted
su lisa && rm -rf /home/ibm/power
Novell was ruined by another person from IBM, Ronald Hovsepian
A Record Demand at Microsoft: Demand to Cancel
What we're witnessing is a very ungraceful destruction of XBox
Richard Stallman is Going to Finland to Give a Talk Next Thursday
A day later he speaks in Sweden
 
Links 02/10/2025: 'Open' 'AI' Resorting to Gimmicks and Fake Funding, Europe’s ‘Drone Wall’ Discussed
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: Brave Passes 100M Users Milestone, Kodak Selling Its Own Film Again
Links for the day
Microsoft is Losing Europe
Hence all the "support" and "discount" offers that are limited to Europe
The Free Software Foundation Starts Fund-raising for 40th Anniversary
New pop-up 2-3 days ahead of the 40th anniversary event
Systemd Breaks Networking in Debian and Microsoft Staff Rushes to Make Face-Saving Excuses in LWN
Microsoft's bluca is already there in the comments, his Microsoft money pays for LWN to let him leave comments early
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 01, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 01, 2025
What the End of XBox Will Look Like: a Fiery Crash
XBox is the next Skype. It won't last much longer. Expect many more layoffs.
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: SMTP Pipelining and End of ROOPHLOCH 2025
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Plagiarism, Fake Articles, and FUD About Linux
not a day goes by without Google News feeding FUD from slopfarms
Gemini Links 01/10/2025: Chat Control and End of Life
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: Long Covid Risk Reiterated, "Bitcoin Queen" Caught
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: EA $55 Billion Deal is Debt and Slop "Raises Vishing Risks"
Links for the day
Bluewashing at Red Hat Means Redundancies
The man who sold Red Hat to IBM meanwhile became a Microsoft Mono booster
After Killing OpenSource.com, IBM ('Red Hat') and OSI Told Us OpenSource.net Would Replace It (But That Didn't Happen)
Now it's time to move on, perhaps tarnishing the "Open Source" label some more (for whatever sponsor wants this)
Linux is Not a Community Project, It's a Wall Street Product
The core goal should be freedom
Bad Actors Abusing the Free Software Community, Vandalising It Using Rogue Politics and Old Tactics
Oil giants have long attempted to do this; now, the digital equivalent of Big Oil does this in technology
Social Control Media Isn't the Future, The Federation or Fediverse Isn't Growing, People's Accounts Vanish for Good
users' accounts will get deleted, not just become inactive
IBM is Failing, This Helps Show Wall Street is Entirely Detached From Actual Commercial Performance
IBM is unable to grow, it's just constantly shrinking
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 30, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Clerical Aspects of Publishing and Development
In Free software, the management aspects are considerably reduced
Slopwatch: Fake Articles and Google News Promoting "Linux" Spam or Bot-Generated Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD)
These slopfarms help misplace blame
Third Wave of Microsoft Layoffs in September, This Time Many in Liverpool Affected
Be ready for more waves of layoffs ahead of the so-called "results" in late October
Gemini Links 30/09/2025: Motorcycling in Central Oregon, Protocol Styles and the Flag of Sark
Links for the day
Links 30/09/2025: Death Sentences, Internet Censorship, and Internet Shutdowns
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/09/2025: Social Control Media and ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
Richard Stallman About to Give More Talks in Europe, Some Confirmed Already
In Göteborg
Links 30/09/2025: CERN in "Have I Been Pwned" and More Windows TCO Blunders
Links for the day
Microsoft Canonical is Selling Mass Surveillance and Back Doors as "Security for Ubuntu"
If you are looking for a GNU/Linux distro to use, just remember that Microsoft has Ubuntu in the bag
Justice for Wildlife
animals cannot speak to humans who hate animals
Cowboys Gonna Be Cowboys (on the Internet, They're Not a New Problem)
Boys will be boys
Cowboys of the "Left" and Cowboys of the "Right"
Don't believe the lie that this is some "leftist" thing
When Codes of Conduct Serve to Protect Criminals From Much-Deserved Scrutiny
CoCs are typically unfit for purpose because enforcement lacks context and suitable understanding of the full background (the "full story")
It Took the Open Source Initiative (OSI) 4+ Years to Address the 'Data Breach' or Data Protection Violation Reported to the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) in March 2025
We may never know the dialogue or its nature
Even Microsoft's Biggest Boosters (and Media Operatives) Are Turning Against Microsoft
Expect many more layoffs before the fake "results" next month
GNU Was Right 42+ Years Ago
Since then the abusive, user-hostile technology has spread like mushrooms
Old Isn't Always Inadequate
How many gadgets manufactured today (in 2025) will still work in 2075?
The Monkey Business of Rust People
Compatibility won't matter
Almost Half of the FSFE's Money (the Fake 'FSF', Misusing the Brand) Comes From Vodafone
That money always comes with strings, even if they're invisible to most of us
Microsoft Lunduke Spreads Deliberate Lies to Incite Online Mobs
Has he lost his reading comprehension skills?
Our 19th Birthday (in Just Over 5 Weeks From Now)
We meanwhile have ongoing, solid plans to cover patent-related issues when the FSF turns 40
British GNU/Linux Distro FydeOS Tops DistroWatch
That seems like a decent site and decent effort to keep an eye on
We'll Soon Have 75,000 GemText Pages
avoid many perils of today's Web
Google Used Free Software to Build a Monopoly. Now Google Kicks Free Software to the Curb
The "G" in "Google" does not stand for GNU. It never did. It's just another greedy company.
Gemini Links 30/09/2025: Retro Hardware, Federated Fragmentation, and Nex Server Written in C
Links for the day
4 More Days Till "4 decades, 4 freedoms, 4 all users"
We are now just 4 days away from the rare anniversary
Two Months After Merging to Hide GitHub Losses Microsoft is Doing It Again (This Time Windows)
Merging those two together is not a sign of strength but a tightening of budget
Speculations About the Next Large Wave of IBM/Red Hat Layoffs
the mass layoffs are likely to happen on week 3 or 4 in October
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 29, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 29, 2025