"Shouldn't we leave the [Microsoft] elephant alone and stop poking it with sticks? Well, the problem is they aren't going to leave us alone."

--Jeremy Allison, LCA 2010

Summary: Further analysis of the revelation that Microsoft does not permit any competition to even exist

TWO days ago we mentioned very briefly a Comes vs Microsoft exhibit that exposes Microsoft's attack on GNU/Linux at HP. "Let the Market Decide…" is a witty headline from Pogson, who uses this exhibit to demonstrate that Microsoft does not compete, it simply attacks the right of its competition to exist.

Again, I claim that if their product were superior, M$ would not have to pay people to push it. GNU/Linux was doing very well back then, 3% of HPs PCs, but a campaign by M$ to block production held it back. HP was enjoying 100% per annum growth in the GNU/Linux shipments. Isn’t that acceptance by the market? Isn’t that what the customer wants? So, here we are six years later and these trolls still claim GNU/Linux is on only 1% of PCs. Liars.

They are of course lying. But it's the fault of the mainstream press for repeating this, as though it's an echo chamber of lies. More on the above includes:

HP knows about thin clients? They are the leading supplier. They know you can run them very nicely with GNU/Linux, yet they recommend that other OS. Does GM recommend Cadillacs? No. They make them for people who want an expensive car. It is silly to recommend the most expensive line for every customer. There may be some customers of HP for whom “7″ on new machines is the best choice but they must be in the minority or “7″ would be doing a lot more to pump up the PC industry. Instead “7″ is holding the PC industry back my putting a pricey roadblock on renewed IT.

This is the continuing soap-opera that is M$’s marketing schemes. They persuaded HP to put a damper on sales of GNU/Linux in 2002/2003 for a few shekels.

Microsoft also attack GNU/Linux at Dell. The money quote is "we should whack [Dell over GNU/Linux dealings], we should make sure they understand our value”. Microsoft is not a company that competes. It's more like a gang of executives who bribe and "whack" companies that 'dare' to stock the competition. The official term for this is "racketeering", which Microsoft also engages in using software patents (see references at the bottom). ⬆

"Microsoft is asking people to pay them for patents, but they won’t say which ones. If a guy walks into a shop and says: “It’s an unsafe neighbourhood, why don’t you pay me 20 bucks and I’ll make sure you’re okay,” that’s illegal. It’s racketeering."

--Mark Shuttleworth

Related posts:

• Ubuntu Founder Denounces Microsoft's Racketeering
• Why the Melco-Microsoft Deal is a Form of Racketeering
• Microsoft's Racketeering with Patents and Abolition of Software Patents Reexamined
• Red Hat Asks Microsoft to Stop the Patent Racketeering
• Best Buy Has Collusion/Racketeering History with Microsoft, Anti-GNU/Linux Training Comes to Staples Employees Too
• Quote of the Day: Microsoft is Open! (To More Racketeering)
• Report: Microsoft's Patent Racketeering Comes from Myhrvold