Bonum Certa Men Certa

Can't Produce Better Phones? Sue the Rival and Misuse Security, Says the Microsoft Camp

Jigsaw world



Summary: Bits of recent news (from last week and beforehand) about mobile platforms and platform security

IN THE LAST post on this subject (before moving to a new house) it was clarified that Linux had more or less won the mobile wars. Android is unstoppable, but Microsoft and Apple resort to dirty tactics which include patent lawsuits. There's that lack of a sense of ethics in the proprietary software camp and it really shows.



It may take several days to catch up with the past week's news, but looking a week back, there are certain unmissable incidents that ought to be filed here. First of all, Microsoft continues to be utter rubbish at security (and at mobile too) not because some of its software is ubiquitous but because Microsoft's patching habits are poor. As The Register put it, "March Patch Tuesday leaves IE unpatched for Pwn2Own hackers":

Microsoft – unlike its browser rivals – will not be patching Internet Explorer before the upcoming Pwn2Own hacking contest next week.

A March Patch Tuesday pre-alert, published on Thursday, reveals that Redmond will be issuing three security bulletins next week, one of which affects a critical flaw in Windows and none of which relates to IE. The critical update affects Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 while the two lesser risk ("important") bulletins cover a separate flaw in Windows and an update for the Office Groove 2007 software.


Here is some further commentary about it:

IE will not be fully patched in time for Pwn2Own next week. Let’s see. Hundreds of millions of PCs run IE and all the malware artists in the world will have IE’s downfall demonstrated in public… It boggles my mind that people run that software and M$ cares so little about the security of a necessarily-networked application.


Moving on to phones, nobody can get past the amazement at the NoWin deal (Nokia-Windows) [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], which made no sense for Nokia. None whatsoever. Someone whom I know at BT (a manager) called it "100% corrupt" and was surprised that it was allowed to get past regulators. Anyway, as one of our readers pointed out a couple of days ago:

Confirmation of Nokia's role comes from PJ's examination of Nokia's SEC filing. She quotes the relevant parts in her news picks.

- Definitive agreements with Microsoft for the proposed partnership may not be entered into in a timely manner, or at all, or on terms beneficial to us. - New sources of revenue expected to be generated from the Microsoft partnership, such as increased monetization opportunities for us in services and intellectual property rights, may not materialize as expected, or at all. [PJ: So, they haven't signed on the dotted line yet, this is saying. And I gather they hope to sue people or threaten to do so to get royalties on patents. Blech. Can't Microsoft ever do anything *not* evil?] - Nokia's Form 20F, SEC


I think she hit the nail on the head. We can conclude that all of the damage to Nokia is real but Microsoft's promises are vapor. Perhaps there is resistance in the company beyond the thousands of engineers who walked off the job in protest.


It's not entirely shocking because we predicated this and Elop has made comments which insinuated this right after signing the deal with Microsoft, in which he had a lot of his money invested at the time. Microsoft and its minions are also grooming Android (and MeeGo) for lawsuits/extortion, meaning that Microsoft will try to get a share of the profits, if not by extortion, then by lawsuits that speed up the act of surrendering. Microsoft is more like a racketeering operation and with Elop it got Nokia joining its mob army. Microsoft MVP de Icaza is promoting the MonoDroid poison pill [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15] while a fellow Mono/.NET booster from Seattle (near Microsoft) stirs the broth: "The signed Honeycomb update from Moto/Google contains libmono.so and libunity.so. @migueldeicaza @unity3d" [thanks to G. Forbes for the headsup]

Watch out, Android. Companies like Acer and Motorola are not paying Microsoft for Android and Microsoft would love to change that. Microsoft's own mobile platform is a massive failure given the massive advertising budget and the bad patches which brick phones that run Vista Phony 7 are just a sign of this. Well, the spin came shortly afterwards (blaming the connection because, of course, Microsoft would love people to believe that updates should not necessarily be resilient in case of intermittent mobile connectivity, which is common by the way) and it didn't take long before phones 'blew' or got bricked again. How typical:

"Microsoft blows Windows Phone update, again



[...]

Samsung users who held off updating after hearing about the problems last time are being told to hold off again as the fixed fix isn't really fixed at all.

This time it seems that owners of the Samsung Omnia 7 are OK as long as they've got 4GB of memory free, but any less than that and the updating process chokes with an error numbered "800705B4", but at least no one is reporting bricked handsets this time.


At OpenBytes, Tim opines: "Of course non of this comes as any surprise to me and what really beggars belief is that after WinMob, Kin, Zune and a whole host of luke warm products (and that’s being nice) there are a few people still parting with cash for “Windows” products. Take the time to look at the Windows Phone 7 twitter account and read the plethora of problems being reported to them. Issues with Windows Phone 7 don’t seem limited to Samsung phones and the latest update, there’s a multitude of other issues presented to them aswell."

Security at Microsoft is pants.

Mobile at Microsoft is pants.

Put the two together and it's wet socks.

Not to worry though. The MSBBC has come up with propaganda which daemonises Android security for no apparent reason. The BBC Android FUD was covered here just before I moved to the new house (and no, this site is not "dead" as some people who mailed me started thinking). Basically, after I wrote that post about MSBBC's Android FUD Glyn Moody did an article about it and there was a long discussion in Twitter/Identi.ca, including stuff like this (with others agreeing by chiming in):

@schestowitz I fail to see how BBC is writing for Microsoft. The exploit shows !Android market needs polishing and better security measures.


That's not quite it, but Microsoft's shameless booster Peter Bright saw it as an opportunity to spread FUD, stepping outside his "Microsoft Contributor" role at Ars. Moody says that the "#BBC [is] quick to fault #android & #openness - http://bbc.in/dLjLUz yet practically never names #windows in years of malware (v @schestowitz)"

One response says: "@glynmoody @schestowitz A big exaggerated. Check http://bbc.in/dXfNky #BBC #android #security"

Moody replies as follows: "@bortzmeyer @schestowitz not at all exaggerated. check this: http://bbc.in/hKmJuT *far more* stories that don't mention #Windows at all"

And then: "@glynmoody @bortzmeyer @schestowitz just a little more of this logic and you'll be able to show that Windows is under 5% market share"

From Moody again: "@pbeyssac @bortzmeyer @schestowitz certainly seems to be what the BBC is suggesting...so small it's not worth mentioning..."

Here is Moody's original piece which started a lot of this powwow. It starts as follows:



In fact, I have several - including the fact that I really want it to be the best broadcasting organisation in the world, as it once was. But my other bee/Beeb is that its journalistic standards in the few areas where I can claim some knowledge are pretty woeful.

This is seen nowhere more clearly than in its coverage of malware.

To read the reports on the BBC website (I don't watch UK television, so I've no idea what happens there, but suspect it's just as bad), you'd think that malware were some universal affliction, an unavoidable ill like death and taxes. Rarely does the BBC trouble its readers' pretty little heads with the tiresome fact that the overwhelming majority of viruses and trojans affect one operating system, and one operating system only: Microsoft Windows.

To see this, try the following experiment. Search on the BBC news site for "microsoft windows virus" or "microsoft windows trojan" or "microsoft windows malware", and you'll get a few dozen hits, not all of which refer to Microsoft malware.

But try the same searches without the words "microsoft windows", and you will get many more hits every year (try "computer malware", for example), very few of which mention that such malware is almost exclusively for Microsoft's platform.

That sin of omission has now been matched by an equally telling sin of commission. For hot on the heels of the first serious Android viruses, we have a report on BBC news spelling out the terrible facts


And again we come to Microsoft apologism such as this one which says: "@schestowitz Android's security model is about equal to Windows Vista. S60 has a better model. Why the double standard?"

To rebut this quickly, the Android FUD was about cases where the user installs -- willingly -- malicious software. In the case of Windows, intervention from the user is rarely required; in some case, just visiting a page is a problem and a risk; why? ActiveX for starters. It's a Windows issue, not an "Internet issue"; the very serious omissions in the corporate press are partly to blame for it all "and still no mention of the taboo "W" word..." wrote Moody regarding this new example. It's like calling Toyota's brake issue just a "car braking issue". Imagine the outcry that sort of talking point would cause.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Attacks on Techrights Are Only Making Techrights Bigger and Even More Popular
A week ago they offered to settle with us
EPO Staff Can Go Listen to Richard Stallman Next Week in Munich (Technical University of Munich, Rudolf-Diesel Hörsaal (MW2001) on Campus Garching at 18:00)
"The talk is open to the public and attendance is free. Registration is not required."
At IBM, Relocation Means Layoffs (Downsizing)
Silent or 'invisible' layoffs?
Dystopian Trends in Technology Make Richard Stallman More Relevant Than Ever
It's good to see him attracting vast audiences
Richard Stallman (RMS) Announced His Talk Less Than 24 Hours Before It Took Place and Still Filled Up the Auditorium at Sapienza Università di Roma
Photos from yesterday evening [...] It looks like it was a very successful event
 
The DDoS Attacks by Microsoft's Scam Altman and Other Slop Charlatans and Frauds is Hurting the FSF, Delinking It From Copyleft Projects
This impacts a lot more than access to the licences
Microsoft Scanning Faces in Photos People Upload to Microsoft (Even Unconsciously), Slashdot Turns Report About It Into "Microsoft Sez" (Says)
Or "let's repeat the lies from a PR person/Microsoft's publicist"
[Teaser] Angel Aledo Lopez the Manipulator (Nepotism, Poll Rigging, and Other EPO Corruption)
We'll discuss this later today or tomorrow, based on internal EPO material
Epic Metaphor for End of IBM: "The IBM Demolition is Down to the Last Shards!"
Nothing lasts forever
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 14, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Proprietary and DRM Prisons Spiralling Down the Sinkhole? Not Just Yet.
Let's hope that more people will flee to GNU/Linux
The European Patent Office (EPO), the Second-Largest Institution in Europe, is Cracking Down on Recreational Activities
Without AMICALE activities, and as staff already says it's pressured to work more for less, how can the EPO recruit bright people?
Transparency: FSFE financial reports exclude speaker fees and expenses
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Many Developers Have Many Political Views, They'll Never Agree on Everything
It's an effort to divide and destroy, not build
Gemini Links 14/10/2025: An Opportunity to Consider GNU/Linux and Another Simple IRC Client
Links for the day
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT, LinuxSecurity, Google News, and the Serial Slopper Brian Fagioli
Nothing of merit here, just more slop
Links 14/10/2025: Lack of Trust in Slop and "Retirement Challenges"
Links for the day
Rhonda D'Vine, Gerfried Fuchs, Pronouns & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Central Staff Committee of the European Patent Office (EPO) Warns That EPO Management is Robbing or Manipulating Pension Funds Again
Faking "growth" is just about as bad as forgery
Probably a Lot Worse Than LLM Slop: GNOME Tying Itself to Divisive Politics, Even Where It's Clearly Not Relevant
Something has gone terribly wrong in GNOME
Links 14/10/2025: Microsoft OneDrive Scanning Faces in Photos (Without Asking First), "OpenAI Says It Will Move to Allow Smut"
Links for the day
They Generally Don't Like Scholars, as They're Less Compelled or Pressured to Repeat What Corporations and Oligarchs Say
People who loathe scholars have an agenda in mind that, unlike that of reasonable people, revolves around controlling people
Belated New Article About Last Thursday's Lecture by Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
there are good reasons to pay with cash, not limited to privacy
Attacking Richard Stallman Has Become 'Career Suicide'
If you're going to viciously attack somebody, make sure your arguments are rock-solid
Microsoft's Failing XBox Business Has Turned Games Into Funerals
How does it feel to depend on Microsoft?
Yesterday's "Distinguished Lecture" by Richard Stallman Possibly Attended by Close to 1,000 People
The capacity of the place is about 900
Slop Poisons Everything
Imagine wanting to find what Torvalds has just said or what has just been released
Taking Software Freedom 'Mainstream'
interest in Software Freedom must have grown
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 13, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 13, 2025
Gemini Links 14/10/2025: Ada Lovelace Day, Sony CLIE PEG-TG50 Review, Why to Avoid Network Solutions
Links for the day
The EPO's War on Techrights Was a Massive Mistake
The EPO started the SLAPPs after we had published a few hundreds of articles; we've since then published close to 6,000 because the attacks on us emboldened insiders to help us
General-Purpose Computers to Become Growing Area of Coverage
Without them, we have little left for controlling our lives
"They missed a great opportunity to shut up." -Jacques Chirac
Brett Wilson LLP has been trying to cheat the legal system many times
Harassment evidence: Switzerland, overcrowded fitness and yoga centers, incompetence and racism in accident response
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Vincent Danjean & Debian NXIVM collateral, blackmail risks
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
In Sweden This Past Friday Richard Stallman Explained Why Copyleft is Important
And he didn't have to 'bash' BSDs, either
IBM Layoffs Due to a Lack of Money and Company Debt Rising by Almost 10 Billion Dollars in 6 Months
IBM didn't buy Red Hat for any ideological reasons; it was a fast "cash grab" for revenue
Forbes Already Stopped Being a News Sites. Now It's a Spam and Propaganda Platform for "Paying Partners" (Companies).
news from Forbes became very scarce
Is the Second-Largest Institution in Europe (EPO) Gradually Becoming More Like a Sweatshop?
Underpaid, unqualified, inexperienced and incompatible people are already recruited to replace veteran examiners
The Register MS Has No FOSS Coverage Anymore
The Editor in Chief is like a Microsoft plant
Links 13/10/2025: "Toasty Subwoofer" and WiFi Speakers "Are About To Go Dumb"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/10/2025: iNaturalist and Tove Jansson’s Moominpappa at Sea
Links for the day
Microsoft Does Not Deny That Large Retailers Like Walmart, Costco and Target Are Giving Up on XBox (and Not Stocking It)
No doubt XBox is in trouble and rumours suggest that more mass layoffs are imminent
We'll Encourage Richard Stallman to Talk About Software Patents at the EPO Next Week When He Visits Munich (EPO Headquarters)
Go listen to Richard Stahlmann
Investigative Journalism Protects Society From Corruption, Crimes Against Women, Assaults on Civil Society
"what is the point of men doing military practice to defend a system that is so rotten?"
Swiss pimp usurping reputation of legendary Tissot boss Francois Thiébaud from France (BaselWorld, SWATCH Group SA)
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Paris 'Love Nest' & Debian Outreachy: from Lycée Lakanal to ENS Cachan, Cr@ns, nepotism
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Richard Stallman to Give Public Talk in 3 Hours, Then in the Technical University of Munich (Germany) Next Week
Richard Stallman at TUM on 21.10.2025 18:00, MW2001
Arnaud Parreaux lost case defending rogue employer
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Mathieu Elias Parreaux declared bankrupt in Switzerland
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Breakdown of the Rule of Law and Patent Law in the European Union (EU)
The EPO cannot recruit suitably qualified patent examiners this way, let alone retain them
Gemini Links 13/10/2025: Good Films, Wizard of Earthsea, Upgrading the Steam Controller's Stick
Links for the day
Leaks and Whistleblowers: Our Plan for Today
Society simply cannot advance when too many people self-censor
It's Not Justice When One Side Denies the Other Side the Ability to Even Speak
At this stage, Brett Wilson LLP is in my humble opinion acting in contempt of the Court
Links 13/10/2025: Australian Catholic University Uses Slop to Libel Students, Canada Threatens to Kill Beluga Whales
Links for the day
How Not to Silence Tux Machines (It'll Only Backfire, Badly)
defending Microsoft while attacking this site
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT and Google News
It seems abundantly clear that Google News and Google in general participates in the slop epidemic
Vincent Danjean (not INTERPOL), Claire Bardel & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Christmas lynchings: Martin Krafft (madduck), Penny Leach (mjollnir) & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 13/10/2025: Birthdays and "Committee Unable to Contact Nobel Prize Winner"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 12, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 12, 2025