Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Uses Novell Patents to Not Only Threaten But Also Daemonise Google

Finger and string



Summary: Microsoft starts a campaign of lies against Google because Google exposes Microsoft's serious antitrust violations just when an antitrust official in the CPTN/Novell case becomes antitrust chief

MICROSOFT wants to have it both ways with CPTN, a collective of Novell's patents. On the one hand Microsoft wants to intimidate Google (threats of legal action) and on the other hand it wants to use CPTN to characterise Google as an "evil" patent hoarder. Microsoft's chief liar from Waggener Edstrom is responsible for this utterly shameless PR strategy, which was supposed to distract people from the real news about Microsoft conspiring with Apple to attack Google's Android (Linux). This is not the first time that we see such strategic decoy. We saw that some days ago when Motorola and Google had an announcement to make and also when Microsoft got caught in a major scandal, plagiarising Google results by tracking users. Microsoft tried to deflect by painting Google -- not itself -- as the villain in this story.



Being a disgusting, despicable liar is not a crime; it's Microsoft's modus operadi.

So anyway, what is the non-story Microsoft used to distract people away from its patent racket which raises antitrust issues based on Google's own statements (we wrote about it last week)? It is this utter nonsense, which, if anything, shows Microsoft being rejected and Google doing the right thing. As Bloomberg's headline put it (the real story), "Google Says Microsoft’s Offer to Join Novell Bid Was a Ploy". To quote:

When Microsoft asked Google to take part in a bid for Novell’s patents, it wanted to block the Internet-search giant from gaining protection against the other bidding partners, Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond said today.

“Making sure that we would be unable to assert these patents to defend Android -- and having us pay for the privilege -- must have seemed like an ingenious strategy to them,” Drummond said this afternoon on Google’s blog, updating a posting he wrote yesterday. “We didn’t fall for it.”


The whole thing began when a Microsoft PR liar (originally from its PR agency Waggener Edstrom) started a confrontation in Twitter and made it look like both sides were fighting (the reality is that Google was the victim, Microsoft the aggressor).

Microsoft are such disgusting liars. In order to get some media attention (they can pull the right strings), they pretend to have made a 'leak' available, rather than issue something electronically. Putting aside confidentiality violations (Microsoft doesn't give a damn about the law or about ethics), what it shows is far from evidence of crime. If anything, perhaps Google should respond by making a new searchable site for Comes vs Microsoft, full with evidence of Microsoft's aggression and its crime lasting decades. This includes evidence of an attack on charities because these may help Google.

Now, watch who is becoming antitrust chief? According to The Hill, it is the same person who led "antitrust [...] in the CPTN/Novell case", ending up with a GPL-compatible compromise. To quote:

Pozen came to the Antitrust Division in February 2009 as chief of staff and counsel. She was the lead antitrust official in the CPTN/Novell case, which involved a group of tech firms including Microsoft and Apple being forced to license old Novell patents to the open-source community.


Maybe there is hope that this official will also see how Microsoft is distorting the CPTN saga in order to daeminise Google and meanwhile hide its own serious antitrust violations.

And how about Microsoft's mole which was put inside Nokia, possibly to attack Google using patents in the near future? That too is part of the collusion we might see later this year. According to this report, Microsoft's mole in Nokia "Warns Of Google-Motorola Deal". Anyone surprised?

"Stephen Elop who came from Microsoft to take control of Nokia has done little to help Nokia, but everything to help Microrosft," writes Muktware. "Interestingly the guinea pig Nokia phone N9 running Nokia's own OS MeeGo, which was hugely appreciated did not impress Elop. He flatly said that even if N9 does well the company will not change the course from becoming the delivery truck for Microsoft."

Further down it says: "According to my observation the message ex-president of Microsoft's Business Division, now in charge of Nokia, seems to be giving is:

* Nokia's shutdown of MeeGo is OK * Microsoft's repeated attack on Android players it OK * Spreading FUD via proxies (Edward J. Naughton, Florian Mueller) is OK * But if Google acquires Motorola to protect itself from the attacks of Microsoft that is not OK.

"Whenever I read comments from Stephen Elop, the ex-president of Microsoft's Business Division now in charge of Nokia to make it a hardware delivery truck for Microsoft, I struggle to figure out myself, why this comment seems to be coming from Microsoft!"

Microsoft is like a cancer that attaches itself to companies and the antitrust regulators are simply not doing their job. Moreover, Microsoft is lying like truth is a sin and nobody in the corporate press calls them out on it.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Passage of Wealth Upwards, Blaming the Victims
Tim Sweeney's net worth is 5.1 billion USD according to Forbes
EPO Strike Begins Today and It's the Longest One Yet (Can Last a Year)
Where's the media?
People Discuss Rumours of Mass Layoffs at IBM Becoming Public in 1-2 Weeks
IBM is killing its brand or its "goodwill"
 
Links 30/03/2026: "We Can’t Income-Tax Ultra-Elites"; "The Pirate Bay’s Oldest Torrent Turned 22"
Links for the day
Today, Europe's Second-Largest Institution (EPO) Goes on Strike That Can Last Until 2027. Nobody in the Media Covers This!
"We stand with the protesters"
When the Cost (or Time) of Maintenance Exceeds the Value
In recent years it seems like more people learn to remove things from their lives, not add more things
More Media Needs to Tell the Public Slop is a Giant Bubble, It Should Stop Taking "Sponsorship" Money to Inflate This Bubble
If enough of (what's left of) the media changes its tune and quits being a parrot of GAFAM, then we can debate slop like grown-ups
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 29, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, March 29, 2026
Trying to Hide One's Abuses by Imposing Silence on Critics ("My Profile Was Private")
With enough daylight, sooner or later everyone knows you are a vampire
Fedora Badges System Shows the Demise of Fedora Under IBM
IBM isn't good at keeping what it buys
IBM is Sunsetting Red Hat, It Only Uses the Brand and the Shell
IBM buys or spins off companies as containers for "toxic assets" and debt
Cisco Systems is a Still Weak Spot With Bug Doors
nothing to offer except storytelling
Gemini Links 30/03/2026: Approaching April and Arvelie Calendar
Links for the day
No Daylight Saved
Is there still any practical reason for this ritual?
Microsoft Azure Does Not Have "Hiring Freezes", It Has Had Mass Layoffs Every Year Since 2020
Things are always a lot worse than Microsoft formally or publicly acknowledges
SLAPP Censorship - Part 27 Out of 200: Using the Tor Network to Hide From Consequences
Only 1-2 weeks after the countersuit the Canadian attempted to deplatform several Web sites
The Limits of Inclusion
Inclusion with caution isn't "opinionated"; it's a defence mechanism, sometimes a survival instinct
Almost 20 Years After Microsoft/Novell
The mission has not changed, but the priorities evolve all the time
LLM Slop Kills Sites, as Sites That Adopt Slop Are Doomed
People won't subscribe to such sites and visit them if they recognise it's just slop
Links 29/03/2026: Indonesia Cracks Down on Social Control Media Addiction, China Becomes World’s Scientific Superpower
Links for the day
Fedora at the Mercy of Microsoft Because of Back-Doored Kick-Switch Boot
We'll soon revisit the defamation attacks on Torvalds
Links 29/03/2026: Water Shortages and No Kings Rallies
Links for the day
The Old Days
In the early days of this site (2006) it was mostly just a couple of people, plus comments
Gemini Links 29/03/2026: Return to Gopherspace, "Zen of Marking Playing Cards"
Links for the day
The Real XBox is Dead, So Microsoft is Calling Everything "XBox" Now
It even wanted to run a campaign to convince everybody that XBox is not actually a console
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 28, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, March 28, 2026
Open Web Destroyed by Centibillionaires, Says Anil Dash of Blogging Fame
Blogging was going through its 'prime years' about 20 years ago
"Linux" Slop Going Away, Microsoft et al Pay 'Linux' Foundation to Promote Slop
It's a timely reminder that the Linux Foundation exists to promote whoever pays the Linux Foundation, even pedophiles and companies that attack the GPL
Links 28/03/2026: Microsoft's LinkedIn a National Security Risk, Microsoft's Slop "Ambitions Face Investor Scrutiny Amid Soaring Costs"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/03/2026: "Finding My Base Tone", "Astrobotany", and BugoutBack/OFFLFIRSOCH
Links for the day
Links 28/03/2026: More Worldwide Bans on Social Control Media (Harms to Adolescents), Protests in US Against Dictatorship
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 26 Out of 200: Asking for Documents and Information You Already Have, Even Letters and E-mails That You Yourself Sent!
barristers are expensive
Gemini Links 28/03/2026: Echo Delay and 0x0.st
Links for the day
Rumours of More IBM Mass Layoffs at Beginning of April
IBM is not doing well
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, March 27, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, March 27, 2026