Microsoft: Cracking, racketeering, and corruption of officials

Satya Ballmer

Summary: The delusion of Microsoft as "open" or "law-abiding" still being promoted in the press, often by those who are paid by Microsoft

MICROSOFT is not a reformed company. Under Satya's supposed 'leadership' there is still patent extortion (see recent examples) and Microsoft is attacking ODF, an international standard, after the British government selected it (basically not requiring all British citizens to become customers of Microsoft and proprietary spyware users). Based on this inquiry from Glyn Moody (British journalist), Microsoft lobbyists or some proxy of Microsoft like BSA are almost definitely still working hard to intercept pro-standards policies, not just FOSS policies. Watch what Moody writes:

Readers with good memories may recall that back in 2012, I put in a Freedom of Information request to the Cabinet Office regarding an astonishing U-turn it had performed on the matter of open standards. To my surprise, I received back a treasure trove of emails documenting Microsoft's intense - and evidently successful - lobbying against the move to openness.

[...]

As you can see, that was nearly a month ago, and I have still not received the full reply, which means that the Cabinet Office is now really late. And that, in its turn, probably means that there is obviously something very interesting regarding open standards and Microsoft, which the Cabinet Office is reluctant to let me see. Time for another email reminding them of their legal obligations, I think....

It is rather telling, is it not?

Despite all this, amid the latest openwashing by Microsoft, there are so-called journalists (working as Microsoft-funded analysts, but we shall refrain from naming this one person or his employer) who say that Microsoft "Suspicion [is] Waning", adding the usual Satya-washing of Microsoft (making it look like the company has changed under new public-facing leadership). The journalist says: "Though there typically is no shortage of pushback against Microsoft when it makes open source moves, the skepticism and suspicion seem to be giving way to technicality and practicality, both within and outside of Microsoft. By continuing to promote openness, integration and true collaboration with other vendors and technologies, including open source, Microsoft is doing its part to ensure its place in key trends such as cloud computing and devops" (just buzzwords, no substance there).

This is complete and utter hogwash. There has been nothing more dangerous than Microsoft entryism and increased influence in bodies like the Linux Foundation, which evidently learned no lessons from Nokia. They take Microsoft's money and the outcome is self-evident.

People who try to sell us the idea that Microsoft is now better (or ethical) just don't pay attention to facts. Microsoft is actively attacking everything FOSS, standards, and GNU/Linux. Selective attention or selective reporting is the tool of propagandists. These people are part of the problem and it's hardly shocking that some of them (almost all of them) are paid by Microsoft. ⬆