Microsoft embedded in the press

Summary: Some new examples of Microsoft boosters rewriting history, characterising Microsoft as a FOSS champion, and generally weak/shallow reporting on Microsoft's audio/video surveillance software

Microsoft is in serious trouble and it is aware of this (just ask Microsoft employees). It is seeking an identity change and a longtime Microsoft booster, Todd Bishop, releases his latest spamvertisement with which to openwash Microsoft. He is not alone though. Microsoft's booster and business partner Tony Bradley (pictured above) runs a similar spamvertisement with the goal of openwashing Microsoft. Watch the propaganda banner at the top. Bradley must be afraid that Microsoft's death would doom his personal business. That's why he keeps attacking real FOSS and trying to portray Microsoft as a FOSS company.

Another leading booster of Microsoft (who receives gifts from Microsoft), Ed Bott, releases some more of his spamvertisements to pretend Nadella will change much. It's quite common to see Nadella's image used for openwashing, based on nothing of substance. The management at the back room is still the same; this is just reputation laundering. ZDNet plays a role in it, but given its strong connection to Microsoft people -- including Microsoft staff as 'journalists' -- none of it should be shocking. These are not journalists but marketing people with a platform that calls itself 'news'. There is another new example that a reader told us about. It was published by AOL some days ago and our reader called it "spam and possible revisionism."

"It's quite common to see Nadella's image used for openwashing, based on nothing of substance."He explained that "MSIE wasn't released until later to fight Netscape. NCSA Mosaic what the browser in use in 1994."

The last example we have does not mention surveillance aspects of Skype (as confirmed by Snowden's leaks about Microsoft) and does not mention FOSS or surveillance-free alternatives. It is this article about forced Skype 'upgrades' with new back doors (or bug doors). The article says: "The downside of this for Microsoft/Skype is that they can't get people to use all their new services - or see their new ads - if there are so many older versions.

"Similarly, they can't move to new technical architectures that may provide better service when they have to also support a long history of past releases. (For example, their move away from the peer-to-peer architecture that was their original highlight to more of a centralized "cloud" architecture to provide better support for mobile clients.)"

Interestingly, as pointed out here, Microsoft is essentially deserting Vista Phone 7 useds [sic.], which leads to heckling. To quote: “We are permanently retiring all Skype apps for Windows Phone 7. As a result, within the next few weeks, you’ll no longer be able to sign in and use Skype on any Windows Phone 7 device” (repeating the original source).

You know Microsoft is in serious trouble when it abandons even its own clients. It's not as though many use Vista Phone 7. It was an utter failure. ⬆