What is sometimes referred to as the Microsoft "talking points" has an impact on OpenDocument format's reputation and the understanding (or lack thereof) of OOXML. The only way to combat this is by spreading information, not lies (which would be a case of fighting fire with fire). There are thousands of known Microsoft bloggers and even AstroTurfers. It is no secret that while trawling or searching the Web, one is likely to absorb the biased view of people who are paid to deliver their opinion or those with hidden motives (vested interests).
Those who care about free competition and open standards can try to compensate for disinformation merely by blogging. As simple as that may sound, Microsoft's functional ownership of the media is hard to defeat. The OOXML frauds, for instance, have scarcely been covered in publications with high levels of reach. This alarming knowledge escapes wide circulation which it deserves. Almost nobody wrote about the ISO's own admission that Microsoft had gamed the system and stacked those committees. Microsoft still appears to be working on stacking. It may do this yet again as it prepares for the BRM.
”Microsoft was caught spamming the blackhat way in the past.“Curious minds have wondered how Microsoft manages to manipulate Google PageRank, as well as other types of ranks which increase exposure and traffic. Microsoft was caught spamming the blackhat way in the past. This is clearly proven in numerous SEO forums. There is no question about that. We're talking about heavy keyword stuffing and doorway pages that justify an immediate ban from most search engines. Microsoft still does that. It has no guilt as is frequently resorts to such tactics, protected by ego, arrogance and endless vanity. It's the benevolent emperor in its own eyes, so its self-glorifying message must cancel or supersede all else.
Here are some of the latest incidents that show Microsoft's selfish behaviour on the Web:
1. Bots Helped To Boost Microsoft Live Search Gains
In a blog post, Compete analyst Steve Willis attributed Microsoft's search gains to prizes awarded to users participating in Live Search Club, which features games that post queries to Microsoft's search engine.
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"Microsoft is essentially being DDoSed by thousands of people hundreds of times per minute, but they are mistaking this rise in traffic for people actually using Live Search."
People were using the macro on more than 3 games at a time, on more than 2 accounts at a time, why Microsoft didn’t pick up on the fact that in the first few days some people had accumulated enough for 3 Zunes each is beyond us. Some were lucky, others, not so much.
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So far no one has been banned from using their accounts, which they needed to sign up, probably because they did not break any laws, or probably because Microsoft didn’t want that hassle and liked their new found traffic.
Dear reader, please tell me: what do you think of a search engine that steals (bandwidth and AdSense revenue), lies, spams away, and is not clever enough to stop their criminal activities when they’re caught?
Recently a Live Search rep whined in an interview because so many robots.txt files out there block their crawler...
Yahoo sites had 22.9 percent of the U.S. market, a 0.8 percentage-point fall from September. Microsoft slipped to 9.7 percent from 10.3 percent, Ask was flat at 4.7 percent and Time Warner's network dipped 0.1 percentage point to 4.2 percent.
Political caroling against media concentration.
Stop the FCC's holiday giveaway to Big Media. Kevin Martin, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has been keeping a secret from the American people. He wants to push through plans to remove decades-old media ownership protections. And he's trying to do it without public scrutiny. No FCC broadcast-newspaper cross-ownership waivers for the Tribune Company.