Links 20/02/2008: eBay Boycott, Yahoo Under Attack, Push for GNU/Linux in Russia
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2008-02-20 15:27:39 UTC
- Modified: 2008-02-20 15:27:39 UTC
Recent Techrights' Posts
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series: London Calling...
- EPO Vice-President in charge of the "Patent Granting Process" is likely to have been a pay-off for the support which the UK gave to Campinos in 2017
- Faking Productivity With Slop and Wasting Money on Faking 'Productivity': A Microsoft Story
- If the quality of everything at Microsoft goes down
- Wikipedia - Like Some Free Software Projects Infiltrated and Bribed - Bans Its Own Founder
- Over the years we've named (not shamed) some projects and organisations that got corrupted by money and ended up banning their own founders
- The “Aktion T4” at the European Patent Office (EPO) Saves Money for the President's Own Purse
- Call for parents of children with special needs
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- Don the Con Meets the Conman From IBM, Shares of IBM Continue Sliding Some More
- The "Quantum" hype did not last long [...] PIPs are the new layoffs
- Retaliatory Whistleblowing Expected at Microsoft During or After the Mass Layoffs
- Retaliatory behaviour by Microsoft will backfire
- Gemini Links 24/06/2026: Heatwave, Steam Next Fest, and Year of Buying Guitar Pedals
- Links for the day
- Links 24/06/2026: China Tops "TOP500", Impact of Microsoft’s Massive Layoffs Extends Further, Internet Society's Community Snapshot
- Links for the day
- While Thousands at IBM Lose Their Jobs ("Silent Layoffs") IBM's CEO Goes Begging the Dictator for Bailouts, Based on Deliberate Lies About "Quantum"
- Many who claim to be retiring are only in their 40s and 50s. They're too proud to publicly admit what IBM did to them.
- IBM Sends Workers 'Packing', Sometimes With the "Low Performer" Label That Imperils Their Future
- To many people out there, IBM correlates with deceit
- Links 24/06/2026: Four-Day Workweeks, GM Cut 1,000 Workers at Its EV Plant, 21,000+ Oracle Layoffs
- Links for the day
- A Step in the Right Direction (EU) in the Fight Against LLM Slop From GAFAM (US)
- We've already mentioned this in Daily Links, but let's discuss this a little further
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 117 Out of 200: Libel Tourism or Defamation Forum-Shopping in the United Kingdom Condemned by the European Union (EU)
- Last week we reminded readers that the EU had criticised UK defamation law
- Demonstration Next Week at the European Patent Office (EPO), Administrative Council Seen as Complicit
- Corruption in Europe hurts all of us
- IBM is Now Hinged on False Accounting and False Promises
- This is the legacy of the current CEO
- "PARTNER CONTENT" or 'Content Farms' That Promote Slop and Misinformation (The Register MS)
- The Register MS represents a big part of the problem we all face
- Turn Off the Slop, It's Wasting Energy and Destroying the Planet (the Only Planet We Have)
- Right now we see lots of headlines about energy shortages and drained-up reserves
- Lessons From Almost 30 Years of Site-Building Activities
- We still strive to become faster and lighter
- Do Not Outsource (the Seductive Mirage)
- Abandoning so-called 'conventional wisdom'
- Media Complicit in IBM Fraud Meant to Prop Up the Share Price Based on Lies, Fabrications
- Even IBM insiders are fuming at this
- In Some Countries, Windows Has Lost Its Monopoly
- Windows fell to an all-time low globally this month
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 23, 2026
- IRC logs for Tuesday, June 23, 2026
- Gemini Links 24/06/2026: Motivation, PostScript Printer, and Why Hyperscalers and the Smolnet are Compatible
- Links for the day
- The Media's "Satya Says" Syndrome Distracts From Grim Reality
- how insiders see Microsoft slop
- Oracle's Collapse Has Nothing to do With Slop, It's About Its Debt Exploding by Almost 50% in Just 12 Months
- How are people meant to trust the media?
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 116 Out of 200: 5 Years of Multiparty Lawfare Against Techrights, Funded by Americans and Also by Third Parties (Including Microsoft Salaries)
- The public and our government will be informed in full
- Now... a Word From Our Sponsor
- Powerade
- Links 23/06/2026: Microsoft Studio Closures and Journalism Subjected to Further Cuts
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 23/06/2026: Gardens, Basketball, Blocking Hyperscaler, and New Commodore Phone
- Links for the day
- Links 23/06/2026: Apple Price Hikes and Technical Debt in Slop
- Links for the day
- After IBM's Shares Collapsed the CEO is Trying the "Quantum" Trick Again, Bolstered by a Demented Dictator in the White House
- from what we can gather IBM's CEO is trying to get the US government to participate in the scam
- Greece Ought to Curb the Threat of Social Control Media
- its national discourse seems to be run by an American company called Facebook
- State of the GNU/Linux Desktop (and Laptop)
- The time to advocate GNU/Linux is now
- The 'XBox Narrative' Distracts From Destructive Cuts Across the Whole of Microsoft
- Microsoft is preparing to lay off a likely record-breaking number of people [...] this isn't just an XBox problem
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 115 Out of 200: Spending the Next Decade Writing About SLAPPs and Trying to Fix the System
- It's the same industry that got paid by corrupt EPO officials to try to cover up the corruption
- Microsoft's Stock Fell Nearly $200, But the Real Problems Are Just About to Begin
- if they dump slop, what will they tell shareholders?
- The Cyber Show on Starmer and Software Freedom
- The Cyber Show's Andy has just explained why our departing national leader wasn't all bad
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 22, 2026
- IRC logs for Monday, June 22, 2026
- Gemini Links 23/06/2026: Girlrotting, Homeworlds at BGA, Slop Ruins Sites
- Links for the day
- A Lifetime of Whistleblowing
- Ellsberg did not have an easy life, but it was a rewarding life with a rich legacy focusing on justice
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series: A Man With Many Missions...
- Campinos – accompanied by Gilles Requena and Patrice Pellegrino
- Links 22/06/2026: Ubisoft Co-founder Dies, Americans Have Turned Against Slop
- Links for the day
- Links 22/06/2026: "The Sycophancy Machine" and "Port 22 Open for 54 Days"
- Links for the day
- When People Who Make the Most Money Are the Best "Boot Lickers" (Sucking Up to Jeffrey Epstein's Circle and the Dictator)
- Sucking up to rich people may pay off
- The Aim is Not Fame
- Reposted from schestowitz.com
- "Internally Important, Externally Irrelevant": IBM in a Nutshell
- Right now its debt spins out of control and its stock spirals down the drain
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 114 Out of 200: Thousands of Long Articles to Come, Properly Covering the SLAPP Industry in the UK and Its Modus Operandi
- "Stowell described SLAPPs as ‘a stain on our legal system’."
- Finding a Way to Get Paid to Improve LibreJS
- So now we have more people resurrecting LibreJS and improving it
- Microsoft Can't Even Wait Until July, Shutdowns and Layoffs Already Happening
- Mashable speak of "a grim picture for the state of Xbox."
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 21, 2026
- IRC logs for Sunday, June 21, 2026
- Gemini Links 22/06/2026: Appreciating Simple Things, Perfect Summer Evening, IRIX, Vim and so
- Links for the day
Comments
Great
2008-02-20 15:54:42
Still want to kill Google. But they cant.
Google = Cool M$ = Sucks
Most of the top talent at Yahoo will move over to Google or some other company. M$ will be left behind with all the lousy people - and they will pay with all their cash reserves and go in debt.
That just made my day !!!
After few year the old monkey boy will be still throwing chairs around the office taking how fucking stupid they where by buying Yahoo. Difference will be they have lost a huge amount of market share to Linux and they will be in debt with their stock price spiralling downwards.
What kind of a fucking stupid company buys technology to shut it down (xen) and bribes reporters to discredit others products.
M$ is still arrogant that they will win. This will be their end. This is their last chance...
Roy Schestowitz
2008-02-20 16:24:20
Gates says it's the Yahoo employees that he wants, but it's unlikely to work out. The Yahoos don't want Microsoft. See the following recent articles:
Bradley Horowitz bids Yahoo farewell
,----[ Quote ] | Bradley Horowitz, who headed up Yahoo's Advanced Technology division, bid | adieu to the company in a blog entry posted on Valentine's Day. `----
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9873183-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Week in review: Yahoo snubs Microsoft
,----[ Quote ] | "The smell of fear and rage is pervasive on"The smell of fear and rage is | pervasive on campus," wrote one News.com reader to the TalkBack forum. "They | might as well have been told the Mansons were buying the place." campus," | wrote one News.com reader to the TalkBack forum. "They might as well have | been told the Mansons were buying the place." `----
http://www.news.com/Week-in-review-Yahoo-snubs-Microsoft/2100-1083_3-6230761.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news
Is Microsoft/Yahoo about Windows' failure as a top server platform?
,----[ Quote ] | Before my whiney enemies all get up in arms about yours truly once more | beating up on Microsoft, I'd like to point out that the idea of Microsoft | buying Yahoo being a tacit admission that Windows can't cut the mustard as a | top Internet server platform didn't originate with me. | | No, the credit, or blame if you prefer, goes to Marcelo Carvalho, an IT | manager in San Francisco and Damien Hocking, a Linux-Watch reader who brought | Carvalho's thoughts to my attention. `----
http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS8001941484.html
Yahoos won’t work for Microsoft
,----[ Quote ] | I work for Yahoo!, and I have had to explain to a few people recently why the | Microsoft buyout talks are so troubling for Yahoos. They don’t seem to | understand the severity of the impact that a Microsoft takeover will have. | | [...] | | Key reason #1 - Microsoft is anti open-source... | | [...] | | Key reason #2 - Microsoft is evil... `----
http://www.techyouruniverse.com/technology/yahoos-wont-work-for-microsoft
The real difference between Microsoft and Google
,----[ Quote ] | Microsoft can shuffle the deck chairs all it wants. | | It can buy Yahoo or YooHoo. It can trot out Steve Ballmer in Spandex and a | cape. | | Microsoft’s problem in competing with Google is far more basic. | | It’s organizational. | | | [...] | | It’s not about the money. It’s not about the fame. It’s not about the name on | the door. It’s not about becoming an executive. | | It’s about the work. It’s about doing something over the course of just a few | months and then seeing it online. It’s about trying, and sometimes failing, | then trying again. | | [...] | | So far I’ve seen no evidence this is going to happen. I think Microsoft’s bid | for Yahoo is proof of that. Once the deal goes down, all those smart | Yahoo-ers will be free to leave. The dumb ones will be left, waiting for | orders from Redmond. `----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=2025
Also see this new bit:
,----[ Quote ] | Would you believe... that Microsoft has dropped down to #86 within the | Fortune Best Places to Work survey? That's down from #50 in 2007 and #42 in | 2006. Like a rock. In a bad way. And who is #1 for two years in a row? Grab | that chair and give it a big effen toss in the air to Google! Toot! They get | bigger and they're still #1. `----
http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2008/02/some-quick-quips-yahoo-86-and-mspoll.html
Lastly consider:
Why Microsoft Should Fret
,----[ Quote ] | But what if at stake in the battle isn't just Microsoft's position in selling | ads, but the very survival of its core software business? Microsoft would | never admit that so much is on the line. `----
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120277476716860601.html?mod=yahoo_hs&ru=yahoo
Microsoft's Last Big Beat: Internet Domination or Death
,----[ Quote ] | What can $44.6B USD mean? Well, for Microsoft (MSFT) it may mean the cost of | survival. `----
http://seekingalpha.com/article/63876-microsoft-s-last-big-beat-internet-domination-or-death?source=yahoo
Microsoft to partners: It's time to change
,----[ Quote ] | Aiming to rally its partners around the reality of hosted software, Microsoft | Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner told them it was a matter of financial | life and death. `----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6195764.html
Microsoft's executive shuffle expected Thursday
,----[ Quote ] | The move will see three top executives--including two prominent outside | hires--out of a job. Leaving the company are: Senior Vice President Steven | Berkowitz, the former Ask.com CEO who had been heading Microsoft's online | services unit, and Mike Sievert, the former AT&T Wireless executive brought | in to run Windows marketing. Both Sievert and Berkowitz had already seen some | duties handed off to others at the company and their departures were largely | expected. | | Also leaving is Pieter Knook, longtime head of Microsoft's Windows Mobile | unit. `----
http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9871715-56.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Microsoft is Dead
,----[ Quote ] | A few days ago I suddenly realized Microsoft was dead. I was talking | to a young startup founder about how Google was different from Yahoo. | I said that Yahoo had been warped from the start by their fear of | Microsoft. That was why they'd positioned themselves as a "media | company" instead of a technology company. Then I looked at his face | and realized he didn't understand. It was as if I'd told him how much | girls liked Barry Manilow in the mid 80s. `----
http://www.paulgraham.com/microsoft.html
Will Microsoft Survive the Next 10 Years?
,----[ Quote ] | I am not really an expert in this but when I read all the negative | headlines and articles I ask myself if Microsoft really will survive | the next 10 years. | | [...] | | I am pretty sure that the Open Source Community, the new Ubuntu, | Google and of course Apple are those companies that are ready for | our century and they will get more and more people that know what | they really want. `----
http://websquirrel.blogspot.com/2007/03/will-microsoft-survive-next-10-years.html
Great
2008-02-20 16:58:06
Google is keeping its arm open for them - a welcome red carpet. It must have already started to woo them.
Google is going to annihilate M$. I think Google doesnt even care about M$+Yahoo merger - they care more about the consumers and making their products better - rather than crushing down competitors.
See a huge amount of deflection of best open source developers to Google after the hostile takeover.
Go Google !!!
M$ will be left with nothing but poo on their face. This will be their end.
Great
2008-02-20 17:10:13
They are no longer the industry leaders - just playing catchup
Look at the number of mass migration away from Windows platform - US army, Hardware OEM (asus, dell, hp, etc) Colleges, International Governments, developers, etc.
Last advatange they have is lot of money - that too is gone with Yahoo.
Great
2008-02-20 17:16:19
Miles
2008-02-20 18:53:59
1. cheaper dvds ($20 vs $40+) 2. cheaper players ($120 vs $350+) 3. same quality as blueray (used the same codecs) 4. harder to damage than Blu-Ray 5. HD DVD doesn't have region locking, Blu-Ray does.
Blu-Ray winning the battle doesn't hurt Microsoft nearly as much as it hurts consumers. HD DVD wasn't even Microsoft's format anyway, it was Toshiba's... which is the underdog compared to Sony.
IMHO, Sony is another Microsoft wannabe and that has made me very nervous about Blu-Ray.
If you look back over history, Sony has always tried to push some alternative media format - always more expensive for the consumer. And until now, they've always lost.
Roy Schestowitz
2008-02-20 23:25:59
BoomBoom
2008-02-21 01:48:45
I've been reading for awhile, and have been a happy PCLinuxOS user since last December, thanks to the dismal failure known as Vista + M$'s attempts to sabotage my XP pro install through the autoupdate feature. My solution to this mess, since I like my old games and Wine can't run some of them, was to reinstall XP with XP-lite, removing all the web services, Internet Exploiter, Outhouse Excess, ect, and setting up a dualboot with PCLOS, since M$ products can't be trusted on the web. I've always preferred Firefox and T-bird over IE/OE anyway. Despite the FUD that M$ shills and fanboys spew, I've found PCLOS easy to use and quick to pick up. This coming from a poweruser that hacked on XP to try to get it to do what I wanted. That's my personal middle digit salute to M$.
Now for the news I have. Scope this out and laugh: http://msdn.microsoft.com/events/hero/
Keep in mind that an 'evildoer' in M$'s view is everyone that has had enough of M$ brand FUD, crap code and malware.
Damn, I hope those bastards go out of business soon.
Roy Schestowitz
2008-02-21 02:17:01
Yes, I read about this site (it has been known of for a while, at least by Microsoft watchers) and I was going to ignore it. Giving that desperate attempt from Microsoft a mention is giving it publicity, which is why Slashdot has already done.
Prepare for Microsoft to pretend that it has changed in attempts to regain people's love. Sun already does this using its "we're a little bit pregnant with open source" gesture, but Sun is not malicious.