Bonum Certa Men Certa

Dirty Tricks by Proxy (Against GNU/Linux)

'They are telling HP that they wil NOT be part of this launch and that BillG has said "fxxk HP (all divisions) if they won't sign a Windows license."'

--Comes vs. Microsoft exhibit [PDF] (more here)



Wise men have said before that, from Bill Gates himself, there are not so many 'smoking guns' (there's no lack, either). He typically assigns the dirty jobs to some of his colleagues. This is shown more clearly in many of the exhibits from Comes vs. Microsoft.



At a corporate level, as a company, Microsoft uses the same technique to rid itself from guilt, liability, and legal risk. It can use one of its many partners (or a large combination thereof) to accomplish its business goals in return for something.

“Novell and Microsoft are undeniably a pair.”This type of discussion revolves around and transcends so many levels. Novell too is an example. At the sight of a particular Mono application, one reader told us yesterday (by E-mail): "Unfortunately there are many Mono apps out there now (the disease is spreading), but AFAICT this particular one is not in the core of Gnome, so it isn't something to be uniquely concerned about.

"Anyway, I've completely lost interest in Gnome now. If they want to sleep with the enemy then let them ... it's their funeral. I'll be using KDE from now on."

This is discouraging not for the most obvious reasons because Novell wants to control the GNU/Linux desktop along with Microsoft. Novell and Microsoft are undeniably a pair.

Another reader sent us another reason for concern. It's about ASUS and it's something that was previously covered here and here. ASUS says that it has a new tie with Microsoft. The reader argues: "One thing I noticed this summer and going back to last year is that the pre-installed linux systems sell out fast, but take ages and ages to restock. That makes it look like the production is not following the law of supply and demand. Here's an example with Asus:

Asus produces Linux and XP Eees in equal numbers, she claimed, and will continue to do so: the Linux Eees are the better selling models. "We think our version of Linux is how we will stand out from our competitors," she said.

That may explain why there aren't any now: they've been sold, leaving only the less popular XP models still available to buy.


"The article puts the blame on Intel, but Microsoft rarely works directly, see PX3096 for details. It's the same way elsewhere." says this reader.

"However, some hardware vendors are able to drop the leg shackles."

This could be another example where Microsoft is pressuring OEMs. There are heaps of proven history to teach about this. It required severe legal action before discovery because Microsoft's deal are typically focused on secrecy. Information disclosure is violation of the secret contracts.

Back to ASUS, they could be lying. Their excuses make a lot less sense than this report, which is based on this interview.

Hypothetically, says one reader, "I expect it's more like this:

Q: Did you force Asus to make it hard to buy Linux? Microsoft: No!

Q: Did you get Intel to force Asus to make it hard to buy Linux? Microsoft: No comment.

The reader then adds that it's "[l]ike fronting Business Software Alliance or RIAA/MPAA to take the bad press.

"It's just he's doing more to apply his business tactics to his personal quest for more power. Microsoft has basically been a political beast since he started hiring up the beltway lobbyists at the end of the 1990's. Now he's building further, but more personally associated with himself."

The close relationship between Intel and Microsoft was described and illustrated here, as well as in some other posts (remember the OLPC fiasco).

Further adds our reader: "IBM really has to start standing up to Microsoft.

"Which leads be back to the question I posed some months ago, what place in society is there for these people who have chosen to deceive every one else in regards to "IT" issues and have chosen to goad people and businesses into products that not only work poorly, compared to the competition, but actually cause harm."

Examples of work by proxy also include ACT and CompTIA [1, 2], which Var Guy has just written about.

CompTIA Breakaway: Open Source Misses Big Opportunity



[...]

CompTIA Breakaway, held in Orlando, Florida, this week, was a successful conference for hundreds of VARs and managed service providers. Foolishly, open source companies that need channel strategies skipped the show. Here’s why The VAR Guy was alarmed.


The comments may be more informative than the 'news'. Some recent examples of CompTIA's (leg)work for Microsoft:



Also see the notes on CompTIA's new OOXML lobbyist from EMCA [1, 2, 3]. It is an orgy of money and influence.

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