Bonum Certa Men Certa

Vista 7 Defeated by Disobedient 'Consumers', But Florian Müller Likes it and Makes Friends With Microsoft Apologists

Steve Ballmer



Florian Müller



Summary: Vista 7 refunds become possible, Microsoft apologist Florian Müller makes friends in the Mono camp, and MSNBC writes about malware on the Spanair computer system, but somehow it doesn't mention Windows

E

ARLIER TODAY we wrote about Tim's efforts to open the door for Vista 7 refunds in the UK. There's good news because it's succeeding. A few hours ago Tim wrote: "My quest for a Windows 7 refund has gone well. Apparently Acer will be refunding me. I'll keep people posted!"

This is great news and it can help British people (even Europeans) demand a refund not just from Acer. It's all about precedence and it needs to be publicised. Refunds are possible if one tries hard enough, knows which prior cases to cite, and knows the exact procedures to follow.

Let's face it; Vista 7 is just lipstick on a pig (Vista) and security-wise it's even worse than predecessors. The former managing editor of Linux Today has just had to use Vista 7 for a while and he says that "looks aren't everything" (referring to deceiving appearances and labels). From his post:

This anecdote kept bopping around my head this week, when I've had the opportunity to work on Windows 7 more than I usually do.

[...]

It's still Windows.

And that that means is that no matter how much anti-virus software I would put on this platform, and how many security precautions I take, whenever I start visiting the Internet, which is easily 50 percent of where I do my job, the risk factor for getting infected by malware is far more than using Linux.

The lesson here, as always, is that pretty looks aren't everything. It's easy to get distracted by the gadgets, gimmicks and all the shiny, especially as a geek. But is it worth your data? Because, to me, the ability to keep my work and personal data secure is way more important than transparent windows or

And, it's not like Linux doesn't have eye candy and shiny of its own, if that is indeed what floats your boat. GNOME, KDE, and even LXDE offer gorgeous, streamlined interfaces that are getting better with each release.


Want to know who happily uses Vista 7? Florian Müller, the guy who pretends to represent "FOSS" interests when it comes to patents (while defending RAND, which is incompatible with Free software). Well, Müller is a complicated story of what seems like a Microsoft lobbyist. Right now (all day today) he is busy talking with all the Mono boosters and those who only ever attack Techrights while defending Microsoft. It's like he finally found his colleagues. It's amusing really as it invalidates and voids any credibility he had left as a lobbyist for "FOSS". It's a fake friend.

A couple of days ago we showed how Müller blamed Trojans and malware on IBM (he wants people to believe that IBM -- not Microsoft -- is a threat to "FOSS"). Watch this coverage from MSNBC. Being Microsoft's pseudo-press the imported article says and does nothing to call out Windows. MSNBC was previously caught censoring an existing article which named Windows as the cause of a problem. Here is a portion of this article: [via]

The malware on the Spanair computer has been identified as a type of Trojan horse. It could have entered the airline's system in a number of ways, according to Jamz Yaneeza, head threat researcher at Trend Micro.

Some of the most likely ways are through third party devices such as USB sticks, Yaneeza said, which were responsible for the International Space Station virus infection in 2008, or through a remote VPN connection that may not have the same protection as a computer within the enterprise network. Opening just one malicious file on a single computer is all it takes to infect an entire system.

"Any computer that is connected to a network is vulnerable to a malware infection," O. Sami Saydjari, president of Cyber Defense Agency, told TechNewsDaily. "Standards have not been set to protect critical infrastructure."


Those who foolishly believe Müller might think that it's a mainframe's fault. He increasingly becomes a source of humour.

Recent Techrights' Posts

[Meme] Reliable Sources
Sooner or later LLMs swallow up their own lies (that they generated), which means that over time those things will only deteriorate further, exacerbating an already-large misinformation pandemic
Free Software Foundation's Miriam Bastian: We Surpassed Our Year-end Goal of $400,000 USD Thanks to You!
Miriam Bastian: We surpassed our year-end goal of $400,000 USD!
 
Status of New Year's Resolutions
3 weeks later
"The AI Bubble is Popping", Now It's Bailout Time
The hype will quietly fizzle, just like "blockchains"
[Meme] When the Government of the Netherlands Participates in Your Crimes It Lacks an Incentive to Hold You Accountable for Crimes
the EPO's corrupt management boasted (on television) that it would ignore rulings against it even if issued by the highest Dutch court
Links 23/01/2025: US Constitution Already Besieged (Impeachable Offences Pile Up), Arrest Warrant for Assad
Links for the day
Microsoft's Head of Business Development Quits (Days After Two Large Waves of Mass Layoffs)
We recently learned that people close to the management are very stressed this month
BetaNews Plagiarising Work in the Linux Space
The originals won't even be listed
Gemini Links 23/01/2025: US Politics and DevOps Career
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, January 22, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Links 22/01/2025: Jeju Air Blame-Shifting (Talk to the Wall), Copyright Maximalism Rebounds
Links for the day
[Meme] The 'Garbage in, Garbage Out' Patent Office
"law of the buzzword"
Clueless and Nontechnical EPO Management Uses the 'Great Scam' (Hey Hi Hype) to Justify Automation Where It's Both Detrimental and Illegal
The EPC has been practically set aflame; thus, the EPO has no legitimacy or reason to exist anymore
Links 22/01/2025: Democratising Tech Initiative and "Bye Bye Meta"
Links for the day
The Japanese translation of the term "free software"
by Akira Urushibata
Links 22/01/2025: "The AI Bubble Is Bursting" and Microsoft's Scam Altman is Already Looking for De Facto Bailout From the Insurrectionist
Links for the day
Dr. Andy Farnell's Latest Article About Software Freedom and Richard Stallman
why Dr. Stallman is being picked on
Geminispace (Gemini Protocol) Offers an Escape From Social Control Networks Owned by Oligarchs and Governments
Gemini capsules that promote fascism and retreat to feudalism are rare and scarce
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has Formally Added an Outreach and Communications Coordinator
Maybe the addition happened last year (we mentioned it in passing), but now it's in the "rota"
Electronic Frontier Foundation: Fighting 'for the Poor and Powerless' While Taking Home $336,000 in Annual Salary
nowadays works for or serves not the interests of the masses
Of Note: The Misguided, Infiltrated, Weakened Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Now Operating at a Loss of Over a Million Dollars
Worst since the COVID-19 lockdowns
[Meme] Omit Microsoft When It's a Scandal or a Breach, Whereupon It Becomes Just an 'IT Company'
Microsoft is like a cult. Members of this cult promote the opposite of security, expecting to be financially rewarded for it.
Calling Out Windows (TCO) is Apparently Impermissible in Some News Sites
The online news sites are failing us (and corporate sponsors play a role)
Richard Stallman's Remarks on His Pain
Published two days ago
Focusing on the Issues
we'll do our best to find the news and not talk about "Mr. T"
Only About 3.6% of Web Users in Pakistan Use Vista 11, According to statCounter
It's not hard to see why so far in 2025 Microsoft has already had several waves of mass layoffs - more than any other company
Rumour: In IBM, Impending "25% Reduction in Finance Roles"
25% to be laid off?
[Meme] Fake Articles From linuxsecurity.com (Just Googlebombing "Linux" With LLM Slop)
Google should really just entirely delist that site
RedHat.com Written by Microsoft Staff, Promoting Microsoft' Proprietary Software That Does Not Even Run on Linux!
This is RedHat.com this week...
Links 22/01/2025: Mass Layoffs at Stripe, Microsoft's Illegal Accounting Practices Under Scrutiny
Links for the day
Fake 'Article' by Brittany Day (Guardian Digital, Inc) About Linux Mint 22.1 'Xia'
Apparently they've convinced themselves that this is OK
Red Hat Dumps "Inclusive Language", Puts "Master" In Official Communications and Headlines
Red Hat: you CANNOT say "master" (because it is racist). Also Red Hat: we put in it our headlines.
Red Hat Offers DRM, TPM, and Backed Doored 'Confidential' Containers (CoCo) for Microsoft (Proprietary Spyware)
No kidding!
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, January 21, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Gemini Links 21/01/2025: Media Provocations and Nazis Not Tolerated
Links for the day
[Meme] Plagiarism Does Not Eliminate Jobs by Replacing Humans, It Replaces Human Knowledge With False Cruft
We need to boycott sites that fake their output
Slopwatch: BetaNews Plagiarism and LLM Slop by UNIXMen
"state-of-the-art" plagiarism
What Fedora, OpenSUSE, and Debian Elections Teach Us About the State of Weak (or Fake) Communities
They show a total lack of trust in these communities
[Meme] Doing Dog's Job (Not God's Job)
The FSF did not advertise the talk by RMS (its founder), who spoke in France almost exactly 23 hours ago
Links 21/01/2025: Mass Layoffs in "Security" at Microsoft (Despite Microsoft Promising It Would Improve After Many Megabreaches), Skype is Dead (Quietly)
Links for the day
Alternate Version of Daniel Pocock's 2024 Talk, "Technology in European Parliament Election Campaign"
There's loud ovation at the end of the talk
Gemini Links 21/01/2025: London Library, Kobo Sage, and Beyerdynamic DT 48 E
Links for the day
The January 20 Public Talk by Richard Stallman (Around Midday ET), Livestream 'Assassinated' by Google's YouTube
our guess is that the 'cancel mob' sabotaged it, possibly by making a lot of false reports to YouTube
[Meme] Free Software and Socially-Engineered Groupthink (to Serve Big Sponsors Like Google and Microsoft)
They do this to RMS all the time
[Video] Daniel Pocock's Public Talk About Free Software Politics, Social Engineering, Debian Deaths and Suicides, Coercion and Exploitation of Women
took many months to get
BetaNews Cannot Survive If Its Fake Articles Are Just SPAM for Companies Like AOHi and Aren't Even Composed by Humans
This is what domains or former "news" sites do when they die and look very desperately for "another way"
Pocock shot in the face, shot in the back, shot on Hitler's birthday saving France, Belgium and FOSDEM
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Dr Richard Stallman in Montpellier, Robert Edward Ernest Pocock in France
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, January 20, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, January 20, 2025