Bonum Certa Men Certa

Dubious News From Microsoft Boosters

Alcoholic



Summary: Fake sorts of coverage and spin come from people whose career is not reporting but lobbying

IN THE PREVIOUS post we showed that Microsoft funds books which are favourable to its agenda. News sites too are becoming filled with Windows book authors (sellers) who pretend to provide unbiased coverage. Examples include Mary Jo Foley and Ed Bott from ZDNet, even Preston Gralla from IDG. Some people do not know these authors' relationship with Microsoft and that's fine. They might learn over time and we still have this out-of-date "Credibility Index" for those who wish not to memorise.



Earlier today some reader from Europe sent us this link which says that Vista Phony 7 [sic] is a huge, huge disaster for some gullible buyers who actually opted for it (there are not many such buyers).

Some customers' phones were downloading 50 GB per day, leaving them stuck with $10,000+ bills


For those to whom this is new, we have a decent old post about it. Like the MSBBC did at the time, Peter Bright is spinning it in Fox Technica (Peter and Emil are the principal Microsoft boosters in Fox Technica). Peter is blaming "unnamed 3rd party" along with Microsoft as he gives visibility to Microsoft's damage control without at all being sceptical as any reporter should be. It is also means of diversion, where the entity all blame gets diverted to is not named and therefore cannot and need not defend itself, or bounce back blame at Microsoft. In summary, this is classic spin that took weeks to prepare and it resembles what Microsoft did when Zune froze at the end of a year due to a major bug. It's all just a strategy for averting a bad name and spreading a fairy tale to stick -- one that Microsoft can point the finger at later and pretend innocence. We gave some examples in the past, but none which involved Vista Phony 7 [sic]. It was released prematurely and it shows.

“Peter is blaming "unnamed 3rd party" along with Microsoft as he gives visibility to Microsoft's damage control without at all being sceptical as any reporter should be.”Speaking of phones, Microsoft Florian pushes his anti-Android/Linux venom not by promoting Vista Phony 7 (which he did to a degree) but by advancing Microsoft's more major competition to Android, which is patent lawsuits. This includes lawsuits from friends of Microsoft. And having sucked up to the technology editor for a while (in Twitter and perhaps privately too), Microsoft Florian managed to spread his rhetoric outside his tiny blog. Since he is consistently promoting Microsoft's agenda and always refusing to deny being paid by Microsoft, many people just assume he is a Microsoft lobbyist right now (a one-word answer would confirm/deny it, but he chooses to decline to answer). He is also pushing his anti-OIN and pro-CPTN views these days, which leaves too little to the imagination and since sites in many languages discuss the CPTN situation [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], he strives to warp the coverage, mostly by mass-mailing journalists.

Here is the first report that we found about the joint complaint from the OSI and the FSF. Joab Jackson and Chris Kanaracus co-edited this report:

OSI and FSF argue that there is not enough public information surrounding the deal, and that, given the influence of the companies, such secrecy could hide "nefarious intentions," the statement charges.

"Given the potential for collusion between these competitors to reduce competition amongst them and to harm competition that exists in the marketplace today, competition would be better served by the Department of Justice thoroughly investigating the facts and evidence concerning this transaction, rather than giving them the benefit of the commercial doubt," the statement reads.

Earlier this week, the European Union expressed no opposition to the deal. OSI and the FSF had also filed a request with the German Federal Cartel Office last month.


Can the German Federal Cartel Office also investigate Microsoft's relationship with Microsoft Florian, since the subject is so suspiciously secretive?

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft a Top Sponsor at Red Hat Summit (IBM Selling Proprietary Spyware and Back Doors in a "Red" Trench Coat)
They both work for Microsoft
New 'Interview' With - or Talk Coverage of - Richard Stallman in the European Union
automated English translation
Gemini Links 20/05/2025: LLM Scraper Bots in Gopher and "Starmer and the Somewheres"
Links for the day
Skype Fell Off a Cliff (Microsoft Killed It), All Microsoft Has Left Now is Slop and Spaghetti Code
"This isn’t about AI. This is a puppet show to drive stock prices up and down."
Slopfarms (Machine-Generated Fake News Sites Authored by Bots With Slop Images) Spread GNU FUD
This isn't about Linux (GNU doesn't run just on Linux)
United States Federal Government's Digital Analytics Program (DAP): GNU/Linux Users Represent Close to 6% of Visitors This Year
How far has GNU/Linux gotten? Very far!
The "LLM Ouroboros of Shit" is Complemented by Even Worse Phenomena Caused by Microsoft's Contribution of SPAM and Pollution
Microsoft became a world leader in promotion of LLM slop
The LLM Ouroboros Phenomenon
Fact #1: over time slop gets worse (training set is like some blurry JPEG). Fact #2: People's "smell" for slop improves over time, as they 'train' on slop and can detect it based on prior encounters. Put 1 and 2 together.
 
Links 20/05/2025: "Bankrupt 23andMe Just Sold Off All Your DNA Data" and "Free Speech Warriors" MIA
Links for the day
Openwashing of Windows, Back Doors, Persistent Surveillance, Keyloggers, Screen Loggers, DRM and So On
WSL is not "Linux", it's Windows
IBM Mass Redundancies Likely This Coming Thursday
We're not in a position to judge if that's true or false
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 19, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, May 19, 2025
The Official SUSE Blog Uses LLM Slop to Compose Fake Articles Promoting Microsoft and Azure
even a little slop spoils the broth
Links 19/05/2025: Charges of Blackmailing Over Son Heung-min, Chad Opposition Leader Detained
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/05/2025: Ableism, Silicon Monkeys, and More
Links for the day
How We Defeated DDoS Attacks
One of the best things one can do is migrate to an SSG
Microsofters Issuing Threats to Microsoft Critics Who Blog About Microsoft
So far we see that their "legal strategy" revolves around trying to discredit people like Theodore Ts'o
Links 19/05/2025: Political Catchup and CISA Advisories
Links for the day
TheLayoff.com Has Begun Deleting Trolls/AstroTurfers Infesting the IBM Section to Discourage On-Topic Discussion About Culls and Maladministration (Bad Strategy)
Moderators have realised there's a problem
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 18, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, May 18, 2025
Gemini Links 18/05/2025: Five Years on Gemini and Atom Feeds over Gopher
Links for the day
Links 18/05/2025: F.D.A. More Sceptical of COVID-19 Vaccines, UK Charges 3 Iranian Nationals In Alleged Attack Plot Against Journalists
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/05/2025: "Finally Upgraded" and "Rebooting"
Links for the day
There Are Days or Occasions Where gemini:// Requests Almost Exceed http(s):// and Gemini Protocol Isn't Even 6 Yet
Gemini Protocol turns 6 one month from now
Abundance of Good Code, "Just Like Air."
Richard Stallman's seminal manifesto and foundational (practical) work on GNU gave us a very solid system that facilitates productive work without concerns over spyware
Messages in TheLayoff.com Drowned Out by LLM Slop (Comments Focused on Replying to Bot-Generated Provocation)
apparently shaking hands with nazis isn't as bad as calling your git repository's main branch "master"
The Importance of Full Disclosure and Transparency Online
there will be full transparency, as always
Slopwatch: Slopfarms and Serial Sloppers Still at It
Apparently Google is too understaffed to figure that out
Links 18/05/2025: Decreased Prospects of Science Careers, Disappearance of Journalists
Links for the day
Microsofters Have a Long History Trying to Take Down Techrights by Sending Threats to Webhosts
picking on women
Links 18/05/2025: Science, Censorship and European Commission Taking on Monopoly Abuse by Microsoft
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/05/2025: Šibenik and SFJAZZ Historical Archive
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 17, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, May 17, 2025