Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Still Abuses Platform Monopoly

Baby crying



Summary: Despite all the spin, Microsoft is still attacking the little guy, primarily using new methods like government-granted and USPTO-stamped monopolies

THOSE who believe that the mythical "new Microsoft" exists are simply not paying attention. Pamela Jones from Groklaw recently wrote about Microsoft's antitrust/oversight expiring in the context of its patent racketeering. Windows and Internet Explorer are both losing market share, but Microsoft is now busy using software patents as means of being paid for the competitors' platforms. How is that not abusive? It's a distortion of the market. Ironically enough, says IDG, "Open source foiled Microsoft antitrust case," but the claim is not compellingly defended in the article. To quote one part of it:



What loomed foremost in the courtroom was Microsoft's massive market share in desktop operating systems and productivity apps, as well as the dramatic decline of the Netscape Web browser with the arrival of Internet Explorer.

Economists from Stanford, MIT and Berkeley filed briefs advising the court on remedies, giving Jackson the arguments for strong action.

"The most important benefit for society that will be created by this remedy will come from faster innovation," wrote Paul Romer, a professor of economics at Stanford, in a court brief about a break-up.

Jackson's order created two new and powerful companies, one to run the operating system business, and the other, its applications. Each company would have revenue at more than $8 billion a year and profits of more than $3 billion in 2000 dollars.


Needless to say, Microsoft gamed the legal system and managed to sneak out of Jackson's ruling. We wrote about this before.

In general, government intervention has thus far been ineffective. Microsoft only needed to show some minimal commitment to other platforms. Even that is being done improperly because, to borrow this one new headline, "Microsoft leaves Mac Office users in the lurch, says research" (not exactly news, is it?)

Microsoft yesterday told Mac Office users it doesn't yet have a fix for a PowerPoint bug that it patched for Windows customers.

"Security updates for Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac, Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, and Open XML File Format Converter for Mac are unavailable at this time," the company's MS11-036 security bulletin said. "Microsoft will issue updates for these software when testing is complete, to ensure a high degree of quality for their release."

MS11-036 was part of May's two-update Patch Tuesday, and closed a pair of holes rated "important" in PowerPoint 2002, 2003 and 2007 on Windows. Only one of the two bugs affects Office for Mac 2004 and Office for Mac 2008.

The newest versions, Office 2010 on Windows and Office for Mac 2011, do not contain the vulnerabilities.


Expect Microsoft to get more and more vicious as the debt grows. Just see what Microsoft did for OOXML (corruption galore). Microsoft is not just a company that is being sued a lot for its abuses; increasingly, Microsoft is suing other companies as part of its business model. The "new Microsoft", if such a monster exists at all, is a lot worse than it has ever been. Regulators ought to initiate new antitrust action against the racketeering operation named Microsoft Corporation. They already know the address of the Don, who is busy investing his billions boosting patents/monopolies and rewriting his bio (by buying out the press).

"This anti-trust thing will blow over. We haven't changed our business practices at all."

--Bill Gates, 1995



Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC), Inc. vs. Vizio, Inc. Is Costing the Free Software Foundation Money
FSF subpoena and deposition
They Try to Replace the Creators of GNU/Linux and Hijack Their Word, Work, and Reputation
gnu.org is down at the moment; now I'm told it's back but very slow. DDoS?
Links 05/05/2024: Political Cyberattacks From Russia and Google Getting a Lot Worse
Links for the day
 
statCounter's Latest: Android Bouncing to New All-Time Highs, Windows Down to Unprecedented Lows
Android rising
Can't Bear the Thought We're Happy and Productive
If someone is now harassing online friends, attacking the wife, attacking my family (not just attacking and defaming people I know online) there are legal ramifications
On Character Assassination Tactics
The people who leverage these dirty politics typically champion projection tactics
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 05, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, May 05, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Erinn Clark & Debian: Justice or another Open Source vendetta?
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Death of Michael Anthony Bordlee, New Orleans, Louisiana
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
The Revolution Continues
Today we've published over 20 pages and tomorrow we expect more or less the same
Death of Dr Alex Blewitt, UK
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Following the Herd (or HURD)
Society advances owing to people who think differently and promote positive change, not corporate shills
Thiemo Seufer & Debian deaths: examining accidents and suicides
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Gemini Links 05/05/2024: Infobesity and Profectus Beta 1.0
Links for the day
Running This Site Mostly a Joyful Activity
The real problem or the thing that we need to cancel is this "Cancel Culture"
Australia Has Finally Joined the "4% Club" (ChromeOS+GNU/Linux)
statCounter stats
Debian as a Hazardous Workplace Where No Accountability Exists (Nor Salaries)
systematic exploitation of skilled developers by free 'riders' (or freeloaders) like Google, IBM, and Microsoft
Clownflare Isn't Free and Its CEO Openly Boasted They'd Start Charging Everyone to Offset the Considerable Losses (It's a Trap, It's Just Bait)
Clownflare has collapsed
Apple Delivered Very Disappointing Results, Said It Would Buy Its Own Shares (Nobody Will Check This), Company's Debt Now Exceeds Its Monetary Assets
US debt is now 99.98 trillion dollars
FSFE Still Boasts About Working Underage People for No Pay
without even paying them
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 04, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, May 04, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
The Persecution of Richard Stallman
WebM version of a new video
Molly de Blanc has been terminated, Magdalen Berns' knockout punch and the Wizard of Oz
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
[Meme] IBM's Idea of Sharing (to IBM)
the so-called founder of IBM worshiped and saluted Adolf Hitler himself
Neil McGovern & Debian: GNOME and Mollygate
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
[Meme] People Who Don't Write Code Demanding the Removal of Those Who Do
She has blue hair and she sleeps with the Debian Project Leader
Jaminy Prabaharan & Debian: the GSoC admin who failed GSoC
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Jonathan Carter, Matthew Miller & Debian, Fedora: Community, Cult, Fraud
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Techrights This May
We strive to keep it lean and fast
Links 04/05/2024: Attacks on Workers and the Press
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/05/2024: Abstractions in Development Considered Harmful
Links for the day
Links 04/05/2024: Tesla a "Tech-Bubble", YouTube Ads When Pausing
Links for the day
Free Software Community/Volunteers Aren't Circus Animals of GAFAM, IBM, Canonical and So On...
Playing with people's lives for capital gain or "entertainment" isn't acceptable
[Meme] The Cancer Culture
Mission accomplished?
Germany Transitioning to GNU/Linux
Why aren't more German federal states following the footsteps of Schleswig-Holstein?
IRC Proceedings: Friday, May 03, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, May 03, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Alexander Wirt, Bucha executions & Debian political prisoners
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Links 03/05/2024: Clownflare Collapses and China Deploys Homegrown Aircraft Carrier
Links for the day
IBM's Decision to Acquire HashiCorp is Bad News for Red Hat
IBM acquired functionality that it had already acquired before
Apparently Mass Layoffs at Microsoft Again (Late Friday), Meaning Mass Layoffs Every Month This Year Including May
not familiar with the source site though