12.19.07
Quick Mention: Key Antitrust Ruling is Approaching
Yesterday we posted a quick update on the Microsoft antitrust case, the context being Microsoft’s sheer abuse of ISO. Things such as Silverlight have truly gotten the States’ attention, which passed on these concerns to an apathetic (and probably corrupted) Department of Justice. In any event, here are the latest developments:
As ruling looms, Microsoft drowns in documentation
Microsoft Corp. is fast becoming engulfed in the technical mapping of its own products, even as a judge’s decision looms on whether to extend antitrust restrictions placed on the company for an additional five years.
According to a status report filed by Microsoft on Monday with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the number of outstanding technical issues requiring documentation jumped nearly 60% from the end of October to the end of November.
The antitrust action and oversight may be the best route though which the Web, Linux, and ISO hijacks (among others) can be stopped. It’s an integral part of the dangers which GNU/Linux is facing. Novell sometimes stands in the way of arguments that Microsoft does not collaborate. We saw that in Europe [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]. █
On the risk of losing the open Web:
- Moonlight a Second-class Citizen in a WindowSilverLight Wide Web
- Novell is Still a Pawn in Microsoft's Web Hijack Plan
- Novell Helps Microsoft Build Its World Wide Web Fortress of Lockin
- Novell Helps Microsoft Hijack the World Wide Web
- Microsoft Set for Lock-in-backed Hijack (and Novell Helps It)
- Silverlight (and Moonlight/Mono, by Association) Becomes Part of the Antitrust Debate
- ECMAJavascript and ECMA's OOXML Are a Sign of Things to Come
- Early Signs of Danger: Microsoft Already Fighting to Steal the Web
- Buying Support and Buying ISO Standards in Order to Hijack the Industry
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.