03.10.08
Quick Mention: Microsoft (Still) Owns the United States Government
“Gates met Noorda briefly in San Francisco to discuss the merger […] before the merger could go forward, he said Novell had to drop its plans to buy Digital Research. […] when Noorda raised the possibility that the Justice Department might try to block a merger between the first and third biggest software companies on the planet, Gates responded, “Don’t worry, we know how to handle the federal government.” […] Gates denied every saying such a thing”
–BILL GATES and the Race to Control Cyberspace
This was predictable after seeing the response seen just 4 days ago (Department of Justice seemingly still in Microsoft’s pocket). Have a look at this article from Bloomberg.
The Bush administration is leaving most enforcement of the Microsoft Corp. antitrust settlement to the 17 states that joined in suing the world’s largest software maker in 1998.
In other words, nothing has changed. Microsoft is off the hook again, for no apparent reason. Without getting into politics (Republicans versus Democrats), draw your own conclusions. We covered this many times before and links with heaps of references showing financial connections are appended below. None of this is as innocent as the cowardly press makes it seem. Journalists just shy away in the face of sheer misconduct. █
Related posts:
- On Microsoft controlling the Department of Justice, by proxy
- On Microsoft putting lobbyists in the US Government
- The toothless, clawless tiger called the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
- On Microsoft, Comcast and the FCC
- US Justice Department Criticised by American Antitrust Institute After Pro-Microsoft Foul Play
- Rebuttal to: “Eight Years Later, Is Microsoft Still a Monopoly?“ (PCWorld)
- More Lawsuits and Attacks by Proxy, Courtesy of Microsoft
“There won’t be anything we won’t say to people to try and convince them that our way is the way to go.”
–Bill Gates (Microsoft’s CEO at the time)
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.
Yuhong Bao said,
March 10, 2008 at 11:34 pm
BTW, MS is not the only example of this. The drug companies owning the FDA is another example.
Yuhong Bao said,
March 10, 2008 at 11:36 pm
And the press don’t cover that either.
Roy Schestowitz said,
March 10, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Definitely! I think you raised this issue before and my answer remains the same: we have to start somewhere.