04.18.08
Microsoft Fight Against Yahoo Board Gets Uglier
Proxies, lobbyists, threats… and proud of it!
Our site seems to suffer from a minor software bug that sometimes leads to posts going private and thus temporarily inaccessible. Our previous coverage of the Yahoo/Microsoft bid, which was quite a comprehensive overview in fact, was among those not seen by many. We encourage you to read it now as you probably haven’t (it’s a summary):
Microsoft Fires Up Proxy War Against Yahoo as Debt Looms Over
Having gone through the history of the threats and the proxy war at hand, come to consider this latest report about Microsoft resorting to playing politics.
Microsoft hires firm to lobby on proposed Yahoo takeover
[…]
The firm disclosed the information on a registration form filed online Tuesday by the Senate’s public records office.
[…]
A message to one of the lobbyists was not returned while Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich said the company does not comment on its lobbying activities.
We have covered before incidents where Microsoft gets disturbingly close to the government in order to get its way. This just happens to be the latest example among so many. █
“I thanked Rose for all of his trips to Seattle and his willingness to distract a lot of time for the lawsuit.”
–Bill Gates
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.