08.08.08
Dirty Tricks by Proxy (Against GNU/Linux)
‘They are telling HP that they wil NOT be part of this launch and that BillG has said “fxxk HP (all divisions) if they won’t sign a Windows license.”‘
–Comes vs. Microsoft exhibit [PDF] (more here)
Wise men have said before that, from Bill Gates himself, there are not so many ’smoking guns’ (there’s no lack, either). He typically assigns the dirty jobs to some of his colleagues. This is shown more clearly in many of the exhibits from Comes vs. Microsoft.
At a corporate level, as a company, Microsoft uses the same technique to rid itself from guilt, liability, and legal risk. It can use one of its many partners (or a large combination thereof) to accomplish its business goals in return for something.
“Novell and Microsoft are undeniably a pair.”This type of discussion revolves around and transcends so many levels. Novell too is an example. At the sight of a particular Mono application, one reader told us yesterday (by E-mail): “Unfortunately there are many Mono apps out there now (the disease is spreading), but AFAICT this particular one is not in the core of Gnome, so it isn’t something to be uniquely concerned about.
“Anyway, I’ve completely lost interest in Gnome now. If they want to sleep with the enemy then let them … it’s their funeral. I’ll be using KDE from now on.”
This is discouraging not for the most obvious reasons because Novell wants to control the GNU/Linux desktop along with Microsoft. Novell and Microsoft are undeniably a pair.
Another reader sent us another reason for concern. It’s about ASUS and it’s something that was previously covered here and here. ASUS says that it has a new tie with Microsoft. The reader argues: “One thing I noticed this summer and going back to last year is that the pre-installed linux systems sell out fast, but take ages and ages to restock. That makes it look like the production is not following the law of supply and demand. Here’s an example with Asus:
Asus produces Linux and XP Eees in equal numbers, she
claimed, and will continue to do so: the Linux Eees are
the better selling models. “We think our version of
Linux is how we will stand out from our competitors,”
she said.That may explain why there aren’t any now: they’ve been
sold, leaving only the less popular XP models still
available to buy.
“The article puts the blame on Intel, but Microsoft rarely works directly, see PX3096 for details. It’s the same way elsewhere.” says this reader.
“However, some hardware vendors are able to drop the leg shackles.”
This could be another example where Microsoft is pressuring OEMs. There are heaps of proven history to teach about this. It required severe legal action before discovery because Microsoft’s deal are typically focused on secrecy. Information disclosure is violation of the secret contracts.
Back to ASUS, they could be lying. Their excuses make a lot less sense than this report, which is based on this interview.
Hypothetically, says one reader, “I expect it’s more like this:
Q: Did you force Asus to make it hard to buy Linux?
Microsoft: No!
Q: Did you get Intel to force Asus to make it hard to buy Linux?
Microsoft: No comment.
The reader then adds that it’s “[l]ike fronting Business Software Alliance or RIAA/MPAA to take the bad press.
“It’s just he’s doing more to apply his business tactics to his personal quest for more power. Microsoft has basically been a political beast since he started hiring up the beltway lobbyists at the end of the 1990’s. Now he’s building further, but more personally associated with himself.”
The close relationship between Intel and Microsoft was described and illustrated here, as well as in some other posts (remember the OLPC fiasco).
Further adds our reader: “IBM really has to start standing up to Microsoft.
“Which leads be back to the question I posed some months ago, what place in society is there for these people who have chosen to deceive every one else in regards to “IT” issues and have chosen to goad people and businesses into products that not only work poorly, compared to the competition, but actually cause harm.”
Examples of work by proxy also include ACT and CompTIA [1, 2], which Var Guy has just written about.
CompTIA Breakaway: Open Source Misses Big Opportunity
[...]
CompTIA Breakaway, held in Orlando, Florida, this week, was a successful conference for hundreds of VARs and managed service providers. Foolishly, open source companies that need channel strategies skipped the show. Here’s why The VAR Guy was alarmed.
The comments may be more informative than the ‘news’. Some recent examples of CompTIA’s (leg)work for Microsoft:
- Embrace the Reality and Logic of Choice
- Multiple Standards according to ECMA
- The commercial value of ISO privileged access
- Return of the Living Dead – Brainless Attack on MoSTI – Part Deux!!!
Also see the notes on CompTIA’s new OOXML lobbyist from EMCA [1, 2, 3]. It is an orgy of money and influence. █
twitter said,
August 10, 2008 at 1:58 pm
IDG got some leaked M$ documents that show that OEMs are being forced to limit hardware specs of ultraportable GNU/Linux devices. OEMs will continue to collude and violate anti-trust laws as long as they think Windows offers them some value.
The production of equal numbers of XP and Linux EEEPCs is clearly insane and it also shows the power M$ continues to exert.
Chris Lees said,
August 11, 2008 at 7:54 am
Your entire article is based on something that an unnamed reader wrote.
Retailers order whatever stock they want, and the supplier might be able to fill the orders, or it might not. There’s none of this “We’ll increase production of xyz because it’s selling well”; the manufacturer is probably at capacity already or needs to juggle production capability with higher profit lines.
I work at an electrical retailer. Panasonic microwaves are always popular. I have never once rang up to order a Panasonic microwave and found them to be in stock. There was one time when the call-centre guy told me that they were in stock, but in actual fact all the stock was allocated to retailers who already had backorders in the system.
Does Microsoft collude with proxies to keep the supply of Panasonic microwaves low? Of course not. They just have to make as many high-profit plasmas as required, and whatever production capacity is left gets put into microwaves and other low-profit products. If there’s spare cash in the kitty they’ll build a new factory for microwaves, but that could take years.
Asus’ EeePCs are a low-profit line. Asus makes as many Eees as it can without cannabalising stock levels of their higher profit products. If the retailers order loads of XP machines, then the retailers have stock of those. If Asus runs out of XP Eees, it’s likely that they might reappropriate their stock of Linux Eees and install XP on them, causing a shortage of the Linux machines.
SUMMARY:
See? There’s always a simple, acceptable, more-likely-to-be-correct explanation. The XP-based Eees do sell better, unfortunately, so the machines that started life as Linux-based finish their life as XP machines. There’s no Microsoft pushiness in play here. It’s just simple economics. Asus can’t increase production of XP machines at the moment, they can just turn Linux machines into XP ones to fill demand. But I suspect that, even though I’m a reader of this site, that my comments won’t make the basis of a story on your site.
Roy Schestowitz said,
August 11, 2008 at 8:28 am
Hi Chris,
The assessment about Intel was presented as a possibility by one of the readers. It’s just a possibility.