08.15.08
Eye on Microsoft: More Lawsuits and a Very Grim Vista
Microsoft Sued, But It’s Not Alone
Microsoft is accused of sneaking into someone else’s territories.
Microsoft Corp. moved to Cambridge last year looking to set the world afire with innovation. Instead it got sued.
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InterSystems, a longtime tenant of One Memorial Drive, says it has the rights to the space where Microsoft plans to open a laboratory and is seeking to block the behemoth from expanding. Adding to the rub, Microsoft wants to put a sign on a building where InterSystems grew from a tiny start-up to an international company.
Microsoft is also one among three companies that have just been sued in India.
Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo have been showing search ads in India that promote pre-natal sex selection in violation of Indian law, a public interest lawsuit charges.
Watch this about Google’s attitude towards Microsoft.
Google CEO Tells Jim Cramer “I never worry about Microsoft
Just days after we suggested that Google should perhaps hire financial guru Jim Cramer, who should turn up on Cramer’s Mad Money show? None other than the Google CEO Eric Schmidt!
[…]
# “I never worry about Microsoft,” Schmidt said in wrapping up his thoughts.
Maybe it’s justified. Google keeps climbing and climbing.
Despite bribing users to give Live Search a try and seeing Ballmer proclaim that Redmond is now all about advertisers, advertisers, advertisers, Microsoft has seen its search market share fall over the past 18 months according to three of the four major metrics companies tracking search traffic. No surprise: Yahoo is seeing a similar decline.
“Bad, Bad ‘Pirates’! Keep Spreading Our Software.”
We wrote about this the other day. While Microsoft pretends to be wounded by illegal copies of software, it is apathetic at best and bullish at the least on this phenomenon. Here are a couple of examples from the news:
1. Nigeria: Microsoft’s fight to stop piracy - failed
According to THISDAY the effects of the anti-piracy battle launched by Microsoft and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has made more room for people in the illegal trade.
The raid which led to the arrest of vendors, that was caught making use the Microsoft operating system illegally. Microsoft promised and the beginning of this battle, to organize a development programe as an attempt to keep merchants especially youth away from piracy activities.
2. Software Piracy Thrives amid Microsoft’s Capacity Devt Initiative
Microsoft’s attempt at discouraging Intellectual Property (IP) theft especially at the popular Computer Village in Ikeja may not have yielded any positive results, going by recent development in the area.
According to THISDAY investigation, the aftermath of the anti-piracy crusade launched by the software giant in collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) earlier in February has only accommodated more people in the illegal trade.
The clampdown, which had led to the arrest of some vendors, caught using the Microsoft operating system illegally was expected to serve as a deterrent to others.
Had Microsoft wanted to stop this, it easily would. But remember what they say:
“It’s easier for our software to compete with Linux when there’s piracy than when there’s not.”
–Bill Gates, 2007
Not to be Extremely Critical, But…
Microsoft sent out quite a heap of “critical” patches some days ago. Among them:
Palo Alto Networks today announced that its Threat Research Team discovered two of the 11 vulnerabilities discovered in Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday security bulletin this week.
Not a day goes and bam! “Highly critical” flaw again.
Secunia Advisory: SA31498
Release Date: 2008-08-14
Critical: Highly critical
This is small potatoes compared to the recent and very major discovery. The Windows zombies nightmare carries on.
In a joint operation, the FBI and the Dutch High Tech Crime Unit have cracked the Shadow botnet–thought to contain 100,000 PCs.
With 100,000 PCs down, they’ll have ‘just’ another ~319,900,000 to go. A good start? Hardly. It’s the wrong strategy.
Deaths
A few weeks ago, Joe Wilcox called Windows Vista “dead on arrival” in the enterprise. He’s now publishing some of his findings in eWeek.
eWEEK research shows that negative perception of the Windows Vista operating system is growing.
If Windows Vista were a person, it would have an inferiority complex. Not since Windows ME has a Microsoft operating system seen such cool business reception. Indeed, research shows that many enterprises hope to leapfrog Vista altogether.
There is some sad news today about a construction worker who died while while working on Microsoft’s facilities in Fargo.
FARGO - A 37-year-old Fargo man died early today when he fell down an unfinished elevator shaft on a building under construction at the Microsoft campus in southwest Fargo, police said.
Condolences to the family. █
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.