11.22.09
Boycotts Against Apple and Microsoft, Class Action Likely Coming
Summary: iPhone development leads to boycott threats and so does bias in Bing; Microsoft likely to be sued over Xbox 360 bans
IT IS NO SECRET that Apple mistreats developers not just because of software patents; Apple likes to control what’s permitted and what’s rejected in its universe, which The Register has just compared to a “cult”. Over the past few years Apple has rejected many applications and last week we saw some developers calling for a boycott. Amongst others there is just backlash. From the news:
iPhone App Developer Backlash Growing
[..]
Early on, we predicted that Apple’s walled garden approach to apps for the iPhone would lead to developer backlash. Even if it was successful at first, the obvious trajectory was that it wouldn’t just lead to problems that drove developers away, but it would eventually limit application innovation, just as other competing platforms were getting good enough to match Apple’s. We might not be all the way there yet, but the evidence is growing that the backlash is getting serious. Slashdot noted that some respected developers are ditching the iPhone app store and reader Andrew Fong alerts us to Paul Graham’s well argued explanation of why Apple’s setup is bad for developers, bad for innovation, bad for consumers and bad for Apple.
This is not the first such incident. See for example:
- Apple fine-tunes app censorship
- Apple disappoints developers again
- Apple Cracks Down on Emoji Apps
- Podcaster rejeceted because it duplicates iTunes functionality
- As App Store banning continues, iPhone developers protest
Microsoft’s illusion of a search engine (Microsoft is tweaking results for selfish reasons in areas where Microsoft competes) has also just led to this call for a boycott which Microsoft proponents respond to.
Kristof’s objection, outlined in a blog post this afternoon, centers around his observation that searches conducted using simplified Chinese characters in Bing return “sanitized pro-Communist results” not just in China but around the world. He questions Microsoft’s claim that the results are determined by search algorithms, not its corporate policy. Here’s an excerpt from his post.
Lastly, now that Microsoft starts kicking out customers — probably including innocent ones — lawyers are looking to sue.
Lawyers pursue banned Xbox Live gamers
[...]
Are you an Xbox 360 owner recently banned from Xbox Live? Has the ban left you feeling short changed? Perhaps you’ve experienced other console problems as a result of the ban? If you can answer ‘yes’ to any of these questions, then US law firm Abington IP wants to hear from you.
More Xbox 360 problems are listed in this page. █
Chips B. Malroy said,
November 22, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Scratched disks on XBox360 are well documented
Where I see that these banned XBox360 users might have a court case, is the fact that XBox360’s have a well documented failure rate as far as the RROD, E74, and scratching disks. M$ cut corners on the DVD drives, and did not put in the cheap rubber stopper bumpers to prevent the ringing (scratching) of disks. A serious design error, or rather in this case, just plain being cheap and not caring for the customers. This disk scratching problem was well documented, in fact, MS was for some time replacing scratched disks that were they label, but not others. I do not know if the current XBox360’s have this same problem, but there still has to be a few of the older ones old there.
I doubt that all these people are pirates who back up their disks, many are most likely just trying to save themselves from putting an expensive disk in a drive that is basically defective. MS should be sued for the defective drives. Its the defective drives that have caused some (not all) to do this, and having to put a disk in to check the backup, well, that is still putting the disk in and taking your chances on getting it scratched while it checks.
As MS continues down the path to more control of its customers, how far off can the day be when revenue continues to decline, that MS like the RIAA, likes its front (BSA) for suing business customers, starts suing regular users of XBox360 and Windows/Office, the ones who are not paying for all the software?
Disclaimer: I do not or have every owned a MS console, and never ever will.
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Followup articles suggest that Microsoft is preparing for class action lawsuit. I’ll do another post tomorrow.