There is a decent new article [1] over at Server Watch (also here in Datamation) which explains what Novell is to GNU/Linux. It’s essentially what the Mac is to the ‘PC’.
Rodney Gedda [2] misses this key point and does not agree with us. He claims that Novell’s deal is a positive step. To whom? To Freedom? To Novell shareholders? It’s not about “shield[ing]” customers as he claims. It was maybe the original intention, but Novell is now using “intellectual property peace of mind” [A, B] as a selling point to harm Red Hat and other companies which refused to sign patent deals. It’s doing other nasty things too [A, B, C]. Gedda is not our only critic today.
Paul Thurrott, a Microsoft apologist, takes a cute little shot at us, describing us as a “cute little Web site” [3]. But it is meanwhile made very clear that Microsoft loves Novell and SUSE because it enables the company to change the way GNU/Linux operates, turning it into a lesser-distributable property that’s owned — in the intellectual sense — by Microsoft and is also serving Microsoft using technologies like Mono and OOXML. Microsoft is equipping Novell with the endorsement and technical advantage necessary to fight ‘unlicensed’ GNU/Linux and turn the heat up on Red Hat [4], in order to, e.g., sign a similar patent deal or be sued. █
It’s not quite as catchy as the PC/Mac “Get A Mac” switcher ads, but it looks like the folks at Novell have decided to take a page out of Steve Jobs’ book and launch a switcher campaign of their own. In an act of breathtaking chutzpah, Novell announced last week a new subscription and support program “designed to aid customers making the transition from their existing third-party Linux distribution to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.”
The new program provides technical support for a customer’s existing Linux deployments — and for that read Red Hat (or possibly CentOS) — for up to two years while transitioning to SUSE Linux Enterprise.
It’s an aggressive move on Novell’s part, and one that will almost certainly provoke a response. But it’s also good news for enterprise customers if it gives them more options for switching, if they want to.
It’s a big “if.” How would you characterize the two Linux distributions to persuade potential customers to move from Red Hat to SUSE? Apple’s commercials work because PCs and Macs each have their own very distinct characters: memorably described in The Guardian as “PCs are a bit rubbish yet ultimately lovable, whereas Macs are just smug, preening tossers.”
In contrast, there’s not much difference between Red Hat and SUSE servers really. If they were guys you’d have to describe them both as “secure, reliable, popular, with big ambitions.” Novell may well find that getting people to switch from Red Hat to SUSE is much harder than it thinks.
The Microsoft-Novell pact instantaneously alienated much of the open source community. Here was a company that had benefited tremendously from open source software but still decided it was in its right to go ahead and “shield” its own Linux product from any possible Microsoft patent litigation while knowing full well the exact same software was being used by every other Linux distribution and a host of commercial vendors. What Novell did may have been a “legal” workaround of the free software licences but from a technology standpoint it was completely untenable.
The free software world was up in arms. In typical open source, knee-jerk fashion, the community began to label Novell as a pariah and a traitor. Web sites sprung up calling for Novell boycotts, developers ran and cried to Google (Note to all those who think Google manages people’s information more transparently than Microsoft or Novell: go and take a very cold shower), and the CIOs and IT managers who ultimately decide what software to use in their businesses have had FUD blasted at them ever since. All exactly what Microsoft would have wanted to see happen to a viable competitor!
Two Years Later: The Novell/Microsoft DealTwo years ago, Hell froze over and Microsoft and Novell consummated one of the most controversial alliances in tech history, with Microsoft purchasing millions of dollars worth of Novell SuSE Linux and Novell entering into an intellectual property licensing agreement with the software giant. So. How’s it going two years later? Well, the sun continues to rise every day and a plague of locusts hasn’t yet ravaged the planet, so the fears of open source pundits and backers were, apparently, unfounded. And many corporate customers appear to be pretty excited about the interoperability gains that Microsoft and Novell have made. That said, Novell’s standing in the open source community is somewhat dimmed. For example, Roy Schestowitz, who runs a cute little Web site called Boycott Novell, has the following to say: “If Novell and Microsoft get their way, then metaphorically speaking, Linux will increasingly be pressured into a corner of the datacenter, essentially being marketed as a guest machine [running under Windows] as opposed to a host running with or without Windows virtualized.” Exactly. So what’s your problem again?
Microsoft and Novell Inc. said the two-year-old collaboration to better manage Windows and SUSE Linux will produce its first fruit in the first half of 2009.
Novell will make available the Advanced Management Pack for SUSE Linux Enterprise for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 in the first half of 2009 to coincide with the release of Operations Manager 2007 R2. Novell has not yet set a price.
Novell Abuses Sun and Red Hat to Shore up Failing Business Model
A FEW days ago we explained Novell’s role in harming OpenOffice.org, ODF, Red Hat, and GNU/Linux as a whole. Novell’s poor business model is hard to blame because its legacy technologies are talking a dive too rapidly. Inheriting Novell’s place is — weirdly enough — Novell’s partner, Microsoft. The choice of partners was particularly bizarre given Ray Noorda’s persistent warnings. But Novell is now run by former IBMers, whose commitment seems dual.
One reader of ITWire wrote: “Novell fighting RedHad in stead of Windows… Just as they fight OpenOffice.org in stead of MsOffice.” As pointed out the other day, they indeed just fight Sun and Red Hat (among other F/OSS entities), creating somewhat of the civil war Microsoft prescribed as its strategy [1, 2, 3].
This is also something we explained and showed last week. Microsoft can establish in-the-cloud lock-in by summoning OOXML, which no existing application works with properly (unlike the old binary formats). On ‘the cloud’, non-Windows platforms are likely not to receive all the same features, which renders them second-class citizens. Here are the uncertainties being pointed out.
There appears to be good news, according to a Microsoft support site: Office Web applications can run on operating systems besides Windows. But the questions of how and why were left unanswered, and not even Microsoft can explain.
A blog post to a Microsoft-managed site, turned up this morning by Computerworld reporter Gregg Keizer, seems to indicate that the Web applications in Office 14 will run in a Mac- or Linux-based Web browser. That information contradicts what BetaNews was told two weeks ago at PDC 2008 in Los Angeles, where attendees were given the first peek at Office 14’s Web applications suite.
There, we saw demos of the Office Web apps (a formal name has yet to be rendered for them) running in both Internet Explorer 8 and Mozilla Firefox 3, on Windows 7-based virtual machines. Those demonstrations involved Open XML-format documents and spreadsheets stored on Office Live Workspace, which is a service geared for enabling Office apps for Windows to store documents on Microsoft’s cloud-based servers. Also during the demos, the sharing process between Office users was facilitated by Windows Live services.
What wasn’t clear at the time, however, was whether Office Web apps would work on non-Windows platforms. In theory, Microsoft could still tie Firefox and Safari users to Windows through the use of extensions or browser plug-ins, if that is how the company wants to play its first move into the Web-based productivity software market.
This week, however, a blogger on Channel 10, a Microsoft-sponsored online community and news site, confirmed that Office Web would also work for Linux and Mac OS users running either Firefox or Safari browsers.
Until Microsoft’s reactionary product is ably catching on, all Microsoft can do is throw FUD at Google Apps. Unlike Google Apps, Microsoft will discriminate against other platforms because it’s in the business of selling operating systems for desktops and servers. █
IBM’s VP of open source and standards says Mo’ “No”
Truthfully, Bob Sutor never liked Mono. He asked about it several times before and wanted it removed [1, 2, 3]. When faced by Mono ‘guards’, he politely explained at the time, “I don’t want to get into the well-known controversies around Mono in this thread, but for those who decide not to use it, for any reason, it’s good to know how to avoid it.”
A couple of days ago, at the sight of this post, he wrote: “Requires Silverlight? Err, no thanks.”
Since he has Ubuntu GNU/Linux installed on his laptop, it may have been Mono and Moonlight that deterred him as much as it deters Fedora. Additionally, from the comments on this post:
I emailed them asking about Linux support a couple months after the Watch Instantly feature came out because I wanted to take advantage of it, and they responded saying that they were working on Linux and Mac OS support but had to work on security issues, so I stuck with it thinking that I would eventually be able to take advantage of the feature. Over a year later, there was still no Watch Instantly for Linux, so I canceled my subscription. I hope they eventually get around to it.
It was very clear from the start that Microsoft would use Silver Lie (or Novell’s Moon Lie) to harm its #1 competitor, which is also a platform of choice to IBM. █
Microsoft’s means of aggression against Apple, such as offering $15,000 for Mac bloggers to sell out, have almost culminated in moves that resemble their recent interference in a VMware conference [1, 2], crashing of PlayStation3 launch parties, the Linux Personas Web site and so forth. Microsoft seems to have used similar techniques against ODF [1, 2] and Novell is guilty of the same behaviour [1, 2].
A reader who prefers to remain anonymous has just sent us a pointer to this.
Microsoft Corp., engrossed in multi-million dollar marketing blitz to counter anti-Vista propaganda from rival Apple, Inc., is now using a portion of its budget to fuel guerilla retail tactics near the Mac maker’s stores.
Says the unnamed reader: “See the poster on the right in the background: The product that just won’t die.
“If it weren’t for OEM lock-in BeOS, Amiga and Apple would have each bitten off a third each.”“If it weren’t for per-processor fees and such, DR-DOS would have killed off Microsoft.
“If it weren’t for OEM lock-in BeOS, Amiga and Apple would have each bitten off a third each.
“If it weren’t for all kinds of lobbying and out-sourced marketing with off-the-scale marketing budgets, Red Hat and Ubuntu would have seen the end of Microsoft.
“It’s responsible for 90+% of the world’s spam, nearly 100% of the world’s botnets, the vector for nearly 100% of the world’s viruses and worms, in violation of most privacy and security laws, and yet the product line just won’t die.”
Guerrilla Against FCC
We previously discussed the relationship between Microsoft and the FCC, as well as with Comcast. A few months ago we also showed Gates’ political intervention in the United Nation, which is part of a much broader phenomenon [1, 2] that shows Microsoft is a political creature no less than it is a legal, marketing and technical company. That last part too is in doubt…
“Usually Microsoft doesn’t develop products, we buy products.”
Anyhow, another thing that was shown before is that Gates’ lobbying for more visas was only for selfish gain [1, 2]. It was seen as unnecessary or even harmful at the time and earlier this month it turned out to be a fraud.
With all this knowledge in mind, can Microsoft and Gates be trusted as they approach the FCC regarding white spaces? Here are some bits from various articles in the news:
Microsoft Chief Strategy Officer Craig Mundie said a plan to use television airwaves for free Internet access may face significant delays if the Federal Communications Commission puts off a vote next week.
Bill Gates and other Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) officials stepped up lobbying of top U.S. communications regulators on Monday, ahead of an important vote next week to open up unused wireless airwaves.
Aren’t governments supposed to think for themselves and make their own judgment? Are they not capable? Since when is Bill Gates a white space expert?
Guerrilla Against Yahoo and Google
Still searching for answers to Google
“Forty percent of servers run Windows, 60 percent run Linux…”
Yahoo had about 20.2 percent of queries in September, up from 19.6 percent in August, Reston, Virginia-based ComScore said today in an e-mail. Microsoft’s share fell to 8.5 percent from 8.9 percent. Google Inc. handled 62.9 percent, compared with 63 percent in August.
[O]verall, those initiatives haven’t had a lasting impact on Microsoft’s share of the market.
According to another independent meter, Microsoft declined to 5.46%, down from 9.85% the year before. This statistic was shown around the same time that Microsoft began paying users in order to entice them to use its search engine (only to be spied on for harvesting behaviour of search and clicks).
In reporting its latest quarterly results, the company last week said it will lower spending by $400 million to $500 million over the next year to weather the downturn.
Google is considering walking away from its advertising deal with Yahoo! because the Department of Justice is demanding too much in return.
We have already covered the abuse and the political games Microsoft has played to intercept this deal [1, 2]. It’s always disturbing to find governments that are run by corporations. █
“[If I ask you who is Microsoft’s biggest competitor now, who would it be?] Open…Linux. I don’t want to say open source. Linux, certainly have to go with that.”
–Steve Ballmer (Microsoft’s CEO), February 28th, 2008
Another week, another tough week. Later today we’ll expose some of the realities behind Microsoft’s financial results — things that Microsoft nonchalantly (yet successfully) concealed from the press, but not all of it. First off, however… Microsoft’s latest headaches and signs of rapid decline in the technical sense.
Security Nightmare
As quoted in ZDNet, Microsoft admits that Windows turns perfectly-functional PCs into zombie PCs within minutes, which isn’t particularly surprising given the prevalence of them (roughly 320,000,000 PCs are believed to be zombies).
“How did we end up this way,” some people inquire.
Microsoft identifies 16 affected Windows versions, including service packs. Reminder: Microsoft only lists service packs that are currently supported. So, the number of actually affected Windows versions is much larger. That said, enterprises should be running newer, or the newest, supported service packs anyway.
Microsoft is about to issue an emergency security update to plug a vulnerability which could allow an internet worm to be spread via a computer without the user doing anything.
Yes, it’s user intervention-free. Just plug-and-[let-the-crackers]-play.
While Microsoft has labeled Thursday’s emergency patch MS08-067 as “critical” and provided a rare out-of-cycle fix because its exploit could easily be used as worm on a compromised network, one security researcher doesn’t think it will happen that way.
“It’s likely we’re going to see this packaged with some other attack.” said Ben Greenbaum, senior research manager at Symantec. “A Web-based attack, for example. We’re looking out for are exploits of this being bundled with client-side exploits or Trojans so that the worm can get past corporate firewalls and get behind that firewall into the internal network.”
A day after Microsoft released an emergency patch for a critical flaw that could allow self-replicating attacks, researchers have identified a nasty trojan that attempts to exploit the vulnerability.
The alarming news made in into many blogs, such as this one. This was severe enough to be covered very widely, including in top publications:
We wrote about Microsoft’s new behaviour in China several days ago. There are still a lot of reactions to this development in English-speaking blogs, but Chinese bloggers are said to be fuming.
This gives a wonderful reason for the world’s largest Internet population to migrate to GNU/Linux and also provides a good opportunity (or ‘ammunition’) for existing Chinese GNU/Linux users to persuade their friends, family, colleagues or poor peers to liberate their PCs. Microsoft flexed its muscles to show that Windows is not free (neither libre nor gratis).
TWO computer retailers in Sim Lim Square accused of peddling counterfeit Microsoft programs have agreed to pay $70,000 in damages, the software giant said yesterday.
The shops’ directors will also do 144 hours of community service, which includes providing IT services to charities, as part of an out-of-court settlement.
Large news sites which covered the latest situation include:
There were some bad articles out there too. Here are some examples.
“Now it compares them to people who murder with swords and pistols.”Associated Press, a notorious fighter against Fair Use, had Jessica Mintz use propaganda words like “piracy”, which the editors approved. The article’s headline proudly proclaimed that “Microsoft goes black, making Chinese see red,” but the article starts with “An anti-piracy tactic…” Associated Press charges a lot of money for quoting more than 4 words, so stopping here is a must.
The Wall Street Journal seems to have changed its headline from a propaganda-packed “Microsoft Stirs Up Pirates” to “Microsoft Tactic Raises Hackles in China.” Maybe the editor/s changed the headline after it had been published because there is clear inconsistency in the feeds.
Anyway, here we have people that Microsoft victimised like drug dealers (by its very own admission). Now it compares them to people who murder with swords and pistols. Not so noble, is it? They should have gone with Red Flag Linux rather than surrender to short-term favours from Microsoft.
The British press blew it too. This one has an image of a skull (symbolising death), so it’s not just a bad headline: “Microsoft sued over anti-piracy activity.” Is copyright infringement compared to murder now?
California’s Antitrust Case Against Microsoft
Illegal monopolisation efforts by Microsoft have already had it settle before prosecution in California. There, too, Microsoft had abused its dominant position to starve competitors and harm consumer by over-pricing. Based on the Los Angeles Times, however, citizens have not yet received their compensation from Microsoft. This seems almost like a farce.
Most of Microsoft settlement for California school computers untouched
[…]
But most of the money — nearly $200 million — remains untouched.
“That’s troubling to us,” said Richard Grossman, a partner with Townsend and Townsend and Crew in San Francisco and co-lead attorney for the plaintiffs. Grossman said the state’s schools will probably receive even more money, once a final piece of the lawsuit is settled.
Some of this money is used for deployment of GNU/Linux at Californian schools, thanks to people like Christian Einfeldt. It’s not another classic case of ‘funny money’, where the abused party that can only use compensation funds to license more overpriced and shoddy software from the very same convicted monopolist.
“Some of this money is used for deployment of GNU/Linux at Californian schools, thanks to people like Christian Einfeldt.”One reader highlighted this potion of the article: “The windfall was part of a $1.1-billion settlement of a class-action lawsuit against *Microsoft* that alleged the company had plotted to monopolize a portion…”
“Alleged?” says this anonymous reader, “what kind of apologistic writing is that from the LA Times? Microsoft was found not just guilty but guilty enough to warrant punishment. Also, I thought that settlement was because Microsoft was guilty of price-gouging.”
“That’s $1.1 billion that Microsoft is keeping out of the California economy,” he adds.
“Also, is it wise for the journalist Evelyn Larrubia to be so flexible with the facts? Not only is knowingly backing Microsoft a general liability, but misrepresenting court documented facts in a newspaper is not the way to stay employed as a journalist. Endorsing Microsoft is a liability. Definitely not a safe move.”
Further, argues the reader, “here is a start of a longer list [of the problems at hand]:
HIPPA / privacy violation.
Security failure (see latest remote access hole)
Overcharging (as documented in court in most of the 50 states)
Incompatibility (even with other version of own products)
Poor documentation (see recent Ars Technica article)
“The software is sold ‘as-is’ so the fault does lie squarely on the shoulders of the chumps who decided to push ideology ahead of technology and deploy Microsoft instead of following best practices.”
Microsoft Employees Settle for Change
Windows ‘monopoly retention’ seems to be eroding, even at Microsoft.
One poster wrote: “I’ve been an MS employee for a long time, and I knew we were toast the first time I laid hands on a Vista based machine. When I replaced my personal laptop this summer, sorry to say, I went with a MacBook…”
Intermedia has launched a whimsical ad campaign that pokes fun at Microsoft’s hosted-services partner program to encourage customers to partner with Intermedia instead of the software giant.
The ad campaign and accompanying Web site advise partners who are considering offering Microsoft hosted business-productivity services not to be “sheep” by “handing all of your customers to Microsoft.”
Microsoft does not appear to have responded to this.
Cringely has published an excellent article where he predicts that Windows Mobile will die and Joe Wilcox argues that iPhone “beats Windows Mobile 6.x into Coma.”
Windows Mobile’s star is rapidly falling. Coming into 2008, RIM pushed Microsoft out of second place for smart phone operating systems, according to Gartner. Apple has surely knocked Microsoft into fourth place. The question: Is it fourth behind RIM or Apple? That depends on whether Apple snatched second place from RIM.
Interestingly, this conclusion isn’t based on any personal preference or subjective analysis. I’m not saying that Windows Mobile is bad, just that it is probably doomed. It’s a simple matter of market economics.
[…]
And where will Windows Mobile be in 2011? There way things are headed now, given that Microsoft can’t really afford to be anything but first or second on the platform that supplants Windows, I’d say Windows Mobile will be dead.
So, a lot of distinguished and respected voices have lost faith in the not-so-promising future of Windows Mobile. At least one of these voices used to AstroTurf for Microsoft. Earlier this week it was only a Microsoft talking point, Rob Enderle, who was throwing one cellphone ‘article’ at some more small site, denying the death of Windows mobile, despite claims to the contrary from some very major Web sites, including PBS and the Microsoft-friendlyNew York Times. █
This post is an accumulation of Microsoft news since the beginning of the week. There is quite a large load of stuff and overall it’s pretty gloomy. Microsoft’s financial results will come out later today, so we’ll start with more urgent topics that need to get out of the way. On Saturday we shall write more extensively about Microsoft’s latest results, which it will definitely try hard to embellish (further digging is always required).
Such is the commitment to drive traffic to its own versions of Google search, YouTube, and Digg, Microsoft has done what most other startups couldn’t: spend billions of dollars and almost double it’s workforce in just three years. Microsoft now has nearly 100,000 employees.
Despite its size, though, Microsoft is poised to experience the same pains of junior startups, if the money that fed Web 2.0 optimism has - as it seems - dried up. If and when that happens, and if Microsoft’s business managers behave like most do during a downturn, that’ll hurt Microsoft’s three-year-old Web 2.0 strategy.
Don’t bank on the bank
The economy, as you’re well aware by now, is in trouble. Banks are not lending money, and some big names have gone out of business.
[…]
This is just one case, but it’s symbolic. What if other customers also start struggling to pay the bills when their cash flow begins to dry up?
What about those loans Microsoft is prepared to take? We recently wrote about services and products that Microsoft was killing, including some MSN-branded ones (i.e. online business). In addition to this, mini-Microsoft (outspoken yet anonymous Microsoft employee) believes that layoffs are not out of the question.
It is too soon to expect this during this week’s quarterly results, but within the next quarter, as the impact to reduced global PC sales becomes apparent, we should be ready to announce some major overhead reduction (e.g., not towels but rather less butts for said towels to dry - win-win). And remember: you cut once and you cut deep. Incremental pain is unhealthy and all that you’re doing is poisoning your teams and setting up a huge round of bad attrition once things turn around.
Microsoft’s stock (MSFT) collapsed in yesterday’s trading after the company had issued an outlook warning. Reuters reports:
Microsoft’s shares have plunged to an eight-year low and its rivals such as SAP AG have warned of tighter demand.
Some might argue that Microsoft has huge cash piles and therefore it can buy its own stock (which it already does very aggressively). Well, according to this article from Fortune, it is a failing strategy. It’s merely an illusion.
Last month, Microsoft announced it was going to spend $40 billion buying back its own stock. Traditionally, that would have meant a payday for its investors. With Microsoft using its own spare cash to reduce the number of outstanding shares, earnings per share should have improved, and the stock price should have ticked upwards.
At risk of sounding like a parrot, Microsoft’s results will arrive later today. It’s worth reminding ourselves that Microsoft disappointed its investors when it unleashed the past two reports (April and July), so the stock sank. Even Microsoft’s profits declined, at least in April. Windows was down 24%.
There was a lot of talk in the blogosphere about Steve Ballmer’s tactless remarks regarding Windows Vista. Here is one example:
As though this weren’t enough, he kept right on talking. In a column on ComputerWorld called Ballmer Says Skip Vista, my colleague, Steven J Vaughan-Nichols reports that Ballmer told the same audience if they wanted to wait for Windows 7, they certainly can. Come again?! That’s right, it’s a statement so outrageous coming out of the mouth of the Microsoft CEO, that it’s hard to believe he said it. I’m sure his PR people were just thrilled to hear that, as was the Vista sales team. As Vaughan-Nichols says, this is a prime opportunity for Apple and Linux to continue to capture market share while waiting for the elusive Windows 7.
Giving Apple and Linux a Huge Opening
Given that many people are just looking for an excuse to jump ship from Microsoft, you might think that the CEO would be doing damage control for the OS his beleaguered company is trying to sell today, but instead he’s saying it’s OK to move on and wait for the next one. This is just bone-headed coming from your chief executive, the individual whose job is to promote your company’s public image, yet there he was sticking his foot in hit once again.
Microsoft has had some trouble explaining these alleged contradictions; with, for example, Nash calling Windows 7 both a “significant” and “evolutionary” advancement. Then Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer declared at Gartner’s annual Symposium ITxpo in Orlando, Fla., that, “Windows 7 is Windows Vista with cleanup in user interface [and] improvements in performance.”
From now on, it would be useful and constructive to refer to “7″ as “Vista 7″. This ought to remind people what the ‘new’ operating system really is. There is a lot to a name.
Earlier today, Microsoft confirmed that its next operating system, codenamed Windows 7, would in fact be called just that when it hits shelves at some point in the next few years. Good on ‘em, I say: a simple, no-nonsense name suggests they’re approaching it with a clearer eye than they had cooking up the hypefest that was Vista.
It must be remembered that Vista 7 is vapourware. It won’t be seen any time soon. In fact, more delays and false promises are affecting and directed at XBox users too. Consider the following new reports:
In a windowless room on Microsoft’s campus here, T. J. Campana, a cybercrime investigator, connects an unprotected computer running an early version of Windows XP to the Internet. In about 30 seconds the computer is “owned.”
Criminals are believed to have amassed around 320,000,000 zombie PCs, based on the figures from USA Today. This botnet plague is a very serious issue because it may have already led to multi-national cyber-wars. From the latest news:
The hackers who launched cyberattacks against the former Soviet republic of Georgia two months ago probably had links to the Russian government, even though no hard evidence has been uncovered of official involvement, a report by an all-volunteer group of experts said Friday.
Last night, presidential candidates were publicly seen being approached by the Special Services due to concern about zombies and other cyber-threats. (source: IDG)
There are many other security-related reports, including:
According to research group NPD, this month’s list of top 10 PC software applications contains 3 video games, 1 productivity tool and 6 anti-virus/security tools. It’s amazing that Microsoft has created more of a market for applications that fix the problems Windows causes than it has for entertainment or business.
Microsoft Corp. and Oracle Corp. each dropped a bevy of software patches on their users last Tuesday, with Microsoft issuing 11 updates to plug a total of 20 security holes and Oracle releasing 36 separate fixes.
Those who do not use Microsoft Windows are probably thankful, but we all share the costs and the burden caused by cyber-turbulence. Punishment is in many ways a collective one.
Don’t ever fall for Microsoft’s lies regarding security [1, 2], even when these lies are echoed by its close allies. It’s a bald-faced misinformation campaign.
National Propaganda Day
Well, Microsoft has decided — all out of the blue in fact — that the world needs to have “Global Anti-Piracy Day”. Apart from the appalling use of the word “piracy” — something that Microsoft strongly (but secretly) encourages for spreading of its products — there is a hidden agenda here. We’ll come to this in a moment.
Microsoft’s new “Global Anti-Piracy Day” must have Linux users laughing
It was only last week on the 14th of October that Microsoft Australia took some pirates to court, filing proceedings “in the Federal Magistrates Court for copyright infringement against three individuals trading online.”
Pirates prefer Windows XP over Vista, says Microsoft
Software counterfeiters pass on Windows Vista and instead prefer to pirate Windows XP, a Microsoft Corp. attorney said today, outlining a practice that tracks with the leanings of many of the company’s customers.
While explaining the “Global Anti-Piracy Day” educational and enforcement effort Microsoft launched today, Bonnie MacNaughton, a senior attorney with the company, acknowledged that pirates prefer Windows XP over Vista.
Today is Microsoft’s self-declared Global Anti-Piracy Day. No surprise then that the local arm of the Business Software Alliance has been ringing up journalists over the past couple of days with the ominous news that South Africa is losing between R2.8 billion to software pirates every year.
As usual, the BSA statements are sweeping and presumptive.
For a start, South Africa doesn’t really lose all this money. Most of the licensing money heads straight overseas to companies like Microsoft and Adobe with this country holding on to very little of it.
The BSA ’software police’ is another disturbing subject that was covered before, but worth noticing (if you look closely at press) is Microsoft’s attempt to have journalists cover this extensively and have some sort of massive effect.
At the end of day, it is just one more opportunity to throw around bogus reports with inflated figures (the loss and ‘harms’ to society) and produce explanations for Microsoft’s financial results, which will come later today. When Microsoft performs well, then it says it’s “despite the piracy”; when expectations are not met, Microsoft blames “the pirates”. Prepare for more of that, although this time around the global economic slump can be blamed too. But it’s never Microsoft’s fault; its products reign supreme! [sarcasm /]
Microsoft Sued for Sabotaging PCs
Microsoft must be in real need for revenue — and urgently. It starts showing users who is in charge of their PCs.
A lot later than observant people had discovered this, InformationWeek’s Microsoft blog noted that Microsoft controls Windows PCs remotely and there is no way to disable this behaviour. Microsoft gives GUI controls for a false sense of control; it just ignores and overrides these user settings though.
I was out of the office most of last week, traveling on business. My system has quite a few automated tasks that run, so I tend to leave it running even when I’m away. I returned to the office to find the system had rebooted, with a message that Windows Update had applied patches. There’s just one problem: I don’t use that option.
People in China have just found out that their modified Windows installations (again, no way to prevent this) are acting up. Having got the Chinese people “kind of addicted,” just as Bill Gates had planned, Microsoft is now starting to exploit the lock-in and squeeze users for money they don’t have. It comes amid a global recession.
Microsoft accused of hacking in piracy clampdown
Across China thousands of computer screens are turning dark. The reason is a piece of software from a US firm.
Software giant Microsoft is deactivating unauthorised copies of its Windows operating system, in a nation where 82% of all software is pirated – even if many end users do not know it.
A Chinese lawyer has filed a legal complaint against Microsoft for installing Windows Genuine Advantage on his computer. He has asked the Ministry of Public Security to file criminal charges against Microsoft.
Microsoft is Suing Everybody
Microsoft is not only being sued. it seems to have begun suing the entire world, as well. Here are some of the reports which surface at the moment:
As part of a global antipiracy push, software giant Microsoft is taking aim at a Rochester business — Miracle Computer LLC.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis Monday, the maker of the Windows operating system accuses Miracle of a practice called hard-disk loading, meaning selling computers with unlicensed versions of Microsoft software.
Microsoft has filed suit against two Portland companies that it accuses of software piracy.
The suits, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Portland, allege that Portland-based Grand Avenue Microtech and Gresham-based Agility Corporate Solutions “have infringed Microsoft’s copyrights and trademarks.”
Microsoft has accused two central Ohio companies of software piracy as part of a sweep this week that includes accusations against 18 other software resellers in nine states.
What a nice and gentle company.
Political Manipulation
In recent weeks we have been writing about Microsoft muscling the United States government in order to harm Google. There are some really nasty tactics involved [1, 2]. The press has some more coverage that sheds light on these tactics, which as we showed before, include AstroTurfing. Here are some reports:
Rudy Arredondo, the chief executive of the Latino farmers group, confirmed that his organization became involved in the issue after talking to lobbyists at the Raben Group. The Raben Group received $30,000 this spring to lobby against the deal - from Google’s rival, Microsoft, which wanted to buy Yahoo.
Meanwhile, Microsoft spent the intervening months lobbying everyone—regulators, other lobbyists, anyone who might be willing to raise a doubt about the anti-competitive possibilities. In the process, they drew some support—or at least, some doubt-raising—from some of those who gave the Redmond company grief over anti-trust issues.
[…]
Google both blames Microsoft for working “hard from behind the scenes to generate much of the opposition to this deal” and tries to dismiss it. And Microsoft doesn’t want credit for this one, with a spokesman telling the Times: “There’s an old rule in debate: if you’re not winning on substance, talk about the process.”
“Did you know that there are more than 34,750 registered lobbyists in Washington, D.C., for just 435 representatives and 100 senators? That’s 64 lobbyists for each congressperson.”
WE HAVE always treated ZDNet with a fair deal of disdain (maybe even contempt) due to questions of ownerships and an army of Microsoft-friendly bloggers who project so-called ‘Wintel’ affinity. We alluded to some of this before (e.g. [1, 2]) and perhaps the gist of it would be that they give room — in the form of actual blogs — to Microsoft employees, Windows book writers, Microsoft analysts, and Linux bashers (sometimes in the form of trolling and provocation). We don’t wish to name names or point any fingers, but here is one example.
Blogs are almost everything that ZDNet has got left after the bankruptcy of Ziff Davis, sometimes known as “Ziff/Gates”. Much of the rest of the content — actual articles that is — gets imported from sister sites like CNET and from Reuters. So again, it’s all about blogs.
Their “open source” blog has been run by a Windows user for years, their front page contains an obscene amount of Wintel articles and whitepapers, as do the advertisements, which makes perfect sense given financial roots (not complete though) in Microsoft. According to a Microsoft employee (unconfirmed and unverified identity), Microsoft also encourages its employees to leave feedback in that site, in the form of TalkBacks (rarely with any disclosure).
Anyway, leaving that old baggage aside, we already wrote about ZDNet’s appointment of a Novell employee (Zonker), who is now running their “community” blog. Do not expect this man to criticise Microsoft much. Being a Novell employee, he gets a portion of his wage from Microsoft. He needs to be nice and polite to Mr. Softee, never mind the past.
This issue of Novell in the press was raised here before. It’s part of the ‘campaign’ to paint a nice picture of Novell. Why else would Novell hire a media person like Zonker to become the community leader of OpenSUSE?
Sadly, bringing us to the actual news in this post, Zonker is not just avoiding criticism of Microsoft, which is threatening communities at this very moment. Instead, just a few days ago, he posted a provocative item under the title “Apple knows best? Don’t you believe it!” As we stated earlier today, Microsoft has many reasons to love such coverage. It need to portray Apple as “equally evil” in order to make Microsoft seem reasonable. So to summarise, what we see here is a Novell senior painting Apple — not Microsoft — as the bad guy. Novell employees sound more like Microsoft employees every day.
Why does Zonker not write about the ways Microsoft is attacking communities, including the Free software community? Has he forgotten where he came from? Or are those cash infusions which Microsoft gives his new employers affecting his honesty and selection of topics?
Novell is a Microsoft partner in every sense of the word. That, for example, is why Novell even attacks Sun and OpenSolaris while treating Microsoft as though it’s a cuddly parent [1, 2, 3]. We shall write more about this in the next post. █
Boycott Novell, being an independent Web site, is not sympathetic towards Apple, but when practices that are illegal (at least in the European Union) are used by Microsoft, then we are willing to defend even Apple’s position. When Microsoft is believed to be attacking Apple by proxy, then we wish to intervene too. After all, GNU/Linux suffers from similar types of Microsoft attacks [1, 2], so learning the anatomy of one helps understand another.
Now, will the world’s regulatory bodies please have a look at this? Microsoft is quietly approaching Apple/Mac bloggers, offering them $15,000 to attack Apple. One of the recipients of such a sellout proposition leaked out the request in order to expose Microsoft.
Microsoft to Mac enterprise bloggers: How much to sell out Apple?
[…]
One of our customers has asked us write up a technical marketing case for
Windows Vista over Mac OSX in the enterprise. I’m contacting you to see if
you know anyone who would be interested and capable of writing this based on background materials we have.
The candidate should have a good understanding of client systems in the enterprise and the technologies behind issues that are important in the enterprise (deployment, manageability, work group and policy management, security, suitability of developer platforms for line of business applications, tech support, licensing, TCO).
We have some background materials that include a 75 page technical document called “Apple in the Enterprise” and other summaries of technical points, but it all needs to be put together to make the case.
It’s not too hard to figure out who the customer is here. The price to sell out the Mac in the enterprise is $15,000. But my guess is that this fee may be negotiable upwards depending on the brand of the author in question.
Can it be that the Mac and the iPhone are gaining enough traction in the enterprise to start ringing alarm bells in Redmond? It appears so.
Mind the part about “[o]ne of our customers.” As we warned and showed many times before, Microsoft does these jobs by proxy, through marketing agencies that it hires [1, 2, 3, 4]. It gives them a ‘buffer zone’, but it’s clear where the funding is coming from and whose motives are at play.
How many GNU/Linux bloggers out there have already been offered huge sums of money to attack Free software? Given that Microsoft considers GNU/Linux a threat greater than Apple, it’s only natural to assume so. Bruce Perens had interesting inside information to share about this. To quote an older reference that we have in our collection:
Microsoft has announced the “Microsoft BlogStars” contest, to Hunts for Developer Bloggers in India. After feeling the power and increase of the Bloggers community in India, Microsoft tries to trap and hunt Bloggers in India to buildup the blogging community, for writing blog posts supporting towards Microsoft Technologies.
Wonderful, eh?
Well, wait. It’s not over yet. Just a few days ago, Microsoft publicly slammed Google Apps on Gartner’s own soapbox that they gave the CEO.
Steve ‘Footnote’ Ballmer in denial over Google Docs
As I write this article using Google Docs, I can’t help wondering whether Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer really believed when he publicly told two Gartner analysts last week on stage that nobody uses it. Is Ballmer in denial or privately sweating bullets?
Steve Ballmer is using as a press platform his well-paid friends at the Gartner Group [1, 2, 3] where he can spew out this FUD. There is nobody to challenge his claims there, despite the fact that Microsoft loses fat contracts due to Google Docs. Several months ago, Gartner and Microsoft jointly confessed that Windows has back doors, having been exposed a little too much. These two parties are joined by the hip.
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