03.22.10

In Fight Against Google, Microsoft Adopts China Strategy

Posted in Asia, Bill Gates, FOSS, GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Office Suites, Search at 3:52 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

“Linux” is the new “democracy” in China if Microsoft gets its way

Summary: As Google makes new moves to render Office obsolete, Microsoft warms up to communism and tries to capitalise on Google tensions in China

WE are not advocates of Google, but one must remember that Google helps weaken Microsoft and it also spreads GNU/Linux. It does a few other things that are beneficial to Free software, notably Summer of Code. For all practical purposes, Google is better off avoided for a plethora of other reasons. Google is valuable to search, but in other areas it likes to get hold of people’s data under promises of “cloud computing” and other fluffy new jargon.

Microsoft’s booster Gavin Clarke writes about Microsoft and Google in the following article which makes a quote-worthy observation:

In health, for example, you have Microsoft HealthVault and Google Health – two growing repositories that are seeing Microsoft and Google set themselves up as massive gatekeepers of information. They have recognized that in the information age, survival comes not by adding more features to applications or operating systems but by owning the information itself and then letting others access it. Talk about buying your way into the future.

Microsoft has resorted to government lobbying in order to gain possession of this data. It’s a very serious matter. But in other news, it appears as though Google is poaching Microsoft’s business customers as the fight for people’s personal data and mail carries on [1, 2].

Earlier this month we wrote about Google's DocVerse acquisition (which is still in the news). It’s about poaching Microsoft Office customers. One financial op-ed says that “Microsoft [is] in Danger if Office Margins Fall to Google App Levels”

Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Office Suite is a group of desktop applications used primarily for word processing (Word), spreadsheet preparation (Excel), presentations (PowerPoint), and email (Outlook).

Microsoft is releasing the full version of the new Office 2010 to businesses starting in May 2010. The May release will include a web-based version of Office for the first time. This is response to Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) cloud-based Google Apps productivity software which has been available online since 2007 and is increasingly gaining traction amongst both consumers and businesses.

We believe that the shift to more cloud-based software is likely to continue and result in a decrease in Microsoft’s Office software margins. Microsoft will incur higher costs as a result of delivering a cloud-based version of Microsoft Office and this can have an impact on the Microsoft’s stock.

There is also this in the news:

Microsoft Mum on Plans to Answer Google Apps Marketplace

Microsoft may one day counter Google Apps Marketplace with a third-party integration shop for cloud computing of its own, but if there are any such plans in the works, Microsoft won’t share them as it competes in the cloud with Google, IBM, Salesforce.com and others. IDC analyst Melissa Webster says Microsoft, which has always worked well through channels, may consider offering such a store in the future. Google Apps Marketplace Product Manager Chris Vander Mey tells eWEEK that four Marketplace partners have each logged over 1,100 domains installed.

Google moves further by targeting Outlook users with migration tools (Novell’s GroupWise is also targeted by this, as we showed over the weekend). Coverage in the news includes:

• Google Builds Microsoft Exchange Escape Route

• Google Apps Migration Tool Makes Ditching Microsoft Easy

• Google Tool Moves Users from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps

• Global CIO: Google, At Last, Goes For Microsoft’s Throat

• Switch from Microsoft Exchange says Google

• Now migrate between Google and Microsoft

Another chapter has been added to the ongoing cold war between Google and Microsoft. Google has come up with a new tool to give a big advantage to its enterprise business by this latest application that it offers.

• Google Apps punts kill-Microsoft-Exchange-now tool

While Microsoft has been failing to outfox Google in the web search and ad game, Google has – apparently – swiped a few of Redmond’s customers away from MS Office.

The Mountain View Chocolate Factory gloated on its corporate blog that 25 million people worldwide had switched to Google Apps in the past year.

IBM pressures Microsoft too (services built on GNU/Linux) and Microsoft is being compared to “a dinosaur” by NetSuite, which Microsoft tries to fight rather aggressively using incentives.

An internal memo from NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson dismisses Microsoft’s bid to attract NetSuite customers as “the last gasp of a dinosaur trying to protect its Stone Age software products.”

Now comes the more interesting part. According to reports that Google declines to comment on, the company has been put under pressure that may lead it to leaving China within weeks. This would be good news for Microsoft [1, 2], but Fortune/CNN writes the post titled: “Who wins when Google leaves China? Microsoft and Baidu might not like the answer”

Some industry watchers suspect that there may have been Microsoft manipulation intended to game the Chinese government and drive Google out of the country. Bill Gates and others from Microsoft have special relationships with the Chinese government, as we showed before. From a Wall Street Journal blog:

However the Google episode pans out, it’s likely to have a lasting impact on the way foreign companies deal with China. Over the years, foreign executives have frequently made the mistake of copying the way that Chinese officials deal with their superiors. The approach is best summed up in the Chinese phrase “pai ma pi” – “slapping the horse’s rear”. The problem with sycophancy isn’t so much that it’s offensive to watch, but that it’s a lousy business strategy. China may enjoy the kowtow, but it doesn’t respect it.

As a side note, let’s remember what led to the diplomatic tensions between Google and China. It all started when Microsoft’s Internet Explorer led to attacks on Google [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]. After this incident/episode, Google stopped censoring results, whereas Microsoft continues to collaborate with totality and suppression, which Microsoft is so akin to anyway. Here is another new statement which merits discussion.

However, with possible success in China, it is possible that Microsoft’s acquiescence with Chinese censorship may cause the company to face heat in the United States.

Microsoft’s ’search’ is already all about censorship (even in the West where there is deliberate demotion or exclusion of Microsoft’s competitors), so why would Microsoft have any special sense of guilt in China? On Chinese phones that run Android/Linux, Microsoft already tries to sneak in its illusion of 'search'. █

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Government Cronyism Watch: Microsoft Inside FCC, California, Washington, and Bahrain

Posted in America, Asia, Bill Gates, Finance, Microsoft, Office Suites, Steve Ballmer, Windows at 2:31 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Latest examples of Microsoft entering the non-commercial arena and influencing decisions so as to help its bottom line

THE FCC family grows and the latest addition is covered by BusinessWeek, which says:

‘Sexiest Man’ Joins Navy Admiral, Microsoft Veteran at New FCC

[...]

Also among Genachowski’s recruits are retired Navy Rear Admiral James Barnett Jr., 56, who is chief of the FCC’s bureau of public safety and homeland security; Steven VanRoekel, 40, the agency’s managing director, who came from Microsoft Corp.; and Steven Waldman, 47, founder of beliefnet.com, which offers prayers and commentary to help users seeking spiritual guidance. Waldman, a former Newsweek correspondent, heads an FCC task force on the state of the media.

[...]

VanRoekel oversees the agency’s day-to-day operations. The former Microsoft executive and aide to founder Gates on speeches and strategy says he has worked to boost technology use since arriving to find an agency where “the status quo was the norm.”

We wrote about this tactless appointment before [1, 2]. The FCC took on Apple just weeks after VanRoekel had become the Managing Director of the FCC. But anyway, why does BusinessWeek care so much about a man’s appearance? It’s not as though people should vote for someone based on whether he is “Sexiest Man” or not.

Apropos, a couple of weeks ago Schwarzenegger put himself in Microsoft's pocket and now he’s getting bitten in the rear. From the San Francisco press we now learn:

Glitches in Microsoft’s California vouchers

[...]

Last week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger visited Microsoft Corp.’s Silicon Valley campus to announce that the tech company would hand out more than 70,000 training vouchers through the state’s One-Stop Career Centers. The idea was to give Californians – whether unemployed or working – a chance to take online computer courses and get free tests to certify their skills.

This Microsoft-sponsored program, called Elevate America, mainly offers intermediate training in office programs – Word, Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Vista – with some vouchers set aside to provide advanced online training to people hoping to work in computer administration.

[..]

Microsoft has run this same program in 12 other states and officials say the average completion rate has been just 30 percent – giving local workforce boards a chance to improve on that ratio by making sure that Californians follow through and take advantage of the training.

This is just nationwide dumping, as we have already explained. Microsoft tries to indoctrinate everyone by means of Windows and Office “training” that it “donates”. This programme is mostly being used in the US, but there are similar things going on in the UK. We gave examples.

To the US government, Microsoft is the tail that wags the dog. Last month we showed that a former Microsoft manager (Hunter) had entered the government where he is now helping Microsoft escape tax [1, 2, 3]. Microsoft’s darling press, the Seattle Times, still seems to be unwilling to cover this blunder; instead it says that “State tax break entices tech firms to build data centers”

Legislators and businesses have been worried about losing new data centers to other states since Microsoft, citing the state’s tax law, moved its cloud- computing platform Azure out of Washington to another U.S. data center. The news was distressing to the Grant County town of Quincy, where Yahoo, Microsoft and Intuit have built large server farms, drawn to the county’s cheap and green hydropower.

Server farms send data and software across the Internet to users and to Web sites around the world. Microsoft continues to operate a data center in Quincy but chose last year not to expand Azure there. Running a server farm requires large amounts of energy and bandwidth.

The Seattle Times should be shamed of itself for continuing to ignore a serious fiasco that hurts citizens of Seattle. Is this publication paid by Microsoft in any way (directly or indirectly)? There’s quite a déjà vu here because other Seattle or Redmond ‘publications’ are dedicated just to Microsoft boosting and some masquerade as government-oriented Web sites that offer impartial advice to governments.

“The Seattle Times should be shamed of itself for continuing to ignore a serious fiasco that hurts citizens of Seattle.”Here is the latest example of Microsoft promotion as an ‘article’ in one these Web sites; Microsoft seems to have gotten its own magazines to sell its products and deceive readers (under the the illusion that these are “news” sites). Here is one new example and another one. These new articles may seem like news, but they are embedded in sites that are named after Microsoft products. It’s an insult to real news sites and it dilutes authentic reporting as a whole. Shouldn’t the FCC look into such issues of misreporting (or improper media centralisation)? Oh wait, the FCC would not care because it’s partly run by a former colleague of Gates and Ballmer. It’s all just PR from a highly PR-dependent company that he used to work for, so why would he care?

Speaking of government influence, Microsoft will have a conference in Costa Mesa next week and we also learn that it has “workshops” in Bahrain, where these simply enable Microsoft to send instructions to people who make decisions:

Furthering its commitment to promote good government practices through the use of technology, Microsoft Bahrain today announced that it hosted a workshop for senior technology executives from the various entities within the Government of Bahrain.

This is wrong on very many levels. No wonder so many governments blindly sign contracts with Microsoft and sometimes get sued for it by their citizens. In some cases, the lawsuits come from competitors. Take Switzerland for example. We covered it in:

Microsoft’s manufactured ’studies’ are another important subject that we mentioned last week (Microsoft uses these for government lobbying) and here is the latest example.

Microsoft’s Worldwide Utility Industry Survey 2010 is their latest attempt at doing this, and while this is not really a major study, there are a handful of meaningful conclusions that I think will – and should – resonate with utilities.

In the next post about the Gates Foundation we will show the latest ’studies’ that they fund to serve themselves. This type of behaviour ought to be exposed because it only adds ‘noise’ to the debate and it harms citizens for the benefit of few large corporations. █

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03.20.10

Patents Roundup: Android/Linux Defended by HTC; Monsanto and Ghana

Posted in Apple, Bill Gates, GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Patents at 6:13 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Cher Wang, Chairwoman of HTC (source)

Summary: News about patents where the system has gone awry (the Apple-HTC case and GMO in Africa)

Android/Linux

YESTERDAY we highlighted HTC's press release where it responded to Apple’s lawsuit against Android [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] (and few argue Chrome OS too, which makes GNU/Linux a target as well). There is some press coverage based on this press release, including:

Microsoft supports Apple’s action [1, 2, 3], which is already casting some shadow on Android. Take this new article for example. It’s about Virgin Media and it says:

Google launched its first Android phone in September 2008, and since then it’s become a favoured platform for smartphone enthusiasts. Earlier this month Apple took steps to sue HTC over its range of smartphones with Google software over allegations of infringing hardware and software patents, but it’s a platform that only seems to be gaining momentum over time.

Now that Google prepares a product for television viewing (it uses Android), one might wish to recall Microsoft's recent lawsuit against TiVo (which uses Linux). The following news may be of interest:

Verizon Figures If It’s Already Involved In A Patent Lawsuit With TiVo, Why Not Sue Cablevision For Its DVR Too

[...]

Ah, the patent wars. As you’re probably aware, TiVo spent years fighting a big legal battle with EchoStar/Dish Networks over some patents on DVR technology. TiVo won big, and then immediately turned its patent lawyers on some other companies including Verizon. In Verizon’s response to TiVo’s lawsuit, it went nuclear back, accusing TiVo of violating Verizon’s patents on DVR technology — including a patent that the world’s biggest patent hoarding firm, Intellectual Ventures, gave Verizon for the purpose of being used against TiVo.

Seeds

A new article from Salon sheds light on the effect of genetic engineering (read: patents encumbrances) on Ghana:

In the case of GMOs we are dealing with a remarkable concentration of intellectual property ownership in just a handful of corporations. Like all well-endowed corporate actors, these companies do not shy from vigorously lobbying governments in favor of putting into place place legal frameworks that are designed to maximize profits and minimize caution.

[...]

If you google Ghana and genetically modified crops, you will very quickly run into the name Walter Alhassan, a consultant for the Accra-based Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), and a strong advocate for the position that Ghana’s government “needs to speed up the passage of the Biosafety Bill to the global trend to improve agriculture and food security.”

Glyn Moody added (based on the above):

I’m conscious that I’ve written a lot of negative posts about genetically-modified organisms on this blog. That might lead readers to believe I’m against them. That’s not the case: I am naturally pro-technology, and GMOs are potentially an important tool for addressing many of the world’s most pressing problems. But I have my concerns, and I was pleased to find that Salon’s Andrew Leonard not only shares them, but has expressed them rather well:

I don’t actually have a position on whether GMOs are by definition good or bad for the environment or human health or even the challenge of alleviating hunger in the developing world. My basic stance, in fact, is pro-science: I believe technological advances have greatly advanced human health and affluence, and will continue to do so, if properly regulated. My concern re GMOs has always stemmed from a profound skepticism that profit-seeking corporations can be trusted to responsibly serve the public good. One need look only at the constant stream of reports detailing unethical and criminal behavior by major pharmaceutical companies to realize that this is hardly a hypothetical concern.

In the case of GMOs we are dealing with a remarkable concentration of intellectual property ownership in just a handful of corporations. Like all well-endowed corporate actors, these companies do not shy from vigorously lobbying governments in favor of putting into place place legal frameworks that are designed to maximize profits and minimize caution.

Earlier this month, Greenpeace revealed that Switzerland stays away from genetic engineering. What do they know that others do not know? It’s possible that genetically engineered crops are overall not better, they just happen to be owned by a corporation that markets them as “better” (so it’s privatisation of nature).

The Swiss Parliament has just extended its ban on the cultivation of genetically engineered (GE) plants for three more years. Originally enacted in 2005, Switzerland will stay GE-free until at least 2013.

As we pointed out before, with its support and investments in Monsanto, the Gates Foundation continues to show its patent agenda that puts African lives at risk (Microsoft does the same type of thing that creates dependence). Bill Gates’ attempts to promote Monsanto in India are still met with skepticism and there is even a lawsuit because Monsanto is a pact of bullies who spread experimental, patents-encumbered seeds just to expand their monopoly. We’ve covered the subject in many posts, such as those that we list below. █

Related posts (about Monsanto):

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03.19.10

Microsoft Sued by VirnetX (Again) and Kodak Alleges That Microsoft’s Patent Troll Bullies Companies Along With Ray Niro

Posted in Bill Gates, Courtroom, Law, Microsoft, Patents at 10:05 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Nathan Myhrvold

Summary: Intellectual Ventures is said to be attacking companies using its proxies and Microsoft suffers the wrath of the very practice it advocated with investments (patent trolling)

WITH some of its latest patent deals (e.g. Amazon [1, 2, 3]), Microsoft made it abundantly clear that it views racketeering [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] as an acceptable business model. No Microsoft executives have been arrested for it because we live in a society that typically jails the poor and glorifies the rich. It’s part of the indoctrination system. We are taught that large entities are immune to social responsibilities, whereas small ones can be viewed of “crooks”, “nutcases”, or “terrorists”. Both are harmful and there is room for infinite hypocrisy.

But anyway, Microsoft is quickly finding out that those small “terrorists” — the patent trolls — can cause a lot of damage. Shortly after losing the VirnetX case [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8], Microsoft gets sued by VirnetX again (this time triple damages for Vista 7). VirnetX is of course just a patent troll that contributes nothing to industry, whereas Microsoft is a marketing firm that contributes nothing to industry, except harm and monoculture.

“Usually Microsoft doesn’t develop products, we buy products.”

–Arno Edelmann, Microsoft’s European business security product manager

Here is some more coverage of Microsoft’s loss to VirnetX:

Microsoft has been ordered by a US federal jury in Texas to pay nearly $106m to VirnetX Holding Corporation for infringing two internet communication patents.

Microsoft’s booster Emil Protalinski says that Microsoft will appeal, as usual. It’s the same rollercoaster of exhaustion when it comes to i4i [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12].

“Microsoft is a patent troll or at least a backer of some; one could argue that Microsoft is a patent troll by association…”Based on the words of Microsoft's patent troll at Intellectual Ventures, this massive patent-trolling firm was created after discussions with Bill Gates; he created his own troll to ‘address’ the issue of patent trolls. In order to avoid the “troll” status, Gates and his friends established a model whereby there is reliance on a central hoarder of patents that lends patents to legal attack dogs. This business model has proven successful because some large companies paid "protection money" to Intellectual Ventures under NDAs. Intellectual Ventures has no less 1,000 firms connected to it; these firms are akin to armed mafia people who will go around shooting victims and their families under “mysterious circumstances” unless those victims pay money to the mafia Dons, namely Nathan Myhrvold, Bill Gates, and their ilk (they are financially connected and Gates is part of this vehicle that resembles pyramid schemes). Microsoft is a patent troll or at least a backer of some; one could argue that Microsoft is a patent troll by association and the following new article sheds light on the connection to the father of patent trolling, Ray Niro. We wrote about this connection before

“Kodak Says Intellectual Ventures Behind Patent Lawsuit Filed By Shell Company,” says TechDirt:

It seems that at least one company sued over such a patent is hitting back. Joe Mullin points us to the Legal Pad blog, which notes that Kodak, who has been sued for patent infringement by a shell company (PFI) being represented by Ray Niro (famous for, among other things, being the first person labeled a “patent troll,” as well as suing a bunch of companies he didn’t like with a bogus patent — finally rejected for good, recently — that he claimed covered any website that used a JPEG image), doesn’t believe that it’s really the shell company that’s behind this lawsuit. It’s demanding that Intellectual Ventures take part…

The original report asks, “Will Patent Holder IV [Intellectual Ventures] Show Its Face to Kodak?”

Kodak is trying to draw large patent hoarder Intellectual Ventures into court.

With its 30,000 patents and opaque veil of mystery, IV has shied away from the courts, likely because an allergy to discovery. But with its new money making scheme of selling patents to trolls who then file lawsuits (free reg. req.), you knew that IV would eventually end up in a courtroom.

Here are the basics on the Kodak case:

1. IV sold patent to shell company named Picture Frame Innovations.

2. Picture Frame, represented by Ray “the original patent troll” Niro, sued Kodak for patent infringement.

3. IV co-founder Peter Detkin told me last year that IV is now cutting deals where it sells patents and takes a cut of any money made by filing lawsuits (free reg. req.). So it seemed like IV might have struck such a deal with Picture Frame and Niro.

We wrote about Kodak and patents before [1, 2]. █

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03.17.10

Microsoft — Like Gates Foundation — Still Uses Own ‘Studies’ for PR and Lobbying Purposes

Posted in Bill Gates, Deception, GNU/Linux, Java, Marketing, Microsoft at 5:27 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Some of Microsoft’s latest ’studies’ (from the past week) are looked upon more closely for their true purpose to be understood

A few weeks ago we found out that Microsoft was "phone-spamming" potential clients. Now that Microsoft settles a case of IM spam, one can’t help recalling the many incidents where Microsoft spammed people, sometimes specifically targeting GNU/Linux users by scraping their names off GNU/Linux Web sites. In addition, Microsoft is a considered a major cause for the world's SPAM (E-mail).

“Now that Microsoft settles a case of IM spam, one can’t help recalling the many incidents where Microsoft spammed people, sometimes specifically targeting GNU/Linux users by scraping their names off GNU/Linux Web sites.”Microsoft does a lot of things in bulk, including "spamming" the government last month. Going further back, we find many more examples [1, 2], including fake letters from dead people and rigging of polls against GNU/Linux and Java.

At the end of last year we showed that Microsoft was again paying IDC (IDG) to assist with lobbying, probably by producing biased results based on selective populations being massively inquired [1, 2]. Microsoft has used these tricks with IDC to belittle GNU/Linux, as we showed using Comes vs Microsoft exhibits. These self-serving ’surveys’ and ’studies’ (sometimes carried out jointly with entities like AARP) may take time for their purpose to be realised. As we showed this morning, the Gates Foundation uses the same tactics by sponsoring so-called 'studies'. Microsoft doesn’t do this out of curiosity or as a service to others. It simple cannot because it would have to justify the expenses to investors. Microsoft’s latest such ’studies’ are leading to headlines like this one: “Microsoft helps remote workers”

Remote-working programmes can benefit employees and employers through increased productivity, reduced overhead and happier workers, according to a recent survey from Microsoft.

How is Microsoft going to use these results that it paid for?

There are more new examples like this, one of which involves smart grids [1, 2, 3] and may lead to nonsense/PR such as: “Microsoft To Cut Data Center Costs in Half”

How about this for a headline: “PayPal, Microsoft team up with Foursquare to Save The Children”

How lovely. Microsoft is now saving our children. All bow in awe. In the coming weeks it will become even clearer what Microsoft intends to do with those ’studies’ that it bought. █

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Gates Roundup: Monsanto, Colonisation, Clinton Ties, and Control of Education

Posted in Africa, America, Bill Gates, Finance, Microsoft at 4:35 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Rich uncle Bill, who is said to be giving away his massive wealth, has somehow made $13 billion over the past year

BILL Gates is not a retired man. Far from it. He is quite the über-lobbyist, who is seeking more monopolies and getting some too. His father too “keeps working” at the age of 84, based on last week’s news. For those who do not know, the firm of Bill Gates’ dad was involved in defending Microsoft; he is now involved in the Gates Foundation and his allegedly corrupt firm is currently defending Monsanto, which works with the Gates Foundation and receives billions of dollars from it. It’s a family thing.

Here is the news report about Monsanto. It shows Gates folks defending this abusive monopolist.

“Justice is clearly trying every way it can to see whether Monsanto is exceeding its rights under the patent,” said James Weiss, a Washington-based attorney at K&L Gates LLP who helped defend Microsoft Corp. against a federal antitrust probe. “At the end of the day, they may not be able to do much with it because of the scope of those patents. In almost all the cases, the courts come out on the side of intellectual property.”

Yet Monsanto’s seeds are so ubiquitous that they have become like AT&T’s telephone lines before the company’s 1984 breakup or Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system in the 1990s, said James P. Denvir, an attorney who represents rival seedmaker DuPont Co. and led the government’s AT&T case.

[...]

Monsanto’s attorney, Dan Webb, defended Microsoft in 2002 against government antitrust claims. A former U.S. Attorney in Chicago, he also prosecuted Admiral John Poindexter in the Iran- Contra affair.

How can anyone defend such a disgusting company that deserves to have some of its executives put in prison for what they have done over the years (it’s not just monopoly abuse but also many deaths and baseless lawsuits/extortions)? It’s like representing OJ Simpson. For some details about Monsanto, see past writings such as:

The following new press release shows the World Bank and the Gates Foundation in tandem. We saw this before.

CGAP, an independent microfinance center based at the World Bank, today announced a new partnership with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to expand ongoing global efforts to use information and communication technologies (ICT), especially mobile phones, to increase access to basic financial services for the poor. In addition to a 2006 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and CGAP funding, DFID will provide GBP 8 million to the CGAP Technology Program.

The World Bank helps Microsoft colonise Africa and Microsoft’s Gates has some other investments in Africa, such as this one in Nigeria [1, 2]. A few days ago we also found out that Microsoft’s occupation of Nigerian education and ICT [1, 2, 3] carries on.

Microsoft set up the company’s first office in Nigeria in 2000 with just three workers. Ten years later, there are two established offices situated in Abuja and Lagos, with a network of over 1,000 Microsoft partners, actively contributing to ICT and the broader Nigerian economy.

For reasons that we demonstrated before, the activities of the Gates Foundation are tied to Microsoft’s. There is some more news coverage from Africa that reveals the influence the Gates Foundation in the black continent [1, 2]. Africa is a testing ground for many of the experimental drugs and the seeds that Gates invests billions of dollars in. According to three new essays [1, 2, 3] that are based on TED, the Gates camp wants to reduce the world’s population using patents (vaccines). It’s something that they invest in, so there is profit to be made in the process.

Also in Africa — Gates has investments with the Rockefellers, both of whom invest in what they call “Green Revolution”. It’s about the West’s control of Africa, under the guise of “saving lives”. Rockefeller is a thuggish family that’s now compared to Gates for all the PR it did after the crimes:

I think Apple, or Steve Jobs personally, could follow in the footsteps of some of the country’s previous billionaires. Take after people like Andrew Carnegie who helped build libraries, J. D. Rockefeller who founded schools like the University of Chicago, or even modern day philanthropist (and former Microsoft CEO) Bill Gates who started the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which gives computers to schools and libraries.

“Behind every great fortune there is a crime,” said Honour de Balzac. This often proves to be true provided one digs deep enough, reaching underneath the PR blanket.

In the text above we find the “schools and libraries” fairy tale that Gates’ PR people sell to the public. What software do these computers run? What does Gates receive in return for these ‘donations’? Earlier this month we explained what Microsoft was doing in the Museum of Science in Boston. It’s usually more or less the same plot. Gates wants to serve as a sort of shadow minister of education [1, 2, 3, 4] and in order to serve his agenda, the foundation has just launched some self-serving poll which got covered in:

1. Tennessee teachers’ wish list mirrors national poll

These are some of the results from a survey of 40,000 public teachers across the United States asked to give their input for a report on schools. The results were compiled in a study called Primary Sources: America’s Teachers on America’s Schools, released this month by Scholastic Inc. and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

2. Teachers treasure support from leaders, survey finds

3. Survey: Teachers want common standards, supportive leaders

4. Gates Foundation releases survey on teacher attitudes

5. US teachers more interested in reform than money

6. Governors’ Plan Suggests National Academic Standards

The Post reports that the plan already has the blessing of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has been urging public school reform.

Now watch Gates’ media in Washington. His fan press at the Seattle Times covers it with great enthusiasm, promotion, and glee, as expected. It’s the same Seattle Times which was blaming the users — not Windows — for their security problems some days ago. We really ought to get this camping started.

From the Washington Post, where Melinda Gates sits on the board and also publishes to promote her education agenda (she also has an agenda in the pharmaceutical cartel, euphemised by "health" or "vaccines"), there is this call for change inside schools, based on some study that Gates commissioned.

Can anyone not see what the Gates family does here? They will tell teachers what to think by influencing information in the form of results which they paid for. The conclusion is that there is a need to change education to suit Gates’ ideals and it’s already having an impact, based on this news report:

Hillsborough County teachers will soon get their first glimpse of a new evaluation system that will help determine whether they earn tenure or merit pay.

The School Board is due to vote today on an $360,000 online training course for the evaluation system that the district has adopted as part of its reforms with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Watch more carefully the part which says “adopted as part of its reforms with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.”

The Gates Foundation is also helping Microsoft, in which Gates still has a lot of shares. Here is Microsoft aiming to capture mail in “The Educational Market” (both reports from last week):

Google has been putting together their University Roadshow to tell school IT departments about their college-oriented services. Microsoft is doing the same for their Live@edu program. As you might expect, each offering plays to the existing strengths of the current public offerings; there’s a lot more evolution than revolution here.

Gates would love to promote and impose the Live@edu programme (a blunder) while the company resorts to PR campaigns for children that it wants converted into locked in customers:

‘Imagine Cup’, a Microsoft Company global competition requires students to apply technology and artistic talents to tackle the world’s information technology problems.

Yes, it’s Imagine Cuffs [sic] again. This is how Microsoft promotes its agenda among tomorrow’s generation.

According to the Seattle press (imported from AP), “Gates Foundation awards $900K to [educational programs in] Alaska”

More influence for Gates.

This report says that “Gates Foundation Funds Handheld Games Promoting Middle School Literacy”

More influence for Gates.

Another one says: “Gates Foundation, Tami Hoag donations result in three new computers at Harmony library”

More influence for Gates.

Where does that lead? Here is a new example:

The School Board on Tuesday unanimously approved the move as part of a reform effort under way to improve schools through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

What does the Gates family have to do with the School Board? These are just influence games gone wrong.

According to this report, the Gates band is preparing more ’studies’ that will certainly serve its agenda afterwards. Those ’studies’ come from institutes that Gates pays to do this.

The UO-affiliated EPIC’s primary use of the Gates Foundation funding, Conley said, will be for a validity study that will explore the relationship between existing college- and career-readiness standards and the content, expectations and practices most used in entry-level college courses. The study will look at courses in both four-year baccalaureate programs and two-year certificate programs that prepare students for career paths.

Now, watch what happens in Indiana (yes, again, after Microsoft did its dumping on the state [1, 2, 3, 4]).

Stan Jones, Indiana’s former commissioner for higher education, is leading the effort with about $12 million in startup money from several national nonprofits including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

This was also covered here and here. They call it “Complete College America”, which sounds similar to “Elevate America” (mentioned earlier). It’s one of those patriotic banners.

Stan Jones, Indiana’s former commissioner for higher education, is leading the effort with funds from several national nonprofits, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Jones started “Complete College America,” a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit last year.

Over at Detroit (Michigan [1, 2, 3]), Gates sniffs around schools as well:

The group has commitments from the Gates Foundation and other national groups willing to come to Detroit, said Carol Goss, CEO and president of the Skillman Foundation, a key leader in the effort.

This new post from Time.com asks, “Should the Mayor of Detroit Control the City’s Schools?”

This is a fiasco. To privatise education in the sense that people or corporations can take over schools would never be acceptable (that’s not quite what the article is about though). Education run by companies is education that turns into training. It’s more like an army regimen.

Here is Gates messing around with Pittsburgh (also covered here)

At the heart of the initiative in Pittsburgh — which is one of four school districts around the country that received funding from the Gates Foundation — is the challenge facing the American education system at the K-12 level, officials said.

And in Memphis too. Is there any school that Gates is not preying on for influence (and consequently returns)?

Even the American Council on Education seems to have gotten Gates injected into it, based on this new report:

For colleges to succeed at graduating more students, institutions will have to embrace “transformational change,” and if they do, they may get some help from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. That was the message from Hilary Pennington, who directs the foundation’s efforts in higher education, in a talk Monday to college presidents gathered at the annual meeting here of the American Council on Education.

A few days ago we showed that the Huffington Post is not just close to Gates and to Microsoft [1, 2, 3]; it apparently gets paid by them too (it’s tricky following the money trail). Well, watch what the Huffington Post published several days ago:

Rather than 100% student proficiency, the new proposal would have as its goal “college readiness” (as taken from the current emphasis of the Gates Foundation.) Schools and teachers would be evaluated on the basis of test score gains rather than absolute standards.

More school agenda and more Gates Foundation. There is nothing they won’t touch. It’s pretty much the same when it comes to pharmaceutical giants.

Gates and others are pressuring the governments to pay up (at taxpayers’ expense) to pharmaceuticals which Gates has shares in. We have already shown how the Gates family generally travels around the world and pressures governments to pay more to companies that have patents on life. Gates insists on it and daemonises those who disagree. It means more profit to him.

Watch how the Clintons are being used by Gates. From the news we have:

1. Bill Gates Urges More U.S. Spending on Global Health

Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates urged U.S. lawmakers to spend more on global health than the $9.7 billion President Barack Obama proposed in his fiscal 2011 budget.

2. The Gates and Clinton show

3. Bill Clinton and Bill Gates Ask for Global-Health Spending Increase

4. Powerful Tandem Urges Passage Of Global Health “Bill”

5. Former President Clinton, Bill Gates Encourage U.S. Global Health Investment At Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing

This is not as innocent as it may seem. Gates is also using the Clintons for backup as he will pocket some of the said money because he invests in the companies that receive this money. He is their big shareholder. This is the equivalent of Bill Gates asking the governments to spend more money on software or the oil lobby asking the government to increase fuel consumption. It’s demonstrably the case.

“Bill Gates acts like a politicians and intrudes public policy.”One can find Gates sitting next to Clinton in these photo [1, 2, 3] that accompany many more articles [1, 2].

Bill Gates acts like a politicians and intrudes public policy. Hasn’t anyone learned anything from the Gates-Abramoff visas blunder? Gates works for Gates, not for the United States. It’s not hard to understand or to see that.

The Gates Foundation enjoys an incestuous relationship with the UN (covered along with examples many times since 2008). There are too many conflicts of interests and it’s no surprise that the UN is giving an award to Gates (it’s like the mutual flattery ceremony, where rich people exchange medals with one another, as a form of reputation-masturbation). One of the worst monopolists (and criminals) of the 20^th century is now collecting awards (he’s a racketeer, a bit like the mafia) . It’s a similar thing in South Africa, which proves that aggressive PR campaigns pay off. Most people would find criticism of Gates objectionable because of PR.

March 10 brings more cheering. Women from Seattle to South Africa can shout-out for Melinda Gates, Gates Foundation honcho and champion of dramatic improvements in health and education.

More blind worship:

Charities need our support

[...]

Looking at some on the larger charities such as the Gates Foundation, we can see that money needed by the less fortunate in the USA is going overseas. At their website, it states that over $20 billion was given since 1994. Unfortunately only about ¼ was given to programs in the United States. I commend the Foundation for its generosity; but what about the homeless and staving in our country.

That’s nonsense. These numbers are fake. When Gates ‘pays’ billions he usually pays with patents and licences (artificial scarcity and imaginary property). We explained this point before. Microsoft uses the same tricks (spin) when it claims “donations” and “compensation” but actually gives licences to run binaries such as Windows and Office (for a limited time).

All in all, the new examples above (collected over a one-week period alone) show that investments in PR have high returns. For returns on investment, one needs to fool the press by repeating the lies over and over again. Truth tellers suddenly seem suspicious and they cannot do enough to stop a colonisation and expansion of power that takes over our children’s schooling.

Too many people got distracted by some vanity ranking of world’s richest men (it’s hardly the real issue as it’s more about glorification).

This is only the second time since 2001 that the top two spots were not held by the dynamic duo of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Instead, the Microsoft(MSFT) founder, who saw his net wealth increase by $13 billion last year, had to settle for second place, while Buffett, who saw his fortune increase by $10 billion thanks to his impressive bets on firms like Goldman Sachs(GS) and BYD, placed third.

Yes, if one reads this correctly, Gates has made $13 billion in the past year. Yet he claims to be giving his money away, doesn’t he? He is just an investor looking after his own power, which is related to wealth. Reputation laundering is a scary phenomenon. █

“The common wisdom is that the person to worry about the most right now is Gates…. I think we’ve got to be careful.”

–Disney CEO Michael Eisner

“Some weeks it looks like Redmond feels entitled to capture not just part of what we save, but all of it. That just isn’t going to fly with corporate America forever. When your margins are more sensitive to Bill Gates’ pricing whims than they are the price of oil, that’s an untenable position for a large company to be in.”

–John Chapman Sr., BP Amoco Technology Executive

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03.16.10

Schwarzenegger Sells Out to Microsoft

Posted in America, Antitrust, Bill Gates, Microsoft, Office Suites, Windows at 4:33 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Microsoft expands its indoctrination programme in California with endorsement from Arnold Schwarzenegger

“Elevate America” is a harmful programmes whose effects we have explained in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]. It’s similar to EDGI, but it happens in the West. State by state, Microsoft goes finding gullible politicians who can help turn citizens into volunteers who help Microsoft, a convicted monopoly abuser that states are suing at the same time.

The latest victim that Microsoft has found is Arnold Schwarzenegger, who agreed to let Microsoft indoctrinate individuals with support from the state.

Microsoft is giving California 166,500 vouchers for certification exams and e-learning classes as part of its Elevate America initiative.

As we learn from EDGI (i.e. Microsoft’s own words), it’s about getting people addicted to and dependent on Microsoft. According to an article from 2007, Microsoft already owes California hundreds of millions of dollars that it hasn’t paid (probably still to be ignored and not reclaimed). The news sites, unsurprisingly, are repeating the PR nonsense rather than expose what Microsoft is really doing here. They are not interested in real investigation [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] maybe because they are lazy and maybe because they are fearful (Microsoft is a major advertiser of theirs). The funniest headline that we found is “Microsoft Helping California’s Unemployed”. It’s like calling a drug dealer “a helper” (to people who are depressed).

“They’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.”

–Bill Gates

Microsoft uses the same tactics for sentimental merit with war veterans right about now. The monopolist is turning them into helpers of the Microsoft monopoly while pushing out PR nonsense about “donation” (where it actually refers to software [1, 2, 3, 4]).

This initiative builds on the company’s Elevate America program launched last year, designed for all Americans, to provide people with technology skills training, industry-recognized certifications and work force readiness tools to help them prepare for 21st century jobs.

Some sources claim $8 million in donation, but 75% of this money is fake. It’s just some price on licences to use binaries until they expire. They become dependent on Microsoft this way (higher exit barriers).

The Elevate America’s Veterans Initiative will spread the cash around to veterans service organizations, workforce agencies and community colleges. The Initiative also will provide training and help with job placement, child care and housing. The initiative is intended to support active duty service members who are transitioning out of the military as well as members of the National Guard and Reserves who are returning to their civilian jobs.

They neglect to talk about the proportions. It’s mostly just dumping of software, which creates a lock-in that in turn makes profit for Microsoft. Microsoft is not a charity, this is just a business decision. Assuming that knowing menus in Windows and Word is a “21st century” skill (as Microsoft puts it in the above), then this new class which makes people familiar with Microsoft tools is perhaps worth something. It’s worth a lot to Microsoft.

Saint Paul Central Library presents free computer classes on Microsoft Word, a word-processing software program that allows users to create documents and compose letters.

Since when does education mean “training”? And by the way, this is why Gates is giving money to libraries. The education system is one of the best mechanisms (state funded) for ensuring that people turn into Microsoft customers before they reach puberty. Why can’t people like Schwarzenegger see this? █

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03.15.10

Huffington Post, Technologizer, and Other Web Sites in Bill’s Pocket

Posted in Bill Gates, Microsoft, Patents at 5:06 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: The Gates Foundation still gets around, throwing money at all the right places for PR purposes while it’s making profit from patents and global influence

EARLIER this year we showed what Microsoft was doing with the Huffington Post [1, 2, 3]. Bill Gates is flirting with the Huffingtons (personally) and the Huffington Post has just outsourced a section to an online fundraising organisation, which GatesKeepers suspects is affiliated with the Gates Foundation.

Matthew Bishop, Huffpo, Causecast, Trevor Neilson, and the rest of the Philanthrocapitalist Complex

Who ARE these people and why do they want to advertise to us to make us think the way they do? Is it possible that members of the cabal have financial interests involved?

Does the Gates Foundation fund any Nieman activities?

According to this, “Prior to his work with the GBC [Global Philanthropy Group], Trevor served as the Director of Public Affairs and Director of Special Projects for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest foundation.”

Matthew Bishop and Bill Gates also seem to know each other pretty well and Causecast advertises the vaccine projects of Bill Gates. From now on, this interests circle of Bill Gates will help fund the Huffingtons.

As for Nieman Lab, look closer at the new article. Just look at the content. It has “Gates Foundation” written all over it because there’s a lot about malaria, for example (Gates and GAVI).

In October, The Huffington Post launched a new section with an unusual goal: turning an audience of passive readers into activists for good causes. The section’s underlying business model is novel, too: All of its content is outsourced to an outside company, a for-profit firm that has nonprofits for clients.

In exchange for that content, HuffPo shares the advertising and sponsorship revenue the section generates with the outside company, Causecast. And Causecast gets a platform to promote its services and the nonprofits it chooses to highlight, some of which are its partner organizations.

[...]

But that doesn’t mean Causecast isn’t writing about or linking to affiliated organizations. Here’s an example: On Jan. 31, Harris wrote a 76-word post titled, “Malaria Is The Cause of 2010, Declares Matthew Bishop and Malaria No More.” The quick post notes that the nonprofit group Malaria No More expects the World Cup in South Africa to draw attention to the disease. Underneath the post, a box features a link to donate money to Malaria No More, using Causecast’s donation tool. Harris doesn’t mention in the post that Malaria No More is a member organization of his employer, or that Causecast ran Malaria No More’s mobile fundraising campaign. Causecast lists the campaign as a case study for its text2give services.

Watch the comments too. Ben Parker writes: “Really really discouraging. The non-profit industry is woefully short of intelligent and independent journalism coverage already. This is banalising things further.” Another person says: “This makes me so angry – and I am sure the MD’s at Causecast are all on 6 figure salaries plus bonsus. Where’s the charity in that?”

“Is there some huge PR effort going on to try to rehabilitate Microsoft’s and Bill Gates’ reputations?”
–Pamela Jones, GroklawTruth be told, Gates has moved on to creating monopolies other than Microsoft. Only one of them is health related [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8].

There is some other ugly stuff surrounding Gates at the moment, including this pathetic excuse of an article from the Technologizer. “The history of Windows, the Pravda version,” calls it Groklaw. “Is there some huge PR effort going on to try to rehabilitate Microsoft’s and Bill Gates’ reputations? In any case, you may wish to peruse the Comes v. Microsoft exhibits, if Microsoft history interests you,” wrote Pamela Jones.

Could the Technologizer get the “Huffington treatment”? Technologizer is already accommodated by Microsoft fans (we have given examples before). Windows gets promoted with all sorts of lies that rewrite history falsely (here is an accurate timeline). Let us remember that Bill Gates is sponsoring people to write books the ways he likes them and the way that helps his agenda. The same goes for journalists whom Gates is funding. We gave actual examples that are factual and impossible to deny. “Bill writes a book review,” reveals GatesKeepers in a new post.

Bill’s new book review, had it been sent to the editor of a college newspaper, probably wouldn’t have been published or worth reading. It is not very good. But since he didn’t get an undergraduate degree we can’t fault him for not knowing this.

We need more serious thinking about responsibility and accountability and fewer book reviews on Gates Notes.

“10 Big Ways Bill Gates Wants to Change Education,” says this article about the man who wants to be de facto minister of education and tell children what to learn and what tools schools must use (Microsoft’s of course). We’ve covered the subject in:

Based on this announcement, Gates is still funding people to speak about the subject of education and promote his own agenda in this area.

Did Cathy speak to a Gates Foundation Panel or a Gates Foundation-funded panel. Were Foundation people in the audience and listening?

Even foreign relations are an area that Bill Gates is now invading. GatesKeepers has a copy of documents that show this.

Observations on the Chair of the Gates Foundation at the Committee on Foreign Relations

“I do know that when programs are coordinated, held accountable, and designed based on evidence, they will work better.” How do local authorities ‘coordinate’ massive funding from big donors like the Gates Foundation and PEPFAR? They are swept off their own feet and worship at the feet of the donors. Can you imagine the Vietnamese government ‘coordinating’ Gates and PEPFAR and GAVI funded programmes worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year? And is Bill advocating for his own funding to be accountable?

Despite the massive PR campaigns, Gates poses a danger to all countries across the world. Like people before him (notably Rockefeller), he uses his money to expand his realms of influence but he is very careful to control how people perceive his actions. Going against Gates’ massive PR teams is an uphill battle, but people should make a start somewhere. █

“In the fall of 1982, Pam Edstrom [of Waggener Edstrom], a diminutive woman with piercing blue eyes, was recruited by Microsoft. [...] In modern-day business, flacks were responsible not only for avoiding bad press, but for spinning the good. [...] Hanson and Edstrom would spin a whole new image for Gates himself. They would tap the best and worst of Chairman Bill, changing his clothes, his voice, and his allegiances, driving him to become not just the boss, but, essentially, the company mascot—a sort of high-technology Colonel Sanders.”

–Pam’s daughter

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