03.20.10
Posted in ECMA, Europe, FOSS, Microsoft, Patents at 5:35 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: The Microsoft PR effort to marginalise or illegalise Free software overseas carries on quietly (using proxies, as usual)
A
FEW days ago we wrote about Microsoft people engaging with and entering "Open Source", possibly in order to change its agenda (although it could innocently be just a side effect). This is known as entryism and if there is no shielding against it, then the outcome can be fatal. One has to be careful of the sort of 'monopoly' on Free/open source licence statistics from a Microsoft-sourced company called Black Duck for instance. (Dis)Information is power and this power tends to be misused when put in the wrong hands. Deception and advertising is how those entities make a living. Likewise, to let former Microsoft employees decide whose voice counts in “Open Source” is rather risky. Last year we showed that Microsoft lobbyists (notably Zuck from Association for Competitive Technology) managed to infiltrate an “Open Source” panel where they subverted collective opinion to affect policies. We took it up to the European Commission and wrote about this in:
- European Open Source Software Workgroup a Total Scam: Hijacked and Subverted by Microsoft et al
- Microsoft’s AstroTurfing, Twitter, Waggener Edstrom, and Jonathan Zuck
- Does the European Commission Harbour a Destruction of Free/Open Source Software Workgroup?
- The Illusion of Transparency at the European Parliament/Commission (on Microsoft)
- 2 Months and No Disclosure from the European Parliament
- After 3 Months, Europe Lets Microsoft-Influenced EU Panel be Seen
- Formal Complaint Against European Commission for Harbouring Microsoft Lobbyists
- ‘European’ Software Strategy Published, Written by Lobbyists and Multinationals
- Microsoft Uses Inside Influence to Grab Control, Redefine “Open Source”
The Web site called European Voice is currently promoting Microsoft’s lobbying event for software patents in Europe. At first we suspected that this Web site was something like OpenMainframe.org (Microsoft attack site against GNU/Linux), but upon closer inspection of previous articles we found just a mix of views, e.g. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].
Nevertheless, why would such a site promote Microsoft’s agenda? It’s a Windows site and strangely enough, it is registered by The Economist:
Registrars.Registrant:
The Economist Newspaper Limited
25 St James's Street
London, SW1A 1HG
GB
Domain name: EUROPEANVOICE.COM
Administrative Contact:
Manager, Domain economistdomains@comlaude.com
25 St James's Street
London, SW1A 1HG
GB
+44.2078360070 Fax: +44.8700118187
Technical Contact:
Administrator, DNS dnsadmin@economist.com
26 Red Lion Square
London, WC1R 4HQ
GB
+44.2078360070 Fax: +44.8700118187
Registration Service Provider:
Nom IQ Ltd (trading as Com Laude), admin@comlaude.com
44-20-78360070
Address for Legal Service: Nom IQ Ltd (trading as Com Laude), 116 Long
Acre, London, WC2E 9SU. Com Laude is responsible for the registration,
maintenance and management of this domain name.
Registrar of Record: TUCOWS, INC.
Record last updated on 12-Jan-2010.
Record expires on 21-Jul-2012.
Record created on 21-Jul-1999.
Registrar Domain Name Help Center:
http://tucowsdomains.com/help/
Domain servers in listed order:
NSGBR.COMLAUDE.CO.UK
NSUSA.COMLAUDE.NET
NSSUI.COMLAUDE.CH
Domain status: clientTransferProhibited
clientUpdateProhibited
The event it is organising is supported by ACT (the Microsoft front group). The president of the FFII, Benjamin Henrion, publicly warns that “ACT continues to push for software patents in Europe, Innovation Summit at the end of the month in Brussels.” ACT is clearly a front for Microsoft and rather than deny this with counter arguments, Zuck and his colleagues repeatedly defame my character in their Web site. This attitude is telling and it is also used by Microsoft technical evangelists (sometimes a euphemism for AstroTurfers on the payroll). Defamation is what one gets for exposing Microsoft’s nature and modus operandi. Groklaw received similar treatment from SCO.
“ACT continues to push for software patents in Europe…”
–Benjamin Henrion, FFIINot only ACT supports this event though. Microsoft’s “eskills” project is there too. Here is some background (more in another page with proof that it’s a Microsoft project in this document/leaflet [PDF]), which ties the project to “Jan Muehlfeit, chairman of Microsoft Europe and co-chair of the European”. We wrote about him in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] because of his lobbying in Europe. He is allegedly a former communist [1, 2], but that’s not the key point.
It is abundantly clear that Microsoft is actively working towards the goal of legalising software patents in Europe so that it can pursue Free software exclusion (taxing it or making it illegal).
The president of the FFII points to this new post and argues that “Neelie Kroes pushing for software patents in standards, Digital Commissioner Kroes proposes new EU policy of open standards” (she was lobbied by Microsoft).
From the introduction:
AN IMPORTANT POLICY PAPER, A Digital Agenda for Europe –
A policy for smart growth and innovation in a digital society, HAS BEEN LEAKED OF WHICH AN EXCERPT IS BELOW. DIGITAL AGENDA COMMISSIONER KROES HAS PROPOSED A SERIOUS MOVE OF THE EU TOWARD OPEN STANDARDS AND INTEROPERABILITY. THESE PROPOSALS ARE ALREADY BEING ATTACKED BY HER COLLEAGUES IN THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION WHO REPRESENT ENTERPRISE, COMMERCE AND INTERNAL MARKET. NEVERTHELESS, THESE PROPOSALS DESERVE CONSUMER AND CITIZEN SUPPORT.
Neelie Kroes has been making many mistakes regarding software patents as of late [1, 2]. We also learn that “DG Enterprise is pro software patents, and hostile to real open standards. They defend patent holders such as Philips and BSA.” In the following new post we are reminded that in the UK at least, software patents are already forcing their way into the system.
In simplified terms the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) on the other hand follows law and practice in the UK instead where a patent for software can be granted only where the software has a technical effect.
In summary, Microsoft has not given up on changing EU laws to discriminate against Free software. This is a major issue that a lot of GNU/Linux-oriented Web sites continue to ignore. Sometimes, those who point this out are accused of sensationalism or FUD; such accusations are only proof of gullibility and they are counter productive. █
“[The EPO] can’t distinguish between hardware and software so the patents get issued anyway”, —Marshall Phelps, IAM: Microsoft to have 50,000 patents within two years, Phelps reveals
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03.18.10
Posted in Deception, FOSS, GNU/Linux, OSI at 12:11 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Move over, Richard Stallman, Microsoft will take it from here…
Summary: Microsoft folks have decided on ‘our behalf’ who is important to Open Source and who is not
IS IT not just lovely when Microsoft people get to define who is a valid Open Source voice and who is not? This way they can marginalise key people like Stallman (the founder of the movement back when it was more widely known as "Free software") and promote apologists of Microsoft.
“This way they can marginalise key people like Stallman (the founder of the movement back when it was more widely known as “Free software”) and promote apologists of Microsoft.”We are talking about MindTouch, the former Microsoft employees who are also Mono boosters. They were sucking up to people like Matt Asay last year [1, 2]. He is the man who helped Microsoft enter OSI and OSBC [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] — a fact that many people either don’t know or don’t remember.
They also idolise one of Microsoft’s gate openers [1, 2, 3], Tim O’Reilly. He has financial interests with the company from Redmond, just like the following man whom they included in this year’s list:
Miguel de Icaza, founder, Mono and GNOME projects
It’s almost as though MindTouch wants to go around publishers and disseminate this list which says, “these are your friends! Follow them.”
Now ponder all those who are conspicuously missing. IDG says:
Torvalds was named the most influential blogger in open source, however, despite ranking behind O’Reilly in the overall metric, which includes various Twitter analysis tools and Google Trends.
This is just the latest example of Microsoft redefining the landscape of Free/open source software by wrapping itself up with Geeknet, CodePlex, etc. Matt Asay is on the board of advisors for Geeknet, which got filled with former Microsoft employees as well [1, 2]. Geeknet’s news site, Slashdot, also promoted (front page) MindTouch’s list that lauded Asay as an Open Source champion.
Watch the author of this latest press release which promotes a Microsoft lobby that Microsoft MVP Miguel de Icaza participated in until recently. It says “CodePlex Foundation”, but it’s really just Microsoft. They try to pretend it’s something separate that submits press releases independently.
Microsoft pretends to have embraced Free software (it called it “shared source” or “open source” and bends the meaning it conveys) while attacking Free software, illegally and legally at the same time (with legal means but with accompanying racketeering [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]). We gave two examples just hours ago [1, 2]. █
“If anybody thinks open-source alternatives are free, I guess as they say, you can see me after class. [...] I will tell you that in any comparison that you would do of Windows with Linux, which is an open-source alternative, we will prove to you that when it comes to total cost of ownership our stuff is more economical, whether it’s the other patent-licensing costs that you might have to pay to use open-source software, which is kind of a big unknown right now [...]“
–Steve Ballmer, National Retail Federation Annual Convention & EXPO
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Posted in Apple, FOSS, GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Patents at 9:47 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Commonality found between IMAX and iMacs
Summary: Another legal attack against Free software comes in the form of a threat (issued against Sandy3D) and Apple’s reason for suing Android seems like gradual iPhone defeat (Linux is winning)
AT THE BEGINNING of this month we showed that an Android/Linux application got shot down by software patents. It wasn’t the first (a GIMP plug-in comes to mind). Now we learn that Sandy3D, a Free software project, is under attack by IMAX. TechDirt covers this thusly:
Proffer alerts us to the bizarre story of how IMAX (last seen suing competitors and misleading people about what an IMAX film really is) is now threatening the folks behind the Sandy3D open source 3D flash engine. Apparently, IMAX has some sort of 3D drawing system called SANDDE. So, maybe, if you squint, you could see how IMAX might be complaining about a trademark issue. But the letter from IMAX is quite odd. It doesn’t mention trademark at all. Instead, it mentions a French patent.
[...]
In the end, it looks like some IMAX lawyers decided to just threaten these open source developers, hoping that by spewing some totally unrelated info about a patent, it might scare the developers into changing the name on a product, even though the patent has nothing at all to do with the issue, and the company has no registered trademark on the name in question.
Free software wins when the non-Free software world becomes ever more aggressive. “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win,” said Mahatma Gandhi, so we should be vigilant, but not demoralised or afraid. We should watch patent law and attempt to rectify it because Microsoft and other companies are trying to change it for the worse. Earlier today, the president of the FFII posted publicly a “Confirmation that Microsoft is lobbying in Brussels for a central patent court in order to validate software patents without a new directive.”
At the moment, Microsoft also relies on Apple [1, 2, 3] for its attacks on GNU/Linux [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. We’ll discuss this more properly in the next post.
Joe Wilcox, formerly the editor of Microsoft Watch, says that “Apple’s HTC patent lawsuit is a bluff” (yes, that’s his headline). He rightly argues that Apple’s lawsuit is indicative of fear — a fear of Linux.
Apple has good reasons to fear Android. In the three months from December to February, Android’s US smartphone subscriber share shot up from 2.8 percent to 7.1 percent. Worldwide, in 2009, Android smartphone market share — based on sales — rose from 0.5 percent to 3.9 percent, according to Gartner (The first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, shipped in late 2008). Last month, Google CEO Eric Schmidt asserted that 60,000 Android handsets are shipping by the day.
All this circles back to my claim that the patent lawsuit is a bluff. My reasoning:
1) Apple chose HTC, not Google. There is no immediate risk to any patent claims against HTC. Since the real claims are against Google, Apple may find the court — or even the ITC — reluctant to rule against an Android licensee in good faith. There is perceived risk, but none in the short term, which is long enough for a united Android front to do market damage against iPhone — particularly in emerging markets.
2) Apple filed against HTC and not other licensees. Apple had its chance to take on Android licensees, choosing instead to go after one.
“Google’s Open Web vs Apple’s vendor lock-in” is another noteworthy new post from ZDNet’s Google blog that says:
Who will win the battle? I think it will be a couple of years in the making. However, there is a reason that Eric Schmidt left Apple’s board of directors last year. There is a reason that Google is pushing into countless new markets and bringing products into widespread beta as quickly as possible. Google and Apple both know: he who controls the screen controls the Web (and all of the money that entails). I have to say that I’m rooting for Google’s open approach that welcomes a wide array of hardware and software. Vendor lock-in isn’t good for consumers, content providers, or developers. Apple’s HTC lawsuit was the first shot across the bow. What’s next? And when will Google take the gloves off?
Thanks to Chris Dawson for this, but Google is not an emancipation either. The difference is, Google hasn’t a history of using patents to intimidate or to sue; contrariwise, Apple has done this for decades. People have an innate inclination to personify companies based on their principles, but it’s not always a good thing. Here at Boycott Novell we care about Google only as far as Free software goes; we have our fair share of criticisms of the company, including its snubbing of the AGPL.
Just to clarify (as we often receive flak over this subject), we are not defending Google. Some of Google’s products incorporate Free software within them, so when Google gets sued, then it may also mean something for that software or for software freedom in the broadest sense. One thing we know for sure; the following new headline says it best: “Apple is Open Source’s sworn enemy”
Those who are still living in the fantasy of a FOSS-loving Apple should look no further than this list of 27 references about Apple's attitude (a few more here) — one that we accumulated over a year ago for the purpose.
The good news is that based on this week’s coverage:
• Open Source Developers Pick Android Over iPhone
• Open source developers ditch iPhone for Android
A new report has shown Google’s Android platform is enticing open source developers away from creating apps on the iPhone.
One of the biggest proponents of the AGPL, namely Funambol, is set to gain from this. As Matt Asay has just put it (he has personal involvements he may not disclose):
If the desktop is dying, mobile sync is king
[...]
It’s this desire for open clouds and open syncing to those clouds that is blessing Funambol’s open-source mobile sync business. It’s the same desire that will likely create a host of new competitors in this fertile mobile-sync market.
Apple, Microsoft, and other non-Free software vendors play hardball against Free software right now. They are willing to risk public backlash (enraging the collectives with lawsuits) to achieve the unachievable as Free software will never disappear and it has grown steadily over the years. The next post explores Microsoft’s latest campaign of FUD against Linux. It shows that Microsoft has run out of ideas. █
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03.17.10
Posted in FOSS, GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Search at 4:48 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: COPsync hires from Microsoft, Level 3 dumps Microsoft’s proprietary software to stave off Free software, and Yahoo! keeps falling apart
ONCE in a while we try to keep track of where Microsoft employees end up (especially the senior ones). They cause damage to potential rivals even after they leave Microsoft. We keep seeing evidence, so this demonstrably true.
COPsync adds a Microsoft person to its Board of Directors based on the following new announcement:
COPsync, Inc. Announces the Appointment of Joel Hochberg to the Board of Directors
[..]
Previously Mr. Hochberg was the president of a prominent software company in the video game business that was sold to Microsoft in 2004. After the sale of this company, Mr. Hochberg acted as a consultant with Microsoft’s X-Box division for three years.
Additionally, Microsoft is creating new “partners” every week in order to extend the ecosystem (we rarely cover examples of these, unless it’s relevant to Free software). Sometimes Microsoft just gives some “awards” to win the loyalty of some other companies or as this news suggests, even persons. Someone called John Scott gets what’s called “Microsoft Innovation Award”.
Microsoft now adds Level 3 to distributors of its dumping programme which goes by the *Spark banners [1, 2]. We have explained these before. Poor businesses are still putting the shackles on, perhaps not realising that Microsoft will squeeze them later. They really should stick with Free software, which is why Microsoft launched this programme in the first place (suppressing migration to something else, based on short- and long-term considerations).
Last but not least, we still see the effect of Microsoft’s attack on Yahoo’s identity and corporate culture. Another key executive (senior vice president) is leaving.
A big pick-up for Demand Media; The content distributor has hired Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) SVP Joanne Bradford as its chief revenue officer, according to AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher.
This is the type of thing that happens when companies let themselves be infiltrated by Microsoft. It’s just appalling as it removes choice from the market. Are antitrust laws no longer being enforced? █
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Posted in Apple, Courtroom, FOSS, GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, OLPC, Videos at 4:18 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“Patent defence for free software by Andrew Tridgell”
Dr. Andrew Tridgell’s talk from the LCA 2010 conference
Summary: Microsoft’s top “IP” bullies commend Apple’s legal action and Microsoft owes VirnetX $105.75 million for patent violation
BACK in January we wrote about Tridgell’s talk, which is finally available for the public to watch (FFII made a copy). We covered his talk in a post about "Apple's Patent Threat to Linux". We partly predicted Apple’s lawsuit against GNU/Linux, using software patents in fact [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Now we know that experts allege that Microsoft may have played role in Apple's lawsuit. Microsoft endorses this action publicly (in a Smith's talk) and now Microsoft endorses this in its lobbying blog too. One of Microsoft’s chief racketeers, Horacio Gutierrez, wrote: “Apple v. HTC: A Step Along the Path of Addressing IP Rights in Smartphones”
One of our readers quotes the following portions: “There is a long history of IP litigation in the mobile phone market, and innovation has continued apace [...] as the IP situation settles in this space and licensing takes off, we will see the patent royalties applicable to the smartphone software stack settle at a level that reflects the increasing importance software has as a portion of the overall value of the device.”
“Is this Microsoft-codespeak for, we expect people to start paying us a hardware tax.”
–Anonymous readerThe simple translation is that Microsoft wants tax on Linux phones. Microsoft wants us to pretend that mobile Linux too is Microsoft’s own property (the software layer). Our reader says: “Is this Microsoft-codespeak for, we expect people to start paying us a hardware tax. Something like they suggested to the OLPC developers? It’s in the Comes documents, in references to either ‘investing’ in the OLCP or getting them to stump up a Linux tax, can’t remember the exact words.”
With Apple’s lawsuit against GNU/Linux (via HTC/Android), the impact of Microsoft becomes increasingly suspect. Did Microsoft speak to Apple prior to this action? Either way, Apple is clearly a foe of software freedom and GNU/Linux users should cease viewing Apple as benign just because it competes against (or with) Microsoft.
Apple is clearly having a hard time competing against GNU/Linux. The iPad seems like a train wreck that even former Apple executives are negative about [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]. It appears as though the iPad’s target market is dyed-in-the-wool Apple followers. And surely enough, according to the following numbers, just fans are eventually buying it. [via Glyn Moody]
Orders for the Apple iPad fell sharply over the weekend, indicating that most of the real obsessives bought one on Friday.
As Ghabuntu reminds us this week, iPad is just a “toy” (Apple is irrelevant in places like Africa).
I just keep asking myself, what is it that makes Apple toys so special even if they come at a *huge* cost, both economically and philosophically?
SJVN writes about the iPad and resorts to discussing tablets that are better and run GNU/Linux.
After that, why not a wearable Mac or Linux PC? We’ve already had wearable Linux and Windows PCs, but those early models had all the problems I listed earlier. In 2010, it’s a different story. We may not have flying cars, but we can certainly have wearable computers.
We already know that Asus is looking into running Google’s Linux-based Chrome OS on wearable PCs. Who knows: in 2020, we may look back and see that iPads and tablet computers were only a brief rest stop on the way to wearable entertainment devices and computers.
Dell too is planning to release tablets that run Linux (maybe with GNU). Many of the ARM-based tablets look exceptionally promising.
The myth says that GNU/Linux is trying to catch up with the “Mac” and the “PC”, but when it comes to devices, the very opposite is true. Apple and Microsoft are just taking legal actions (intimidation or rackets) to tax devices such as the Kindle for example [1, 2, 3], which leads to articles like this new one from South Africa (where software patents are illegal but Microsoft vainly breaks the patent law):
Microsoft licensing Linux
[..]
Proprietary giant is licensing open source to its partners. What is going on?
Over the past few weeks Microsoft has been licensing Linux to a number of its partners, most notably Amazon. Although the idea of Microsoft, a company steeped in proprietary software, licensing open source software is ludicrous it’s not completely unexpected. It’s also not the first time Microsoft has played the Linux patent game and we can expect to see more deals in the future. So what’s going on?
[...]
Then in February Microsoft announced a deal with Amazon which it described as covering a “broad range” of products, including Amazon’s Kindle and Amazon’s use of Linux-based servers. Effectively Microsoft is licensing Linux to Amazon on the understanding that it won’t sue the company for infringing on its alleged Linux-related patents.
This is not unlike the agreement struck between Novell and Microsoft in 2006 in which Microsoft agreed to indemnify Suse Linux users against potential patent suits. That deal too attracted significant ire from the open source community.
The most recent Linux patent deal from Microsoft is a deal with Japanese hardware maker I-O Data. Although the specifics of the agreement are not known the two companies said that the the deal “will provide I-O Data’s customers with patent coverage for their use of I-O Data’s products running Linux and other related open source software.” Again, Microsoft is providing an assurance that it won’t file a patent suit against I-O Data for its use of Linux.
This is not the first time that a company has tried to claim Linux patent ownership and used that against other businesses. SCO is the most obvious example and they even went so far as claim that they owned Unix. SCO, fortunately, was never that successful at winning its claim over Linux and Unix. Microsoft on the other hand is a potentially different case.
[...]
Suing a Linux vendor directly over patent claims would be a shortcut to ending up in court. And being hauled into court would force Microsoft to open its books and explain what it is that it claims to own.
For now Microsoft is prepared to rely on compliant partners to create uncertainty around Linux ownership.
It’s a clever strategy by Microsoft and one hard to counteract.
It’s not a “clever strategy”, it’s racketeering and it’s illegal [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. It should be reported by vendors like Red Hat as it probably violates laws introduced with the RICO Act. The racketeering from Gates and Jobs goes quite a long way back. It’s just another SCO-like strategy, going back to around the same time as the SCO lawsuit (2003).
Speaking of SCO, a few days ago it turned out that SCO itself was behind the attacks on Groklaw. SCO was using Sys-Con as its attack dog and Sys-Con is now spreading lies about an important Free software project, leading to this reaction:
O’Gara Cloud Computing Article Off Base
[...]
This is just about the most naïve explanation for whether a product will or will not be stable that I’ve ever read. If Maureen had bothered to email or call any one of the core Drizzle developers, they’d have been happy to tell her what is and is not stable about Drizzle, and why. Drizzle has not changed the underlying storage engines, so the InnoDB storage engine in Drizzle is the same plugin as available in MySQL (version 1.0.6).
Watch the first comment which says: “There’s no reason to be nice to MoG. She’s the same hitwoman who wrote a bunch of pro SCO, anti GPL FUD during that whole trial (while being paid by them, while claiming to be impartial), including publishing a bunch of personal info about the previously anonymous blogger behind Groklaw.”
Few more comments like this follow, but a lot more about the SCO/Sys-Con attack on Groklaw can be found in this new Slashdot discussion.
In other important news, the Virnetx case is over and Microsoft lost. We previously covered this in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8] and here is the news from Microsoft Nick:
A Texas jury has sided with VirnetX in its patent-infringement lawsuit against Microsoft, recommending an award of $105.75 million.
TechDirt already responds with some witty remarks:
In the last few years, Microsoft has become a bigger and bigger supporter of patents, which is a bit ironic, given that Bill Gates once pointed out that the software industry never would have developed if there had been software patents back in the early days. But, proving that new companies innovate, while older companies litigate, Microsoft has become a big patent hoarder in recent years. But, to date, while it’s used those patents to threaten lots of companies, it seems like Microsoft’s decision to live by patents, is actually costing it quite a bit of money.
Sadly, Microsoft uses patent trolls like Virnetx only to justify its own patent attacks against rivals. Microsoft’s #1 rival is Free software of course (although its embodiment can be companies like Google, IBM, Red Hat, and so on). █
“I’d put the Linux phenomenon really as threat No. 1.”
–Steve Ballmer, 2001
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03.16.10
Posted in FOSS, Microsoft, Windows at 8:06 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Wikipedia is my default search facility under Firefox
Summary: A reader alleges that Microsoft is playing dirty on Windows in order to suppress the use of Google (assuming AVG agreed to reroute traffic to Microsoft via Yahoo!)
ON TWO occasions earlier this year we echoed separate complaints from people who said that Microsoft uses Internet Explorer 8 (which it shoves down users' throats) to suppress the use of Google. The details were revealing and the claims sufficiently compelling.
A reader got in touch earlier today in order to say more things about a post we made earlier. To quote the relevant part:
| lpbbear |
hi all, sorry to butt in, could i mention something about the bing issue to you roy? |
Mar 16 18:25 |
| lpbbear |
OK, I will just throw it out there, noticed your item about Bing this morning, seeing some other related issues not seen mentioned anywhere yet. |
Mar 16 18:28 |
| lpbbear |
I work as a PC tech, seeing an issue with AVG AntiVirus in Windows related to Bing |
Mar 16 18:28 |
| lpbbear |
I haven’t had the luxury of time to tradck all of it down but it appears that sometime recently AVG has entered into some background agreement with microsoft. |
Mar 16 18:29 |
| lpbbear |
during AVG install it asks to install a Yahoo toolbar, it seems to be over riding search settings in Firefox in Windows and locking Firefox search box to bing. |
Mar 16 18:30 |
| neighborlee |
im not happy with avg either..it said it removes trial and gives free versoin back.but it keeps nagging you about switching to non trial version regardless…not sure about bing but defintely yahoo, which M$ owns now of course.. |
Mar 16 18:32 |
-BNtwitter/#boycottnovell-[eduvid] Wow, I have a static ip now  now thinking for firewall |
Mar 16 18:34 |
| *lpbbear_ (~quassel@66.172.105.203) has joined #boycottnovell |
Mar 16 18:34 |
| neighborlee |
http://dissentingjustice.blogspot.com/2009/12/obama-falsely-claims-that-senate.html < this is also interesting |
Mar 16 18:34 |
| phIRCe-BNc |
Title: DISSENTING JUSTICE: Obama Falsely Claims that the Senate Healthcare Bill Matches His Campaign Promises .::. Size~: 190.69 KB |
Mar 16 18:34 |
| *lpbbear has quit (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) |
Mar 16 18:36 |
| *lpbbear (~quassel@75.139.216.174) has joined #boycottnovell |
Mar 16 18:42 |
| *lpbbear has quit (Client Quit) |
Mar 16 18:43 |
| *lpbbear (~quassel@75.139.216.174) has joined #boycottnovell |
Mar 16 18:43 |
| *lpbbear_ has quit (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) |
Mar 16 18:46 |
| lpbbear |
anyone see that earlier mention of AVG/Bing lockin thing I mentioned, I glitched out for a moment |
Mar 16 18:46 |
| schestowitz |
jono: hey |
Mar 16 18:51 |
| schestowitz |
lpbbear I meant |
Mar 16 18:51 |
| schestowitz |
Catching up…… |
Mar 16 18:51 |
| lpbbear |
hi |
Mar 16 18:51 |
| schestowitz |
lpbbear: has anyone reported this avg thing” |
Mar 16 18:52 |
| schestowitz |
? |
Mar 16 18:52 |
| schestowitz |
That’s why Windows is bad for Firefox |
Mar 16 18:52 |
| schestowitz |
Or any developer |
Mar 16 18:52 |
| schestowitz |
Microsoft bullies competition over there |
Mar 16 18:52 |
| schestowitz |
lpbbear: I can’t reproduce here cause I don’t have Windows |
Mar 16 18:53 |
| lpbbear |
no, I don’t believe I have seen mention of it anywhere yet |
Mar 16 18:53 |
| schestowitz |
Maybe someone else can test..? |
Mar 16 18:53 |
| lpbbear |
saw your article on Bing this morning and thought you would like the additional info |
Mar 16 18:53 |
| lpbbear |
uwhat it appears to be doing is locking the little searchbox in the upper right corner area of Firefox to Bing |
Mar 16 18:54 |
| lpbbear |
ucan’t manually change to Google or anything else until you go into addons and disable the AVG yahoo addon, may have names a bit wrong, from memory |
Mar 16 18:55 |
| neighborlee |
lpbbear: yup I did |
Mar 16 18:55 |
| lpbbear |
I am always on the “clock” at customers sites so I haven’t had the luxury of time to follow it up more. |
Mar 16 18:56 |
| neighborlee |
lpbbear: I uninstalled unhappy with their constant nagging about switching from free to pay version |
Mar 16 18:56 |
| neighborlee |
lpbbear: but I dont recall bing issues..yahoo toolbar yes < not good since M$ owns yahoo now> |
Mar 16 18:57 |
| lpbbear |
its fairly recent, just started seeing this issue on customers systems that use Firefox |
Mar 16 18:57 |
| lpbbear |
seems to me to be a clear antitrust issue even though its being used through a third party proxy by Microsoft. |
Mar 16 18:58 |
| lpbbear |
I could understand if it just added a choice for Bing in the list but its locking the list to just Bing and not allowing the user the ability to switch to other choices. |
Mar 16 19:01 |
Can any of our readers (with a Windows partition) test this to confirm? This is why Free software on top of Windows is far from ideal; Microsoft has a long history of pulling such tricks because it controls the underlying platform and vainly disregards the rule of law. How about when Microsoft “sabotaged” Firefox last year [1, 2, 3] (more than once)?
Speaking of Web browsers, one reader alerts us that “Microsoft innovates plug-in-free video”. According to the article he cites (CNET warning), “Coming in the new version is support for new Web standards including plug-in-free video; better performance with graphics, text, and JavaSript…”
Does that mean that Microsoft might support embedded Ogg? Is Microsoft relenting on Silver Lie then [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]? It’s hard to believe. █
“…[Windows 98] must be a killer on shipments so that Netscape never gets a chance…”
–Former Microsoft Vice President James Allchin in an internal memo
“We are going to cut off their air supply. Everything they’re selling, we’re going to give away for free.”
–Paul Maritz, former Microsoft Vice President (now VMware CEO), referring to Netscape
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Posted in Apple, BSD, FOSS, GNU/Linux, Microsoft at 7:00 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Reporters wonder if Vivek Kundra (national CIO) can resist the temptation to just hand over government operations to private companies, some of which are abusive and dangerous to sovereignty
THE United States government should ideally deploy Free software, just as it used Drupal and LAMP to redo the official White House Web site. This gives the government full control of the software that it uses, which is crucial. Favouritism to some overpaid people who are hiding behind some company names is not an acceptable practice, especially given that the money comes from taxpayers and the government is often funded by those same companies that it returns favours to (Microsoft funded the Obama campaign for example).
According to this report, “Obama’s $79 Billion Tech Plan May Favor Web Programs”
Watch which companies are being listed:
Microsoft, Google and Amazon.com Inc. are all offering more databases and programs online, allowing customers to curb storage costs. Sharing software and data that way would shrink U.S. storage needs, helping to cut expenses after previous governments spent more than $500 billion on data centers and other technology initiatives in the past decade, Kundra said.
The government is able to employ its own IT staff that will build and maintain systems that are based on Free software. There is no need for a Microsoft or a Google or an Amazon.com. If businesses choose to do trade with them, that’s fine. It’s their choice. But governments are different, they are inherently obliged not to become just an extension of commerce for reasons we won’t go into.
“Steve Ballmer visits the White House a little too much given that he is not a politician (or isn’t supposed to act as one because he was never elected).”As we have already shown, Steve Ballmer visits the White House a little too much [1, 2] given that he is not a politician (or isn’t supposed to act as one because he was never elected). Ballmer and Obama’s CIO may have met at a university recently and Investor Spot now asks: “Will Steve Ballmer’s Microsoft & Obama’s Administration Share A Cloud?”
This would be a total farce if it became true. Likewise, as Apple/Mac developers find out that they are merely being exploited, one person finds it worthwhile to say (in IDG): “It’s time to end government-funded iPhone apps (and curb Apple’s control-freak tendencies)”
Now we’ve got Apple’s Developer License Agreement with terms so controlling that developers must seek prior approval from Apple before even commenting on the license itself. We only know this because the Electronic Frontier Foundation snared a copy from NASA via a Freedom of Information Act request (view PDF on the EFF site. Apparently, federal law still trumps Apple’s corporate attempts at secrecy. At least for now.
NASA also appears to have been intruded by Microsoft boosters [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], who in turn use NASA to block/turn away GNU/Linux and BSD users. █
“Open source is an intellectual-property destroyer [...] I can’t imagine something that could be worse than this for the software business and the intellectual-property business. I’m an American; I believe in the American way, I worry if the government encourages open source, and I don’t think we’ve done enough education of policymakers to understand the threat.”
–Jim Allchin, President of Platforms & Services Division at Microsoft
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03.15.10
Posted in FOSS, GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Servers, Windows at 3:54 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Reactions to Microsoft’s attempt to devour Free/open source software with Windows and software patents; Apache given as example of projects at risk
LAST week we wrote about the latest changes in Microsoft's CodePlex Foundation. What we didn’t mention is that someone from Apache agreed to participate in it, which led to Groklaw responding with: “Apache guys are losing a lot of credibility in the community. Definitely with me. Microsoft doesn’t care how open the code is, so long as it has patents it can use against it. And that’s the point of Codeplex, I think, to create a code base to compete with the GPLv3 that seeks to protects the code and its users from patent assault and royalty demands. Ask Microsoft why no GPLv3 code can be used in Codeplex. Maybe because it wants to do more Novell-style patent deals? You think? Apache guys, in the days of SenderID, you knew that it mattered to stay true to community principles and you stood up to Microsoft successfully. Do you really think a FOSS ecosystem that can include patent license payments fits the vision?”
“Apache guys are losing a lot of credibility in the community. Definitely with me.”
–Pamela Jones, GroklawThis is the cited article and here are some of our posts about Apache’s relationship with Microsoft [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18]; it’s all about Windows, which only makes Apache look bad.
This good new cartoon explains how Microsoft views “open source” (found in Groklaw). █
“It’s part of a continuing behavior pattern by Microsoft that I think it’s fair to call “dirty fighting.” GoDaddy was using Apache (I assume on Linux) because it was a great technical solution. They didn’t switch to IIS on Windows Server 2003 for any technical reason. The switch was accompanied by a press release by GoDaddy, containing Microsoft promotional language. Now, I’ve changed many servers from one thing to another, but I’ve never made a press release about it. GoDaddy wouldn’t be doing that unless Microsoft had offered them something valuable in return. There has been talk in the domain business that Microsoft has been offering the large domain registries a wad of cash to switch their parked sites. There is no other reason to do this than to influence the Netcraft figures.”
–Bruce Perens
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