11.19.08
Posted in Microsoft, Windows, OLPC, Hardware, Courtroom, Vista at 9:04 am by Roy Schestowitz
“LH [Longhorn/Vista] is a pig and I don’t see any solution to this problem. If we are to rise to the challenge of Linux…”
–Jim Allchin, Microsoft
AT RISK of seeming repetitive, here is some new information about the collusion that we previously covered in:
This is not a sole incident. A recent (and therefore more memorable) example is the OLPC fiasco. Here are some more unsealed correspondences where Microsoft’s nervousness is showing.
E-mails show Microsoft’s internal reaction to Walt Mossberg column
[…]
“You also won’t have to worry about Vista if you buy one of Apple Computer’s Macintosh computers, which don’t run Windows,” Mossberg wrote. “Every mainstream consumer doing typical tasks should consider the Mac. Its operating system, called Tiger, is better and much more secure than Windows XP, and already contains most of the key features promised for Vista.”
Steve Ballmer is trying to distance himself from this crime, but he and his company seem to have granted Intel billions of dollars at the expense of consumers (and maybe OEMs). This was done knowingly and deliberately.
What did Ballmer know and when did he know it?
That’s arguably the biggest question in the Microsoft “Vista Capable” class-action lawsuit being heard by a federal judge in a Seattle court. Documents unsealed last Thursday imply that the Microsoft CEO was in on the decision two years ago to lower technical requirements for its Vista operating system as a favor to chipmaker Intel, which pressured the software giant to slap “Vista Capable” stickers on PCs with Intel 915 chipsets, hardware that lacked the firepower to run the full Vista feature set.
Intel allegedly stood to lose “billions” of dollars if Microsoft stuck to its original specs because the chipmaker would have been stuck with a whole bunch of the Vista-inadequate 915s. And while Microsoft’s concern for Intel’s quarterly earnings results was touching in that corporate bottom-line kind of way, the impact on consumers was less than heart-warming.
Over at Groklaw, Pamela Jones adds: “You know what I can’t help wondering about? Does this in any way impact the EU antitrust investigation of Intel? If I were AMD, I’d surely be paying close attention.”
By selling people the false impression that Vista 7 [sic] is lighter than Vista (it’s not [1, 2]), Microsoft may be setting itself for similar lawsuits in the future. Vapourware can be crime. █
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11.14.08
Posted in Microsoft, Windows, GNU/Linux, Deception, OLPC, America, Mandriva at 10:12 am by Roy Schestowitz
Who approached whom for the denials?
WE simply cannot trust IDG News Service due to Microsoft money that is on its table. There are many other reasons to lose confidence in the company and those reasons include very recent incidents.
IDC’s shrewdly-disguised attacks on GNU/Linux and IDG’s promotion of Microsoft (they give room to Microsoft evangelists) is another thing, but when defending the monopolist amid accusations of crime, it sure strikes a nerve. Microsoft’s own needs for denials are magically transformed into articles now. The latest example is about Nigeria. Microsoft has a special relationship in the Nigerian government (the son of the former president is a senior Microsoft employee) and the same goes for some other African countries where Microsoft mercilessly fights Free software.
The latest ‘denialticle’ from IDG is titled “Microsoft denies paying contractor to abandon Linux” and it contains a reminder of Microsoft’s influence.
Apart from the fact that Linux is freely distributed, it’s functionality, adaptability and robustness has made it the main alternative for proprietary Unix and Microsoft operating systems. Governments in Ghana, Namibia, Nigeria and South Africa have deployed Linux in departments and schools, but Hansen said that Microsoft has strong relationships with the governments in these countries.
What kind of brow-raising relationships? There have been other iffy affairs in Nigeria. For that matter, the OLPC story is worth revisiting too.
“The big papers are typically protective of mega corporations that make these papers relevant and sometimes also fund them.”The article above contains a headline that’s hugely similar to one which was published in IDG several months ago. It had Microsoft deny accusations of blackmail from Microsoft in Africa (following by other curious moves). There were other accusations of Microsoft blackmail, so it’s not a new thing.
Another company that earned ‘placements’ the press for its denialists to speak is Intel, whose crimes against OLPC it tries to erase using publications like the Wall Street Journal. The big papers are typically protective of mega corporations that make these papers relevant and sometimes also fund them.
By all means, the latest from IDG seems to be airing Microsoft denials as entire articles so that Microsoft can point critics at these pages (’articles’) and have them serve as revisionism or excuses. ISO did this with Microsoft [1, 2] and the BBC does this too [1, 2, 3].
Here is an interesting new comment from LinuxToday.
Microsoft denied it paid of the Nigerian contractor to scuttle Mandriva’s sale to his government by replacing Mandriva boxes with XP boxes.
But, readers of the article responded with their own personal horror stories of Microsoft abuse and intimidation. (Are you reading, Darryl?)
* Bob
* 11/11/2008
* 12:26:14 PM
Oh really? They’re certainly capable of doing it! When Microsoft learned of our “Linux where we can, Windows where we must” IT policy, they sent one of their authorized consultants in to persuade our executives that we were misguided. The result? Our shop was purged of all Linux proponents, and they were replaced with MCSE consultants and other far less qualified Microsoft quislings that ripped out Linux and VMWare servers, MySQL based applications, and any non-Microsoft piece of software they could find. It’s an old-school IBM tactic that I had heard Microsoft used, but never really believed it until it happened to me. If you use Linux, do not let Microsoft find out!
- Bob
and
* Ed
* 11/11/2008
* 03:14:17 PM
Yep, MS found out about how I was teaching linux in a school lab. A while later, the principal demanded that all the linux machines be replaced with windoze machines…appalling brainwashing of our children!
I recall reading that when Novell gets a shop to replace its RH servers with SUSE Enterprise Linux Servers there is one BIG difference — the SELS boxes cannot be used as a PDC Emulator Master of an Active Directory even though SAMBA faithfully recreates PDC. Net effect: SUSE servers can be pulled at anytime and replaced by Windows servers without any problems, which is what their intent is to begin with. And Novell knows that.
If the stories above are true, this would not be the first time Microsoft pressured people from above. Ask people in Malaysia and also watch the story of Massachusetts, including that of Peter Quinn. Who would befriend or defend such a company? █
Microsoft: spinning the story of Africa
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11.04.08
Posted in Microsoft, Finance, GNU/Linux, OLPC, Hardware, America, Africa at 7:05 am by Roy Schestowitz
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Sometimes attributed to Mahatma Gandhi
THEY have tried almost everything. Yes, Microsoft has already begun flinging away a 7-year-old operating system for a mere pittance, it offered its crown jewel software for just $3 in selected countries and some say that they already give Windows away for free. Dumping is how it started, with this example from South Africa, and later it descended to bribery of officials.
The practice is akin to Intel’s breaking of the law in order to destroy competition (kickbacks and collusion being just part of a broader issue), but this is not sustainable. It’s possible to suppress hardware companies, but Free software lives on and flourishes regardless.
Korea has been talking about (and also implementing) migrations to GNU/Linux for quite some time, but according to reports, Microsoft is now offering them benefits and money in exchange for commitment to Microsoft software.
Microsoft Against Free Software… But In Favor Of Paying Nations To Use Its Software?
With more and more countries aggressively moving to embrace free and open source software, it appears that Microsoft is using its own money to its advantage, such as with this agreement to hand over $60 million to South Korea to get it to use its software, rather than the alternatives.
Korea got a little ‘too’ GNU/Linux friendly, so Microsoft needed to respond. Korea is likely to put itself back in the same lock-in traps it’s desperate to avoid and escape (c/f references at the bottom).
There is an even bigger problem here. The cost of lock-in is not taken into consideration and Freedom (or independence) is neglected altogether, despite being an important factor . It was only days ago that Richard Stallman explained in his article–“Not Free at Any Price”–why permitting children to sell their freedom for a price (or discounts) is misguided. He even uses colourful analogies.
Teaching children to use Windows is like teaching them to smoke tobacco—in a world where only one company sells tobacco.
Microsoft has a strategy that relies on separation between technical and non-technical people, thus capitalising on selfishness and ignorance. Maybe they can corrupt some more Korean officials. They did, after all, sign a patent deal inclusive of Linux with a corrupt company [1, 2]. █
References
[1] South Korea, OSS License Guide Announced
The Guide explains how to strategically manage and utilize open source SW as well as what the open source SW is and how to use it. Explanation for GPL, an open source SW, published in June, 2007, is included in the Guide as well.
[2] Korean software firm sues Microsoft
According to Korean newspaper Chosun, the US software mammoth has been accused of causing a loss in sales revenue estimated at W30bn (US$1=W918) because the firm’s Windows operating system comes pre-loaded with a media player and instant messaging.
Seoul Central District Court confirmed yesterday that Digito was suing Microsoft in the US and Korea, claiming that the software giant had violated the Fair Trade Act since 2000.
[3] Motorola selling Razr2 phone in S.Korea
Motorola accounted for 11.5 percent of the Korean handset market as of the end of April. Samsung Electronics Co. held 55 percent and LG Electronics Inc. had 19 percent, according to Korea-based ATLAS Research Group.
[4] Korean court rebuffs Microsoft in patents case
Microsoft has taken another slap from the authorities in Korea, after a court decision in a patent dispure raised the prospect of Office being taken off the shelves in the country.
Microsoft said it was continuing to dispute the patent’s validity.
[5] Consumers in No Hurry for Vista Upgrade
In a survey of 4,144 members of Danawa.com, a price comparison site, only 14 percent of respondents said that they will immediately upgrade to the Vista platform when Microsoft releases it on January 30.
[6] Haansoft Teams Up with Redgate, Targets Linux Market in Asia
Haansoft said on Wednesday that it had teamed up with domestic security firm Redgate to reinforce security for ‘Asianux.’
[7] First phase of Korea’s open-source city is high success
Following the trend of open source adaptation in major cities worldwide, one of the major Korean cities, Gwangju Metropolitan City, successfully jumped onto the open source transition, receiving spotlight from related industry.
[8] South Korea’s ETRI develops advanced Linux desktop search system, puts end to erroneous results
On 21st, South Korean R&D firm ETRI announced that they have developed new Linux desktop search system, ‘antbear’. The antbear can analyze and run advanced text searches, producing more accurate results by precisely analyzing the search words.
[9] An open source development project ‘Winter of Code’ just got launched!
Soonseon Kwon, who runs KLDP (Korean Linux Documentation Project) said, “This is the first ever open source event in Korea and I hope it will serve as a good opportunity to promote the open source to Korean students. I also hope that both the students and resulting projects can put a positive effect on the open source community.”
[10] ‘Genome Project’ Led by Open Source HPC
The BLAST tool module is highly compatible to run on Linux platform with advantage of considerably faster result compared to running on other platform.
[11] RP, Asia give open source the space to expand wings
For instance, the South Korean government bought 120,000 copies of Hancom Linux Deluxe as early as 2002 in an effort to switch approximately 23 percent of its Microsoftbased desktops to open source.
[12] Korea’s HaanSoft to promote Asianux in RP
Asianux, a version of the Linux operating system, was developed by China’s Red Flag Software and has since been locally deployed and distributed by Japan’s Miracle Linux and HaanSoft, forming a regional open-source consortium.
[13] Koreans to showcase open source experience in Cebu summit
KIPA has been actively pushing open source use in government. One of its projects resulted in a local version of Linux (called Buyeo) now used in nearly 200 schools in South Korea.
KIPA is likewise working to make Linux more readily available to companies in Korea. It has publicly stated its goal to run 40 percent of servers in the country on open source.
[…]
Hansoft, meanwhile, will also be sending speakers to the conference. The company is one of Korea’s biggest software firms and has active participation in various open source projects, including Asianux, a Linux version targeted at Asian markets.
[14] South Korea to Fine Intel $25.4 Million for Trade Violations
South Korea’s antitrust regulator said Thursday it would order the Intel Corporation to pay 26 billion won ($25.4 million) for violating fair trade rules.
[15] Korean Government Writes Digital Textbook on Linux
The government-led Korean digital textbook project will adopt Linux. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of Korea announced their decision to choose the open software for digital textbook, the key project for the government’s digital education policy.
[16] Linux Foundation Opens Korean Office
The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced that it is opening an office in Seoul, Korea. Kwangjei “Daniel” Cho, former senior director of Haansoft, Inc., will be the Linux Foundation director of Korea.
[17] A discouraging news for Korean open web movement
Open Web, a Korean web forum led by professor Kichang Kim of Korea University is best known for its fight against rampant use of Active X in Korea, lost a lawsuit against the KFTC (Korea Financial Telecommunication and Clearings Comittee). Professor Kim accused that the Korean government’s mandate on the use of Active X programs for the internet banking and other public web services should be lifted, as it is against fair trade and “overly favors technology from a single company (that is, Microsoft)”.
Professor Kim has also asserted that as many Korean netizens somehow grew to think that Active X is something they have to download anyway, many of them are exposed to security vulnerabilities. Also, as so many entities including virtually all financial institutes in the nation depend on Microsoft technology in Korea, whenever Microsoft announces an update, the whole nation has to upgrade its internet infrastructure, and this leads to various losses on a national scale - Kim asserted.
But Professor Kim’s year-long accusation fell short of convincing the court that the government mandate on the Active X is against fair trade and therefore is illegal.
[18] Haansoft to donate Linux based Hangul program to Daejeon City
The company provided 780 copies of the Linux-based Hangul 2005 to centers that house infants and small children through Childcare Center Association of Daejeon city.
[19] North, South Korea Unite Over Linux
The bitter political foes will team with China on the project, tentatively named “Hana Linux”
[20] Two Koreas Join Forces to Develop Linux
South and North Korea team up to develop a version of ‘Hana Linux (tentatively named)’ and set standards.
[21] ODF a National Standard in Korea
The proposal for ODF to be accepted as a Malaysian Standard by SIRIM, Department of Standards Malaysia and ultimately the Minister of Science, Technology & Innovation is dormant for more than a year now. Four months after the Malaysian proposal went to sleep, Italy made ODF a National Standard. Eight months after that, Korea has followed suit. With this Korean news, perhaps the Malaysian proposal will be awakened.
[22] Korea, No with comments to OOXML
Korean government concluded that OOXML is incomplete for ISO standards right now and suggested some of complements for that.
[23] The cost of monoculture
Korea will only get beyond this problem by 1) applying Korean laws on open standards to the certificate authorities, 2) reassigning new certificates which work with open web standards to all Koreans, 3) reprogramming all Korean websites to support 128 bit SSL which will allow for a heterogeneous marketplace of operating systems and web browsers. This is a herculean task and thus Korea stays hostage to Redmond.
Fascinating history. Unintended consequences and de-facto monopolies create costs too high to calculate and must be borne without question.
[24] Is MS Overcharging Koreans for Vistas?
Microsoft?s Windows Vista program is selling in South Korea at prices up to 70 percent higher than in the United States or Japan, with Microsoft blaming Korea’s immature market for the price difference.
[25] Korean government warns against Vista upgrade
The Ministry of Information and Communication said that it wished it could tell a private company like Microsoft to postpone the release of Vista, but it can’t. The best thing, an official said, was not to install Vista before you know what you’re getting into.
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10.28.08
Posted in Microsoft, Windows, GNU/Linux, OLPC, Africa, Mandriva at 11:28 am by Roy Schestowitz
Redmond behemoth scrambles for ‘damage control’
Microsoft’s anti-GNU/Linux incentives are an issue that we’ve studied quite closely and carefully [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 9, 2540]. We must consider what’s sometimes referred to as “sort bribery” and realise that, realistically speaking, bribes can be made in all sorts of way. We even mentioned Novell in this context, even though it goes a good number of years back to the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Bribes, or to put it more mildly — “incentives” — can be granted in a variety of artistic and original ways. Yesterday there was a timely story about it in the news. It’s a political story by its very nature, but the Senator who was accused and found guilty of corruption also battled against the neutral Web. He may have caused harm to the Internet.
Nothing separates politics from technology. Always follow the influence.
“In each case, there are gentler words and terms that describe the transactions involved.”There are quite a few similar examples that we’ve covered here before and which involve Microsoft, ranging from political distortion to bloggers and journalists who receive gifts, consultants who receive lucrative contracts, partners who rig votes in exchange for incentives and so forth.
In each case, there are gentler words and terms that describe the transactions involved. Words may include: “marketing”, “evangelism”, “gifts”, “rewards”, “incentives”, “favours”, “obligation”, “contracts”, “studies”, and “independent but Microsoft-commissioned.” We have seen it all before.
To get a glimpse at what Microsoft has done in Nigeria, here are some places to start [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. There is a lot more to be said about what Microsoft has been doing in the whole of Africa. It is no surprise that some local shops called for a boycott against Microsoft and Intel.
What is interesting to discover is that the Wall Street Journal studied a small part of this saga and has just published an article that looks closely at a portion of it. It’s about Microsoft paying an unnamed Nigerian official $400,000 to drop Mandriva Linux from an already-approved and already-announced deal.
In Nigeria, Microsoft proposed paying $400,000 last year under a joint-marketing agreement to a government contractor it was trying to persuade to replace Linux with Windows on thousands of school laptops. The contractor’s former chief executive describes the proposal as an incentive to make the switch — an interpretation Microsoft denies. In Namibia and Nigeria, where it has sought government contracts, the company hired family members of government officials. Microsoft says they were qualified.
It was only a week and a half ago that we spotted a related incident. A relative of government officials (son of a former president) is attacking bloggers who are critical of Microsoft. This one is a particular example from Nigeria.
“No other large companies as far as I know use their employees as attack dogs to silen[ce] dissent. It’s time for Microsoft to stop this nonsense.”
–The Prickly Prince From Microsoft Strikes Again
Anyway, further notes the article from the Wall Street Journal:
On Oct. 30, Mandriva announced it had won the contract to provide Linux software for the Classmates. Microsoft didn’t give up. The next day, it delivered TSC a revised draft agreement with an “effective date” of Nov. 1, documents show. It offered to pay $400,000 to TSC. In the revised agreement, there no longer was any mention of TSC having to comply with Microsoft’s code of conduct.
In an Oct. 31 email, TSC told Mandriva that there had been a “change in circumstances,” and that it “has recently reached an understanding with Microsoft to convert” the Classmates from Linux to Windows.
Mandriva’s chief executive, Francois Bancilhon, responded by posting “an open letter to Steve Ballmer,” Microsoft’s CEO, on Mandriva’s Web site. “What have you done to these guys to make them change their mind like this?” he wrote. “It’s quite clear to me, and it will be to everyone. How do you call what you just did, Steve? There are various names for it, I’m sure you know them.” Mr. Bancilhon declined to elaborate on his letter.
In the end, the joint-marketing agreement was never signed, and the Microsoft deal unraveled. Microsoft says it gave up after “it became clear” that the Nigerian government wanted Linux.
The laptops were delivered with Linux.
This one, for a change, contains a happy ending.
Microsoft’s other operations in Africa are discussed in some more details in this article, but it neglects to mention some tactics which we covered a couple of months back.
Is Microsoft competing fairly? Who are they kidding? █
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10.22.08
Posted in Microsoft, Windows, SLES/SLED, Marketing, OLPC at 9:31 am by Roy Schestowitz
Price of Windows XP suddenly falls, Ballnux dropped, ASUS contradicts MSI cheap shots
Back in May, we saw Microsoft responding predatorily to the popularity of GNU/Linux on sub-notebooks. Suffice to say, GNU/Linux the only thing keeping Windows XP alive (in the sense that it is still being sold). According to this new article from Linux Magazine, sub-notebooks still have GNU/Linux installed on more than 40% of them (rough estimate). It’s the same figure that NComputing reported, although it seems to be in a process of capture by Microsoft.
Several months after Microsoft’s predatory pricing documents had been leaked, it turned out that Microsoft was pressuring ASUS, a company which is often attributed the genesis of GNU/Linux sub-notebooks, mimicking OLPC XO in the more modernised world. We saw evidence of manipulation several times since then [1, 2, 3]. Now comes this post/article from David Meyer, who is no foe of Free software. He writes:
“I have blogged a couple of times about the Apricot netbook. Just to recap, it’s the resurrection of a nostalgic brand by virtue of a guy buying the brand a few months ago and launching a rebadged FIC Via under it.
“A representative told me today that they have decided to dump the Linux version of the device. This was to have been priced at £279, with the XP version costing £329. There is now only an XP option, priced at £299.”
So suddenly it’s £30 cheaper? That sure seems as though Microsoft gave them a considerable discount and knocked SUSE out (yes, its very own partner, Novell). Is Microsoft pressuring vendors using discounts and/or dumping? This was done before and it’s part of a trend.
Also worth mentioning is the recent FUD from MSI, which related to Ballnux laptops. One simple answer from an MSI executive absolutely flooded the mainstream media for no good reason, so it was was suspicious. Well, in the following new interview with the CEO of ASUS, this MSI (MS?) FUD is being refuted. Jerry Shen was asked: “We have heard that return rates have been higher for Linux-based netbooks. Can you share information on sales of the Linux Eee PCs versus Windows XP versions? What about return rates overall for Eee PC netbooks?”
Here is his reply (emphasis in red is ours): “I think the return rate for the Eee PCs are low but I believe the Linux and Windows have similar return rates. We really separate the products into different user groups. A lot of users like the Windows XP, but in Europe a lot of people want the Linux option. Actually in Linux we support the Easy Mode and in Q4 of this year we are going to start selling Windows XP with an Easy Mode.” █
Update: The Register turns out to have run a similar story (totally independently). Watch the excuses from Apricot and also the comments.
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10.17.08
Posted in Microsoft, Windows, GNU/Linux, OLPC, OpenDocument, Asia, Africa at 12:53 pm by Roy Schestowitz
“They’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.”
–Bill Gates
In terms of actual sales, Microsoft is doing more poorly than before. It has lost its thunder, so even Microsoft mouthpieces like Ina Fried [1, 2] are clearly concerned about measurable indicators.
Vista laptops not top sellers on Amazon
[…]
That one is an HP mini-notebook that ranked No. 18, trailing behind a gaggle of Macs and Netbooks running either Windows XP or Linux.
There are many new examples of Microsoft’s response to the lack of adoption of its crown jewel products. We’ll cover some of them later today.
Over in China, Microsoft is lobbying for the use of Windows at all costs (even $0) and there are antitrust threats due to this. It’s predatory pricing, which is an offence.
It was not entirely new or surprising that Microsoft permits people in China to ’steal’ Windows, provided that it’s Vista, i.e. provided it helps the perception of Vista adoption and tightens lock-in on the user. Here is the opinion of someone who agrees.
A new campaign announced by Microsoft China on Oct. 16 to combat piracy of its Windows XP operating system has been met with fury by Chinese software users, and according to one analyst, is more about forcing people to upgrade to Windows Vista.
Perhaps more disturbing though is Microsoft’s intrusion into South African schools, which are/were on their route to GNU/Linux and ODF. Microsoft just won’t leave them alone, as we showed in greater detail before. Here is the latest dump:
FIFTY colleges of Further Education and Training (FET) will become accredited Microsoft Information Technology (IT) Academies so that students can receive internationally accredited training and certifications in addition to local qualifications.
The agreement to introduce the training in all of SA’s FETs was signed last week by Microsoft and the communications department’s Meraka e-Skills Institute. The aim is to give students some skills that will increase their immediate chance of employment and to give them a foundation to pursue further studies in the field. The curriculum will be designed to give students the chance to experience real-world challenges in the classroom, with courses due to start next year.
It’s worth getting the record straight. This is about capturing minds while they are young and making them dependent on a single foreign vendor. This actually comes at a very interesting time because an ODF workshop has just ended and it took place in South Africa. There is a report about it from Brazil.
I attended last week’s ODF Workshop in South Africa, and I really enjoyed the event. It was an excellent opportunity to meet people who work with ODF in governments around the world, exchange experiences on migration, talk about the new features on ODF 1.2 and talk a lot about other things that I really appreciate as interoperability and open standards adoption worldwide.
Brazil was represented by Paul Maia, from Caixa Economica Federal and Carlos Machado of SERPRO. I had the opportunity to make a brief presentation about the main features of ODF 1.2 that we’re developing at the OASIS ODF TC.
For those who are interested, there is also an OpenDocument API now. [via Bob Sutor]
ODFDOM is the name of the new free OpenDocument framework sponsored by Sun Microsystems Inc.
[Its] purpose is to provide an easy common way to create, access and manipulate OpenDocument files, without requiring detailed knowledge of the OpenDocument specification.
It is the successor of AODL and Odf4j, designed together with their architects to provide the ODF developer community an easy lightwork programming API, portable to any object-oriented language.
Shills Protect Shills
Speaking of document standards and abuse the poor, Rick Jelliffe [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18] is alluded to in the following new post which brings back his involvement (on Microsoft’s payroll) in Wikipedia. Guess who defends him?
The Prickly Prince From Microsoft Strikes Again
Dare Obasanjo, a Microsoft employee and the son of a former President of Nigeria, doesn’t like it when people disagree with him. I found that out in 2007 when Obasanjo vandalized the TechCrunch Wikipedia page in response to a post we wrote that was mildly critical of Microsoft’s hiring of a blogger to edit certain Wikipedia entries relating to Open Office standards. His actions as an individual and as a representative of Microsoft were outrageous.
Considering this ’special’ position at Microsoft Nigeria (government connection), it’s worth remembering the OLPC incidents which took place in the country. A lawsuit by a convicted criminal, dumping by Intel, and bribery by Microsoft (of Nigerian officials) all come to mind [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. Whether the country is more tolerant of crime or not is a separate question. █
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10.16.08
Posted in Microsoft, Windows, GNU/Linux, Deception, OLPC, Ubuntu at 7:33 am by Roy Schestowitz
WHAT IS happening with NComputing, particularly in India?
Days ago it was reported that they were looking into the use of Ubuntu or another variant of GNU/Linux (NComputing offers several options). From IDG: “NComputing is working with the state governments of Assam and Tamil Nadu on pilots for the deployment of its virtual desktop technology on Linux PCs, according to Dukker.”
Then, a day or so later, it was announced that Windows somehow made it in, despite this national interest in GNU/Linux. What happened? Well, fortunately we have been tracking some rather mysterious moves in NComputing as of late, namely an appointment of a former Windows manager [1, 2] (one of the highest ranked ones, alongside Jim Allchin and Brian Valentine, both of whom left as well).
It would not take a genius to merely speculate that Microsoft may be getting its grubby hands on more and more companies that ‘dare’ to distribute GNU/Linux in large numbers. As we pointed out before (see links), schools in entire countries offered GNU/Linux to their students because of NComputing.
Another thing that we pointed out before is that “Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential” is code word for “anti-GNU/Linux budget.” We provided examples that show how reactionary Unlimited Potential really is [1, 2, 3]. It’s chasing GNU/Linux wherever there is ‘danger’ of it being deployed.
In the following new press release, the involvement by Unlimited Potential is made very clear. The press release states: “The computing labs will be used to teach computer skills and office productivity (spreadsheets, word processing) as well as subjects like reading and math. The entire system will run on the Microsoft Windows Server operating system and use Microsoft Office Suite. “India holds a strong position in the knowledge economy today due to the country’s consistent investment in education over the years,” said Javier Arrupea Gitlin, director, Microsoft Unlimited Potential Group. “In India and around the globe, Microsoft is committed to enabling affordable access to computing for education. Through Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential commitment, we are continually looking for innovative and affordable technology solutions that can sustain social and economic progress. Initiatives such as this announced today that leverage the value to educational computing provided by the Windows Server platform represent yet another solution that can help move us towards this goal.”
William Poole used to head Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential program briefly before he left and then joined NComputing. Is Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential sneaking people into actual companies where they can blindly sign deals with Microsoft? Are they doing deal with themselves? Shades of Paul Maritz inside VMware, that’s for sure!
Anyway, the possibility of an ‘inside job’ is fairly reasonable given what was seen before. Over in Portugal, disappointed peoples still wonder about those Magalhães laptops, whose parent company is in court for fraud allegations at the moment.
After the sickening OLPC incidents, it would be naïve to assume that Microsoft plays this one fairly. █
“They’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.”
–Bill Gates
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09.12.08
Posted in Microsoft, Windows, GNU/Linux, OLPC at 1:46 pm by Roy Schestowitz
While Novell seems to be run by former IBM executives, it appears as though defecting Microsoft seniors end up all over the place. In fact, a later post will continue an existing and ongoing discussion about VMware, whereas this one looks at two new appointments of Microsoft executives who jumped ship.
The first one, Lisa Utzschneider, is reported to have landed inside Amazon, whose use of GNU/Linux in-house and even on devices (Kindle) could make such appointments a reason for slight concern.
Lisa Utzschneider, who worked at Microsoft for 10 years, will become senior vice president of national ad sales for Amazon, the Post said citing e-mails announcing her departure.
There are other seniors from Microsoft inside Amazon, notably Valentine. Brian Valentine left Microsoft for Amazon and we have already seen how hard (even criminally) he fought GNU/Linux. He was also personally involved in ‘planting’ anti-GNU/Linux articles in the media (more detailed interpretation in [1, 2]). He left before Vista was released and made a fool of himself in this Windows commercial/spoof.
The second appointment worth discussing was mentioned a couple of days ago. Some more details about the man in question are beginning to emerge.
A 25-year industry veteran, Poole most recently served as corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential Group, which focuses on IT technology needs in underserved countries. He was also active in the company’s involvement with the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organization and helped bring Windows to OLPC machines.
So, the same man who essentially fought against GNU/Linux on the OLPC is now joining NComputing, which reports that 40% of its clients choose GNU/Linux [1] (citations at the bottom). The price made it almost a necessity [2] and coverage was plentiful [3, 4]. Macedonia became a big client [5] because all of the students there were put on GNU/Linux, thanks to NComputing [6].
For those who wish to believe that Poole disengaged from its past in Microsoft, well… it does not seem so.
Poole, 47, said he and his wife will remain in their Bellevue home.
Some more information here as well as what’s at stake (hundreds of thousands of GNU/Linux seats).
Each product line has accounted for roughly half of NComputing’s shipments in achieving 1 million unit sales, Drukker said.
There are several other such examples and we shall cover them in the future. Microsoft uses the term “Microsoft religion” and the problem is that it spreads to other companies. █
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[1] Sustainable computing for the masses
Dukker says about 40 per cent of NComputing’s customers have chosen Linux (the company uses Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora or SuSE) and the remainder have gone with Windows on the host. He is careful to specify that he has no religion when it comes to the operating system - it is entirely the buyer’s choice. (Of course, if he were not offering the GNU/Linux option, then he wouldn’t have got a run here).
[2] Poor nations gain more choices in computing
The NComputing system cuts costs tremendously. The cost per child of each NComputing system, for seven users, is $70 each, in a system running at just 1 watt per user.
[3] Dumb terminals provide smart solution
Thin client technology is not new - it has been used widely in banking and sectors which want to avoid placing sensitive information on individual PCs.
NComputing has also been deploying its technology in factories where operating conditions are not suitable for ordinary PCs.
[4] Macedonia: A New Sun of Linux Freedom Rises
The Republic of Macedonia is one of the poorer nations in southeastern Europe to come from the break-up of the former Yugoslav republic. But thanks to Linux, they do have the wherewithal to get a computer to every student in the country, thanks to a program launched in 2005 known as the “Computer for Every Child” (CEC) project.
[5] Macedonia picks Ubuntu for 20,000 PCs
A batch of 7,000 PCs with Ubuntu Linux have been sent to Macedonian schools, the first of a collection that Ubuntu sponsor Canonical expects will reach 20,000.
[6] All Macedonian students to use Linux desktops
NComputing announced this week that its multi-user virtual desktop software and low-cost virtual PC terminals will be used to equip every school child in the Republic of Macedonia, formerly part of Yugoslavia, with a Linux desktop.
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