Slashdot Mirror

http://techrights.org/2018/10/...

seriously, folks, why do business at all with these guys?

you should read these sites first:

http://www.groklaw.net/
http://techrights.org/

Embrace, extend, and extinguish

Embrace, Extend, Extinguish: How Microsoft Plans to Get Rid of Linux/Android (April 20, 2015) That article contains these links:

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part I -- The UEFI Attack on GNU/Linux

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part II -- Patent Lawsuits Against Android/Linux Still Going On, New Ones Filed

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part III -- Abducting the Competition (Android)

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part IV -- Deleting, Attacking Android/Linux From Within

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part V -- Dumping and Surveillance to Counter GNU/Linux Insurgence

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part VI -- Propaganda Wars Against Free Software Facilitated While Media Control is Secured and Abused

Embrace, extend, and extinguish

Embrace, Extend, Extinguish: How Microsoft Plans to Get Rid of Linux/Android (April 20, 2015) That article contains these links:

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part I -- The UEFI Attack on GNU/Linux

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part II -- Patent Lawsuits Against Android/Linux Still Going On, New Ones Filed

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part III -- Abducting the Competition (Android)

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part IV -- Deleting, Attacking Android/Linux From Within

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part V -- Dumping and Surveillance to Counter GNU/Linux Insurgence

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part VI -- Propaganda Wars Against Free Software Facilitated While Media Control is Secured and Abused

Embrace, extend, and extinguish

Embrace, Extend, Extinguish: How Microsoft Plans to Get Rid of Linux/Android (April 20, 2015) That article contains these links:

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part I -- The UEFI Attack on GNU/Linux

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part II -- Patent Lawsuits Against Android/Linux Still Going On, New Ones Filed

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part III -- Abducting the Competition (Android)

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part IV -- Deleting, Attacking Android/Linux From Within

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part V -- Dumping and Surveillance to Counter GNU/Linux Insurgence

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part VI -- Propaganda Wars Against Free Software Facilitated While Media Control is Secured and Abused

Embrace, extend, and extinguish

Embrace, Extend, Extinguish: How Microsoft Plans to Get Rid of Linux/Android (April 20, 2015) That article contains these links:

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part I -- The UEFI Attack on GNU/Linux

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part II -- Patent Lawsuits Against Android/Linux Still Going On, New Ones Filed

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part III -- Abducting the Competition (Android)

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part IV -- Deleting, Attacking Android/Linux From Within

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part V -- Dumping and Surveillance to Counter GNU/Linux Insurgence

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part VI -- Propaganda Wars Against Free Software Facilitated While Media Control is Secured and Abused

Embrace, extend, and extinguish

Embrace, Extend, Extinguish: How Microsoft Plans to Get Rid of Linux/Android (April 20, 2015) That article contains these links:

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part I -- The UEFI Attack on GNU/Linux

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part II -- Patent Lawsuits Against Android/Linux Still Going On, New Ones Filed

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part III -- Abducting the Competition (Android)

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part IV -- Deleting, Attacking Android/Linux From Within

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part V -- Dumping and Surveillance to Counter GNU/Linux Insurgence

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part VI -- Propaganda Wars Against Free Software Facilitated While Media Control is Secured and Abused

Embrace, extend, and extinguish

Embrace, Extend, Extinguish: How Microsoft Plans to Get Rid of Linux/Android (April 20, 2015) That article contains these links:

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part I -- The UEFI Attack on GNU/Linux

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part II -- Patent Lawsuits Against Android/Linux Still Going On, New Ones Filed

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part III -- Abducting the Competition (Android)

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part IV -- Deleting, Attacking Android/Linux From Within

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part V -- Dumping and Surveillance to Counter GNU/Linux Insurgence

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part VI -- Propaganda Wars Against Free Software Facilitated While Media Control is Secured and Abused

Embrace, extend, and extinguish

Embrace, Extend, Extinguish: How Microsoft Plans to Get Rid of Linux/Android (April 20, 2015) That article contains these links:

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part I -- The UEFI Attack on GNU/Linux

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part II -- Patent Lawsuits Against Android/Linux Still Going On, New Ones Filed

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part III -- Abducting the Competition (Android)

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part IV -- Deleting, Attacking Android/Linux From Within

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part V -- Dumping and Surveillance to Counter GNU/Linux Insurgence

Microsoft Hates Linux -- Part VI -- Propaganda Wars Against Free Software Facilitated While Media Control is Secured and Abused

Meanwhile...

https://www.cio.com/article/30...
https://www.infoworld.com/arti...
http://techrights.org/2017/04/...

Hardly 20 years ago.

We will always remember: The Halloween Documents, Embrace Extend & Extinguish tactics, Stacker/DoubleSpace, Never Partner with M$, .... (entire bookshelves can be written on this)

Sadly, pages like these are usually just covering tip of the iceberg.

365 will be the hardest blow to most dinosaur businesses who are just too willing to give away their Gold (read "data" that they don't/can't afford to analyse themselves).

Apparently the rumors about "DOS is not done till Lotus wont run (in DR-DOS)" has reached the ears of the government. It will start an investigation anytime soon.

The USDoJ found that Microsoft had acted in basically every anticompetitive way possible, and then John Ashcroft (GWB's AG) declared that any punishment would not be in the best interest of America. Shortly thereafter, Gates formed his Foundation and continued the work on strong IP law that he began at Microsoft, this time largely on behalf of Big Pharma — financially benefiting both the Foundation, and Gates directly. This is merely an escalation of the earlier strong-arm tactics of the Business Software Alliance.

Call me a nutter if you like, I'm used to that. But Gates is a career criminal, and the only reason he's still wealthy is that some kind of deal was struck with the Bush Administration. It's not like government doesn't like to take money from people.

You're crazy and this is crazy talk. Microsoft started working on Windows 1.0 in 1981, before the Mac ever shipped.

Honestly, I have no idea when work on Windows 1.0 started, but 1981 seems too early. Microsoft didn't even acquire the rights to QDOS utill July 1981, and didn't announce Windows 1.0 until November, 1983 and didn't release it until November, 1985

Microsoft fearing Apple was not in any way a factor. In 1981 the standard Apple computer was an Apple II with Microsoft BASIC and there was no adversarial relationship between the two companies, let alone fear.

You're right, it wasn't fear, but greed that motivated Bill Gates in 1982, at least according to Jeff Raikes. That doesn't really change the point that without Microsoft working on software development for the new MacOS, they might not have developed Windows, in the above article Jeff Raikes attributes Bill Gates' conversion to believing in GUIs specifically to exposure to the MacOS. Interestingly, in 1985, Bill Gates encouraged Apple to license the MacOS so it could be run on IBM PCs, but Apple refused. So six months later, Microsoft released Windows 1.0. Which is another interesting what-if scenario... What if Apple had done what Bill Gates asked and built and released a MacOS for PCs in 1985? Would there be no Windows?

The MacOS code wouldn't run on standard x86 hardware, and was a mix of Pascal and 68000 assembler. The MacOS code didn't have support for the crazy graphics cards people were running on x86 hardware in the late 80's. Windows 1.x was able to run on an 8088 chip, on top of DOS, so it was full of hacks to deal with the insane memory architecture needed for that. In short, even if Microsoft had stolen the code somehow, it wouldn't have done them any good; and I flatly don't believe that Microsoft stole any code.

Frankly, those seem like problems that can be solved, and the point wasn't that they stole the entire code base and ran it as is.

Apple never accused them of stealing code, and Apple was never shy.

Microsoft pre-empted the lawsuit, they told then CEO John Scully if he tried to sue they would stop development of Word and Excel for the Mac. Apple needed both of those applications because they were losing market share already. Then, to permanently stop any lawsuits over it, Microsoft offered to licence some of the Mac technologies.

Microsoft management decided to run with the product that the customers liked. They negotiated a "divorce" with IBM where IBM kept OS/2. The only "sabotage" Microsoft committed was to stop working on OS/2. If you want to claim otherwise, please provide some proof.

Here's one, I'm sure I could find others.

Microsoft helped write the OS/2 code. I'm sure they had plenty of copies of it. IBM never accused them of doing anything improper with their access to the code. And we have the same problem as with your idea that Microsoft stole Mac OS code: the OS/2 code is nothing like the Windows code.

I'm not seeing your point. At this point in the hypothetical situation, there is no Windows, so the amount of similarity between code that Microsoft doesn't have and OS/2 is hardly a concern. I'm not saying that Microsoft did try to steal OS/2, I'm saying they might have tried, if things were different.

Apple's niche now is to sell products that look nice and work well together, and lately they have been forgetting to make them work well together.

You have my total agreement on the rest of this.

Thanks for the input.

After reading the article, summary and the non-hidden comments, I noticed that Microsoft was only mentioned once. It was mentioned in the article, only in passing reference to reforms surrounding litigation.

This is ridiculous. Microsoft, Intellectual Ventures, and their trolls have been a tax to innovation for decades.

1
2
3

In addition, they use their global footprint to avoid taxes on multiple continents.

a
b
c
d
e

How can the summary and so many comments utterly fail to mention this?

After reading the article, summary and the non-hidden comments, I noticed that Microsoft was only mentioned once. It was mentioned in the article, only in passing reference to reforms surrounding litigation.

This is ridiculous. Microsoft, Intellectual Ventures, and their trolls have been a tax to innovation for decades.

1
2
3

In addition, they use their global footprint to avoid taxes on multiple continents.

a
b
c
d
e

How can the summary and so many comments utterly fail to mention this?

Give back to the people who worked for the corporations you drove out of business with illegally anticompetitive business practices, Bill. Give back to the people who had to clean up after your deliberate attempts to sabotage Linux. Give life back to the people that your investments have killed. Give back the tax revenues you've avoided paying even though you're one of the biggest beneficiaries of the system. Let us have back control of education. Please, Bill. Give Back.

Plenty of people have mentioned the Raspberry Pi and Arduino...plenty of options in the $25 - $100 range.

This poster agrees with them, but what about those that do NOT want to build hardware, they just want to explore Linux and software....this post is for you. Read on, and note, while the starting prices of their hardware starts out low, by the time you max it out with memory, disk drives, power supplies, better Graphics cards, multiple other stuff, the price will rise. In other words, do not expect this hardware to be the cheapest, just know that it will work with an distro of Linux out of the box, period! And to be honest, they are often not much more when configured similar to what you have in the big box store...just let them know which Distro of Linux you want on it, and they will configure it for you. You spend your time learning Linux, not messing with hardware and device drivers.

ZaReason is your Answer!

ZaReason has been active in the open source community since their founding days and all of their hardware is built with open source in mind. No UEFI BS chips on any of their hardware. No need to purchase a Windows OS in order to wipe Windows and install a Linux Distro.

UEFI, Unified Extensible Firmware Interface was forced on Vendors by Microsoft a long time ago. Originally they use to say it would make your computer more secure, however when you consider that the exploits it was protecting your computer against required someone to have the keys to your home, be inside, with your Linux password in order to use those exploits, well UEFI is a waste of time and is just more Vendor Lock-In by Microsoft.

First encountered the ZaReason owners at SCaLE in Los Angeles / Pasadena, California, when it was held at the hotels near LAX, now they hold it in Pasadena. If you are into Open source and have not been to SCaLE you should check it out. The things you can learn about, often from the creator is great, especially for the price. Recommend you book a room a head and stay in the hotel where the conference is hosted...but I digress.

Most of ZaReason's hardware starts in the $400 - $600 dollar range, but will quickly go up when you start adding their current maximum memory (32GB RAM) and if you add 6TB hard drives, etc.... When Windows refused to allow their Operating System to address above 16GB of RAM memory, ZaReason was putting laptops together with that amount of RAM and it was all usable. One of their laptop models had the largest screen on the market at the time, 16.3 (Bright, anti-glare 17.3" LED backlit display @ 1920x1080 pixels) versus 15" from other manufacturers.

Want to create a TV wall on a 65" or larger TV in your house, Linux will let you do it, there is software that has to be configured / built in with the kernel that will let you control the processors independently of each other, say let your 2 cores control one screen, another core control another, two other cores control yet another screen, etc... and divide your 65" TV into a TV Wall of say 3 X 3 or 4 X 4 monitors. Let the internet stream music on one screen, news on a couple of others, weather on another, you can program on four of the others and show social media on yet other screens of your TV Wall....I plan to do this in the next couple of years...software was available back in 2010 or before.

Boy will I cut the cord....can't wait and will never look back...if only I had Google Fiber in my area!

Full disclosure, I do not work at the company, but have purchased two laptops, a desktop/ser

Microsoft spies on you and they sell your information to interested parties: New NSA Leaks Confirm That Microsoft Skype is a Wiretapping Hub

Another Microsoft IP proxy troll gets their comeuppance.

You will probably claim that every source posted is unreliable but whatever.
Microsoft pressured Dell to drop Linux
Antitrust: How Microsoft Schemed to Derail Dell GNU/Linux

They're know in the industry as patent trolls. They ceased innovating a long time ago, and can only their vast wealth buying more innovative companies out but everything Oracle touches turns to shit. Their flagship product is a me-too SQL database in a world of me-too SQL databases. So stop giving Larry your money. If you're doing commercial-grade DB work, PostgreSQL is your friend. Larry isn't. Larry's an asshole.

Oracle's motto: Make nothing, sue everybody: http://techrights.org/2016/05/...

Seriously?

"Embrace, extend, extinguish" isn't something that the Linux crowd just made up to slander Gates and Co. It's Microsoft's own internal policy, made public when documents were released during their trial and conviction. They are on record as considering open source to be equivalent to a cancer to be eradicated. They were found to be funneling money into SCO during their attack against Linux and IBM. And let's not forget the halloween documents. None of this is made-up conspiracy theorist nonsense on the part of the OSS community. It's part of the public record which anyone can reach in five minutes of googling:

https://www.justice.gov/sites/...
http://techrights.org/2009/06/...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2...
http://archive.is/201207112333...
http://www.catb.org/esr/hallow...

Microsoft is not a good-faith actor, and never has been. I see no reason to trust them, no matter their Github numbers.

Microsoft's EULAs and tactics become more draconian over time:

Here is a Microsoft spokesman talking about the Windows 98 EULA (1:45).

Here is a quote from the XP EULA:

"IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO NOT INSTALL OR USE THE PRODUCT; YOU MAY RETURN IT TO YOUR PLACE OF PURCHASE FOR A FULL REFUND."

Here is a quote from the Vista EULA:

"If you do not accept them, do not use the software. Instead, return it to the retailer for a refund or credit. If you cannot obtain a refund there, contact Microsoft or the Microsoft affiliate serving your country for information about Microsoft’s refund policies."

The Windows 10 EULA appears to state that you may return the entire computer at the manufacturers discretion for potentially no refund (note the words "if any" in the quote).

Here is a quote from the Frontpage 2002 EULA that forbade the user from creating a web page disparaging Microsoft or its products:

"You may not use the Software in connection with any site that disparages Microsoft, MSN, MSNBC, Expedia, or their products or services, infringe any intellectual property or other rights of these parties..."

On the manufacturer side, Microsoft used to demand that they sell either all computers with Windows or none with Windows. This was modified to paying Microsoft for each computer sold, whether or not a copy of Windows was included. Hence the Antitrust monopoly convictions. Here is an entry from the United States Federal Register Vol 67 No 86:

"Second, it is equally well settled that an antitrust remedy should be tailored to fit the conduct that has been found illegal. Here, the RPFJ carefully addresses each of the types of conduct that the Court of Appeals found illegal. It regulates the agreements that Microsoft can enter into and prevents Microsoft from retaliating against software or hardware distributors. The RPFJ also gives both computer manufacturers and consumers more choices in configuring their computers, and specifically enables them to turn off any Microsoft middleware and replace it with the middleware of their choice."

Today most consumers still do not read EULAs, do not realize that they have a choice, and never install or reinstall their operating systems. Manufacturers were given a choice by the courts, but were reigned in by the MANUFACTURER Recommends Microsoft OPERATINGSSTEM campaign.

We are right where we started.

Microsoft may say it loves linux but what it even more loves is money from the victims of its patent trolling:

http://techrights.org/2016/03/...

"Meanwhile, the U.S. Marine Corps has discovered half their computers unexpectedly can't remotely upgrade to Windows 10, slowing their transition to what they expect to be a much more secure operating system".

Is that what they expect? Hahahahahahahaha! Do they have any idea what the word "secure" means?

http://techrights.org/2015/06/...

http://techrights.org/2015/10/...

Disclaimer: he might be a bit biased, but there is probably lots of truth as well.

"Indian government's disdain for free services..."

Wow. Just wow. Who is timothy and why does he have seemingly untrammelled access to posting slanted stories on Slashdot? Is he the new owner's nome de plume? Got a Facebook connection, or what?

The facts of matter are internet.org would provide India witha free walled garden Facebook-limited, Facebook-defined, Facebook-mined, Facebook-exploited subset of the real internet. It was nothing but digital colonialism, a new different of reservation for a different kind of indian (and that is most likely how it was joked about within Facebook itself).

Well, as many have observed lately Slashdot is going down hill. I think *timothy* and his posts pretty well sum up what's wrong with slashdot. It's turned into a tool, aimed at nerds and nerd-influencers, blantantly serving corporate interests, pushing corporate agendas.

So that's it for me. I can't in good conscience continue to contribute my energy, attention and effort making Slashdot profitable if it's just a tool for Facebook and its ilk to push their propoganda. The internet's a big place (no thanks toFacebook) and I'll find another home.

As a parting shot and look back to what Slashdot used to be, Stalman gave a great speech less than a month ago about the red hot, immediate danger the so called "unitary patent" being pushed by the corporate coke snorters is posing to software developers all over the globe; basically itspassage means American-style software patents for all nations in the EU. Thought you won that fight? Think again.

http://techrights.org/2016/01/...

The action you need to take is to call your representative and tell them this issue is important to you and you are watching it.

Bye Slashdot.

That's not particularly interesting by itself; although it does hint at valid question -- is fewer faster cores better or worse than more slower cores a better strategy in a smart phone? Real world use will answer that... benchmarks not really.

My first question was, is the phone software rigged to identify benchmark code and execute it faster? (E.g., lower precision math, pre-configured answers, etc.) Like the VWs ...? Will the iPhone 6s emit scads of nitrogen oxides in your face while you use it, unless you're running a benchmark on it?

Many years ago, I recall hearing about the GNU C compiler, I think it was, that recognized when it was compiling one of the standard benchmark packages and highly optimized the output because it knew what it was supposed to be.

http://techrights.org/2013/08/...

https://groups.google.com/foru...

The Gates Foundation does a huge amount of good in the world.

The Gates Foundation does a huge amount of good for Bill Gates. See:

Through the foundation, Bill, Melinda and Microsoft maintain pharmaceutical patent investments, tobacco investments, investments in alcoholic beverages, petroleum investments, investments in experimental and controversial crops, and even investments in news/media. Gates need not even pay tax, though he keeps control of the assets and uses that control to influence private and public policy. Money talks and politicians can in turn be persuaded to buy from Microsoft. This dependence/lock-in cascades down to businesses and homes, creating a revenue stream that would not exist in a free market. Gates is also able to bring public money to himself through energy and public health policy. As Gates has diversified, his corrupting influence has spread to other portions of the economy.

Read more: http://techrights.org/wiki/ind...

For those that don't remember history M$ had astroturfers on $lashdot for quite some time. As a matter of fact $lashdot is now a shill-piece much like Machinima. Today it is no different except M$ is now paying M$ addicts to shill for Vista 10 and their failed Xbone. Vista 10 takes almost all control and privacy away including criminally changing the default browser settings to M$ Internet Exploder Edge. Remember, extend, embrace, and extinguish is M$ motto. Shrub gave M$ a get out of jail free card and they are back to doing the same thing, regardless of management. M$ should be broken up with all assetts seized and given to the free software community then have the execs and shareholders arrested for intimidation and fraud.

--
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Friends do assist M$ addicted friends in committing suicide.

For those that don't remember history M$ had astroturfers on $lashdot for quite some time. As a matter of fact $lashdot is now a shill-piece much like Machinima. Today it is no different except M$ is now paying M$ addicts to shill for Vista 10 and their failed Xbone. Vista 10 takes almost all control and privacy away including criminally changing the default browser settings to M$ Internet Exploder Edge. Remember, extend, embrace, and extinguish is M$ motto. Shrub gave M$ a get out of jail free card and they are back to doing the same thing, regardless of management. M$ should be broken up with all assetts seized and given to the free software community then have the execs and shareholders arrested for intimidation and fraud.

--
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Friends do assist M$ addicted friends in committing suicide.

For those that don't remember history M$ had astroturfers on $lashdot for quite some time. As a matter of fact $lashdot is now a shill-piece much like Machinima. Today it is no different except M$ is now paying M$ addicts to shill for Vista 10 and their failed Xbone. Vista 10 takes almost all control and privacy away including criminally changing the default browser settings to M$ Internet Exploder Edge. Remember, extend, embrace, and extinguish is M$ motto. Shrub gave M$ a get out of jail free card and they are back to doing the same thing, regardless of management. M$ should be broken up with all assetts seized and given to the free software community then have the execs and shareholders arrested for intimidation and fraud.

--
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Friends do assist M$ addicted friends in committing suicide.

It sure is nice for you that you can make billions of dollars by exploiting a Linux kernel made for free by volunteers and rebrand it Android

Nothing wrong with making money from free software. And so long as the changes are contributed back Linus himself is in favor of Tivoization with respect to the Linux kernel.

but where's my Bash shell, Google?

Right here.

Why do you have to use Free Software to deny me my Freedom, Google? Hey!! FUCK YOU, Google.

Here is your freedom, go nuts.

https://igurublog.wordpress.co...
http://techrights.org/2015/06/...
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/...

When we call software "free", we mean that it respects the users' essential freedoms: the freedom to run it, to study and change it, and to redistribute copies with or without changes. This is a matter of freedom, not price, so think of "free speech", not "free beer".

Don't
tell
me
you
believe
the
mass
media.

Yes because funding BP, Exxon, Monsanto etc is really honorable.

This is interesting but I'd like to see some proof of it.

"(Nerval's Lobster) actually worked for us before the acquisition, writing for our standalone news site experiment. Later on he moved over to Dice and took over their news site instead.

He goes through the same submission process as everyone else, and we don't post everything he submits." source

Not everything, just 570/767 stories. All of of the current ones have at least one link back to a story on Dice. The really old ones (from 2012 or so) all link back to his own stuff at the ill-fated SlashBI

"Nerval's Lobster (nkolakowski@slashdotmedia.com, nkolakowski@geek.net) submissions start to show up. We've [slashdot.org] already [slashdot.org] established [slashdot.org] that Nerval's Lobster is Nick Kolakowski, a slashdot employee submitting paid content as user-submitted stories"source (with lots more interesting comments linked)

See also: The Slashdot FAQ which lists him as Slashdot editor, his Twitter profile which lists him as a Slashdot editor, homepage which lists him as a senior Slashdot editor, Google+ page (same), LinkedIn (same), and so on and so on.

So, yes, can we stop with the charade already?

Show me someone from the open source community who has helped and donated more towards charities than Bill Gates. Uh huh, that's what I thought.

Bill - is that you? Don't forget to lodge your claims for charitable donations - we filed it under "the spit shield fund".

the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (foundation) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. Both entities are tax-exempt private foundations that are structured as a charitable.

One good thing Bill Gates has done. Though not everyone agrees.

Techrights.org

M$ knows they are dying so they are releasing their digital restrictions management infested drug, Winblows, for free. After all, the first hit is free. Then M$ is going to force their addicts to purchase Vista 10 over some small reason such as updating a simple device. M$ is even sending their astroturfers to claim Vista's digital restrictions management was not as bad as claimed. Now M$ is pushing their Vista 10 lies onto sites such as $lashdot which is now a haven for M$ astroturfers and addicts. Even PJ at Groklaw is getting the shills from M$ in hopes to regain their illegal monopoly. M$ should have their corporate charter revoked then have all of their assets revoked then evenly distributed to the free software community.

--
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Friends do assist M$ addicted friends in committing suicide.

M$ knows they are dying so they are releasing their digital restrictions management infested drug, Winblows, for free. After all, the first hit is free. Then M$ is going to force their addicts to purchase Vista 10 over some small reason such as updating a simple device. M$ is even sending their astroturfers to claim Vista's digital restrictions management was not as bad as claimed. Now M$ is pushing their Vista 10 lies onto sites such as $lashdot which is now a haven for M$ astroturfers and addicts. Even PJ at Groklaw is getting the shills from M$ in hopes to regain their illegal monopoly. M$ should have their corporate charter revoked then have all of their assets revoked then evenly distributed to the free software community.

--
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Friends do assist M$ addicted friends in committing suicide.

It never ceases to amaze me when M$ has their little astroturfers revise history to show M$ in a positive light and that they were the reason for the microcomputer revolution just as they have for the Internet Revolution. M$ not seeing the potential for the internet is quite similar to Bill Gates assuming no one will ever need more than 640k. It was Netscape that were the true pioneers of the Internet revolution and now Netscape is Firefox. Now the M$ addicts are claiming otherwise by listening to the astroturfers from M$ and now claiming it was Internet Exploiter that revolutionized the internet just as Windoze revolutionized the desktop. M$ will do anything they can to try and stay relevant even when free software can do anything non-free software can do, and more. It is time for M$ to be afraid, very afraid as their attempts to revise history will backfire.

--
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk
Friends do assist M$ addicted friends in committing suicide.

It is clear M$ is continuing their astroturfing campaign by using Multiple accounts to fly under the DOJ radar and Russ1642 is just one of many. It is a fact M$ is dying since people are wising up to the lie of paying for constant updates, which is why M$ forced a new form of digital restrictions management called restricted boot into the BIOS. M$ failed with Vista then their failure continued with Vista 7, 8/8.1 and soon Vista 9/10 will be the final failure for M$. As such M$ is terrified so they will continue to use their illegal monopoly to eliminate free software completely from existance. Old people may very well be holding out but once even the most ignorant person learns of GNU/Linux and free software you and your M$ butt-buddies will be finished, especially once the DOJ investigates M$ for once again abusing their monopoly just as they have done in the past.

--
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Friends do assist M$ addicted friends in committing suicide.

It is clear M$ is continuing their astroturfing campaign by using Multiple accounts to fly under the DOJ radar and Russ1642 is just one of many. It is a fact M$ is dying since people are wising up to the lie of paying for constant updates, which is why M$ forced a new form of digital restrictions management called restricted boot into the BIOS. M$ failed with Vista then their failure continued with Vista 7, 8/8.1 and soon Vista 9/10 will be the final failure for M$. As such M$ is terrified so they will continue to use their illegal monopoly to eliminate free software completely from existance. Old people may very well be holding out but once even the most ignorant person learns of GNU/Linux and free software you and your M$ butt-buddies will be finished, especially once the DOJ investigates M$ for once again abusing their monopoly just as they have done in the past.

--
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Friends do assist M$ addicted friends in committing suicide.

It is clear M$ is continuing their astroturfing campaign by using Multiple accounts to fly under the DOJ radar and Russ1642 is just one of many. It is a fact M$ is dying since people are wising up to the lie of paying for constant updates, which is why M$ forced a new form of digital restrictions management called restricted boot into the BIOS. M$ failed with Vista then their failure continued with Vista 7, 8/8.1 and soon Vista 9/10 will be the final failure for M$. As such M$ is terrified so they will continue to use their illegal monopoly to eliminate free software completely from existance. Old people may very well be holding out but once even the most ignorant person learns of GNU/Linux and free software you and your M$ butt-buddies will be finished, especially once the DOJ investigates M$ for once again abusing their monopoly just as they have done in the past.

--
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Friends do assist M$ addicted friends in committing suicide.

It is clear M$ is continuing their astroturfing campaign by using Multiple accounts to fly under the DOJ radar and Russ1642 is just one of many. It is a fact M$ is dying since people are wising up to the lie of paying for constant updates, which is why M$ forced a new form of digital restrictions management called restricted boot into the BIOS. M$ failed with Vista then their failure continued with Vista 7, 8/8.1 and soon Vista 9/10 will be the final failure for M$. As such M$ is terrified so they will continue to use their illegal monopoly to eliminate free software completely from existance. Old people may very well be holding out but once even the most ignorant person learns of GNU/Linux and free software you and your M$ butt-buddies will be finished, especially once the DOJ investigates M$ for once again abusing their monopoly just as they have done in the past.

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Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Friends do assist M$ addicted friends in committing suicide.

The dice news website doesn't exactly jump out as being owned by dice (just that tiny logo in the upper left). Once again I made it about half way through before thinking "well this is stupid", and sure enough, good ole dice "news".

Of course. Nerval's Lobster is a Dice shill for his own pap.

Thanks! That was an interesting article to read! Techrights has also collected some Gates Foundation Critique.

Things that people with short memories will have forgotten by now since they happened all of three years ago. Detailed summaries of his doing can still be found on Groklaw though.

You see, mr. Mueller is not just *any* publicist. He's a publicist who is, basically, for hire by large companies to provide a congenial account of their doings and their position. In short: he is a lobbyist. His (former) clients seem to include SCO (the company who tried to claim crippling copyrights on Linux and engaged in an intense campaign of legal blackmail aimed at companies using Linux) and one of his current clients seems to be Oracle (the company that reied to shut down Android by claiming copyright on Java library API's).

As summarised by the following posts:

http://www.groklaw.net/article...

http://www.dailytech.com/Top+A...

http://techrights.org/2010/08/...

My only question to him would be: who is on your current client list?

MS uses XML to save documents. Put them wherever you like.

Put then where you like, but forget *using* them wherever you want or wherever you might need them: http://techrights.org/2014/08/... 08.02.14 Microsoft Continues to Further Distort OOXML in Order to Make it Less Compatible With Non-Microsoft Software

I agree. Lets start with An Open Letter to Hobbyists by our good ol pal, William Henry Gates III from the date of Feb, 3 1976. Thirty eight years later and the mentality at Microsoft hasn't really changed much. Let's not forget the Halloween Documents back from 1998. How can we forget the Initiave for Software Choice led by our friends at Microsoft back in 2002. Dare anyone to forget the Microsoft Get the Facts campaign? Or how about Microsoft messing with OLPC. How about the recent attempt at making us think ODF is bad? I think I am going to have to pull the BS card on this article as well.