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● 10.24.15

●● Microsoft is Gradually Dying, So Patent Blackmail and Mass Surveillance (for Snitches) the Remaining Two Business Strategies

Posted in Finance, Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Microsoft at 11:37 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Remember these words from Microsoft itself (click for source PDF):

=> ↺

Summary: Analysis of Microsoft’s abysmal state and what it has been trying to do as a result of its inability to compete fairly with Free (as in freedom) software such as GNU/Linux, Android, Java, Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL etc.

TECHRIGHTS has been a critic of Microsoft for a very long time; never before have we seen Microsoft in such poor form. The attempts to derail GNU/Linux and Free/Open Source software from the inside are part of a fight for the company’s very survival. Its cash cows are losing their luster and the only way to keep their momentum/inertia is to force companies to bundle them; Microsoft now does this forcing (or blackmail) using software patents (Samsung, Kyocera, ASUS and Dell are the main examples of this strategy, so far).

=> Samsung | Kyocera | ASUS | Dell

Microsoft’s history of cooking the books and avoiding taxes has led to the perception that Microsoft is very rich, but after the losses announced in the last quarter (in the billions of dollars) comes another poor quarter and the signs are on the wall. As Robert Pogson put it:

=> ↺ Microsoft’s history of cooking the books | ↺ avoiding taxes | ↺ the signs are on the wall

The monopoly is not dead yet, unfortunately, but it is on its death-bed.

Parts of the monopoly are already dead and formats lock-in too is being loosened, in spite of Microsoft’s OOXML crimes. Several countries recognised what Microsoft had done and moved to ODF, sometimes to Free/libre software as well. See last week’s example from the British government.

=> ↺ Microsoft’s OOXML crimes

“Parts of the monopoly are already dead and formats lock-in too is being loosened, in spite of Microsoft’s OOXML crimes.”Microsoft cannot sell hardware (potentially a profitable business) and finds ‘creative’ accounting tricks to hide it [1]. This huge failure, which has become a massive embarrassment for the abusive monopolist, shows no signs of reversal because products keep dying and are not at all recognised by the public [2,3]. Putting speech recognition, which does not even work properly [4,5], on devices such as phones won’t work, primarily because Microsoft has no presence in mobile and not even in cars, despite tall ambitions [6] (where poor speech recognition can result in fatalities).

With internal cultural problems and costs associated with litigation (e.g. sexism lawsuits [7]) Microsoft falls back on an evil business model similar to that of Facebook (as Vista 10 serves to show), namely turning users into “products”, then selling their private data to many companies or malicious entities such as GCHQ, NSA etc. Microsoft continues to be a leading proponent of the NSA while working for the military and war complex [8] (they call it “information-sharing partnership”, but what it means is mass surveillance plus data-passing). █

=> internal cultural problems and costs associated with litigation | ↺ Facebook | ↺ Vista 10 | ↺ Microsoft continues to be a leading proponent of the NSA

Related/contextual items from the news:

Windows, Surface and phones post revenue declines as Microsoft’s MPC segment falls 17%The inclusion of the typically very profitable Windows in the MPC division offsets and hides the profitability, or lack thereof, of Microsoft’s hardware endeavors, Dawson added.NFL Fumbles Microsoft’s $400 Million Surface Ad Deal (Again), Still Gets Called An iPad In one of the most highly anticipated games of the season, quarterback Tom Brady and the New England Patriots defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers last Thursday to kick off the National Football League (NFL) season. The first game of the season is always popular, though this particular match-up drew interest from fans wondering how Brady would fare after being dogged in the media for the past seven months over something known as Deflategate. With all that attention, Microsoft can’t be pleased that on-air commentators are still referring to its sponsored Surface tablet as an iPad.Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) To Shut Down Zune Services In NovemberMicrosoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has possibly the most outstanding reputation for its products and services. The company is synonymous with quality, and it is hard to think about the technology sector without Microsoft. However, Zune is another story altogether. The music service, which was started to counter the growing popularity of online music streaming services, has always played second fiddle to the more established players in the market.Watch: Cortana embarrasses Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella during keynote addressSatya Nadella was delivering a keynote address at Salesforce’s annual Dreamforce conference. The Microsoft CEO was in the midst of demoing some productivity tools and also also occasionally showing off Windows 10 capabilities when he attempted to showcase Microsoft virtual assistant Cortana’s ability to understand voice commands and to deliver relevant results.Satya Nadella endures a classic Microsoft demo fail momentNadella could immediately see that Cortana was not getting it. “Come on,” he implored, the annoyance showing in his voice.Finally he gave up and said, “No, this is not going to work.”Microsoft Cortana may be headed to your carA Microsoft-connected car, reportedly in trial mode, would let you issue commands using the Cortana voice assistant.Microsoft Corporation Faces Gender Discrimination LawsuitMicrosoft has been hit by a gender discrimination lawsuit by one of its ex-technicianMicrosoft renews information-sharing partnership with NATOMicrosoft and NATO have agreed to renew a longstanding partnership that will see the tech giant provide the intergovernmental treaty group’s Communications and Information Agency with details of Microsoft products and services, as well as new information about cybersecurity threats.

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