Techrights

Microsoft Continues to Attack Users' Choice

Posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jan 07, 2025

=> Matt Birchler: "This is why it’s important for people to own their presence on the web, especially when it comes to government agencies that need to communicate with people." | Diversity of Views, Diversity of Sources

Context: Diversity of Views, Diversity of Sources (IBM is trying to impose monoculture on and inside Free software, too; if you disagree, you'll get attacked)

=> Diversity of Views, Diversity of Sources | HTTPS: trying to impose monoculture on and inside Free software

=> HTTPS image: IBM: Our way or the high way

And not just IBM:

=> HTTPS image: Dell sold to Microsoft, Silver Lake for $24 billion: What it means for the PC

SO Microsoft Dell (or Silver Lake, the entity that has been attacking WordPress) will "drop long-running XPS, Inspiron, and Latitude brand":

=> HTTPS: Microsoft Dell | the entity that has been attacking WordPress | ↺ HTTPS: "drop long-running XPS, Inspiron, and Latitude brand"

=> HTTPS image: Dell drops long-running XPS, Inspiron, and Latitude brands

And "the main brunt seems to be on models known for Linux support," an associate opines. Because who needs choice anyway? We may "have to look into changes to official Linux support post-rebranding..."

According to this, it's about "HEY HI" (hype) to a large extent. Microsoft depends on that hype to buy time. To quote: "It also announced two laptops in the Dell Pro Base range: a 13- and a 14-inch model each initially powered by Intel Core and Core Ultra processors with between 8GB and 64GB of RAM, up to 2TB of storage, and Windows 11 or Ubuntu Linux bundled."

=> ↺ HTTPS: this

Well, "Ubuntu Linux" is mentioned there, but only further down.

And "it's like this in the shops too," we're told, "none of the displays involving new computers mention either Windows(tm) or Microsoft(tm) anywhere."

In the same publisher, Brandon Vigliarolo reports that "Microsoft [is] now trying to trick users into thinking Bing is Google" (a spoof like this would be considered illegal; even if Bing is dying in some places that doesn't make spoofing OK).

=> ↺ HTTPS: reports | Bing is dying in some places

So in short, users' choice is being taken away, and we're meant to believe that "freedom" (or choice) still exists. Neither choice nor freedom remain. See what Doctorow said over a decade ago about “a war on general purpose computing“.

=> ↺ HTTPS: said over a decade ago

We're being herded into uniformity. They try to technically impose this uniformity using restrictions which impose back doors on everybody. They hope to do the same to the Web under the guise of "safety" or "combating misinformation". █

=> HTTPS: restrictions | HTTPS: █

=> gemini.techrights.org