__/ [ Jerry McBride ] on Sunday 08 October 2006 19:18 \__
> Larry Qualig wrote:
>
>>
>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>> Pay checks for Gates, Ballmer fall short of $1 million
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>> | Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer may be valued in
>>> | the billions of dollars, but they didn't quite crack the $1 million
>>> | mark in annual salary and bonuses for the last fiscal year.
>>> |
>>> | Each saw slight salary hikes, to $616,667 in fiscal 2006 from $600,000
>>> | in 2005. But they also pulled in reduced bonuses--$350,000 in 2006, as
>>> | opposed to $400,000 in 2005.
>>> `----
>>>
>>> http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6122597.html
>>>
>>> These are symbolic figures, but nonetheless...
>>
>> It's pathetic what passes for "advocacy" these days.
>>
>> For starters read Microsoft's annual SEC filings and you'll see that
>> operating expenses increased last year because of "increased employee
>> salaries" - Raises... not paycuts.
>>
>> Somehow you manage to twist in your mind that because two of the
>> richest men on the planet received slightly less of what amounts to
>> "pocket change" for them it somehow has some significance.
>>
>> Breaking news for you Roy.... Gates and Ballmer aren't going to care or
>> notice that their paycheck was 3% less last year. It's ironic that you
>> worry more about their pay than they do.
>>
>> Once again, it's pathetic what passes for "Linux advocacy" these days.
>
> If it's so pathetic, then why do you find it so necessary to "stomp" on it
> so hard?
>
> In fact, why are you even here anyways? Is Microsoft in such disrepair that
> you have to jump up-and-down on anything anti-microsoft so as to totally
> disembowel the comment?
>
> Maybe what we hear is true after all... Microsoft is dieing and all it's
> supporters are going full title to support it to the end...
>
> Larry, or who ever you really are... wake up and smell the coffee. No one
> cares a bit about you or your microsoft spins, fuds or stomps... Microsoft
> is being left behind, not by just us, but by the world.
Jerry,
Days after I had posted this (got an alert from Yahoo Finance), several sites
covered the story in a similar way, arguing that this paycut cannot be
dismissed as irrelevant. So I stick hard with my words. And I /did/ add a
word of caution/exemption at the bottom.
As regards Microsoft, high-status publications /already/ argue that Microsoft
struggles for its survival as the tide changes ("sea of change"). Gates was
too late in realising the importance of the Web and its vocation. In 1993 he
openly described it as insignificant. Surely enough, at the time, he wished
the Internet would just go away and make his operating system (his bread and
butter) eternally valuable. Then he used dirty tactics to kill Netscape.
That company was gaining too much powered and this seemed irreversible. But
nothing beats the presence of a government that turns a blind eye, as well
as FUD machinery that was used, among other things, to assassinate Jackson's
character. The same tactic are currently used to fight the EC (see below,
citations appended).
Best wishes,
Roy
___
EU official joins consultancy serving Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| A European Commission official originally chosen to lead its
| antitrust case against Microsoft left on Friday last week to work
| for a consultancy that has the software firm as a client, a
| spokesman said.
`----
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-10-03T134311Z_01_L03693228_RTRIDST_0_TECH-MICROSOFT-OFFICIAL.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna
http://tinyurl.com/h47g3
US ambassador to the EU was former Microsoft lobbyist
,----[ Quote ]
| Before C. Boyden Gray was named as George Bush's number one
| person in Europe, he was a lawyer lobbying on behalf of
| Microsoft.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34706
US politicians go to bat for Microsoft
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/26/microsoft_eu_political_lobbying/
Vista hit by EC fears and McAfee ire
,----[ Quote ]
| But the Commission is now concerned about encryption
| technology and handwriting recognition which are included
| in the release. The Commission is concerned the development
| could put Microsoft back in bundling territory, according
| to the FT.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/02/mcafee_disses_ms/
EU's Kroes denies vendetta against Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU antitrust chief Neelie Kroes on Tuesday
| rejected an accusation she was pursuing a vendetta against U.S.
| software giant Microsoft Corp. and suspected a "coordinated
| campaign" to discredit her agency.
|
| [...]
|
| Kroes was responding to a letter published by the newspaper
| from a Microsoft business partner who accused the EU Commission
| of "playing games" with Microsoft by raising concerns over its
| Vista operating system that could delay its launch in Europe.
|
| "There appears to be a coordinated campaign to portray the
| Commission in a negative light," she said...
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/060919/microsoft_eu.html?.v=3
US ambassador to the EU was former Microsoft lobbyist
,----[ Quote ]
| Before C. Boyden Gray was named as George Bush's number one
| person in Europe, he was a lawyer lobbying on behalf of
| Microsoft.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34706
Microsoft Hard-Balling EU Over Vista
,----[ Quote ]
| "This is part of the negotiating strategy," a person
| familiar with the situation told internetnews.com. "They're
| in a public relations battle."
|
| Microsoft made the same threat to South Korean regulators,
| but did not follow through when they lost that battle.
`----
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3631041
IDC pronounces Linux unimportant to European economy
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34542
Changing the Report, After the Vote
,----[ Quote ]
| That agreement was nearly imperiled last weekend, though.
| Gerri Elliott, corporate vice president at Microsoft's
| Worldwide Public Sector division, sent an e-mail message to
| fellow commissioners Friday evening saying that she "vigorously"
| objected to a paragraph in which the panel embraced and encouraged
| the development of open source software and open content projects
| in higher education.
`----
http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/09/01/commission
Feds seek formal extension of Microsoft antitrust deal
,----[ Quote ]
| The U.S. Department of Justice and Microsoft on Wednesday
| filed a formal application for a two-year extension of portions
| of their landmark antitrust settlement, with the possibility
| of stretching it until 2012.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6111240.html
|
|
