Microsoft snubs Gorbachev over piracy plea
,----[ Quote ]
| However Microsoft has said it did not bring the case against Ponosov,
| this was done by the public prosecutor's office in Russia.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37449
Worth noting are the links and commentary below.
Microsoft uses proxies to take the role of the bully, which make the case
above questionable. See:
Microsoft cracks down on UK licences
,----[ Quote ]
| According to ComputerWorld, Vole has sent out a series of letters
| threatening legal action using its agents the Business
| Software Alliance (BSA).
|
| Ram Dhaliwal, Microsoft's licensing programs manager in the
| UK said the move was to "spark off the engagement" with its customers.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37281
As an example of this take the following story:
European Commission denies favouring open source
,----[ Quote ]
| The Commission's statement comes just days after it was lobbied to
| clarify its position on open source. The Initiative for Software
| Choice (ISC) wrote to the Commission immediately after the
| release of the report urging it to contact the "international
| press" to "set the record straight" over its stance. The ISC's
| external affairs are handled by CompTIA, which is funded by
| several IT vendors including Microsoft.
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
`----
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/30012007/152/european-commission-denies-favouring-open-source.html
This is not the first time Microsoft uses pressure groups (lobbying). Here
are some more examples:
EU official joins consultancy serving Microsoft
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
Lobbying critics target Brussels and Berlin
,----[ Quote ]
| A suspected manipulation of a consultation on the future patent system of
| the European Union led to the EU Commission being nominated for
| the less-than-prestigious award -- which the Commission promptly
| went on to win in the category "Worst Privileged Access."
`----
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/82556/from/rss09
Leaked letter warns of open source 'threat to eco-system'
,----[ Quote ]
| leaked letter to the European Commission has revealed the extent of
| lobbying by proprietary software groups to prevent the widespread
| adoption of open-source software.
|
| Sent in response to a recent report on the role of open-source
| software in the European economy, Microsoft-funded pressure
| group, the Initiative for Software Choice (ISC) warned of
| potentially dire effects if too much encouragement was given
| to open source software development.
`----
http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=7109
Study: open source needs official support; Lobbyist
disagrees with "flawed" conclusions
,----[ Quote ]
| The study, commissioned by the European Commission, Directorate
| General Enterprise and Industry, is but a small part of the larger
| FLOSSPOLS project that aims to keep the EU a leader in global
| development of open source software.
|
| [...]
|
| Now, the ISC is widely regarded as a shill for Microsoft, although
| the member list also includes companies like Intel, Autodesk, and
| RSA Security (now an EMC subsidiary). The 300-strong member list is
| mostly padded with lesser lights such as Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi(
| Turkey), ThreeSixtyDegreez (Pakistan), and Datoprogrammu Apgads
| (Latvia). The institute pushes hard for the right to patent
| software, alongside regular bashings of open source businesses.
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061017-8011.html
US politicians go to bat for Microsoft
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/26/microsoft_eu_political_lobbying/
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
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
Vista launch to add 100,000 Europe IT jobs: study
,----[ Quote ]
| The study, conducted by research firm IDC and commissioned by Microsoft,
| said Windows Vista will be installed on over 30 million personal computers
| in Denmark, France, Germany, Poland, Spain and United Kingdom within the
| first year of shipment.
`----
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060914/tc_nm/microsoft_study_dc
IDC pronounces Linux unimportant to European economy
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34542
Canada's Music Lobby Buys Government Access
,----[ Quote ]
| "Copyfighting law professor Michael Geist, who previously uncovered
| financial links between recording industry lobbyists and Canada's
| Minister of Canadian Heritage Bev Oda (who is responsible for
| copyright policy), has now identified what big cash donations
| will get you. He reports that Oda met with the President of the
| Canadian Recording Industry Association on a monthly basis last
| year just as the government was preparing copyright reform
| legislation and Canadian artists were calling for an end to
| P2P lawsuits. Is it any wonder that Canadians seem likely to
| lose their fair use rights?"
`----
http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/25/1556204&from=rss
Microsoft is lobbying in the Philippines:
FOSS Bill Listed For First Public Hearing
,----[ Quote ]
| Listed for November 15th, the hearing by The Committee on Information and
| Communications Technology has invited comment from various stakeholders
| potentially affected by the bill, including community representatives as
| well as industry giants Microsoft and Oracle.
`---- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
http://www.localfoss.org/Philippino_FOSS_Bill_Public_Hearing
Report: The Business of Free Software
,----[ Quote ]
| In his Nov. 21 column, Conrado Banal said I did not really author the
| bill "Free/Open Source Act of 2006" now pending in Congress. And
| quoting the Business Software Alliance (BSA), he also derided the
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| bill as a "prime model of confusion."
|
| Let me assure him that I authored the bill. My office worked on it for
| four months. It started with a suggestion from FOSS (free/open
| source software) advocates in the Computer Professionals Union
| (CPU). Modeled after the Brazil and Peru FOSS policies, it is the
| result of inputs from various geeks, techies and FOSS
| practitioners--from my two staff who happen to be competent IT
| professionals, IT lawyers in the UP College of Law, members of
| the Philippine Linux Users Group (PLUG), GNU/Linux guru and
| prime advocate Richard Stallman of the MIT-based Free Software
| Foundation, who personally e-mailed his very valuable comments.
| It also contains inputs from the government?s Commission on
| Information and Communications Technology and the International
| Open Source Network of the UNDP.
`----
http://business.inq7.net/money/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=36605
This came after the government pursued Linux and Open Source.
RP Open Source confab: It's time to make the rules
,----[ Quote ]
| After years of breaking the rules in the computing world, it?s now time for
| open source to make the rules.
|
| [...]
|
| Right now, there's tremendous opportunity for Filipinos with open
| source skills since 67 percent of servers used in the Internet is based
| on open source technology.
|
| "But we'd also like to emphasize that we?re not against any
| software company," Contreras said. "What we?re saying is that with
| open source, companies now have an option to choose."
`----
http://www.mb.com.ph/INFO2006092575370.html
The Open Source Bill
,----[ Quote ]
| "This act shall be known as the "Free/Open Source Software (FOSS)
| Act of 2006"
`----
http://www.chinwong.com/Documents/FOSS_bill_draft_.pdf
More schools take to open source
,----[ Quote ]
| Unlike the first two phases of the program that used the proprietary
| Windows operating system and Microsoft Office, the computers in phase 3
| will be bundled with free and open source Fedora Linux and OpenOffice.
|
| "This is the most important milestone," he said, noting that the project
| went to Lenovo in a public bidding in part because its software costs were
| so low.
|
| Free and open source software is also increasingly finding its way into
| state-owned universities and colleges, Lallana said.
`----
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=interactive01_sept04_2006
Years of deadlock on EU patent bring some new thinking
,----[ Quote ]
| When Bill Gates visits Brussels on Thursday to speak with
| government officials, software developers and customers, he
| plans to wade into one of Europe's longest-running, most
| fruitless debates: the pursuit of a unified patent system.
| Gates, chairman of Microsoft, wants a simple system that will
| allow the world's largest software maker and other companies
| to protect their intellectual property in the European Union -
| and profit from licensing their patents.
`----
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/08/business/patents.php
Regardless, back to Gorbachev:
Hackers attack Gorbachev's Web site
,----[ Quote ]
| The perpetrators posted photographs of the suppressed rally on the
| Web site and published an open letter to the former leader, blaming
| him for the deaths of more 130 people -- a tragedy known in Azerbaijan
| as the Black January.
`----
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070120/ap_on_hi_te/russia_gorbachev
http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://www.mikhailgorbachev.org
http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://www.gorby.ru
Runs Windows.
As for Russia's need for Linux:
Linux and Windows in Russian schools
,----[ Quote ]
| I just noticed this blog entry (in Russian) from an advanced Linux
| user, where he offers free help to every teacher (or their boss)
| who'd like to start teaching Linux, and gives a few links to
| other such projects, such as "The winter Linux school for teachers"
| (in Russian) organized by ALTLinux together with a few other
| institutions. A few other projects do exist. Hopefully, such
| projects, together with the "antipiracy" campaign will lead to
| more Linux and open source in Russian schools.
`----
http://blog.linuxtoday.com/blog/archives/070130-080943.html
Russian Government Will Migrate to OpenSource
,----[ Quote ]
| Russia decided to follow after EU countries, where opensource
| solutions are more spread then in Russia. Currently, some Russian
| companies can offer their own Desktop Linux OS (the major companies
| are ASPLinux, ALTLinux, Linux-Online and LinuxCenter).
`----
http://danays.blogspot.com/2006/12/russian-government-will-migrate-to.html
Gates: Russia Tackling Software Piracy
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp. chairman and co-founder Bill Gates said Tuesday
| that Russia has made progress tackling software piracy, a problem
| that has threatened the country's bid to join the World Trade
| Organization.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061107/russia_bill_gates.html?.v=2
But Microsoft turns a blind eye while it suits the agenda.
Romania: Software piracy made us what we are today
,----[ Quote ]
| Experts have called for stronger action from Romanian officials on
| software piracy, with prosecutors encouraged to stop dismissing
| potential cases. The International Intellectual Property Alliance
| in 2006 said dismissals are acting as a disincentive on police to
| clamp down on criminals, who are mostly end-users and distributors.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/02/romania_microsoft_piracy/
A different story in the States though.
California man busted for software piracy
,----[ Quote ]
| A Southern California man was arrested for allegedly producing
| and selling thousands of dollars worth of pirated software
| from Microsoft and Adobe, according to the Riverside County
| Sheriff's department.
`----
http://www.theregister.com/2007/02/01/counterfeit_arrest/
China isn't tyoo happy either.
Chinese attitude on buying Vista
,----[ Quote ]
| I've mentioned above,the price of Vista is higher than RMB2000 (about
| USD257) may not shake users in developed countries, but do you know it
| is equal to the average monthly salary in China's economic center
| Shanghai!So please take this fact into consideration before
| criticize our behavior of buying pirate softwares.
|
| recent survey of public opinion from China's portal NetEase shows that 81%
| of netizens think Microsoft is forcing them to use pirate Vista...
`----
http://ya.iyee.cn/2007/02/chinese-attitude-on-buying-vista.html
It all comes down to this:
Why Piracy Hurts Open Source
,----[ Quote ]
| "...John looks at this from a different direction. He shows you why
| software piracy hurts Open Source software--the free stuff you are using."
`----
http://www.tuxmagazine.com/node/1000266
Microsoft seals its Windows and opens the door to Linux
,----[ Quote ]
| Now comes the really interesting question. With Vista's activation
| technology, Microsoft has the power to stamp out piracy everywhere. But
| will it choose to do so everywhere? After all, if folks in China or
| Thailand or Ethiopia have to pay for Vista, they won't be able to run
| it because they won't be able to afford the licence fee. In which case
| they may finally wake up to the attractions of free software such as
| Linux - and it's easy to imagine what that will do to Microsoft's
| plans for world domination.
|
| It's a delicious prospect: Microsoft impaling itself on the horns
| of a dilemma it has created for itself. Roll on Thursday.
`----
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1956941,00.html
How Piracy Opens Doors for Windows
,----[ Article's summary ]
| Bill Gates may not be entirely dismayed by software thieves. They
| seed the world market and make Microsoft a standard.
`----
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-micropiracy9apr09,0,414067.story?track=tottext
Beware: Half of Pirated Vista Is Malware
,----[ Quote ]
| About half of all downloads that claim to be free versions of
| Microsoft's Vista operating system are actually malicious
| Trojan horse software, security vendor DriveSentry warned today.
`----
http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/003622.html
Why piracy kills Open Source
,----[ Quote ]
| Because for them, the price is the same.
|
| So, please, Microsoft, defend your own products, and don't allow users to
| use pirated versions. You'll be doing the best for the Open Source
| products.
`----
http://youmaybeinterrupting.com/desktop.php?view&postid=12&a=apps%2FBlog%3B%3B
Piracy figures are inflated say criminologists
,----[ Quote ]
| A draft report by the Australian Institute of Criminology says
| copyright holders are making up piracy figures in order to sway
| governments to their side.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35580
|
|
