Dell Mail Reeks of Redmond's Fear
,----[ Quote ]
| The e-mails focus on Microsoft's position toward Dell. But one of the
| last e-mails, from Paul Flessner, underscores the severity of the
| Linux threat.
|
| [...]
|
| Microsoft's current behavior - whacking partners and treating
| software users like drug users - is driven by fear. It's driven
| by the fear of losing more than anything else. Microsoft was
| built on Gates' competitive personality. Neither does Microsoft
| really understand the power of collaboration, and fear is their
| response. If Microsoft's latest patent submission - the DRM'ed
| modular OS - is any indicator, then Seattle needs to prepare
| for the economic implosion of Mount Saint Redmond.
`----
http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/79696/index.html
It is worth mentioning that Dell, which has been loyal to Microsoft over the
years, is facing big problems as yet again it fails to meet analysts'
expectations. Michael Dell has returned to Dell and taken the crown. Dell
has had some Linux strategies before, but Microsoft issued threats to stop
this (see below).
Yesterday:
Microsoft Exec Wanted To Mask Linux Report Sponsorship, E-mails Reveal
,----[ Quote ]
| And the month before, Houston wrote Johnson a message that intimated
| pressure had been put on IDC to tweak the report so it would put
| Microsoft in a better light. "I hate to put it like this, but at
| this point, IDC is done negotiating with us. We have moved them
| quite a bit already, but they are now holding the line, saying
| that if we want the names of their 'big' analysts on the report,
| this is it."
|
| Although Microsoft's Web site still hosts a Dec. 17, 2002 press
| release extolling the TCO survey, the study itself has been
| removed.
`----
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197002546
Dell's secret Linux fling
,----[ Quote ]
| Dell's love affair with Linux is a clandestine affair these days,
| conducted in secret, away from disapproving eyes. But now the pair
| have been spotted in China.
|
| When Michael Dell first saw the web-footed beauty, he fell head over
| heels. Six years ago Dell pledged a series of strategic investments
| in Linux companies, including Eazel and Red Hat. The romance
| attracted the disapproval of Microsoft however, and barely lasted
| weeks. Very quietly, Dell dumped the bird.
|
| It later emerged that Microsoft's OEM enforcer Joachim Kempin had
| promised Steve Ballmer that he'd be putting the screws on PC
| builders, or "hitting the OEMs harder" in his words.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/09/dell_linux_china/
Dell's Confused Compatibility
,----[ Quote ]
| I decided to buy a Microsoft-Free Linux PC. When I was finished
| specc'ing out my system, I got this nice compatibility notice.
`----
http://www.elflord.net/wtf.jpg
Is it Dell vs. SPEC? or Dell vs. Linux?
,----[ Quote ]
| In exploring SPEC.org's site for yesterday's blog I came across something
| interesting: specifically a configuration problem with a benchmark result
| for the dual Xeon, eight core, 2.66Ghz Dell 2950.
|
| [...]
|
| Since we're actually still in "Dec 06" what this suggests to me is
| that Dell's left hand is decidedly more enthusiastic about Linux in
| general and Red Hat in particular than its right - meaning in practice
| that they prefer seeing potential sales go away to correcting errors in
| their configurator.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Murphy/?p=754
Microsoft's Dirty OEM-Secret
,----[ Quote ]
| They are, in short the secret to Microsoft's success. And the word
| secret is to be taken quite literally: No OEM may talk about the
| contents of his contract, or he will lose his license, and (assumption)
| likely be sued for breach of contract as well.
`----
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2001/10/23/13219/110
Microsoft 'killed Dell Linux' - States
,----[ Quote ]
| "I'm thinking of hitting the OEMs harder than in the past with anti-Linux.
| ... they should do a delicate dance," Kempin wrote to Ballmer, in what is
| sure to be a memorable addition to the phrases ("knife the baby", "cut off
| the air supply") with which Microsoft enriched the English language in the
| first trial. Unlike those two, this is not contested.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/03/19/microsoft_killed_dell_linux_states/
Jury Hears Microsoft Competition Suit
,----[ Quote ]
| A judge on Friday told jurors they must accept as fact that a
| federal court found in 1999 that Microsoft holds a monopoly over
| computer operating systems and that it restricted computer
| manufacturers' ability to use competing systems.
|
| [...]
|
| She said she'll show that the company used its monopoly power
| to exclude competition and control prices and that it conspired with
| other companies to restrain trade, maintaining what she called a
| chokehold on software competitors and computer manufacturers.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061201/microsoft_trial.html?.v=1
Africa: 'Microsoft is Imperialistic' Says Open Source Advocates
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corporation's products have been locked out of the
| on-going World Social Forum (WSF) in Nairobi Kenya.
|
| With over 300 computers provided for participants and the press,
| organizers of the WSF have preferred to provide open source
| software products and blocked all Microsoft related products for
| the forum's usage and its related activities.
|
| [...]
|
| Activists at the forum also believe that since Microsoft is a
| corporate brand from the United States of America, a country
| they believe has intentions of maintaining the status quo of
| a unipolar world over which it is above international law and
| the UN, the brand should be locked out.
|
| [...]
|
| "The open source movement is providing Linux, a robust free
| software. Everybody owns it and it can be shared. And this
| is what WSF is all about - a free society, a movement
| fighting for ownership of free resources" he adds.
`----
http://allafrica.com/stories/200701230831.html
|
|
