Article at hand:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/03/technology/03cloud.html?ex=1346472000&en=4fd64ad09698d4a3&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Microsoft Delivers Major Piece of Nothing; NYT Does It Up Front Page
,----[ Quote ]
| Please. This story is more appropriate for placement in the Times’ Bits blog,
| if its to be presented anywhere in the folds of the publication. Markoff’s
| efforts in reporting the latest news in the tech industry would’ve been
| better spent on another item.
`----
http://www.profy.com/2007/09/03/microsoft-delivers-major-piece-of-nothing-nyt-does-it-up-front-page/
Windows Live Installer Thingy Coming This Week
,----[ Quote ]
| The NYT calls this a Netscape-level event, meaning it may be as significant
| as when Microsoft released the first version of Internet Explorer in 1995 and
| eventually brought Netscape to its knees. “The empire is preparing to strike
| back — again” writes John Markoff.
|
| That seems like a bit of a stretch to me. The important new web services are
| all browser based, and Microsoft has no competitive advantage over offerings
| from Google, Yahoo, AOL and thousands of new web startups all trying to move
| users from away from the desktop.
`----
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/03/windows-live-installer-thingy-coming-this-week/
Even when Vista came out, Microsoft used its PR proxies to pressure journalists
to create hype. The Inquirer wrote about how Microsoft pulls these stunts.
Related:
Past message:
>From anonymous [sent by E-mail]
,----[ Quote ]
| You probably know about this already. And sorry for the lousy scan
| quality.
|
| What is more interesting however, is the fact that this article,
| which mentions LINUX en passant, is nowhere to be found on the New
| York Times archive. All other articles published by the same author,
| Thomas Crampton, in the last few days, are easily downloadable.
|
| Could it be that Mighty$oft sent some message or did some calls to
| the New York Times to let them know that they were not at all pleased
| with this rather bad news for them. Imagine, if the masses in the US
| suddenly realized that such a cheap PC could never be sold here
| simply because Windows alone costs almost 400 dollars. Even if
| people usually do not learn much at school, one thing they are
| normally good at is adding figures. This all does definitely not
| smell good for the Gates-Ballmer "duumvirate".
|
| Thought you might want to know about this.
|
| [...]
|
| By the way, just to make sure I got my facts 100% right, I checked
| again this morning in their archives for that article.
| And, indeed, it is the only one missing in a long series of articles
| recently published by that author.
| Definitely sounds fishy.
`----
Here is a scan of the excellent article in question:
http://www.schestowitz.com/temp/screenshots/FRENCH_CHEAP_PC.jpg
NY Times bans Microsoft analysts from Microsoft stories
,----[ Quote ]
| The New York Times continues to perplex with its analyst- quoting
| policy. Rather than having analysts declare their ties to clients,
| the paper would prefer to quote analysts that have no experience
| with a client - a protocol which seems to undermine the very point
| of citing analysts.
|
| The Register this week started pushing the Times to explain its
| quoting stance after noticing that Rob Enderle - the most quoted
| technology analyst on the planet - had been blocked from commenting
| on companies with which he has a financial relationship. The ban
| against Enderle appeared odd, given that Times reporters continue
| to cite analysts from larger firms who also have financial
| relationships with the companies discussed.
|
| [...]
|
| Just days after banning Enderle from discussing Microsoft because
| he has Microsoft as a client, the Times quoted Gartner analyst
| Michael Silver and AMR Research analyst Jim Murphy in a story
| about Microsoft's Windows and Office software.
|
| If the paper would prefer not to quote an analyst who has
| experience with a client, it did a poor job. Silver is Gartner's
| vice president in charge of client computing. Microsoft happens to
| do lots of business with Gartner and also happens to have a
| client-software monopoly. We're guessing that Silver knows
| Microsoft's products well and has direct involvement with the
| company.
|
| And, sure enough, he appears a number of times on Microsoft's
| own site and thousands of times in stories about Microsoft.
|
| Jim Murphy - wait for it - covers Microsoft too and is even more
| prolific than Silver.
|
| [...]
|
| Part of the problem stems from the reticence of companies such as
| IDC and Gartner to reveal their clients. That should make everyone
| nervous, but it doesn't. So called objective technology publications
| keep publishing material bought by vendors without telling you this.
| They're also too lazy or scared to ignore the likes of Gartner and
| IDC until the firms change their disclosure rules.
|
| As it turns out, there's a cottage industry devoted to Rob
| Enderle, where Linux zealots fire off this form letter to editors
| whenever Enderle appears talking about Microsoft. Perhaps the Linux
| crowd could put its fabled collective mind toward creating letters
| for all the major analysts. Lord knows, the Times could use
| some help.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/12/15/nytimes_ms_ban/
More on Troy Wolverton, the Street, and Apple Scandal
,----[ Quote ]
| MediaNews did buy the Mercury News with a loan from Bill Gates' foundation,
| and is in the process of paying back that loan by publishing information
| without much journalistic or technical integrity.
|
| Specifically, I wrote “One might think that the San Jose Mercury News, being
| located in Apple's backyard, would tend to trumpet the company's success. One
| would be wrong... Apple's corporate proximity to San Jose is trumped by the
| Mercury News’ need to publish low cost, highly sensational news to make
| enough money to pay back Bill Gates for the favor of his humanitarian loan.”
`----
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q3.07/082663E0-6FD8-4F1D-909F-1BC72833AD02.html
Bill Gates fund reports 12.8 pct PlanetOut stake
,----[ Quote ]
| Bill Gates' investment fund Cascade Investment LLC reported in a regulatory
| filing on Friday that its holds a 12.8 percent stake in the common stock of
| online media company PlanetOut Inc.
`----
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKN1331033020070713?rpc=44
Bill Gates lends cash to buy newspapers
$350 million to MediaNews
,----[ Quote ]
| Gates involvement has been very behind the scenes. In fact many of
| those involved in the deal didn'teven know he was one of the investors.
| It was carried out through the Gates Foundation, the world's largest
| philanthropy outfit.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33849
Gates sold 100,000 Univision shares-SEC filing
,----[ Quote ]
| The foundation said it sold its remaining stake in Univision,
| which is in the process of being acquired by private investors,
| for an average of $35.34 per share in open market transactions.
`----
http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehybrid.aspx?storyID=urn:newsmlreuters.com:20070105:MTFH49951_2007-01-05_22-11-13_N05298823&type=comktNews&rpc=44
http://tinyurl.com/yll88p
What happened to the guts?
,----[ Quote ]
| Of one thing I am fairly certain. Microsoft all but eliminated
| mainstream software competition. As a result, Microsoft became
| the primary source of advertising revenue for mainstream publications.
| You don't bite the hand that feeds you. So instead of publishing
| issues calling for a worldwide boycott of Vista because it focuses
| more on what you can't do than what you can do, you see special
| editions praising Vista as the greatest advancement in computing
| since Windows 95. Granted we all know that Windows 95 was a dog
| from day one, but by the 90s, the mainstream press had already
| become rampant with Microsoft sycophants and they pushed Windows
| 95 like it was the second coming.
|
| [...]
|
| In short, I'd love to see a mainstream publication become an
| advocate for the consumer once again.
|
| As noted above, there are exceptions, including Linux Journal,
| most other FOSS-centered publications and even The Register.
| But we're the little guys.
`----
http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000173
http://slated.org/bbc_microsoft_bias
Beeb slammed for 'fawning' to Bill Gates
,----[ Quote ]
| BBC viewers have flooded the corporation with complaints over how it
| covered the launch of Microsoft Vista earlier this week.
|
| In one cringingly servile interview worthy of Uriah Heep, the
| Beeb's news presenter Hugh Edwards even thanked Gates at the
| end of it, presumably in appreciation at being allowed to give
| the Vole vast coverage for free.
|
| In other TV news items presenters excitedly explained how Vistac
| ould be obtained and installed - details courtesy of the BBC's
| website.
|
| But British viewers, currently forced to pay a £131.50 licence
| fee to maintain the BBC's "impartiality", were less than impressed.
|
| Scores got in touch to complain that so much was Auntie up Bill's
| bum that you could barely see her corset.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37411
PC World Editor Resigns When Ordered Not to Criticize Advertisers
,----[ Quote ]
| Apparently he also told the staff that product reviews had to be
| nicer to vendors who advertise in the magazine. The sad thing is
| that given the economics of publishing in this day and age, I
| doubt anything even comes of this even tho it essentially
| confirms that PC World reviews should be thought of as no
| more than press releases. I know that's how I will consider
| links from them in the future. But congratulations to anyone
| willing to stick to their guns on such matters.
`----
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/03/1810239&from=rss
|
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