The Six Serendipities of Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| As Paul Saffo of the Institute of the Future suggests, this explains why
| Microsoft is "a company that is desperately resisting change." According to
| Saffo, Microsoft is attempting to "hang onto what it's got: making the
| operating system important even though we're moving into a world where the OS
| becomes steadily less important.... [e]verything it's doing is going into
| that. It is a classic case of a change-hating company; it is desperately
| trying to retard change."
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http://www.vcnet.com/bms/features/serendipities.shtml
Against Intellectual Monopoly
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| It is common to argue that intellectual property in the form of copyright and
| patent is necessary for the innovation and creation of ideas and inventions
| such as machines, drugs, computer software, books, music, literature and
| movies. In fact intellectual property is not like ordinary property at all,
| but constitutes a government grant of a costly and dangerous private monopoly
| over ideas. We show through theory and example that intellectual monopoly is
| not neccesary for innovation and as a practical matter is damaging to growth,
| prosperity and liberty.
`----
http://www.dklevine.com/general/intellectual/against.htm
How Microsoft Prevents Innovation
,----[ Quote ]
| Despite its reputation among some consumers as an innovative company,
| Microsoft's number one goal is actually the opposite of innovation.
| Microsoft, like any other monopolist, can only succeed by preventing
| innovation. Here is a short summary of how they do it.
`----
http://www.vcnet.com/bms/features/noinnovation.shtml
Microsoft is a disaster to science, technology, and education.
Related:
In Microsoft Patent App, TV Watches You
,----[ Quote ]
| In a just-published patent application for delivering Advertising that is
| relevant to a person, nine Microsoft inventors spell out plans for using
| cameras, remote controls and biometric sensors...
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20070730/162255.shtml
Microsoft Seeks Another OS-Level Adware Patent
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft has just published a patent application for advertising triggered
| by sequences of user actions, which describes how to interrupt game playing,
| music listening, and photo viewing with pop-up ads ('the components may be
| integrated directly into the operating system').
`----
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/13/1447235&from=rss
Microsoft patents Tivo for commercial breaks
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft has patented the idea of inserting fresh advertisements
| into old recordings on personal video recorders, to ensure you see
| today's ads even if you're watching a recording from last week.
`----
http://www.itwire.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7946&Itemid=1063
Microsoft patents the mother of all adware systems
,----[ Quote ]
| The adware framework would leave almost no data untouched in its quest to
| sell you stuff. It would inspect "user document files, user e-mail files,
| user music files, downloaded podcasts, computer settings, computer status
| messages (e.g., a low memory status or low printer ink)," and more. How could
| we have been so blind as to not see the marketing value in computer status
| messages?
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070717-microsoft-patents-the-mother-of-all-adware-systems.html
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