'Vista Capable' plaintiffs push for case to proceed
,----[ Quote ]
| Lawyers for the plaintiffs are asking a federal judge to let a lawsuit over
| Microsoft's "Windows Vista Capable" program advance toward trial while the
| company appeals a pivotal ruling in the case, according to court papers filed
| Monday afternoon.
`----
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/134473.asp?source=rss
Recent:
Microsoft tries to stop more ‘Vista-capable’ e-mails from going public
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is trying to put the kibosh on more of its internal (and
| embarassing) e-mail messages around its Vista marketing plans going public.
|
| [...]
|
| With every version of Windows, Microsoft has worked with hardware partners to
| find new ways to try to convince users they need more and more powerful
| machines to take advantage of more feature-rich software. If Microsoft and
| its partners were/are successful, it means more money in the PC makers’ and
| Microsoft’s coffers. With Vista, this pact really back-fired, as the already
| published e-mails around Vista-capable — and more, as-yet-unpublicized
| messages — will make evident.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1254
Microsoft challenges 'Vista Capable' class action
,----[ Quote ]
| If granted, the motion would also postpone any new disclosures of potentially
| embarrassing company e-mails.
`----
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9067400
They Criticized Vista. And They Should Know.
,----[ Quote ]
| Act 1: In 2005, Microsoft plans to say that only PCs that are properly
| equipped to handle the heavy graphics demands of Vista are “Vista Ready.”
|
| Act 2: In early 2006, Microsoft decides to drop the graphics-related hardware
| requirement in order to avoid hurting Windows XP sales on low-end machines
| while Vista is readied. (A customer could reasonably conclude that Microsoft
| is saying, Buy Now, Upgrade Later.) A semantic adjustment is made: Instead of
| saying that a PC is “Vista Ready,” which might convey the idea that, well, it
| is ready to run Vista, a PC will be described as “Vista Capable,” which
| supposedly signals that no promises are made about which version of Vista
| will actually work.
|
| The decision to drop the original hardware requirements is accompanied by
| considerable internal protest. The minimum hardware configuration was set so
| low that “even a piece of junk will qualify,” Anantha Kancherla, a Microsoft
| program manager, said in an internal e-mail message among those recently
| unsealed, adding, “It will be a complete tragedy if we allowed it.”
|
| Act 3: In 2007, Vista is released in multiple versions, including “Home
| Basic,” which lacks Vista’s distinctive graphics. This placed Microsoft’s
| partners in an embarrassing position. Dell, which gave Microsoft a postmortem
| report that was also included among court documents, dryly
| remarked: “Customers did not understand what ‘Capable’ meant and expected
| more than could/would be delivered.”
`----
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/business/09digi.html?_r=2&pagewanted=2&oref=slogin
Related:
Microsoft knew of Vista shortcoming prior to release
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/microsoft-knew-vista-shortcoming-prior/story.aspx?guid=%7B75BE59C7%2DEFA1%2D48B5%2DB4A4%2D90F5E01A52A0%7D&siteid=yhoof
Microsoft dropped Vista hardware spec to raise Intel profits
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/03/01/microsoft_intel_vista_capable_emails/
Microsoft 'Caves' To Intel
http://www.forbes.com/2008/02/28/microsoft-vista-intel-tech-ebiz-cx_wt_0228vista.html?partner=yahootix
Has Vista lost all credibility?
http://apcmag.com/8344/has_vista_lost_all_credibility
E-mail: Microsoft 'botched' dealings with Intel, HP
,----[ Quote ]
| Internal Microsoft e-mails revealed through a federal class-action lawsuit
| arising from the troubled launch last year of the Windows Vista operating
| system have provided a provocative inside look at the software giant's
| machinations with Intel, HP and Dell.
|
| The e-mails include an exchange in which one senior Microsoft executive
| described dealings with computer makers as "really botched." Another manager
| complained Microsoft was "caving to Intel" and "really burning HP."
|
| The e-mails are included in 145 pages of documents unsealed by U.S. District
| Judge Marsha Pechman in Seattle late Wednesday. They include internal
| reports and some handwritten notes that offer a rare look inside at the
| famed "Wintel" partnership, and touch upon the alliance's dealings with
| Hewlett-Packard, Dell and other computer makers.
`----
http://origin.mercurynews.com/businessheadlines/ci_8417811?nclick_check=1
World gov'ts more aggressive on bribe probes-study
,----[ Quote ]
| Companies under investigation for violations of U.S. bribery laws will likely
| face heightened scrutiny from law enforcement officials all over the world as
| probes widen and spill across borders, a study found.
`----
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUKN2524801420080225?rpc=44
Intel overwhelmed by EU complaints
,----[ Quote ]
| So many charges, so little time.
|
| Intel Chairman Craig Barrett appears overwhelmed by a European Union
| investigation into the company's actions. Earlier this month, European
| Competition Commission officials busted open Intel offices in Munich, hunting
| for documents related to alleged price fixing with retailers. That raid added
| to an existing EC investigation into Intel's business practices.
`----
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/02/22/intel_barrett_eu_gripe/
,----[ Quote ]
| He alleges that the company has engaged in monopolistic conduct in the CPU
| market by “threatening, coercing, and bribing customers to refrain from
| dealing with Intel’s major competitor, Advanced Micro Devices”.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/02/21/inquirer-named-intel-writ
Microsoft, Intel and Dell: The Tech Love Triangle
,----[ Quote ]
| It is becoming well known that Microsoft have achieved their current market
| share status by making major computer manufacturers sign licensing deals, so
| as to distribute a copy of Windows with every computer sold. What many people
| don't realise, is how difficult it is to get a computer from the
| manufacturers without Windows.
|
| [...]
|
| This is first-hand experience of the power of Microsoft's monopolistic
| practices, and it really does annoy me. It seems not so long ago that I
| praised Dell for their support, but along with Microsoft, they have now lost
| a customer entirely.
|
| Needless to say, we are now looking to buy a system from a local shop with no
| OS.
`----
http://blog.raisingwaves.com/index.php?entry=entry071120-003039
http://edge-op.org/iowa/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/2000/PX02663.pdf
Investors sue Dell on payments from Intel: WSJ
,----[ Quote ]
| An investor lawsuit seeking class-action status accuses Dell Inc. of
| improper accounting in its relationship with chip giant Intel,
| according to a media report published Thursday evening.
|
| [...]
|
| The suit alleges that Dell received at times as much as $1 billion
| a year in "secret and likely illegal" kickbacks in the form of
| "e-Cap" or "exception to corporate average pricing" payments"
| from Intel to ensure that Dell used no other chip supplier,
| according to The Journal.
`----
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/investors-sue-dell-payments-intel/story.aspx?guid=%7B400315B0%2DE375%2D4920%2DB300%2D784220BEFE35%7D&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo
U.S. DOJ joins lawsuit against HP, Sun, Accenture
,----[ Quote ]
| Suit alleges that the three companies formed an alliance with vendors
| and have been giving each other kickbacks on government contracts
| since the late 1990s.
`----
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/04/19/HNdojjoinshpsunlawsuit_1.html
Lenovo got financial help from Intel, claim
,----[ Quote ]
| Journalists on the title said Lenovo is being paid a "pretty
| penny" from Intel to use its chips.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37670
At Dell, Windows XP Home is $19 less than worthless
,----[ Quote ]
| Latitude D520N Duo (with FreeDOS): $984
|
| Latitude D520 Dual Core (with Windows XP Home Edition SP2): $965
`----
http://danpritchard.com/blog/2007/02/21/dell-winxphome-19-less-than-worthless/
Microsoft Shuts Down Linux 10 Years Ago Says Iowa Attorne
,----[ Quote ]
| Going back now to as early as 1998, Microsoft starts to realize that
| Linux might pose a possible threat, and Vinod Valloppillil, who is
| a program manager at Microsoft, is asked by Mr. Allchin, Jim Allchin,
| to analyze potential strategies for combatting open-source software,
| and specifically Linux.
| His memos are leaked to the press in April -- I beg your pardon --
| in October of 1998 and become known as the Halloween documents.
| And the evidence will be that Microsoft uses its influence in the
| OEM channel, the computer manufacture channel, to make sure that
| end users have a difficult time buying PCs with Linux preinstalled.
`----
http://www.linuxelectrons.com/News/RoundUp/Microsoft_Shuts_Down_Linux_10_Years_Ago_Says_Iowa_Attorney
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
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
Did Microsoft want to 'whack' Dell over its Linux dealings?
http://news.com.com/Did+Microsoft+want+to+whack+Dell+over+its+Linux+dealings/2100-1014_3-6153904.html
Dell's secret Linux fling [sabotaged by Microsoft]
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/09/dell_linux_china/
Microsoft 'killed Dell Linux' - States
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/03/19/microsoft_killed_dell_linux_states/
Ecuador Tax Agency Closes Microsoft Branch Offices For 7 Days
,----[ Quote ]
| "We have twice requested balances, payment reports and complete tax
| information, but the company hasn't given it to us, so in accordance with our
| laws we have proceeded with the closure," the SRI official in charge of the
| proceeding said.
`----
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200710041610DOWJONESDJONLINE000810_FORTUNE5.htm
Microsoft Office raid in Hungary
,----[ Quote ]
| "Such behavior could lead to the exclusion of competitive products from
| the market and violate European Union rules, according to the authority
| known as the GVH."
`----
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/26/ap3957835.html
Lessig: Required Reading: the next 10 years
,----[ Quote ]
| Yet governments continue to push ahead with this idiot idea -- both Britain
| and Japan for example are considering extending existing terms. Why?
|
| The answer is a kind of corruption of the political process. Or better,
| a "corruption" of the political process. I don't mean corruption in the
| simple sense of bribery. I mean "corruption" in the sense that the
| system is so queered by the influence of money that it can't even get
| an issue as simple and clear as term extension right.
`----
http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/003800.shtml#003800
BBC Corrupted
,----[ Quote ]
| Today the BBC made it official -- they have been corrupted by Microsoft. With
| today's launch of the iPlayer, the BBC Trust has failed in its most basic of
| duties and handed over to Microsoft sole control of the on-line distribution
| of BBC programming. From today, you will need to own a Microsoft operating
| system to view BBC programming on the web. This is akin to saying you must
| own a Sony TV set to watch BBC TV. And you must accept the Digital
| Restrictions Management (DRM) that the iPlayer imposes. You simply cannot be
| allowed to be in control of your computer according to the BBC.
`----
http://defectivebydesign.org/blog/BBCcorrupted
Kickback Case: Retired Lawyer Sentenced
,----[ Quote ]
| The law firm, previously known as Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman, paid
| $11.3 million in kickbacks to people who became plaintiffs in class-action
| lawsuits against companies such as AT&T Inc., Lucent, WorldCom, Microsoft
| Corp. and Prudential Insurance, prosecutors said.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080128/lawsuit_kickbacks.html?.v=7
|
|
