On Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:11:11 +0000, [H]omer wrote:
> Charlie Wilkes wrote:
>
>> For a big company, the payoff of such hijinks is too skimpy to justify
>> the reputational and legal risks.
>
> If the Vole was in any way concerned about ethics or the law, then they
They may not care about ethics, but they care about risk. Can you
imagine the headlines if someone could prove that Microsoft is
contaminating pro-Linux web sites with malware that targets Windows?
Aside from the impact on public trust, the feds would launch an
investigation to determine who authorized the program, who knew about it,
who carried out the operations, and how it was paid for. It would be a
disaster for the management of the company as well as shareholders. And
low-lifes who are willing to carry out such assignments are also the kind
who would brag about it to someone, or blow the whistle to get attention,
or resort to blackmail. Microsoft uses many sleazy business tactics...
but the people who run the company aren't stupid.
> wouldn't have engaged in the unscrupulous behaviour that now makes them
> the subject of yet another antitrust investigation, and yet another
> class-action lawsuit. But as they've shown time and again, they are
> above the law. Like in a game of monopoly, they simply buy themselves
> out of jail.
>
> As for the "big fish don't bother hunting small fish theory", well the
> Vole seems to have other ideas. That's the nature of greed, I suppose -
> too much is never enough.
>
> Just look at the extraordinary efforts they go to, to secure OOXML as
> the Next Standard®, when there is already an Open Document Format, even
> to the extent of bribery (proved and documented).
>
> Then there's the fact that Linux, with its supposedly insignificant
> market share, is nonetheless deemed such a threat to the Vole, that they
> feel the need to "partner" with a string of Linux vendors to form a
> protection racket.
They are concerned about Linux as a competitive threat. They would be
crazy not to be. But they won't make Linux less of a competitive threat
by harassing bloggers.
>
> Microsoft has nothing of any value, and they know it. Virtually their
> entire "portfolio" is nothing but assimilated technology, glued together
> by clueless monkeys, and directed by management who use propaganda and
> bribery to peddle this Slopware, and they've proved themselves greedy
> and desperate enough to resort to attacking /any/ perceived threat, no
> matter how small.
This is the same kind of reasoning the MI-5 guy uses to convince himself
he is the target of a massive psy-ops program, with agents waiting to
fuck with his head wherever he goes. It makes sense to him. But it
doesn't make sense to a sane outsider observer.
Charlie
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