Joe Wilcox, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Several days ago, I left a comment in his inherited Web site just to say that Microsoft hides some of its Vista weakness by secretly patching vulnerabilities. I even provided two links from very reliable source to support this. One of these sources was the Microsoft Blog at ZDNet. With further confirmations that this is true, I see no reason whatsoever why my comment should be removed. This leads to the suspicion that Microsoft Watch has turned from a professional Web site run by Mary Jo Foley into a Microsoft shilling dumpster. Several months ago, the site dropped its Windows server and had it replaced by Red Hat Linux. This is hypocritical, is it not?

It has become obvious (by admission) that many Microsoft employees visit the Web site and even comment without disclosure. I refuse to participate as much as I used to knowing that a site which once served me well has decided to lift and iron first and decide what is valid information and what is an inconvenient truth.

What else would you expect from a company with such a shady track record?

Microsoft’s Record Quarter: Shareholders Paid for Most of the Upside Surprise

“Said another way, Microsoft achieved record breaking earnings during the Vista launch quarter by taking money out of its assets, not through amazing sales of Vista and Office.”

Guess what? Microsoft delivered headlines which attribute this ‘success’ to nothing but Office and Vista sales. On several occasions, Microsoft has refused to say how many units they actually sold. They seem to just be emptying their savings in order to create an illusion which they are comfortable with. According to the following, the company has lost over half of its cash reserves in just two years, but it is all happening very quietly.

Software Notebook: Microsoft’s cash pile isn’t what it used to be

But Microsoft has taken a series of steps to reduce its cash balance. Specifically, by Microsoft’s count, the company has paid out nearly $100 billion through dividends and repurchasing its own stock in the past five years.

This is the story which reveals how Bill Gates made his company so ‘successful’.

Guess who is rejecting Windows Vista? A role model to many Windows users — Chris Pirillo. If he is upset with Microsoft, perhaps everyone should be.

Vista backlash grows; key advocate moves back to XP

Chris Pirillo just broke up with Windows Vista, saying, “The shipping version of this OS is late beta, at best.”

Jason Busch did the same: “It’s an absolute travesty that Microsoft would have released such a half-baked product.”

An Open Letter To Jim Allchin (from Chris Pirillo)

Jim,

Congratulations! Seriously. I’m glad that you finally got Windows Vista out the door, but I’m equally as thrilled to know that you’re working on releasing SP1 by the end of this year.

Who is next? Paul? Jim? Maybe even Scoble? Scoble is acting a bit like an elitist at time, yelling out at developers for not implementing RSS support (which he believes he’s some sort of Guru of). Chris Pirillo, on the other hand, I get along with pretty well because he’s kind (and certainly gentler than Robert Scoble). Good move, Chris! Show us the way to go.

Consider this item a minddump and please treat it accordingly.

Here is an article which you may find valuable if you ever make an operating platform choice. You ought to know that there will be many lies whose purpose is to limit your choice.

FUD Plays a Role

The study suggests that Linux’s market acceptance may be hampered by the use of fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) tactics directed at it by Microsoft.

For example, notes the paper:

“Such emotions were stirred in the Linux community by, among others, SCO, a small ‘vulture’ firm that had bought up the intellectual property rights to a particular version of Unix and was threatening Linux users with lawsuits over infringement of those rights unless they agreed to pay it substantial licensing fees. IBM, which was one of the prime corporate sponsors of Linux as well as the target of a lawsuit by SCO…alleged in mid 2003 that SCO was in cahoots with Microsoft.”

The study also quotes an interview with Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, who used FUD in an effort to denigrate the reliability of OSS:

“Customers will never know what to expect from this product [Linux]. If the lead developer for this component chooses to do something else with his life, who will carry on the mantle for that?”

Yet, the study states, FUD has its limits. “Microsoft’s efforts to instill fear are to some extent offset by the users’ and developers’ concern that Microsoft may decide to raise prices in the future if it succeeds in derailing the progression of Linux.”

It is rather disturbing to see the extent to which fraud and disinformation play a role. But they do. And they make a difference.

I never liked any of these dirty tactics from Steve “Baboon Dance” Bullmer (sic) and co., who are both bullish and bullyish. They even pay people to spread the false word, without any disclosure. Astroturfers, Microshafter, and Microshatners are—and always will be—pants. They help create and defend the Big Lie. Slander is part of the daily corruption in newsgroups that attract those vermins. It becomes a storm in a teacup as they harp about it. Newbies or people who just ‘land’ on the archive would not see precedence justifying distrust.

To be a little poetic here, let’s address the personality of the people behind this dirty game. I woke up last night (quite immediately as a matter of fact). I thought I heard a chair flying. Steve Ballmer is on the other side of the globe, yet his chair is roaming and piercing through the curtains with that sound. It was quite thought provoking! If only it were real. But it isn’t quite so fictional. Just have a look.

Lucovsky said Ballmer threw a chair across the room and shouted: “Fucking Eric Schmidt is a fucking pussy. I’m going to fucking bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I’m going to fucking kill Google.” Shortly after, he resumed trying to persuade Lucovsky to stay at Microsoft.

I cannot understand why people continue to buy software from billionaires who are so vain and malovalent. Nothing is perceived as too evil to this company. It works for the investors, so ethics are secondary. Microsoft could afford to open a Redmond datacentres whose sole purpose is merely to collect all available information from Windows and Internet Explorer 7 users. Everything can be logged (much like Google does). People get profiled by companies who can use it in any way that is desired. There’s a real danger here, as AOL’s leaked search logs have proven.

Yesterday Microsoft said that it liked DRM, rather than just accept it bitterly. It intends to use more of it. Escape Microsoft while you can. Vista has “high impact issues”, according to Microsoft.

S another year opens, I would like to wish all the readers a happy and joyous new year. I am wishing and hoping to see a continued trend where not only is Open Source being promoted (2006 was the year of desktop Linux in my eyes), but also Freedom gets properly understood, appreciated, and embraced.

I could probably count on hand the number of times I used Windows and other proprietary software this year. I never use Windows, yet I am fairly familiar and even proficient with it, owing to memory. Yes, it is not because it’s intuitive. It’s because it has neither changed much nor evolved for a decade. It remained widespread for the same reason Britney Spears and Macdonald’s are popular (or just “successful”).

I’ll close with an odd and sarcastic statement.

“Windows is used by the most people, so it must be the best“, says Hugh-Gotta B. Kiddin Mae.

Make prevalence no indication of quality. Same with cost. If needed, make it your new year’s resolution. Again I say:

HAPPY NEW YEAR

The company of marketeer has begun its next round of deception. It is no coincidence that this comes as soon as clients prepare for the next generation of servers and desktops (software-wise).

Lately there has been a HUGE push by Certified Microsoft Professionals and their companies to call clients and warn them of the dangers of open source. This week I received calls from 4 different customers that they were warned that they are dangerously insecure because they run Open Source Operating systems or Software because ‘anyone can read the code and hack you with ease’ they are being told. Other colleagues in the area also have noticed this about 3 Microsoft Partners or so they claim have been going out of their way to strike fear of OSS in companies that respond with ‘yes we use Open source or Linux’ when the sales call comes in.

The beast from Redmond is gearing up towards delivery of more disinformation than ever encountered before. It’s bracing itself for destruction of perceptions which accompany the term “Open Source”. According to Mary Jo-Foley, Microsoft has been preparing yet another
self-commissioned anti-Linux study. On top of that, Frost & Sullivan were recently used to conduct outrageous TCO studies. And yet, the press fails to mention who is behind the studies whose ‘conclusions’ it helps propagate.

Microsoft’s grip on public information and the media is nothing to sneeze at. Just have a look at the leaked Holloween Documents to get a quick reminder. That of course is the company which Novell, a so-called Linux advocate, chooses to do business with. Whilst Novell removes its anti-Windows Web site components, Microsoft fuels its anti-Linux fire and added aggression to its sales pitch. Clearly, “know your enemy” is a little tidbit which Novell absolutely must begin to digest and act upon.

In other news, LWN speaks of the division that’s formed in the Linux community, as well as the possible defection of developers who were invited to depart from Novell. Google and Canonical are named as examples.

To complete this quick roundup, I would also briefly mention Susan Heystee, the newly-appointed babysitter for this controversial deal. Shane has read the article more carefully and concluded that “they are going to customers jointly, in here she says that IP issues aren’t that important to customers that she has talked to. Plus, they admittedly have no plan – after ‘months’ of working out a deal and now they go to customers and are pitching them what exactly? Vague concepts like ‘interoperability’, ‘virtualization’ and ‘patent protection’“. This aligns perfectly well with the confusing ‘virtues’ that Novell waves in the eyes of European businesses, to whom patents are not even valid. All in all, this creates a great deal of noise and confusion. Wake up, Novell. You help destroy your source while returning to your proprietary roots.