TrueCrypt developers consider complaint against Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| The developers of the TrueCrypt open source encryption tool are considering
| submitting a complaint against Microsoft to the EU Commission if Microsoft is
| not prepared to lay open the Windows hibernation API. From version 5.1
| TrueCrypt supports hibernation for encrypted system partitions. Potential
| vulnerabilities that could allow the hibernation file to be written to the
| disk in unencrypted form have been reported in this version in recent weeks.
| This would allow attackers to read the key and thus decrypt the partition or
| container.
|
| [...]
|
| The TrueCrypt developers state that they are currently preparing an official
| complaint against Microsoft. Should this fail to lead to disclosure, they are
| planning to submit an anti-competition complaint to the EU. Microsoft offers
| a system partition encryption system under Windows Vista in the form of
| BitLocker.
`----
http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/TrueCrypt-developers-consider-complaint-against-Microsoft--/news/110329
Only been a week or so since the Phoenix case.
"Microsoft: still a bunch of gangsters."
-- Financial Times Writer, reaction to Microsoft 'open' pledge, 2008
http://fussnotes.typepad.com/plexnex/2008/02/wilcox-watch-bu.html
Recent:
The Microsoft-Yahoo merger: Yes, privacy is an antitrust concern
,----[ Quote ]
| The same day that Microsoft announced it was about to offer $44.6 billion
| offer for Yahoo, Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.), chairman of the Senate
| Antitrust Subcommittee, issued a statement: “We will need to scrutinize the
| deal carefully to ensure that it will not cause any harm to the
| competitiveness of what has been a vibrant high tech marketplace, nor
| negatively impact the privacy rights of internet users.”
`----
http://www.antitrustinstitute.org/archives/files/Microsoft-Yahoo%20Lande%20privacy_030220081748.pdf
Microsoft says to borrow money for Yahoo deal
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp said on Monday it may borrow money for the first time in its
| history to fund a portion of its $44.6 billion unsolicited offer for Yahoo
| Inc.
`----
http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSN0455692920080205
Anti-trust committee checks out Windows 7
,----[ Quote ]
| A landmark US anti-trust case against Microsoft was settled under the consent
| decree in 2002 after it was found to have guarded its monopoly over its
| Windows operating system.
|
| The committee said it was now examining Windows 7 (code-named Blackcomb then
| Vienna) to see if the company has complied with the original settlement,
| which required that Microsoft make its products interoperable with those
| created by its competitors.
|
| [...]
|
| The "Vista Capable" labels row blew up in Microsoft's face last month. US
| judge Marsha Pechman gave consumers the go-ahead to file a class action
| lawsuit against Microsoft for providing misleading information about Windows
| XP computers being able to run Vista.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/11/microsoft_windows_7_vista_capable/
Related:
Microsoft Finds Legal Defender in Justice Dept.
,----[ Quote ]
| Nearly a decade after the government began its landmark effort to break
| up Microsoft, the Bush administration has sharply changed course by
| repeatedly defending the company both in the United States and abroad
| against accusations of anticompetitive conduct, including the recent
| rejection of a complaint by Google.
|
| [...]
|
| In the most striking recent example of the policy shift, the top
| antitrust official at the Justice Department last month urged state
| prosecutors to reject a confidential antitrust complaint filed by
| Google that is tied to a consent decree that monitors Microsoft's
| behavior. Google has accused Microsoft of designing its latest
| operating system, Vista, to discourage the use of Google's desktop
| search program, lawyers involved in the case said.
`----
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/business/10microsoft.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Software rivals say Microsoft's Vista illegal in Europe
,----[ Excerpt ]
| Software manufacturers, citing 2004 European Commission finding,
| contend the operating system violates server laws in Europe.
`----
http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/26/news/international/bc.vista.microsoft.eu.reut/index.htm?source=yahoo_quote
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
Opera: IE8's changes don't let Microsoft off legal hook
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp.'s rivals have applauded some of what they've seen in the new
| Internet Explorer 8 (IE8), but the browser maker that has complained to
| antitrust regulators in Europe said the changes don't address all its
| concerns.
`----
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9067281&source=rss_news50
Gates deposition videos
,----[ Quote ]
| Boies: Do you remember that in January, 1996, a lot of OEMs were
| bundling non-Microsoft browsers?
|
| Gates: I'm not sure.
|
| Boies: What were the non-Microsoft browsers that you were
| concerned about in January of 1996?
|
| Gates: What's the question? You're trying to get me to recall
| what other browsers I was thinking about when I wrote that sentence?
|
| Boies: No, because you've told me that you don't know what you
| were thinking about when you wrote that sentence.
|
| Gates: Right.
|
| Boies: What I'm trying to do is get you to tell me what
| non-Microsoft browsers you were concerned about in January of
| 1996. If it had been only one, I probably would have used the
| name of it. Instead I seem to be using the term non-Microsoft
| browsers. My question is what non-Microsoft browsers were you
| concerned about in January of 1996?
|
| Gates: I'm sure -- what's the question? Is it -- are you asking
| me about when I wrote this e-mail or what are you asking me about?
|
| Boies: I'm asking you about January of 1996.
|
| Gates: That month?
|
| Boies: Yes, sir.
|
| Gates: And what about it?
|
| Boies: What non-Microsoft browsers were you concerned about in
| January of 1996?
|
| Gates: I don't know what you mean "concerned."
|
| Boies: What is it about the word "concerned" that you don't
| understand?
|
| Gates: I'm not sure what you mean by it.
`----
http://wincent.com/a/about/wincent/weblog/archives/2007/02/gates_depositio.php
Gates Deposition Audio and Video
,----[ Quote ]
| Here is our local copy of the depositions of Bill Gates in the
| Microsoft anti-trust suit. We did our best to convert the
| original Windows Media files into an Open format, ogg. Your
| webmaster is responsible for the video transcoding, the
| audio-only files are contributed by a Groklaw member that
| requested to stay anonymous.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/staticpages/index.php?page=GatesDepo
Opera files EU antitrust suit against Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| Opera Software has filed an antitrust suit against Microsoft in the European
| Union, accusing it of stifling competition by tying its Internet Explorer web
| browser to Windows.
|
| The complaint, which was filed by the Norwegian firm with the European
| Commission yesterday, says Microsoft is abusing its dominant position in the
| desktop PC market by offering only Internet Explorer as a standard part of
| Windows, and hindering interoperability by not following accepted standards
| with IE.
|
| Opera is asking the Commission, the executive branch of the European Union,
| to force Microsoft to unbundle IE from Windows, or include other browsers as
| a standard part of its operating system. It also wants it to require
| Microsoft to adhere to industry standards with its Web browser.
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/government-law/legislation/news/index.cfm?newsid=6663
ECIS Accuses Microsoft of Plotting HTML Hijack
,----[ Quote ]
| An industry coalition that has represented competitors of Microsoft
| in European markets before the European Commission stepped up its
| public relations offensive this morning, this time accusing
| Microsoft of scheming to upset HTML's place in the fabric of
| the Internet with XAML, an XML-based layout lexicon for
| network applications.
`----
http://www.betanews.com/article/ECIS_Accuses_Microsoft_of_Plotting_HTML_Hijack/1169824569
Steve Ballmer's Nine Year Retirement Plan
,----[ Quote ]
| Bill Gates is retiring from Microsoft this year and the exec he left in
| charge, Steve Ballmer, is ready to leave in nine years.
`----
http://blogs.eweek.com/cebit/content/cebit/steve_ballmers_nine_year_retirement_plan.html
Ballmer: New Microsoft to avoid antitrust woes
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft's efforts to open up on how its products work should keep it out of
| further legal trouble, despite a record fine levied by the European
| Commission last week, CEO Steve Ballmer said today.
`----
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=12295
Can Ballmer pilot Microsoft through a changed tech course?
,----[ Quote ]
| Can Ballmer steer Microsoft out of the roadblocks?
|
| The highly competitive Ballmer, you might say, is the man who cried "nice."
| And like the boy who cried wolf, no one believed him. The software giant's
| attempt to make nice with much of the developer community by opening up its
| APIs for key products was greeted with a jaundiced eye by regulators at the
| powerful European Commission.
|
| However sincere Microsoft's stated change of heart may be, it is becoming
| clearer and clearer that Microsoft -- which knows it has to change -- is
| still struggling to find a fresher path.
|
| What's a poor CEO to do?
|
| Now that Bill Gates has effectively left the building, Ballmer is free to
| transform Microsoft, a job made all the tougher by the enormous reservoir of
| mistrust the company has engendered over the years.
|
| Case in point: the open APIs. Microsoft will give its competitors free access
| to the application programming interfaces and protocols it uses to ensure
| interoperability between its own products, a very significant change in
| business practices.
`----
http://weblog.infoworld.com/tech-bottom-line/archives/2008/02/microsoft_open.html
EU May Fine Microsoft Over Antitrust Case, People Say
,----[ Quote ]
| The fine may be announced as soon as Feb. 27, said the people, who declined
| to be identified because the decision isn't public. Microsoft said in a Jan.
| 24 U.S. regulatory filing that the penalty may be as much as 1.5 billion
| euros ($2.2 billion).
`----
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&refer=conews&tkr=MSFT:US&sid=aG8SwG8llTmM
Microsoft's Last Big Beat: Internet Domination or Death
,----[ Quote ]
| What can $44.6B USD mean? Well, for Microsoft (MSFT) it may mean the cost of
| survival.
`----
http://seekingalpha.com/article/63876-microsoft-s-last-big-beat-internet-domination-or-death?source=yahoo
Microsoft says to borrow money for Yahoo deal
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp said on Monday it may borrow money for the first time in its
| history to fund a portion of its $44.6 billion unsolicited offer for Yahoo
| Inc.
`----
http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSN0455692920080205
Will Microsoft Survive the Next 10 Years?
,----[ Quote ]
| I am not really an expert in this but when I read all the negative
| headlines and articles I ask myself if Microsoft really will survive
| the next 10 years.
|
| [...]
|
| I am pretty sure that the Open Source Community, the new Ubuntu,
| Google and of course Apple are those companies that are ready for
| our century and they will get more and more people that know what
| they really want.
`----
http://websquirrel.blogspot.com/2007/03/will-microsoft-survive-next-10-years.html
P. Graham: Microsoft is Dead
,----[ Quote ]
| A few days ago I suddenly realized Microsoft was dead. I was talking
| to a young startup founder about how Google was different from Yahoo.
| I said that Yahoo had been warped from the start by their fear of
| Microsoft. That was why they'd positioned themselves as a "media
| company" instead of a technology company. Then I looked at his face
| and realized he didn't understand. It was as if I'd told him how much
| girls liked Barry Manilow in the mid 80s. Barry who?
|
| Microsoft? He didn't say anything, but I could tell he didn't quite
| believe anyone would be frightened of them.
`----
http://www.paulgraham.com/microsoft.html
Microsoft's DreamSpark – What a Giveaway
,----[ Quote ]
| The rest of the $44.6bn (£22.3bn) deal would be financed with an undisclosed
| amount of credit.
|
| What that means is that it must squeeze as much money as it can from its
| operations to fund that debt and still pay dividends to shareholders, who
| will be looking for some payback from the Yahoo takeover. Giving away
| software is the last thing it would want to do in these circumstances, and
| the DreamSpark announcement shows just how worried it is about the future.
`----
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/microsofts-dreamspark-%E2%80%93-what-giveaway
|
|
