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Msft is at it again


lewmur

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It seems Msft is up to its old tricks again. According to this article, they have bullied another manufacturer into paying extortion money to keep from paying outrageous legal fees to defend against non-existent patents.I'm sorry if my language sounds harsh to some, but its well past time that someone calls this monopolist BS by its proper name. :angry2: :icon8: :angry: :hmm: :w00t:

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securitybreach

Thanks for the link Lewmur, but I do not think it is appropriate for BATL so I moved it to "The Water Cooler" section of the forums. We do not want to start a Flame War.

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Thanks for the link Lewmur, but I do not think it is appropriate for BATL so I moved it to "The Water Cooler" section of the forums. We do not want to start a Flame War.
Are you saying that Msft should be immune from criticism? Just where do we draw the line? The article was about a co., using the Linux kernel, being forced to pay Msft for patents it claims that kernel violates. If Linux users and advocates don't have the right to strongly condemn that action in BATL, then, IMHO, BATL moderators are falsely protecting a bully in the name of political correctness.
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I think it is more to keep BATL "clean" looking than to evade any responsibility. It might put off newcomers if they came and saw a battle going on.I certainly agree with your annoyance with MS, however. As they see themselves slipping they are getting really vicious. Bill

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V.T. Eric Layton

One thing we sometimes forget is that Scot Finnie (the guy who owns and operates this board) was an MS Windows user and advocate for many years. He may be a Mac fan these days, but as the Managing Editor of ComputerWorld, he also knows that he has to maintain a somewhat neutral stance. He's not a featured blogger getting paid to rip, rant, and bitch (a la John C. Dvorak) after all.The Staff here at Scots also have their own personal opinions about this stuff, but our priority is maintaining a comfortable, non-confrontational environment for folks to come and learn, interact, and have some fun. We may agree with things posted by members here. However, in the interest of sustaining the type of environment that Scot, Bruno, and many others here feel is important, we sometimes have to make decisions to dampen certain discussions.It's not anything personal, folks, I assure you. It's a tough job for staff to step outside of their own personal feelings at times to moderate as they need to. It's tough. Try it some day. I run my own boards where most of the members are long time personal friends. There have been times there when things have gotten so out of hand that I just wanted to walk away and let it burn. An Admin/Mod can't do that, though. We are relied upon to do the jobs that need doing. It's a dirty job sometimes. That's a cliché, but no joke.Bottom line... we love you, but please... please cut us some slack when we move your posts or send you PMs about something you posted. We have to do what's best for everyone and the board. That's not always going to make everyone happy. I'm just as guilty as any of you of posting potentially inflammatory stuff. Sometimes, we do it and don't even realize it has that potential. What we write doesn't (often) look the same to us as it does to those who read it.The simple rules at my boards are... Be Nice. Be Kind. Be Considerate. Simple? Yes. Easy to abide by? Not always. Let's just try to do the best we can. That's what makes Scot's what it is. It's true we don't have 450,000 members. It's also true that we don't have faceless and nameless trolls running around telling people who need help with something to RTFM. That don't happen here for two reasons... the Staff and the Members. Neither would tolerate it.Rock on!

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V.T. Eric Layton

Now if I could just think of something to write about for tomorrow's general topic article at my blog. :hmm:

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Now if I could just think of something to write about for tomorrow's general topic article at my blog. :(
I'm sorry, Eric, but I'm just not buying it. Sure, while Mr. Finney was working for Msft, it was improper to use his board to criticize his employer. But to claim that his current position still makes that true is downright silly. Computerworld publishes negative articles about Msft all the time.But even it were true, that wouldn't justify moving my post from one forum to another. If the post was overboard in respect to Mr. Finney, then it should have been removed completely. Transferring it to another forum is merely insulting me.If criticizing a company is verboten just in BATL, then your thread about Canonical should have been moved too. Giving a pass just to Msft is wrong.I can appreciate that the moderators have a difficult job. And I understand the need to keep the forums civilized. But I totally disagree, that pointing out the misbehavior of a company the size of Msft, fails the civility test.BTW, if you are looking for something to talk about, you might want to read the story about Steve Jobs saying that Adobe is bad for competition because it is too proprietary. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!! :(
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Guest LilBambi

Actually, Scot never worked for Microsoft ... he worked for publications that wrote about Microsoft.The move from BATL to the Water Cooler stands lewmur.Let's leave it at that.

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Actually, Scot never worked for Microsoft ... he worked for publications that wrote about Microsoft.The move from BATL to the Water Cooler stands lewmur.Let's leave it at that.
I didn't expect otherwise.
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V.T. Eric Layton

I understand your what you're saying, Lew. The main reason for the move, in my opinion (even though it was another Mod who initiated it), is because Bruno himself (not a fan of MS, as you know) would have move/hid it. BATL is just not the place.And just to clarify, my LINK TO an article inherently Linux-related in BATL regarding speculation on how the for-profit Canonical intended to make a buck off their flagship product was not bashing or criticism in my opinion... just speculation based on my feeble knowledge and experience on how companies do this stuff (make a profit).Anyhow... to get back on topic: Interesting article elsewhere about this --> http://techrights.org/2010/04/28/microsoft-android-tax-htc/

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Lew: I understand what you're trying to vent. However: I have seen a really good and well known forum in security land going down within a couple of months time, mainly due to letting people going overboard with their feelings and meanings. It's sad but it happened. We don't want to happen that with these forums. The end result on that security forum now is you can't post you're meaning without laying every word you want to write on a golden plate and weigh it... and if you still dare to post there you'll get criticized for almost every word and phrase you posted. Do we want that here too? I don't think so. Let's keep it nice and steady like it always has been.The mods and admins do their job alright, they're bound by rules and these are strict rules to obey to. However, this is one of the better boards around if you ask me, let's keep the guys doing their work without criticizing them. Some of us have to use MS software, and there are also some using it while also using linux. If we as linux friends don't want to be bashed by Windows users, we have to start our selves and stop bashing them.(and no, I didn't say or suggest you were doing that.)

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Guest LilBambi
:whistling: I wonder how I would be called when I was using Windows+Linux+BSD+Solaris+Mac. Maybe superduper? :w00t:
And I thought I was bad with Mac, Linux, Windows! ;)
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Cluttermagnet

Microsoft is past its prime. Perhaps it ends up a giant 'spoiler', like SCO but with way more resources. I can understand how this stuff makes your blood boil, lewmur.

...Anyhow... to get back on topic: Interesting article elsewhere about this --> http://techrights.org/2010/04/28/microsoft-android-tax-htc/
Yep, the company you love to hate. Good article, Eric. Hard hitting. Speaks bluntly and doesn't spare anyones feelings. It wouldn't be too much of a reach to conclude that they have become essentially the 'highwaymen' of the IT world.I stopped doing business with them on principle. I rarely look back, but when I do, I'm truly appalled. It's kind of hard to take pride in Microsoft as an American company. Perhaps they can serve as a bad example? :"> BTW I do feel a 'chilling effect' on my speech here, and it's not the Forums per se, but how outside political forces are having a chilling effect generally on all of us. These are not good times, in that regard. I chose my words carefully here. But..."The emperor has no clothes." And he's overweight. :yes:
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V.T. Eric Layton

Oh, I don't hate 'em. I just wish I had bought 50,000 shares of their stock in 1993. :yes:

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BTW I do feel a 'chilling effect' on my speech here, and it's not the Forums per se, but how outside political forces are having a chilling effect generally on all of us. These are not good times, in that regard. I chose my words carefully here. But..."The emperor has no clothes." And he's overweight. :whistling:
Can we criticize Apple and get away with it? Apparently you can't make fun of them without getting in trouble. It's an interesting media climate at the moment. I think there's a real corporate war waging right now with Apple, Adobe, Google and Microsoft as the main actors, although Redmond seems to be on the losing end of everything these days. There is a seismic shift about to happen on the computing landscape and it's not totally clear where things will stand once the dust has settled. The Tablet War is in its first stages and Android is in the thick of it. Clearly, Microsoft sees Google and Android as threat. On a second front is the Flash War and Truth is the first casualty in that skirmish. It's enough to make one want to ditch all this technology and find a bunker in the woods lay low until it's all over. :">
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Guest LilBambi

Peachy, you are so right.There is something big on the horizon ... the sun seems to be setting and truth and freedom in computing for users is on its way out the door... at least in the minds of proprietary companies. I hope not, but it sure seems so.I am also wondering what this will mean to users' ability to control what they buy in computing...will computers become the equivalent of game machines, smart phones, satellite receivers with smart cards? You know specific use types of things? Where we as the owners of the devices will have no real control?I sure hope not.... it will take all the fun out of computing.

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Nothing Apple wouldn't or has already done. Unfortunately the consumer is usually the loser regardless which company wins.

Edited by bob3160
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Nothing Apple wouldn't or has already done. Unfortunately the consumer is usually the looser regardless which company wins.
That's "loser". I have a feeling that, since it it more often misspelled on the internet than correctly, it is becoming common use. But then what word are we going to use when we actually mean "less tight"?
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:clap2: true! less tight? sloppy? unregulated? too much free play? out of tolerance? worn? but i digress... :lol:
You're totally correct. It should have been loser but since my typing finger loosely hit the key and the program that usually catches my loose spelling wasn't able to catch the mistake. Please accept my carelessness. :thumbsup:
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