[News] [Rival] Microsoft Accused of Fuelling Format Wars, Writing Checks (Bribery)
Roy Schestowitz
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is deliberately feeding into the HD disc format wars to ensure that
| its own downloads succeed where physical copies fail, says movie director
| Michael Bay in a response to a question posed through his official forums.
| The producer contends that Microsoft is writing "$100 million dollar checks"
| to movie studios to ensure HD DVD exclusives that hurt the overall market
| regardless of the format's actual merit or its popularity, preventing any one
| format from gaining a clear upper hand. Bay's own Transformers is available
| on disc only in the less popular HD DVD format despite his stated preference
| for Blu-ray. To the director, this is primarily a stalling tactic while
| Microsoft refines its own online-only technology.
`----
http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/12/04/bay.on.microsoft.hd/
Sony claims Blu-ray has over 95% of Australian HD market
,----[ Quote ]
| A Sony commissioned report released today claims the Blu-ray disc format had
| a 95.2% market share for home entertainment hardware and software in October
| 2007 while the HD-DVD format held just the remaining 4.8% share.
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/15658/1023/
Meanwhile, PDF gets ISO.
ISO Ballot for PDF 1.7 Passed!
,----[ Quote ]
| Adobe has received word that the Ballot for approval of PDF 1.7 to become the
| ISO 32000 Standard (DIS) has passed by a vote of 13::1.
`----
http://blogs.adobe.com/insidepdf/2007/12/iso_ballot_for_pdf_17_passed.html
Related:
Two Studios to Support HD DVD Over Rival
,----[ Quote ]
| But money talks: Paramount and DreamWorks Animation together will receive
| about $150 million in financial incentives for their commitment to HD
| DVD, according to two Viacom executives with knowledge of the deal but
| who asked not to be identified.
|
| The incentives will come in a combination of cash and promotional
| guarantees. Toshiba, for instance, will use the release of “Shrek the
| Third” as part of an HD DVD marketing campaign.
|
| Paramount and DreamWorks Animation declined to comment. Microsoft, the
| most prominent technology company supporting HD DVDs, said it could not
| ^^^^^^^^^
| rule out payment but said it wrote no checks. “We provided no financial
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| incentives to Paramount or DreamWorks whatsoever,” said Amir Majidimehr,
| the head of Microsoft’s consumer media technology group.
`----
Is Toshiba Giving Away The Razor [HD DVD] To Get You To Buy The Blades?
,----[ Quote ]
| I just received an e-mail tonight from the folks at the EMA (Electronic
| Merchant's Association), who are responsible for a big industry event next
| week, the Home Media Expo.
`----
http://www.dvddossier.com/2007/07/a2-toshiba-hd-d.html
Tosh to tempt laptop buyers with free HD DVDs
,----[ Quote ]
| Buy it and the company will send you the discs - worth £75, it said.
`----
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/11/21/toshiba_hd_dvd_offer/
Cringely the Unemployable on the fallacy of Web 2.0, Microsoft ruthlessness,
and the CB radio of our decade
,----[ Quote ]
| Davidson: Which software company would you hate to compete against? What
| makes you single them out?
|
| Cringely: Microsoft of course. They have the deepest of pockets, unlimited
| ambition, and they are willing to lose money for years and years just to make
| sure that you don't make any money, either. And they are mean, REALLY mean.
|
| Davidson: Why do you think Microsoft is mean? Are you implying some kind of
| malicious intent rather than just ruthlessness?
|
| Cringely: Maybe "mean" is the wrong word to use for Microsoft. "Ruthless" is
| good. The company is built in the image of Bill Gates and Bill is a guy who
| gets caught-up in the game of business and doesn't typically see its personal
| cost. To use what might seem to be an obscure example, just look at all the
| various partnerships and industry consortia that Microsoft has announced
| through the years that never produced a product or even a usable
| specification. There have been literally dozens of these operations that are
| intended solely to freeze the competition until Microsoft can figure what the
| heck it actually wants to do. To Microsoft its a PR exercise that helps them
| compete but to customers it is just a damned lie. That's ruthless. There are
| plenty of other examples I can give but you get the point. I represent the
| concerns of users, not vendors, and Microsoft doesn't really care about
| users.
`----
http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2007/07/cringely-the-un.html
,----[ Quote ]
| "Let me be clear, ladies and gentlemen, there is one company that will
| have to change its illegal behavior as a result of this ruling, and
| that is Microsoft," Kroes said at a news conference.
`----
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/332064_msfteu18.html?source=mypi
Corrupt countries were more likely to support the OOXML document format
,----[ Quote ]
| Is this just a random coincidence? The median of the CPI index of the above
| mentioned 70 countries is 3.95. Of the most corrupted half (CPI index less
| than 3.95) 23 or 77% voted for approval (approval or approval with comments)
| and 7 or 23% for disapproval; 5 abstained. Of the least corrupted half (CPI
| index more than 3.95) 13 or 54% voted for approval and 11 or 46% voted for
| disapproval; 11 abstained - see the table below.
`----
http://www.effi.org/blog/kai-2007-09-05.en.html
Microsoft buying it's way into OOXML ISO certification?
,----[ Quote ]
| It appears that Microsoft is just buying the OOXML ISO certification!
`----
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."
`----
Mark Kent
> Director: Microsoft fueling HD wars
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| Microsoft is deliberately feeding into the HD disc format wars to ensure that
>| its own downloads succeed where physical copies fail, says movie director
>| Michael Bay in a response to a question posed through his official forums.
>| The producer contends that Microsoft is writing "$100 million dollar checks"
>| to movie studios to ensure HD DVD exclusives that hurt the overall market
>| regardless of the format's actual merit or its popularity, preventing any one
>| format from gaining a clear upper hand. Bay's own Transformers is available
>| on disc only in the less popular HD DVD format despite his stated preference
>| for Blu-ray. To the director, this is primarily a stalling tactic while
>| Microsoft refines its own online-only technology.
> `----
>
> http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/12/04/bay.on.microsoft.hd/
>
MS know only about monopolies.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
| Cola faq: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/linux/advocacy/faq-and-primer/ |
| Cola trolls: http://colatrolls.blogspot.com/ |
| My (new) blog: http://www.thereisnomagic.org |
Roy Schestowitz
> Roy Schestowitz <newsg...@schestowitz.com> espoused:
>> Director: Microsoft fueling HD wars
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>| Microsoft is deliberately feeding into the HD disc format wars to ensure
>>| that its own downloads succeed where physical copies fail, says movie
>>| director Michael Bay in a response to a question posed through his official
>>| forums. The producer contends that Microsoft is writing "$100 million
>>| dollar checks" to movie studios to ensure HD DVD exclusives that hurt the
>>| overall market regardless of the format's actual merit or its popularity,
>>| preventing any one format from gaining a clear upper hand. Bay's own
>>| Transformers is available on disc only in the less popular HD DVD format
>>| despite his stated preference for Blu-ray. To the director, this is
>>| primarily a stalling tactic while Microsoft refines its own online-only
>>| technology.
>> `----
>>
>> http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/12/04/bay.on.microsoft.hd/
>>
>
> MS know only about monopolies.
That's just vicious. From /. [1], I've just realised that this is a director of
Transformers or something, so you're not looking at some arbitrary guy making
this claim. I added the Cringely reference at the bottom of the OP.
Also...
Scott M. Fulton, III:
"What did happen that day in 1994 is an example of how Microsoft
approaches its everyday business: not by applying itself to the truths
and principles and operating parameters of its chosen industry, and
not by solving the arguably solvable problems put before it, but
instead by concocting a fantasy world where Microsoft is the world's
great benefactor, the great multitude is the recipient of its mercy
and grace, and all other entities in the computing industry are
either--to borrow a recently reborn phrase--"with us or against us."
This is a world where media entities such as Newsweek, and
professional observers such as myself, should stand in awe of that
company's "accomplishments," as if its role-playing conquests held
tangible value in any currency in which common people trade."
[1] Slashdot also made me realise that one site is not prepared to handle high
loads, so I'm receiving E-mails now about it being temporarily offline. It's
weird because last December it could cope with Digg and Slashdot effect
simultaneously. By the way, Novell delayed its financial reports (looking
grim).
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | One, Two, Free Open Source Software (FOSS)
http://Schestowitz.com | Free as in Free Beer | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Load average (/proc/loadavg): 0.95 0.67 0.60 3/128 14584
http://iuron.com - semantic search engine project initiative
Mark Kent
Novell are in extremely big trouble, I'm sure. The reason why they're
cuddling up to Microsoft so much is that they're hoping that Microsoft
will rescue them by some means. I think that they'd've had more luck
with IBM.
The concern I still have with Novell is, like Dell and their Linux PCs,
they're hoping that going "open" will be a lifeline in an otherwise
collapsing business. Unfortunately, new business models take a long
time to develop, and they're rather late into the game. I suspect that
the net result of Novell's acquisition of SuSE will be the death of
SuSE.
Roy Schestowitz
With the GPL, you'll still have the code. But Novell opened a can of worms that
hurts not only SUSE, but everyone else too -- software patents. Then there's
Microsoft's 'pledge' (READ: shackles) for OpenSUSE developers.
The Novell martionette will dance to the Microsoft music as long as it has
impact in the community. Many SUSE developers have left and Novell seems more
fascinated with .NET. It has to.
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | if ("if"=inv("fi")) print("foo/bar")
http://Schestowitz.com | Free as in Free Beer | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Load average (/proc/loadavg): 1.81 0.91 1.32 3/129 21835
Peter Köhlmann
< snip >
> With the GPL, you'll still have the code. But Novell opened a can of worms
> that hurts not only SUSE, but everyone else too -- software patents. Then
> there's Microsoft's 'pledge' (READ: shackles) for OpenSUSE developers.
>
> The Novell martionette will dance to the Microsoft music as long as it has
> impact in the community. Many SUSE developers have left and Novell seems
> more fascinated with .NET. It has to.
>
Certainly.
Mighty stuff you are smoking there. Please don't pass it on, it leads to
quite some hallucinations
--
Law of Probable Dispersal:
Whatever it is that hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.
Roy Schestowitz
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
> < snip >
>
>> With the GPL, you'll still have the code. But Novell opened a can of worms
>> that hurts not only SUSE, but everyone else too -- software patents. Then
>> there's Microsoft's 'pledge' (READ: shackles) for OpenSUSE developers.
>>
>> The Novell martionette will dance to the Microsoft music as long as it has
>> impact in the community. Many SUSE developers have left and Novell seems
>> more fascinated with .NET. It has to.
>>
>
> Certainly.
> Mighty stuff you are smoking there. Please don't pass it on, it leads to
> quite some hallucinations
I can show you articles. Novell hired dozens of .NET programmers about 6 months
ago (the ones I know about) and Gartner (IIRC) said that many SUSE developers
left after the deal (maybe quietly).
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | "Oops. My brain just hit a bad sector"
http://Schestowitz.com | RHAT Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
20:20:01 up 2 days, 2:40, 3 users, load average: 0.96, 1.40, 1.63
http://iuron.com - Open Source knowledge engine project
Peter Köhlmann
> ____/ Peter Köhlmann on Thursday 06 December 2007 10:56 : \____
>
>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>
>> < snip >
>>
>>> With the GPL, you'll still have the code. But Novell opened a can of
>>> worms that hurts not only SUSE, but everyone else too -- software
>>> patents. Then there's Microsoft's 'pledge' (READ: shackles) for OpenSUSE
>>> developers.
>>>
>>> The Novell martionette will dance to the Microsoft music as long as it
>>> has impact in the community. Many SUSE developers have left and Novell
>>> seems more fascinated with .NET. It has to.
>>>
>>
>> Certainly.
>> Mighty stuff you are smoking there. Please don't pass it on, it leads to
>> quite some hallucinations
>
> I can show you articles.
Certainly. I can show you some which say exactly the opposite
> Novell hired dozens of .NET programmers about 6 months ago (the ones
> I know about)
And? What exactly is wrong about that?
After all, they are doing this "interoperationability" thingy with MS.
And you know what: Even /if/ MS would not really want to, it *does* work to
some extend
And it would be even beneficial to linux. After all, customers like big
corporations don't care a tiny little bit for some "political" "freedom"
view of software. They want to see that it works, as seamlessly as
possible, across their range of platforms
Any GPL3 "pie in the sky" is only serving as a big roadblock
And Novell is the one linux company affected the least by GPL3, since any
licence change to hinder them retroactivly would be thrown out in any
court, should any FSF nimwit decide to sue them because of it
So they are the natural partner of MS to do exactly what they are doing. And
they certainly don't need your (or Mark Kents) approval to do so
> and Gartner (IIRC) said that many SUSE developers left
> after the deal (maybe quietly).
>
Big deal. Some developers are bound to leave at any given time
--
The early bird gets the worm.
The early worm ... gets eaten.