Microsoft and the Computer Industry

"This article is a guide to trends already in full motion and well known by technology specialists, but far from obvious to most business managers... It will cast some light on what you should be looking at."

See many of the annoyances that Windows users experience. "Annoyances.org is the most complete collection of information assembled for and by actual users of Microsoft Windows. Stomp out annoyances with the topics on this site. Use the discussion forums to talk annoyances and solutions with other annoyed users. The solutions at Annoyances.org cover a wide variety of Windows versions."

In this infamous letter, dated February 3, 1976, Bill Gates deems hobbyists who share software to be thieves. He doesn't believe that a hobbyist who programs for free can make quality software. Of course this was before much software was commercially sold independant of hardware, so almost all software was traded freely. Today there are millions of hobbyists who write quality software for no fee, but more than 25 years later this is still not appreciated by Bill Gates.

Analysis and related sources of Microsoft®'s financial pyramid, fraud enabled through loop-holes in account reporting

This contains one person's strong opinions of the current state of bloatware along with detailed results of his dissection of Microsoft®'s RegClean application as an example. He concludes the 800+KB application could be reduced to 45KB with bloat removed.

Brendan Scott is a lawyer in Sydney, Australia, practicing in the areas of information technology, telecommunications and electronic commerce. He holds degrees in law and mathematics. He has written some eloquent papers about software as property and open source.

A non-profit industry organization promoting competitive and fair open markets, open systems, and open networks, and generally considered an opponent of Microsoft

eWeek Microsoft News

Excerpt: Microsoft Corporation grew large and successful without patents, relying instead on copyright. Initially, Bill Gates was very critical of software patentability. However, as Microsoft began to play the game successfully, it became one of the staunchest supporters of software patentability. It has also been involved in promoting software patentability in Europe. Simultaneously Microsoft's has invested ample ressources into a campaign to dissuade governments and corporations from using free operating system. Patents have become an important part of this campaign.

From Microsoft Word to Microsoft World: A NetAction Whitepaper Reproduced, originally from Netaction.com

Internal corporate memos from or related to Microsoft

Blog of statistics gathered from various sources

A very opinionated essay, although containing much fact

News (mostly from other sources) of bad practices by Microsoft® and problems with their software

"Microsoft is engaging in a calculated and comprehensive effort to rewrite history. In doing so, they position themselves as an innovative company and Mr. Gates as a visionary and philanthropist. Please research those claims for yourself on the Net, use the sources listed in this document to determine for yourself, the veracity of their claims."

Paper explaining Microsoft's "trustworthy computing" initiative

Microsoft Corporate website

Newsletter by Mary Jo Foley with valuable and unique information about Microsoft

Collection of the Microsoft® memos with annotations by Eric S. Raymond

Research project conducted by Microsoft to determine the value and feasibility of charging money for sending e-mail, primarily to deter spammers

"The Public Patent Foundation protects civil liberties and free markets from wrongly issued patents and unsound patent policy by providing those persons and businesses otherwise economically, politically, and socially deprived of access to the system governing patents with representation, advocacy and education."

Bruce Perens - Seeking to provide a fair market in which Proprietary and Open Source software can compete solely on their merits

Slashdot's Microsoft category

"The principal trade association for the software and digital content industry. SIIA provides global services in government relations, business development, corporate education and intellectual property protection." The SIIA is generally an opponent to Microsoft's business practices.

Commentary by Bruce Perens: "Microsoft's ... 'Software Choice' campaign is all for your right to choose... as long as you choose Microsoft."

The Initiative For Software Choice - A Microsoft sponsored campaign "promoting neutral government procurement, standards and public R&D policies for software." However, the priciples they promote clearly promote corporate gain at the expense of open source software. Also see this commentary by Bruce Perens.

"Some general information about each of the operating systems is provided, along with any interesting information about their development or how and why they came to be."

Acquisitions up to 1999

Todd Bishop covers Microsoft as a Seattle P-I reporter.

The Seattle Times - Microsoft Section

Discussion thread with 1591 posts, mostly from June, 2004, where many people explain why they personally don't use Microsoft® Windows™

Why are so many think tanks attacking Open Source? "Well, the Small Business Survival Committee is concerned that using open source will expose small business to the risk of lawsuits. Citizens Against Government Waste is concerned that the government might waste money on Open Source. Defenders of Property Rights is concerned that Open Source might be a threat to intellectual property rights. However, [there's] a common theme to all their criticism. They all seem to be funded by Microsoft."

"In the software market, as in the telecommunications market, a single, powerful and well-leveraged vendor can cause the reduction of real competition and the corralling of almost all consumers into a single monopolistic platform situation. This causes significant reduction in choice, price competitiveness and innovation. Cybersource calls upon the ACCC to rectify this situation for the benefit of the local Information Technology industry and of all Australian IT consumers."

"A personal, lengthy, but highly articulate outburst." This is a very long, well researched essay explaining one person's perspective on Microsoft's corporate conduct. With many facts the unethical and harmful actions of Microsoft are explained.

Mac OS X Tiger (10.4) vs. Windows XP (SP2) - If you were to compare Apple's Mac OS X against Microsoft's Windows XP, which operating system would offer users a richer out-of-the-box experience? ... At XvsXP, we attempt to answer that exact question through truth and objectivity — things that are all too often lacking in discussions of this nature. We compare Mac OS X and Windows XP on over 100 different topics, including searching, burning CDs and DVDs, playing digital media, installing applications, and more. All of these comparisons are divided into six main categories that you can easily access from the drop-down menu in the upper right-hand corner.