This past year in my opinion has been a huge step forward towards the end of Microsoft. I just thought I'd briefly recap the events of this year to show once again what a dumb, corrupt, annoying, dangerous, illegal, stubborn piece of shit Micro$haft is:
Legal / Miscellaneous embarassments to Microsoft:
- Steve Ballmer sells 1.2 billion in M$ Stocks
- Bill Gates shows up at White House with no ID and needs to be searched
- Microsoft admits WMP spies and reports on your music and video usage
- MS department in London discovered to be using Linux for internet services
- One day after $90 million contract signed between MS & Homeland Security, biggest bug ever found
- Two weeks later another one affecting Windows 2003 - Which Homeland Security uses
- Microsoft says that 75% of WinXP installations crash unless installed by an "authorized installer"
- Microsoft hires group to study open source software
- Swedish Microsoft branch uses a Mac in its commercial
- Windows worm knocks out service 911 emergeny telephone service in Bellevue
- Worm disabled several Windows powered ATM machines
- Microsoft called "Threat to national security" in 2 reports
- Microsoft announced a Big-Brother system for MSN chat rooms
- Microsoft virus damages train signals in Florida
- Microsoft employee fired for posting photo on his site of a G5 being delivered to a MS print shop
- Employee of a MS-partnered tech firm fired for participating in report explaining why MS sucks
- Microsoft's Linux bashing backfires - people see that Linux must be better
- Microsoft Urges Users Not to Use Windows on the Internet
- Microsoft sued over code used in their web movie technology
- MSN software labels Lindows emails as spam
- Microsoft decides to use Linux to protect its servers
- IE security bugs allow hackers to steal source code for Half-Life 2 video game
- 3 issues of backwards incompatibility found in new Office 2003
- After years of denying being a competitor, MS makes a Linux survey to see what people like about it
- Microsoft forgot to renew hotmail.co.uk domain for England, despite several warnings ahead of time
- MS announces plans for creating BIOS code for PCs; Billy Gates claims he knows nothing about it
- Microsoft wins trademark lawsuit against Lindows in Europe
- One week later is sued by Mythic Entertainment on same exact charges
Microsoft fined:
- $1,000,000,000 total to several universities for stealing code
- $521,000,000 to Eolas Techonologies company for patent infringement
- $23,000,000 to Be, Inc
- $75,000,000 to AOL Time Warner
- $62,000,000 for stealing code used in Netmeeting
- $967,000 to Massachusetts in antitrust settlements
- unknown sum to InterTrust for DRM patent infringement
Governments who tell Microsoft to fuck away:
- Munich, Germany
- Berlin, Germany
- Vienna, Austria
- India
- China
- Japan
- South Korea
- Vietnam
- Brazil
- Thailand
- Austin, Texas, USA
- The US Army
- England
- Israel
Business losses for Microsoft:
- Guitar company owner throws out M$ and says he couldn't be happier
- Lycoris creates Linux OS for Tablet PC (previously only supported Windows)
- HP announces they will sell pre-installed Linux computers
- British Health Services dumps Microsoft
- European SAP cuts on deals with Microsoft
- Ford moves to Linux
- Verisign moves to Linux
Anti-trust matters:
- European Union begins major investigation of Microsoft Windows Media Player monopoly
- RealNetworks joins lawsuits against Windows Media Player monopoly.
Security Issues
- 2 security breaches discovered in M$ Passport
- EU Sues M$ once again
- Gartner Group advices businesses not to use Passport
- Time it takes to crack Windows passwords reduced to 13.6 seconds from 1 min 40 sec
- 19 Internet Explorer security bugs discovered (most remain unpatched)
- 1 patch released to fix IE bug creates a new hole in the browser!
- 2 patches released to fix IE bugs don't fix problem, just create more bloat
- 13 security bugs discovered in misc Windows services (RPC, Workstation, etc)
- 2 security bugs in DirectX discovered
- 1 security bug in Windows Update discovered
- 1 Major Vulnerability Found In Windows Messenger
- Major flaw found in MS Exchange, allowing users to access other users' accounts
- 2 security flaws found in Microsoft Frontpage Server Extensions Web Publishing tool
- Security bug found in Microsoft's digital certificates system
- 3 security issues found in the new MS Office
Viruses/Worms
- MSBlaster.a
- MSBlaster.b
- MSBlaster.c
- Welchia
- Sobig.a
- Sobig.b
- Sobig.c
- Sobig.d
- Sobig.e
- Sobig.f
- Code-Red
- Quaters
- QHosts
- Sober.a
- Sober.b
- Sober.c
- Slammer (the one that knocked out 911 service)
- Yaha-Y
- Jitux
- Nachi (the one that infected ATM machines)
- Too many more to count, but the above were the biggest
And the award for funniest/saddest Microsoft event of the year goes to:
3rd Place: Microsoft announces plans for Antivirus software
2nd Place: Microsoft has nerve to accuse Sun of "unfair competition"
First Place:
The decade old "If Microsoft Made Cars..." joke becomes true.
Microsoft announces plans to "have the Windows OS in every car on Earth"
Reports arise of problems with the BMW 7 Series car which runs the Windows for Cars OS:
- CD player got fucked up
- Engine died
- Car died on side of the road
Great job, Bill!
[ December 31, 2003: Message edited by: xeen ]
