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A Microsoft FUD Archive

Purpose Statement: This page collects links to published articles that document, explain, or recall instances of Microsoft Corporation undertaking actions to deceive, lie, spin, fud, misinform, and cheat the public, other companies, or even governments.

Status: This page is slowly being updated to link accurate and appropriate articles. This collection is not by any means comprehensive, but the somewhat sporadic linking -- since June 1999 -- will give an impression of the length and depth of Microsoft's domination strategies.

Submissions: If you would like to submit a link to this listing, email it to me: karljamesc@fastmail.fm

Side Info: There are plenty of sites happy to bash/parody/maim/sabotage MS (with varying levels of success, sophistication and humor), but this is not intended to be one of them. The links here focus mostly on these topics:

What is FUD? an acronym for "Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt", a more authorative source than myself describes it here - note: "... the term FUD ... has become generalized to refer to any kind of disinformation used as a competitive weapon." (The Jargon File)

Last update: 2004 03 30
Logo by Mike Nithaworn.


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MS listens to PC OEMs - two years later
Microsoft travel subsidies for UN group under fire - something to think about
MS takes $1.1bn 'hostage' to freeze Lindows out of California case - on spite and throwing tantrums
Experts: Reliance On Microsoft A Danger To National Security - software isn't perfect, but it shouldn't be this bad.
Stupid Microsoft Tricks - "Why the Richest Company on Earth Feels it Needs to Cheat"
Flaw exposes Microsoft ID service - more on the vulnerability that exposed 200 million passport accounts.
Passport flaw leads to password gambit - an incredibly "innovative" industry leader wants you to trust them with your personal info.
Why doesn't MSN work with Opera? - induced incompatibility in order to get users to use Microsoft's software.
A matter of trust
Microsoft's masterplan to screw phone partner - full details -
WMP users 'wish' for better DRM, wider takeup of WMA -
Commission to 'look into' antitrust work of MS' Eurocrat hire - conflicts of interest. How could Microsoft get government scrutiny off it's back? Hire them to work for you.
MS paper touts Unix in Hotmail's Win2k switch - internal Microsoft whitepaper shows that even Microsoft knows FreeBSD is better for the job.
At a stroke, MS cuts critical vuln reports - Microsoft has just changed their definition of what a critical vulnerability is, immediately making their software have less critical vulnerabilities.
Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going
Oops! Court posted MS verdict almost two hours early - strange... suggests some things that appear trivially harmless, or could be interpreted as massive collusion between the judicial branch of government and Microsoft.
Ad Campaign Leaves Pie on Microsoft's Face - "...it's part of a longer string of fraudulent Microsoft marketing efforts." (note: New York Times requires registration)
MS eases up on 'gimme all Your Stuff' community license - but they always have a clause that allows them to change the terms and conditions as they please.
MS kills another clip-art fan rave - caught again with public lying.
MS pulls fake Mac-to-Windows testimonial - fake testimonial, where have we seen that before?
Win-XP Help Center request wipes your HD - and the spiffy new terms in the EULA smuggle in restrictions on use of digital media too.
Lead Windows developer bugged by security - "...continual security holes ... major damage to computer systems around the world"
Ballmer 'fesses up to Linux/Windows cost FUD - a temporary re-positioning of marketing pressure in the face of undeniable evidence.
Redmond retirement ratchet spells doom for Win2k - on manipulation and price gouging in the guise of convenience.
Anti-open source 'whitepaper' devastated - countering some fud, point by point.
MS-funded think tank propagates open-source lies - ... and yet another look at this "study" funded by Microsoft.
Allchin: Disclosure May Endanger U.S. - hilarious. "... acknowledged that some Microsoft code was so flawed it could not be safely disclosed."
MS IE patch misses the mark - the patch doesn't work? how many of us are surprised?
'Soft Talk: New Hotmail settings might share your info, addresses - they aren't the first, but they are the biggest to give their users spam.
States: Microsoft Urged Linux Retaliation - subversive underground backlash against other corporations for expressing interest in linux.
Impressions from ACPE 2002 - a follow-up to Microsoft trying to squeeze money out of school districts.
Compulsory Windows: for Macs, and people without PCs? - Microsoft wants school districts to believe the convenience of paying a lump annual sum is worth the extra over-counting.
Respuesta a Microsoft en idioma Ingles - A Peruvian Congressman responds to Microsoft's FUD attack against freedom, thoroughly dismantling the lies and clearing out the smoke. Additional coverage of this letter at The Register.
Stallman takes Gates to task over GPL - dispelling some fud.
Was Bill Gates Lying? - lying? selectively interpretive? deliberately narrow vision?
Gates testimony a PR jewel - a condensed version of Gates' testimony, with annotations.
Gates pitches Armageddon scenario to court - weird... reminiscent of Bill Clinton's redefinition of sex, this Bill re-interprets disclosure provisions.
Gates: GPL will eat your economy, but BSD's cool - Bill Gates and Co. continue their misinformation campaign against freedom, this time by implying that free software will cripple the IT industry of developing countries.
Microsoft puts the squeeze on NW schools - "It's clear they're not spending much time talking to the schools they're purporting to be supportive of."
Win-XP Search Assistant silently downloads files - Doing things for the consumer... like surreptitiously collecting data.
Eight new IIS security holes exposed - A big roundup of accumulating security holes, but the good stuff is the commentary on MS's control over information dissemination which highlights the helplessness of customers.
MS security patch fails to work - MS releases patch, sample exploit works despite it, patch therefore proven insecure.
Warning: Any User Can "Root" Windows NT and 2000 - Some commentary on Microsoft's public stance of supporting security, but massively failing in their implementation.
Microsoft aims 'shared source' spoiler at Java - token, public efforts to look good, but really just a weak front.
MS scarier than the CIA, Gateway exec says
Gateway bows to Microsoft's power - arm-twisting from the customer's point of view. other stuff too.
MS planned to keep secure music APIs secret - Allchin
Microsoft 'killed Dell Linux' - States - MS still strong-arm manipulating computer makers in 2001.
Deciphering the open-source war - Bruce Perens explains some of the recent fud from MS's Craig Mundie.
MS takes a bow in court
Removing IE would kill Win2k, WinXP, MS, says Redmond - because a superior, innovative company such as MS cannot possibly make an operating system without Internet Explorer.
IE, Outlook run malicious commands without scripting - and if you try to increase security levels, MS Windows will hound you that you aren't enjoying their eXPerience.
Danish local govt. rebels against MS license terms - civil servants somewhere are waking up to the fact that MS does not deliver value for the money.
Comments on the United States v. Microsoft Settlement Provided to the Court on February 14, 2002 - These comments represent the comments characterized as "major" in the Joint Status Report submitted to the Court on February 8, 2002. A highly pertinent group of individuals and corporations submit their comments.
Sony: MS already using Seattlement terms to screw us
Automatic Updates Give XP Users New Headaches - users report auto-patching a patch causes more problems... but MS reports there are none. We're supposed to believe the corporation that wants to sell you the products, right?
Senators' stock options move could cost MS billions - post-Enron, new focus on shifty accounting practices suggest MS would have billions in yearly losses, not profits.
MSN Messenger worm entices the unwary - another angle on the msn messenger/ie bug... and MS's failure to acknowledge that a bug exists until it was exploited.
Keygen routine producing valid WinXP product keys? - of revenue and how to get it, and whether MS is losing it.
DoJ skewers MS exec over falsified video - an older report on how MS, in court, was caught tampering with evidence.
Microsoft's lobbying efforts eclipse Enron - political strategy to divert anti-trust attention seems to be working.
IE bug allows full MSN Messenger hijack - after a third of a month of 'Trustworthy Computing,' the might of Microsoft still misses glaring flaws like this one...
MS .NET vulnerable to attack - MS seems to hope it will go unnoticed... and doesn't even bother to acknowledge or thank the person who found the flaw.
Major privacy hole in Windows/MSN Messenger - compromised moral values leads to compromised personal information values.
The Non-Refundable Refund - an old article about consumer inability to get their refund, as provided for in Microsoft's end-user license agreement.
SGI transfers 3D graphics patents to MS - hints of a domination strategy for 3D graphics APIs... many other links therein, including the next one...
Microsoft and 3D Graphics: A Case Study in Suppressing Innovation and Competition - the title tells you what it's about.
Windows Media Player must be patched to fix IE - MS's "integrated features" == "integrated failures"...
Windows Update glitches wider, deeper? - MS still having problems configuring their own network... but they'll still sell you services for their .Net...
Security Flaws May Be Pitfall for Microsoft - some more mainstream attention to what most I.T. people have known and joked about for decades.
Vote early, vote often - zdnet.uk commentary on the vote rigging.
.Net vote rigging illustrates importance of Web services - some more conflict-of-interest voting.
Bag the Gag Rule - a bit on how MS's vulnerability disclosure plan is intended to limit unflattering scrutiny of their products, and not how it helps users of their software.
Microsoft apologizes in security flap - a rare confession of fault (or perhaps they are minimizing the amount of publicly documented lying?)... still, the foot-dragging remains the same.
Who needs hackers when we've got MS?
UK Gov agency threatens to dump 500,000 Windows desktops - "... cannot be justified on value..."
MS blames messenger for IE security hole
Microsoft Reveals Anti-Disclosure Plan - an 'information cartel'? trying to hide their vulnerabilities + controlling your personal info = trying to hide their vulnerabilities controlling your personal info.
Remember the Halloween memo? - 3 years after the halloween documents, a look back at MS' domination strategy.
Pirated Copies Of Windows XP Pose Security Risk - Microsoft - "product activation has not been compromised"... oh, except that it has. and "pirated copies are vulnerable to malicicous code and virii"... just like legit copies.
Security through obscurity never works - especially when it's not obscure.
Microsoft Passport to Trouble - from the guy who found the Passport flaw.
Microsoft Admits 'e-Wallet' Flaw - "very serious that so much personal information of so many American consumers is held by a single company with such a bad reputation for security."
Commentary: The Threat Of Microsoft's .Net
Virus writers are industrial terrorists - MS - trying to get sympathy for their weak security, or shifting blame for not doing rigorous testing of their products?
WinXP: log on as admin if you want to play games, MP3s? - security and useability... MS wants you to believe it can do both really really well, the first time.
The Freedom to Innovate Includes The Freedom to Obfuscate: Why Microsoft's New "Security Framework" is Just Another .NET Vulnerability
Huge Windows XP sales save the world - How lying in public can get you caught...
Caught in a .NET
MSN, Opera, & "Web Standards" - "comparing a product to the claims made for it"
MS Passport cracked with Hotmail - don't worry, MS will reassure us their technology is secure, which means it must be.
Oops! MS.de 'pirates' its own WinXPs - Bungled product activation for paying customers.
Microsoft sings praises of open standards - can you say hypocrisy?
The Browser Wars are back: Opera smacks MSN
Stealing MS Passport's Wallet - "It is very clear that either Microsoft does not have sufficient resources in place to properly review the security of their services and software, or that they are aware of the shortcomings but decided that attempting to gain market share was more important than their user's security,"
Berners-Lee slams 'blatant' MS browser tactics recycle cans - they control the desktop, they want to control the web.
MS to force IT-security censorship - the next step would be to label problems as features.
Examining the Windows AARD Detection Code - a technical look at the mechanisms of induced incompatibility with dos competitors.
Opera and Mozilla get MSN support - MS responds to criticism... but still does some propoganda.
He Who Controls the Bootloader - plausible anti-competition tactics.
Bowdlerized by Microsoft - amusing... just stupid political correctness?
UK plc hates MS licence terms (true) - "I don't think anyone is fooled by what Microsoft is saying..."
MS NT 4.0 MSCEs to keep their creds after all - force everyone to upgrade their certifications, then decide they can keep the old ones?
MS security glitch allowed access to customer records on web - security asleep at the wheel again...
MS spinmeisters invent huge demand for WinXP 'story' - describes some rather uncreative lying.
MS prices will 'damage UK business' - "Workgroup to Investigate Migration Strategies for alternatives to Microsoft"
Ditch Microsoft IIS now, says Gartner - code red and nimda are even making corporations take a second look.
MS FrontPage Restricts Free Speech II (It's True!)
Microsoft customers chafe at license changes
Why Microsoft's Open HailStorm promises flatter to deceive
Debunking Microsoft - .Net, your lack of control of it, and how MS will be your tollkeeper..
MS urged to delay licence (to print money) changes - Whose interests are being served?
Would You Trust This Man with Your Family Jewels? - problems in the past and present, extending into the future.
Brazil opposition slams "arrogant" Microsoft - less choice in other educational "markets"
Microsoft to schools: Give us your lunch money! - Who wants to flex their muscle today?
Microsoft lobbying campaign backfires; even dead people write in support of firm - deception to the deceivers... i guess it's hard to get away with lying to people who do it for a living.
Why Austin TX is considering a Microsoft enterprise license - Does it have anything to do with superior products or services?
MS firewall is holier than the Pope - are they trying to mock their own security? What incentive do they really have to get it right the first time?
Kodak tangles with Microsoft over Win XP - what could happen if MS wants to lock out competitors...
Why is Microsoft Attacking the GPL? - some historical comparisons and motivations of the FUD from MS
UK govt new encryption system only works with MS kit - who runs the government? the government or the software company?
Get Real: MS reprises browser tactics with AOL bundle - "It's smart business not to sign a deal that you are guaranteed to have litigation over"
MS masters NC mind-set - MS crushed the idea of network computing... but then what is this .NET business?
WinXP IE6 spells death for Doubleclick - and a boost for MSN? - How to Leverage Your Monopoly to Crush Rivals 101
MP3 gone from WinXP, and it's not coming back - control of distribution = control of market share
e-Envoy's office defends Windows-only portal - climb down begins?
MS-built UK 'Government Gateway' locks out non-MS browsers - why use fair competition to prove your monopoly is fair, when you can have a sovereign monopoly help extend it?
N.B. woman seeks compensation from Microsoft over failed piracy charges - because justice always prevails... MS's "national piracy cause" always needed victims.
Free Software Leaders Stand Together - a collective response to the MS fud machine
shared-source.com - why "shared source" is _not_ more advantageous than the GPL
Microsoft, VeriSign, and Certificate Revocation - a "working revocation infrastructure" means "non-working revocation infrastructure"...
Is Microsoft Engaged in an Information War Against Open Source or IBM? - some principles of fud explained
MS licensing switch to trigger mass upgrade to Win2k, WinXP?
Microsoft's Attack on Open Source: Linus Torvalds Replies
Eric S. Raymond: Beware the Microsoft shell game - forecast of fud calls for vigilance against "dangerous" GPL...
How MS might vape invalidated WinXP systems
Microsoft tells US Air Force to bug off
Microsoft issues bounty for OS-less PC buyers - incentives to reduce sales of computers without MS operating systems?
WinXP: product activation, updates and control freakery
MS Passport: "all your bits are belong to us" a slashdot discussion of MS' right to own all things you say through their services.
All your data (and biz plans) belong to Microsoft
MS leaked memo whips up anti-piracy 'national cause'
IE won the browser war because Navigator sucks
The Duality of Microsoft's Position on Linux
Richard Stallman on the Allchin Controversy
MSN plays the numbers game - again
MS claims copyright on Windows bugs
Lies, damned lies and M$ sex kitten press releases
semantic attacks... MS controls bad press
MS claims hacker was watched
Microsoft can't spin this worm
MS blocks staff dial-in access after 'minor' hack
M$ charges students who don't use its software
MS: it's (nearly) illegal to buy PCs without Windows
MS denies everything in Trial II bid
MS: how PCs shipped without Windows will destroy your life
Hack, hack, hack: Microsoft suffers third hack attack
Redmond strives to cram Great MS Hack back in box
MS tells EU it's always pushed standards, interoperability
MS doubles prices for enterprise customers
MS Hotmail servers begin switch from FreeBSD to Win2k
How Microsoft played the numbers game to boost MSN
Some commentary about Microsoft's PR tactics and duplicity.
Gates predicts Love Bug Apocalypse if MS broken up
Senior Navy officer has harsh words for Microsoft
Bugfest! Win2000 has 63,000 'defects'
Microsoft is Scared of the Penguinistas! - More FUD Tactics from the Evil Empire
An opinion of Microsoft vs. Unix security
Nader slams MS pricing, licences, demands Office ports
Microsoft to hackers: Crack this!
Wanted: MS spin-doctors to spin Linux to press, OEMs
ActiveSync 2.x Allows Unauthorized Access to Your NT Password - how secure is your password?
Junk mail from MS: whose spam is it anyway?
hacker's remorse (the hotmail security breach)
Judge's findings reject MS evidence, back DoJ
Win95 - is it just Dos 7 plus Windows 4 after all?
DR-Dos is terrific, says MS tester
Caldera judge finds MS 'grossly misrepresented' facts
Sun confirms MS Win2k pricing 'manipulation'
Y does not mean X: decoding the MS reply
MS-Gartner in tangle over Linux-knocking reports
analysis of "independent" benchmark tests
The Halloween documents re open source
software piracy numbers
Security Back Door in Windows for US Intelligence Agencies?
That Hotmail Scandal
MS Encarta 'facts' vary, depending on edition

other stuff: longer articles detailing specific issues, or other things that reveal the contempt and mentality of M$...
Crypto-Gram of Feb 15, 2002: a security researcher's view of Microsoft's "Trustworthy Computing", how it can be effective and some of what must be done before people should consider it effective.
Microsoft CEO takes launch break with the Sun-Times - Steve Ballmer (current MS CEO) comes clean with this load of fud.
Microsoft's Mundie slams Liberty at WCIT - "...there was this notion that the world should be offered an alternative."
Ballmer weeps for Windows - video clip
Forking hell - Ballmer tells how Sun could destroy Windows
The Sad Parable of OS/2 - a bit of history touching on IBM and Microsoft.
How Microsoft Conquered Washington - political lobbying of creatively effective proportions.

other links:
  • Unpatched IE security holes Internet Explorer 6 security holes. A listing of security vulnerabilities that are publicly known which Microsoft has yet to address.
  • KMFMS - A much better site than this one.
  • Boycott Microsoft - feature articles. Well linked journalism from a consumer standpoint. The Dirty Tricks section is worth perusing.
  • The Microsoft Boycott Campaign
  • Why I Hate MS - more info on various business practices and a nice section of links.
  • The Register - Tech journalism that doesn't suck. They keep a section for trial coverage here, though it looks pretty hairy.
  • Archives of Crypto-Gram. Bruce Schneier's monthly newsletter "providing summaries, analyses, insights, and commentaries on computer security and cryptography."
  • Topic discussion archives of Slashdot on Microsoft. Lots of possibly superflous stuff (relative to the purpose of this archive).
  • Archives of Netsurfer Digest.
  • A timeline: US vs Microsoft.

counter-fud:

Some web searching for fud topics...
What does "+microsoft +fud" get you at altavista?
And here's "Microsoft AND fud" at Google...

counter