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Ms posts quarterly results, cash keeps flooding in: On July 19th our favorite company posted its quarterly earnings for the 4th section of fiscal 2002. According to posted results, annual and quarterly profits are still rising even as the rest of the tech economy goes to hell around us. Even more remarkable, the company's profits were not dragged down significantly by the expense of selling 3.9 million loss-leader X-Boxes during the last 8 months. Analysts say MSFT's continued increases in the face of recent economic events are because of the company's new aggressive/illegal licensing plans, but it could also (we think anyway) be connected to the same kinds of accounting tricks that recently destroyed Enron, WorldCom, and so many other large companies. Remember, Microsoft is infamous for its tricky "cookie-jar" bookkeeping methods - a practice it recently had to abandon in exchange for the US government dropping a fraud investigation. Microsoft Reports Higher Earnings For Fiscal Year(July 19) Microsoft sees uptick in Q4 revenue(July 18) Microsoft takes heavy losses on the Xbox(June 24) Microsoft settles accounting probe(June 03) SEC Announces Microsoft Settlement(June 02) OpenGL threatened by Ms intellectual property claims: The OpenGL standard, a 3D modeling/rendering graphics interface used to make complex games cross-platform, may soon be destroyed because of Microsoft. The Behemoth claims to own some of the technology used in OpenGL and is trying to force other companies to pay licensing fees for using it. The technology in question probably does indeed belong to Ms, but only because it bought a massive stack of intellectual property from SGi in a desperate fire sale last fall. Microsoft of course prefers its own competing interface, DirectX, a proprietary game API that only works on Windows and the X-Box. Destroying OpenGL would do much to advance Windows' stranglehold on computer gaming. 3D graphics world shaken by patent claims(July 11) Microsoft stakes IP claims on OpenGL(July 10) Microsoft sends "Bill Gates" newsletter to customers: Taking spam to a whole new level, Microsoft last week sent an e-mail dealing with security issues to the millions of people signed up for any of the company's dozens of newsletters. The new mailing, which will in the future only be sent to those who sign up for it, will be published occasionally any time Bill Gates or Steve Ballmer tell their respective PR ghostwriters to address a "pressing issue." Gates was the credited author of the first one, which reads very much like a stiffly-worded company press release with a signature. (We still recommend The Boycott Bulletin, in case you were wondering.) Gates updates customers on Trustworthy Computing(July 19) Bill Gates spams the world on Trustworthy Computing(July 19) The world according to Gates(July 18) Microsoft testing MSN 8, browser no longer free: Last week Microsoft began testing MSN 8, the next release of its candy-colored interface for Internet Explorer. The product, which will no longer be available free to users of other ISPs, will include exclusive MSN content and an updated version of MSN Messenger. Microsoft's ISP partners that brand their service as MSN (Qwest, Verizon, et al) will provide the MSN browser to their customers as a replacement for Explorer. MSN 8, Messenger 5 Enter Beta(July 17) MSN previews next Net service(July 16) MS to charge for MSN 8 browser - msn.co.uk for chop?(July 17) Windows 2000 to be phased out: Apparently the greatest thing since sliced bread went stale quickly and must now be euthanized to make room for the success of its offspring. And, coincidentally, killing Win2K forces more corporate customers to adapt the oppressive new XP licensing schemes. Redmond retirement ratchet spells doom for Win2k(July 08) Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 "delayed": Windows 2000 SP3 has been "delayed indefinitely" because of problems with a single software package. Says Microsoft anyway. But this could be a quicker way to force XP upgrades on customers: end further patches and updates for 2K and users will get the message quickly enough. Microsoft did that to NT users after 2K shipped [see May 07, 2001], so why not the same with 2000? Microsoft Delays Windows 2000 SP3(July 08) Last minute glitch knocks Win2k SP3 back to summer(July 10) More details about Microsoft's Palladium DRM scheme: Can we trust Microsoft's Palladium?(July 11) MS says Palladium open, clean, not DRM(July 17) Windows security gain or privacy pain?(June 24) MS to micro-manage your computer(June 24) Microsoft to have presence at Linux convention: The House that DOS Built will have a 10'x10' booth at next month's LinuxWorld Expo. Microsoft says the appearance is just an attempt to attract polarized Linux users and go where the customers are, but, considering Microsoft's comments about Linux at the last event, we tend to see it more like setting up a hamburger joint inside a Hindu Temple. Guess Who's Coming to Exhibit?(July 03) LinuxWorld gets a new exhibitor: Microsoft(July 09) Ballmer admits Linux changed plans, is cheaper than Windows: Ballmer: Linux Changed Our Game(July 15) Ballmer 'fesses up to Linux/Windows cost FUD(July 16) Bill "Duke" Neukom joins mass exodus of Ms executives: Microsoft's chief attorney, who announced his retirement late last year, has finally departed the company after 22 years of disservice. Neukom is responsible for the flawed antitrust trial defense that would have resulted in corporate destruction if the government hadn't caved and agreed to a gutless settlement. He is the 7th or 8th high-profile Microsoft employee to jump overboard in the last three years. Microsoft's attorney to rejoin law firm(July 17) Head of Microsoft legal counsel to retire(Nov. 21) With Antitrust Suit Fading, Ms Lawyer Plans to Leave(Nov. 26) China to clone Windows, fight "monopoly of office software": China to build own version of Windows 98(July 19) Chinese Office Software Challenges Win98(July 19) OTHER UNRELATED STORIES: Microsoft declines to use own security product(July 12) How to Run a Microsoft-Free Shop(Jan 01) Why Microsoft C# is 'paralysed or dead'(July 09) Microsoft To Pack Java in Windows XP Update(June 18) more threads...