Microsoft has complained that Obama's attack on tax havens will challenge its competitiveness in global markets.
It is a monopolist. How could it lose competitiveness as a result of tax change?
As this analysis shows - the reality is that it is simply very good at tax avoidance: as a result it shifts the tax burden from those most able to pay in society (like Bill Gates) to these least able to pay.
Please don't tell us you're a responsible corporation Microsoft: by protesting you proved you are not.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
There are links to this blog's glossary in the above post that explain technical terms used in it. Follow them for more explanations.
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
Buy me a coffee!
Ha ha! It’s great isn’t it, the firm that makes a fortune mostly by good market of mostly rubbish products using the protection of the law of the land to milk its intellectual property rights, to the inconvenience of is customers who have to get their software activated each time they install it and then have to key in lists of 25-digit security codes. Microsoft have just been done for copyright infringement.
It all goes to prove how gullible the public is when better free open-source software has been available free of charge on the internet for the past ten years from places like http://www.ubuntu.com – it will do most of the things that most people use computers for.
Henry
You will find that Richard does not believe in Ubuntu. See:
http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2008/05/04/microsoft-tax-avoider/#comments
and
http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2008/11/25/the-future-of-jersey/#comments
Apparently, linux is for geeks and, I quote :
“But for the record I’ve tried Linux, and sorry, I haven’t got time for the C> prompt and all that goes with it.
It’s just not good enough for non-geeks yet.
That’s reality
Richard”
Reality is that Microsoft has done an excellent job in brand-creation around a lousy product.
c> isn’t Linux. It was indeed just for geeks until the early 2000s but hasn’t been for the past few years. It took me longer to set up a Windows computer with all the software installed than it does to do a Linux installation. My neighbours always seem to be having trouble with their Windows. Often I put Linux on. They don’t have any more problems and manage very well even though they are technologically illiterate.
Computers come ready-installed with Microsoft as a result of abuse of monopoly power, with predatory pricing and arm-twisting of manufacturers. It is the worst sort of inertia selling, leaving consumers without choice.
To exercise your right to choose, you get your Ubuntu live CD and start the computer. Follow a few simple instructions on screen eg select your language, a few minutes later it is up and runnng with all the applications running off the CD. At that point it has not touched your computer. If you like it and all is working eg your wireless card, you click on the install icon, follow a few more instructions and go away while it does its job. If you don’t like it you select “shut down” and the computer will shut down and eject the disc.
Obviously this will be beyond anyone who is so completely dopey around technology that they should stick to pencils and paper, but anyone who can complete their Inland Revenue Self-Assessment Return will find it a doddle. It is certainly not just for geeks and anyone who is concerned about the abuse of monopoly power should make the minimum of effort needed to help weaken this power.
Henry
I could not agree more with you, I run linux on my two home pcs. I will actually go further than you: only an idiot today runs windows on his home system
http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2009/05/thin-line-between-victim-and-idiot.html
Maybe if we sent Richard a CD of Ubuntu 9.04 with a little manual such as http://download.maketecheasier.com/MTE_ubuntu904_ins.pdf ?
By all means send me one
I have an old laptop I’m happy to wipe and try this on – it is riddled with Micosoft issues
But, it has to work my Vodafone 3G broadband modem. Will it?
Richard
The Gates Foundation has been taking some flak recently:
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2009/05/04/daily57.html
Seems to me that a multi-billionaire claiming to be a philanthropist, just because he/she is leaving their wealth to charity, is a bit of a joke. It’s not as if they can take it with them when they die. What other option do they have anyhow, and was all that money rightfully theirs in the first place?
What about the landscape of destruction that Microsoft has caused to small software companies by illegal business practices. All those people who have been cheated out of a living.
Richard
Great to hear this! 😀
It looks as if it does work, see http://www.linux.co.uk/docs/center/how-to/how-to-get-online-with-3g-broadband
I will see what I can do for the Ubuntu CD…
Microsoft has just been sued by the software company that invented the system of protection that M$ uses to protect illegal use of its software. The biter bit.
As regards the 3G issue, this is part of a more general problem that a surprising number of companies fail to provide Linux support for their products, including most manufacturers of scanners and some providers of internet access. This helps to entrench the near-monopoly held by M$. It needs to be addressed via the anti-monopoly legislation if possible.
Richard
The CD is in the post. I have had minor issues with my CD burner, and the wallpaper on the live CD is slightly flawed, but nothing that a right-click and “Change Desktop Background” can’t solve. Just put the DVD in you machine, boot it from the DVD drive, select “Try Ubuntu without modifying my machine” and wait for the desktop to come up. From there, change the wallpaper and explore the system. It should have automatically configured your sound card, graphics card, wifi card, etc… When you are happy, you can install Ubuntu on the HDD. I have included an installation manual for you info. Make sure you back up any data, as the HDD will be formatted.
Hope you are OK now with your Ubuntu up and running!