Jump to content

Criticism of Microsoft

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Microsoft Tax)

Criticism of Microsoft has followed various aspects of its products and business practices. Issues with ease of use, robustness, and security of the company's software are common targets for critics. In the 2000s, a number of malware mishaps targeted security flaws in Windows and other products. Microsoft was also accused of locking vendors and consumers in to their products, and of not following or complying with existing standards in its software.[1][2] Total cost of ownership comparisons between Linux and Microsoft Windows are a continuous point of debate.[3]

The company has been the subject of numerous lawsuits, brought by several governments and by other companies, for unlawful monopolistic practices. In 2004, the European Union found Microsoft guilty in the Microsoft Corp. v. Commission case, and it received an 899 million euro fine.[4]

Ties to US Government departments

[edit]

On September 14, 2019, Microsoft's flagship store was shut down by protestors as part of a direct action organized by Close the Camps NYC. The action was in response to Microsoft's $19.4 million contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).[5][6][7][8] Microsoft's relationship with the immigration enforcement agency was revealed by executive Tom Keane, through a company blog post that describes ICE's use of the company's high-security cloud storage product Azure Government.[9] He went on to say the company is "proud to support" the work of ICE.[9] Microsoft has stated it "is not working with the U.S. government on any projects related to separating children from their families at the border."[8]

In February 2019, some of Microsoft’s employees protested the company's war profiteering from a $480 million contract to develop augmented reality headsets for the United States Army.[10]

Vendor lock-in

[edit]

From its inception, Microsoft defined itself as a platform company and understood the importance of attracting third-party programmers. It did so by providing development tools, training, access to proprietary APIs in early versions, and partner programs. Although the resulting ubiquity of Microsoft software allows a user to benefit from network effects, critics and even Microsoft itself decry what they consider to be an "embrace, extend and extinguish" strategy of adding proprietary features to open standards or their software implementations, thereby using its market dominance to gain unofficial ownership of standards "extended" in this way.[11][12][13][14]

Microsoft software is also presented as a "safe" choice for IT managers purchasing software systems. In an internal memo for senior management Microsoft's head of C++ development, Aaron Contorer, stated:[15]

The Windows API is so broad, so deep, and so functional that most independent software vendors would be crazy not to use it. And it is so deeply embedded in the source code of many Windows apps that there is a huge switching cost to using a different operating system instead... It is this switching cost that has given the customers the patience to stick with Windows through all our mistakes, our buggy drivers, our high TCO (total cost of ownership), our lack of a sexy vision at times, and many other difficulties [...] Customers constantly evaluate other desktop platforms, [but] it would be so much work to move over that they hope we just improve Windows rather than force them to move. In short, without this exclusive franchise called the Windows API, we would have been dead a long time ago.

More recently, Microsoft had their OOXML specification approved by the ISO standards body in a manner consistent with previous attempts to control standards.[16]

With the release of Windows 8, Microsoft began requiring OEM devices to ship with UEFI system firmware, configured by default to only allow the execution of operating system binaries digitally signed by Microsoft (UEFI secure boot). Concerns were raised that this requirement would hinder the use of alternate operating systems such as Linux. In a post discussing secure boot on the Building Windows 8 blog, Microsoft developer Tony Mangefeste indicated that vendors would provide means to customize secure boot, stating that "At the end of the day, the customer is in control of their PC. Microsoft's philosophy is to provide customers with the best experience first, and allow them to make decisions themselves."[17][18] As such, vendors were required to provide means for users to re-configure or disable secure boot (although devices running Windows RT, a variation of Windows 8 for ARM architecture, have locked firmware where this cannot be disabled).[19][20][21] No mandate is made regarding the installation of third-party certificates that would enable running alternative programs.[22][23][24]

[edit]

When Microsoft discovered that its first product, Altair BASIC, was subject to widespread unauthorized copying, Microsoft founder Bill Gates wrote an Open Letter to Hobbyists that openly accused many hobbyists of stealing software. Gates' letter provoked many responses, with some hobbyists objecting to the broad accusation, and others supporting the principle of compensation.[25] This disagreement over whether software should be proprietary continues into the present day under the banner of the free software movement, with Microsoft characterizing free software released under the terms of the GPL as being "potentially viral"[26] and the GNU General Public License itself as a "viral license" which "infects" proprietary software and forces its developer to have to release proprietary source to the public.[27]

The Halloween documents, internal Microsoft memos which were leaked to the open source community beginning in 1998, indicate that some Microsoft employees perceive "open source" software — in particular, Linux — as a growing long-term threat to Microsoft's position in the software industry. The Halloween documents acknowledged that parts of Linux are superior to the versions of Microsoft Windows available at the time, and outlined a strategy of "de-commoditize[ing] protocols & applications."[11][12][13][14][28] Microsoft stated in its 2006 Annual Report that it was a defendant in at least 35 patent infringement lawsuits.[29] The company's litigation expenses for April 2004 through March 2007 exceed $4.3 billion: over $4 billion in payouts, plus $300 million in legal fees.[30]

Another concern of critics is that Microsoft may be using the distribution of shared source software to harvest names of developers who have been exposed to Microsoft code, as some believe that these developers could someday be the target of lawsuits if they were ever to participate in the development of competing products. This issue is addressed in published papers from several organizations including the American Bar Association and the Open Source Initiative.[31][32]

Starting in the 1990s, Microsoft was accused of maintaining "hidden" or "secret" APIs: interfaces to its operating system software that it deliberately keeps undocumented to gain a competitive advantage in its application software products.[33] Microsoft employees have consistently denied this;[34][35] they claim that application developers inside and outside Microsoft routinely reverse-engineered DOS and 16-bit versions of Windows without any inside help, creating legacy support problems that far exceeded any alleged benefit to Microsoft.[36][37] In response to court orders, Microsoft has published interfaces between components of its operating system software, including components like Internet Explorer, Active Directory, and Windows Media that sell as part of Windows but compete with application software.

On October 10, 2018, Microsoft joined the Open Invention Network community despite holding more than 60,000 patents.[38]

Mono patent concerns

[edit]
Further information: Software patents and free software

On July 6, 2009, Microsoft announced that it was placing their ECMA 334 and ECMA 335 specifications under their Community Promise pledging that they would not assert their patents against anyone implementing, distributing, or using alternative implementations of .NET.[39] Mono's implementation of those components of the .NET stack not submitted to the ECMA for standardization has been the source of patent violation concerns for much of the life of the project.[40] In particular, discussion has taken place about whether Microsoft could destroy the Mono project through patent suits.[41]

The base technologies submitted to the ECMA, and therefore also the Unix/GNOME-specific parts, are claimed to be safe due to Microsoft's explicitly placing both ECMA 334 (C#) and ECMA 335 (CLI) standards under the Microsoft Community Promise. The concerns primarily relate to technologies developed by Microsoft on top of the .NET Framework, such as ASP.NET, ADO.NET and Windows Forms (see non-standardized namespaces), i.e. parts composing Mono's Windows compatibility stack. These technologies are today[when?] not fully implemented in Mono and not required for developing Mono-applications, they are simply there for developers and users who need full compatibility with the Windows system.

In June 2009 the Ubuntu Technical Board stated that it saw "no reason to exclude Mono or applications based upon it from the archive, or from the default installation set."[42]

The Free Software Foundation's Richard Stallman has stated on June 2, 2009, that "[...] we should discourage people from writing programs in C#. Therefore, we should not include C# implementations in the default installation of GNU/Linux distributions or in their principal ways of installing GNOME".[43] On July 1, 2009, Brett Smith (also from the FSF) stated that "Microsoft's patents are much more dangerous: it's the only major software company that has declared itself the enemy of GNU/Linux and stated its intention to attack our community with patents.", "C# represents a unique threat to us" and "The Community Promise does nothing to change any of this".[44]

Fedora Project Leader Paul Frields has stated, "We do have some serious concerns about Mono and we'll continue to look at it with our legal counsel to see what if any steps are needed on our part", yet "We haven't come to a legal conclusion that is pat enough for us to make the decision to take mono out".[45]

In November 2011 at an Ubuntu Developer Summit, developers voted to have the Mono-based Banshee media player removed from Ubuntu's default installation beginning on Ubuntu 12.04; although reported reasonings included performance issues on ARM architecture, blocking issues on its GTK+ 3 version, and it being, in their opinion, "not well maintained", speculation also surfaced that the decision was also influenced by a desire to remove Mono from the base distribution, as the remaining programs dependent on Mono, gbrainy and Tomboy, were also to be removed. Mono developer Joseph Michael Shields defended the performance of Banshee on ARM, and also the claims that Banshee was not well-maintained as being a "directed personal insult" to one of its major contributors.[46]

Ignoring unauthorized copying

[edit]

Microsoft ignored unauthorized copying of its own software for their benefit on the long term. While talking about users in China who do not pay for the software they use in 2006, to an audience at the University of Washington, Bill Gates said "And as long as they're going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade."[47]

The practice allowed Microsoft to gain some dominance over the Chinese market and only then taking measures against unauthorized copies. In 2008, by means of the Windows update mechanism, a verification program called "Windows Genuine Advantage" (WGA) was downloaded and installed.[48] When WGA detects that the copy of Windows is not genuine, it periodically turns the user's screen black. This behavior angered users and generated complaints in China with a lawyer stating that "Microsoft uses its monopoly to bundle its updates with the validation programs and forces its users to verify the genuineness of their software".[49]

Licensing agreements

[edit]
Main article: Bundling of Microsoft Windows

A common complaint[50] comes from those who want to purchase a computer that usually comes preinstalled with Windows without a copy of Windows pre-installed and without paying extra for the license either so that another operating system can be used or because a license was already acquired elsewhere, such as through the MSDN Academic Alliance program.[51] Microsoft encourages original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to supply computers with Windows pre-installed[52] by presenting their dominance in computer sales[53] and arguing that consumers benefit by not having to install an operating system.[54] Because the price of the license varies depending on discounts given to the OEM and because there is no similar computer that the OEM offers without Windows, there is no immediate way to find the size of the refund. In 2009, Microsoft stated that it has always charged OEMs about $50 for a Windows license on a $1,000 computer.[55]

While it is possible to obtain a computer with no or free operating systems,[56] virtually all large computer vendors continue to bundle Microsoft Windows with the majority of the personal computers in their ranges. The claimed increase in the price of a computer resulting from the inclusion of a Windows license has been called the "Windows tax" or "Microsoft tax" by opposing computer users.[57][58] The Findings of Fact in the United States Microsoft antitrust case of 1998 established that "One of the ways Microsoft combats piracy is by advising OEMs that they will be charged a higher price for Windows unless they drastically limit the number of PCs that they sell without an operating system pre-installed. In 1998, all major OEMs agreed to this restriction."[59] Microsoft also once assessed license fees based on the number of computers an OEM sold, regardless of whether a Windows license was included; Microsoft was forced to end this practice due to a consent decree.[57] In 2010, Microsoft stated that its agreements with OEMs to distribute Windows are nonexclusive, and OEMs are free to distribute computers with a different operating system or without any operating system.[54]

Microsoft does not provide refunds for Windows licenses sold through an OEM, including licenses that come with the purchase of a computer or are pre-installed on a computer.[60]

According to Microsoft's End-user license agreement for Windows 7 the ability to receive a refund for the operating system is determined by the hardware manufacturer:[61]

By using the software, you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, do not use the software. Instead, contact the manufacturer or installer to determine its return policy. You must comply with that policy, which might limit your rights or require you to return the entire system on which the software is installed.

— Microsoft Software License Terms: Windows 7 Professional

Acer Inc. has a policy of requiring the customer to return items at their own expense, and the balance received by the customer can be as low as €30.[62] In other cases, vendors have asked that customers requesting refunds sign non-disclosure agreements.[63][64] Older versions of Microsoft Windows had different license terms with respect to the availability of a refund for Windows:[65]

By using the software, you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, do not use the software. Instead, contact the manufacturer or installer to determine their return policy for a refund or credit.

— Microsoft software license terms for Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium and Ultimate versions

Based on the updated language, vendors refused to issue partial refunds for Windows licenses, requiring that the computer be returned altogether. In some countries, this practice has been ruled a violation of consumer protection law.[66][67]

Additionally, the EULA for Windows Vista was criticized for being too restrictive.[68]

Litigation

[edit]
Main article: Microsoft litigation

Microsoft's market dominance and business practices have attracted widespread resentment, which is not necessarily restricted to the company's competitors. In a 2003 publication, Dan Geer argued the prevalence of Microsoft products has resulted in a monoculture which is dangerously easy for viruses to exploit.[69]

On June 25, 2024, the European Commission accused Microsoft of violating the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union by bundling Microsoft Teams with Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Office.[70]

Labor practices

[edit]
The entrance to Microsoft Redmond campus in Redmond, Washington

Microsoft has been criticized for the use of permatemp employees (employees employed for years as "temporary," and therefore without medical benefits), use of forced retention tactics, where departing employees would be sued to prevent departure, as well as more traditional cost-saving measures, ranging from cutting medical benefits to not providing towels in company locker rooms.[71]

Historically, Microsoft has also been accused of overworking employees, in many cases, leading to burnout within just a few years of joining the company. The company is often referred to as a "Velvet Sweatshop", a term which originated in a 1989 Seattle Times article,[72] and later became used to describe the company by some of Microsoft's own employees.[73] This characterization is derived from the perception that Microsoft provides nearly everything for its employees in a convenient place, but in turn overworks them to a point where it would be bad for their (possibly long-term) health. For example, the kitchenettes have free beverages and many buildings include exercise rooms and showers. However, the company has been accused of attempting to keep employees at the company for exceptionally long hours. This is detailed in several books about Microsoft, including Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire.[citation needed]

A US state lawsuit was brought against Microsoft in 1992 representing 8,558 current and former employees that had been classified as "temporary" and "freelance", and became known as Vizcaino v. Microsoft. In 1993, the suit became a US Federal Class Action in the United States District Court Western District Of Washington at Seattle as No. C93-178C. The Final Settlement[74] came in 2005. The case was decided on the (IRS-defined) basis that such "permatemps" had their jobs defined by Microsoft, worked alongside regular employees doing the same work, and worked for long terms. After a series of court setbacks including three reversals on appeal, Microsoft settled the suit for US$97 million.

A side effect of the "permatemp" lawsuit is that now contract employees are prevented from participating in team morale events and other activities that could be construed as making them "employees". They are also limited to 18-month contracts and must leave after that time for 6 months before returning under contract.

Microsoft is the largest American corporate user of H-1B guest worker visas and has joined other large technology companies like Google in recently lobbying for looser H-1B visa restrictions.[75][76][77]

Jesse Jackson believes Microsoft should hire more minorities and women. Jackson has urged other companies to diversify their workforce. He believes that Microsoft made some progress when it appointed two women to its board of directors in 2015.[78]

Advertising and public relations

[edit]

Critics have alleged that Microsoft has used funding to drum up support from think tanks and trade organizations such as the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI), the Independent Institute, and Americans for Technology Leadership (ATL). During the antitrust case United States v. Microsoft, ATL sent a poll to 19 state attorneys general purporting to show that "the public believes state AGs should devote their energy to causes other than Microsoft".[79] Also during the case the Independent Institute ran full-page advertisements in The New York Times and The Washington Post defending Microsoft, which was later revealed to have funded the ad campaign.[80] The institute published Winners, Losers, and Microsoft: Competition and Antitrust in High Technology shortly thereafter.[81]

In June 2002, the AdTI published a report, quickly pulled under the argument that it was a draft version, which contained criticism of the copyleft model and the GNU General Public License. A May 2002 press release for the report stated that it would contain arguments suggesting that governments could be threatened by hackers and terrorists (who could study potential vulnerabilities due to source availability) if it used open source software. However, the draft contained no references to these topics. Open Source Initiative (OSI) founder Bruce Perens felt that the report had "Microsoft's paws all over [it]".[82][83] Microsoft argued that its funding was for AdTI's operations as a whole, and not relevant to any specific research by the organization.[82]

"Champagne", a 2002 British television advert for the Xbox, received 136 complaints from viewers to the Independent Television Commission (ITC) over its content. The advert featured a newborn baby being launched out of its mother—aging as it flies through the air, and crashing into a gravestone. It contained the tagline "Life is short, play more." The advert was banned from television by the ITC, who considered it to be "offensive, shocking and in bad taste", noting complaints citing the advert's themes of death and the "traumatic experience" the person was facing in the ad.[84][85]

In August 2004, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ordered Microsoft to pull ads in Britain that claimed that the total cost of ownership of Linux servers was ten times that of Windows Server 2003. The comparison included the cost of hardware, and put Linux at a disadvantage by installing it on more expensive but poorer-performing hardware compared to that used for Windows.[86][87]

On January 22, 2007, Rick Jelliffe made a claim on his blog[88] that a Microsoft employee offered to pay him to make corrections in English Wikipedia articles concerning Office Open XML. Microsoft spokesperson Catherine Brooker expressed the belief that the article had been "heavily written" by IBM employees who supported the rival OpenDocument format, though she provided no specific evidence. Internet entrepreneur and Wikimedia Foundation founder Jimmy Wales described Microsoft's offer as unethical.[89]

In 2009, it was found that a photo on the Polish version of Microsoft's business productivity website—which depicted three people of various races during an office meeting—had been edited to replace the head of an African-American man with that of a Caucasian, whilst also failing to edit the person's hand to match the different skin color. Microsoft apologized and quickly removed the image.[90][91]

In 2011, Moneylife.in alleged that two "anonymous comments boosting their product"—one by a Nokia employee and another by a Microsoft employee—were posted on their review of Nokia Lumia 800, which was based only on the "technical specifications" and the reviewer "hadn't laid a finger on the phone".[92] In conclusion, Charles Arthur argued "Nobody has come out of the episode looking good. Sapkale was accused of breaking his own site's privacy policy by posting the IP and email addresses of the commenters, while the commenting duo's failure to declare any interest looked, at best, like astroturfing."[92]

In 2014 details on a partnership between Machinima.com and Microsoft came to light regarding a marketing campaign for Xbox One. Machinima would offer some of its users $3 per thousand views if the user showed 30 seconds of an Xbox One game and mentioned the system by name.[93] Controversy arose when it was reported that, under the terms of the promotion, participants were not allowed to disclose that they were being paid for said endorsements, which Ars Technica said conflicted with FTC regulations requiring recipients to fully disclose when such actions occur.[93] Machinima stated that the confidentiality clause only applied to the terms of the agreement, and not to the existence of the agreement, and Microsoft ended the promotion and directed Machinima to add disclosures to the videos involved.[93] In September 2015, Machinima settled with the FTC over charges that the ad campaign failed to comply with FTC endorsement guidelines; the FTC decided not to take action against Microsoft since it already has "policies and procedures designed to prevent such lapses".[94]

Since the 2010s, Microsoft has faced criticism for using adware-like tactics to market recent software and services.[95] Microsoft faced criticism over its marketing and distribution of no-cost Windows 10 upgrades for Windows 7 and 8 users, which included a "Get Windows 10" application automatically downloaded via Windows Update that displayed popups advertising the offer,[96][97][98] use of dark patterns to coax users into installing the operating system,[97][99][100][98] downloading installation files without user consent,[101][96] and making it difficult for users to suppress the advertising and notifications if they did not wish to upgrade to Windows 10.[101][96][102] Microsoft has used advertising embedded in the Microsoft Bing search engine and Microsoft Edge web browser to discourage the use of competing web browser Google Chrome (which shares the same engine as Bing), including displaying prominent ads on specific search terms, and programming Edge to inject on-screen notifications and banner advertising when browsing Chrome's web site.[103][104][105][106] In 2023 and 2024, Microsoft began using notifications to encourage Chrome users to switch to Microsoft Bing and Microsoft Copilot.[107][108]

Tax avoidance

[edit]

As reported by several news outlets,[109][110] an Irish subsidiary of Microsoft based in the Republic of Ireland declared £220 bn in profits but paid no corporation tax for the year 2020. This is due to the company being tax resident in Bermuda as mentioned in the accounts for 'Microsoft Round Island One', a subsidiary that collects licence fees from the use of Microsoft software worldwide. Dame Margaret Hodge, a Labour MP in the UK said, "It is unsurprising – yet still shocking – that massively wealthy global corporations openly, unashamedly and blatantly refuse to pay tax on the profits they make in the countries where they undertake business".[110]

In 2020, ProPublica reported that the company had diverted more than $39 billion in U.S. profits to Puerto Rico using a mechanism structured to make it seem as if the company was unprofitable on paper. As a result, the company paid a tax rate on those profits of "nearly 0%." When the Internal Revenue Service audited these transactions, ProPublica reported that Microsoft aggressively fought back, including successfully lobbying Congress to change the law to make it harder for the agency to conduct audits of large corporations.[111][112]

Blacklisting of journalists

[edit]

John C. Dvorak said that in the 1980s, Microsoft classified journalists as "Okay", "Sketchy", or "Needs work" and targeted "Needs work" journalists in an attempt to have them terminated. Dvorak said that he was denied information about Windows because he was on a blacklist.[113] Mary Jo Foley stated that she was denied interviews with Microsoft personnel for several years following the publication of a story based on a memo describing the number of bugs in Windows 2000 at release.[114]

Censorship in China

[edit]

Microsoft (along with Google, Yahoo, Cisco, AOL, Skype, and other companies) has cooperated with the Chinese government in implementing a system of Internet censorship.[115][116] Human rights advocates such as Human Rights Watch and media groups such as Reporters Without Borders criticized the companies, noting for example that it is "ironic that companies whose existence depends on freedom of information and expression have taken on the role of censor."[117] Since 2009, Microsoft has run a local version of Bing in China that censors thousands of websites and phrases such as "human rights" and "Communist Party corruption".[115]

Bing censorship of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre

[edit]
See also: Chinese censorship abroad

On June 4, 2021, the 32nd anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, searches for the Tank Man image and videos were censored by Microsoft Bing search engine worldwide. Hours after Microsoft acknowledged the issue, the search returned only pictures of tanks elsewhere in the world. Search engines that license results from Microsoft such as DuckDuckGo and Yahoo faced similar issues. Microsoft said the issue was "due to an accidental human error."[118][119][120]

The director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, said he found the idea it was an inadvertent error "hard to believe". David Greene, Civil Liberties Director at Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that content moderation was impossible to do perfectly and "egregious mistakes are made all the time", but he further elaborated that "At worst, this was purposeful suppression at the request of a powerful state."[121][122]

Privacy issues

[edit]

Collaboration with the NSA on internet surveillance

[edit]
See also: _NSAKEY

Microsoft was the first company to participate in the PRISM surveillance program, according to leaked NSA documents obtained by The Guardian[123] and The Washington Post[124] in June 2013, and acknowledged by government officials following the leak.[125] The program authorizes the government to secretly access data of non-US citizens hosted by American companies without a warrant. Microsoft has denied[126] participation in such a program.

In July 2013, The Guardian elaborated that leaked documents show that:

  • Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its encryption to intercept web chats on Outlook.com and gave it unencrypted access to Outlook.com and Hotmail email.
  • Microsoft provided the NSA with access to users' data on its cloud storage service OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive).
  • After Microsoft bought Skype, the NSA tripled the number of Skype video calls being collected through PRISM.[127]

In a statement, Microsoft said that they "provide customer data only in response to legal processes."[127]

Telemetry and data collection

[edit]

Windows 10 was criticized on-launch for having default settings that send various information regarding user behaviors to Microsoft and its "trusted partners", such as data regarding user contacts and calendar events, location data and history, "telemetry" (diagnostics data);[128] this could not be fully disabled on non-enterprise versions of Windows 10), an "advertising ID", as well as further data when the Cortana assistant is enabled in full.[129][130][131]

Microsoft faced criticism from France's data protection commission and the European Union for its practices in regards to Windows 10. On subsequent iterations of the OS, Microsoft has clarified its data collection policies, and made its out-of-box experience provide clearer information on Windows privacy settings, and the effects they have on the overall user experience.[132][133][134][135] Microsoft also simplified its "telemetry" options to only consist of "Basic" and "Full" modes, and reduced the amount of system information collected in "Basic" mode.[136]

In November 2018, the Dutch government issued a report stating that telemetry implementations in Office 365 violated the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).[137] In July 2019 the company tasked with investigating the privacy risks reported that Microsoft had adequately addressed these issues in Office 365 ProPlus, while the other concerns still remained.[138]

Robot journalism

[edit]

In May 2020, Microsoft announced that a number of its MSN contract journalists would be replaced by robot journalism leading to criticism about which stories would be displayed and their quality.[139][140][141]

Xbox live controversies

[edit]

Xbox Live prohibition on use of the word "gay"

[edit]

Microsoft has come under some criticism for its attitude to homosexuality and Xbox Live. Users may not use the string "gay" in a gamertag (even in a non-homosexual context, for example as part of a surname), or refer to homosexuality in their profile (including self-identifying as such), as the company considers this "content of a sexual nature" or "offensive" to other users and therefore unsuitable for the service.[142][143][144] After banning 'Teresa', a lesbian gamer who had been harassed by other users for being a homosexual, a senior Xbox Live team member, Stephen Toulouse, has clarified the policy, stating that "Expression of any sexual orientation [...] is not allowed in gamertags" but that they are "examining how we can provide it in a way that won't get misused".[145][146] GLAAD weighed in on the controversy as well, supporting the steps that Microsoft has taken over the years to engage the LGBT community.[147]

2021 Xbox Live subscription price increase

[edit]

On January 22, 2021, Microsoft announced that the pricing model for Xbox Live subscriptions would be increasing across each price tier, with a year of the service doubling from US$60 to US$120 for users.[148] The move was met with widespread criticism from users and news media, with speculation that the change was meant to make the Xbox Game Pass subscription more enticing.[149][150] In response to the backlash, on the same day that the price increase was announced, Microsoft reversed the decision to increase the price of Xbox Live.[151]

ANS patent controversy

[edit]

Asymmetric numeral systems is widely used family of method in data compression, whose author gave it to public domain - wanting to be unrestricted by the patent system, also successfully defending from patent by Google.[152] In June 2019 Microsoft lodged a patent application called 'Features of range asymmetric number system encoding and decoding'.[153] The USPTO issued a final rejection of the application on October 27, 2020. Yet on March 2, 2021, Microsoft gave a USPTO explanatory filing stating "The Applicant respectfully disagrees with the rejections,[154] seeking to overturn the final rejection under the "After Final Consideration Pilot 2.0" program.[155] The application is currently still pending,[153] as USPTO has not confirmed if it will allow the rejection appeal to proceed.

Xinjiang region

[edit]
Further information: Persecution of Uyghurs in China

In 2020, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute accused at least 82 major brands of being connected to forced Uyghur labor in Xinjiang. Microsoft is reported as being supplied by three Chinese factories employing Uyghur and Xinjiang workers.[156] In 2024, a Microsoft incubator was reported to have provided support to two Chinese companies that sell software used for censorship in China.[157]

See also

[edit]

Criticism of other software companies:


General mechanisms at work:

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Microsoft A History of Anticompetitive Behavior and Consumer Harm" (PDF). European Committee for Interoperable Systems. March 31, 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 18, 2009. Retrieved May 25, 2009.
  2. ^ Orlowski, Andrew (April 25, 2003). "Writing history with Microsoft's Office lock-in". The Register. Archived from the original on May 17, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  3. ^ Orzech, Dan (April 29, 2009). "Linux TCO: Less Than Half The Cost of Windows". CIO Updates. Archived from the original on February 8, 2015. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  4. ^ "EU fines Microsoft record 899 million euros". Reuters. Archived from the original on August 31, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  5. ^ Vera, Amir (September 14, 2019). "76 anti-ICE protesters arrested during New York sit-in". CNN. Archived from the original on September 20, 2019. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  6. ^ "'Abolish ICE' protesters face off with police in midtown [VIDEO]". MSN. Archived from the original on September 15, 2019. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  7. ^ NYC, Close the Camps (September 14, 2019). "RELEASE — PROTESTORS DEMAND MICROSOFT STOP PROFITEERING FROM CONCENTRATION CAMPS, IMMIGRANT RAIDS AND DEPORTATIONS". Medium. Archived from the original on September 18, 2019. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  8. ^ a b "76 anti-ICE protesters arrested at Microsoft Store in Manhattan". Windows Central. September 16, 2019. Archived from the original on September 18, 2019. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  9. ^ a b "Federal agencies continue to advance capabilities with Azure Government". Azure Government. January 24, 2018. Archived from the original on September 19, 2019. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  10. ^ Wong, Julia Carrie (February 22, 2019). "'We won't be war profiteers': Microsoft workers protest $480m army contract". The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 23, 2019. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  11. ^ a b Rodger, Will (November 8, 1998). "Intel exec: MS wanted to 'extend, embrace and extinguish' competition". ZDNet. Archived from the original on December 11, 2006. Retrieved February 5, 2007.
  12. ^ a b Alepin, Ronald (January 8, 2007). "Expert Testimony of Ronald Alepin in Comes v. Microsoft – Embrace, Extend, Extinguish". Groklaw. Archived from the original on May 17, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  13. ^ a b Erickson, Jonathan (August 1, 2000). "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish: Three Strikes And You're Out". Dr. Dobb's Portal. Archived from the original on December 12, 2013. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  14. ^ a b Livingston, Brian (May 15, 2000). "Is Microsoft's change in Kerberos security a form of 'embrace, extend, extinguish'?". InfoWorld. Archived from the original on January 28, 2007. Retrieved February 5, 2007.
  15. ^ "EU report takes Microsoft to task". Archived from the original on June 16, 2011. Retrieved June 6, 2006.
  16. ^ Jones, Pamela (February 17, 2008). "How to Get Your Platform Accepted as a Standard – Microsoft Style". Groklaw News. Archived from the original on May 13, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  17. ^ Mangefeste, Tony (September 22, 2011). "Protecting the pre-OS environment with UEFI". Building Windows 8. Archived from the original on August 2, 2012. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
  18. ^ Noyes, Katherine (January 18, 2012). "Windows 8 Secure Boot: The Controversy Continues". PC World. Archived from the original on October 5, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  19. ^ Warren, Tom (January 16, 2012). "Windows 8 ARM devices won't have the option to switch off Secure Boot". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 13, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  20. ^ Garling, Caleb (September 23, 2011). "Windows 8 Secure Boot Sparks Linux Furor, and a Microsoft Response". Wired. Archived from the original on July 25, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  21. ^ Brodkin, Jon (January 16, 2012). "Microsoft mandating Secure Boot on ARM, making Linux installs difficult". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on April 9, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  22. ^ Moody, Glyn (January 12, 2012). "Is Microsoft Blocking Linux Booting on ARM Hardware?". Computerworld. Archived from the original on April 5, 2016. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  23. ^ "Why Microsoft should lift the possible ban on Linux booting on Windows 8 ARM devices". Computerworld. January 13, 2012. Archived from the original on May 18, 2012. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
  24. ^ Niccolai, James (January 13, 2012). "Windows 8 on ARM: You can look but you can't touch". Computerworld. Archived from the original on January 31, 2012. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
  25. ^ Gates, Bill (April 1976). "A Second and Final Letter". Computer Notes. Archived from the original on March 23, 2012. Retrieved March 23, 2012.
  26. ^ "Open source terror stalks Microsoft's lawyers". The Register. Archived from the original on October 3, 2012. Retrieved August 10, 2017.
  27. ^ Albert, Phil (June 8, 2004). "The EULA, the GPL and the Wisdom of Fortune Cookies". LinuxInsider. Archived from the original on May 17, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  28. ^ Raymond, Eric S. "Halloween Document 8". catb.org. Archived from the original on October 6, 2017.
  29. ^ "MSFT Annual Report 2006". Microsoft. Archived from the original on February 14, 2009. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
  30. ^ "Windows vs. Linux: The Patent Tax". April 16, 2007. Archived from the original on July 15, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  31. ^ "Open Source Software – A Legal Framework" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 16, 2009. Retrieved June 23, 2009.
  32. ^ "Shared Source: A Dangerous Virus". Archived from the original on September 24, 2006.
  33. ^ Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union (January 25, 2005). "Competitive Processes, Anticompetitive Practices and Consumer Harm in the Software Industry" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 25, 2008. Retrieved April 13, 2008. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) (public comment on US v. Microsoft under the Tunney Act)
  34. ^ Henderson, Ken (2003). The Guru's Guide to SQL Server Architecture and Internals. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-201-70047-6. Archived from the original on May 5, 2010. Retrieved November 21, 2006. Contrary to what some people believed at the time, SQL Server 6.5 made no use of hidden APIs to reach the scalability levels it achieved.
  35. ^ Pratley, Chris (April 28, 2004). "Word Myths and Feedback". Chris Pratley's OneNote Blog. Archived from the original on December 17, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2006. I also detected another old saw about hidden advantages or undocumented APIs that somehow made Word better than competing apps. The reality on this is so counter to the conspiracy it is astounding. The Office team barely talks to the Windows team.
  36. ^ Chen, Raymond. "What about BOZOSLIVEHERE and TABTHETEXTOUTFORWIMPS?". The Old New Thing. Archived from the original on March 16, 2010. Retrieved September 18, 2007.
  37. ^ Spolsky, Joel (June 13, 2004). "How Microsoft Lost the API War". Archived from the original on April 26, 2009. Retrieved June 1, 2012.
  38. ^ Speed, Richard (October 10, 2018). "Microsoft has signed up to the Open Invention Network. We repeat. Microsoft has signed up to the OIN". The Register. Archived from the original on October 11, 2018. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  39. ^ "The ECMA C# and CLI Standards". Port 25. July 6, 2009. Archived from the original on May 23, 2013. Retrieved July 7, 2009. Under the Community Promise, Microsoft provides assurance that it will not assert its Necessary Claims against anyone who makes, uses, sells, offers for sale, imports, or distributes any Covered Implementation under any type of development or distribution model, including open-source licensing models such as the LGPL or GPL.
  40. ^ Babcock, Charles (August 7, 2001). "Will open source get snagged in .Net?". ZDNet Asia.
  41. ^ Smith, Brett (July 16, 2009). "Microsoft's Empty Promise". fsf.org.
  42. ^ "Mono Position Statement". Canonical Ltd. June 30, 2009. It is common practice in the software industry to register patents as protection against litigation, rather than as an intent to litigate. Thus mere existence of a patent, without a claim of infringement, is not sufficient reason to warrant exclusion from the Ubuntu Project.
  43. ^ "Why free software shouldn't depend on Mono or C#".
  44. ^ "Microsoft's Empty Promise".
  45. ^ "Fedora is concerned about Mono". internetnews.com. June 12, 2009. Archived from the original on June 19, 2009. Retrieved July 4, 2010. We haven't come to a legal conclusion that is pat enough for us to make the decision to take mono out
  46. ^ "'Bansheegeddon' may see Banshee, Mono dropped from Ubuntu default". ITWorld. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  47. ^ "How Piracy Opens Doors for Windows?". Los Angeles Times. April 9, 2006. Archived from the original on August 4, 2019.
  48. ^ "Chinese netizens slam Microsoft's anti-piracy policy". France 24. October 28, 2008. Archived from the original on July 1, 2020.
  49. ^ "Microsoft not playing fair". China Daily. October 28, 2008. Archived from the original on February 15, 2020.
  50. ^ "Buying without Windows-Don't want Windows?". Best Price Computers Ltd. February 2007. Archived from the original on March 18, 2012.
  51. ^ "Call on students". September 27, 2009. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  52. ^ "MS: it's (nearly) illegal to buy PCs without Windows". The Register. November 28, 2000. Archived from the original on August 10, 2017. Retrieved August 10, 2017.
  53. ^ "Microsoft's Dirty OEM-Secret". October 23, 2001. Archived from the original on July 13, 2009. Retrieved January 4, 2010.
  54. ^ a b Protalinski, Emil (January 7, 2010). "Italian class-action suit targets unwanted Windows installs". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on December 2, 2012. Retrieved December 28, 2012. 'However, consumers benefit from the preinstallation of Windows on PCs. It provides the best user experience from the time a consumer first turns on the PC and saves consumers the substantial effort and resources associated with having to install an operating system that functions properly' ... 'Computer manufacturers are free to sell PCs pre-installed with another operating system or no operating system at all,' the [Microsoft] spokesperson continued. 'It's also important to note that Microsoft's agreements with OEMs are nonexclusive.'
  55. ^ Protalinski, Emil (September 16, 2009). "OEMs pay Microsoft about $50 for each copy of Windows". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on December 2, 2012. Retrieved December 28, 2012.
  56. ^ "Microsoft official "valued customer" statement". Archived from the original on July 23, 2012. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  57. ^ a b Jeremy Reimer (May 25, 2007). "Dell goes Ubuntu; "Windows tax" is $50 according to pricing". Archived from the original on January 22, 2009. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  58. ^ Charlie Demerjian (March 3, 2007). "Cost of Windows tax calculated". Archived from the original on January 9, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  59. ^ "U.S. v. Microsoft: Court's Findings of Fact". Archived from the original on August 11, 2011. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  60. ^ "Microsoft North American Retail Product Refund Guidelines". Microsoft. Archived from the original on September 6, 2012. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
  61. ^ "Microsoft Software License Terms: Windows 7 Professional" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on March 11, 2012. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  62. ^ "Man wins damages from Acer over Voleware refund". September 22, 2007. Archived from the original on April 6, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  63. ^ Gijs Hillenius (October 1, 2008). "CZ: Lenovo fails to silence GNU/Linux user on Windows refund". Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  64. ^ Niv Lillian (December 3, 2008). "Dell customer awarded Windows refund". Ynetnews. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  65. ^ "Microsoft software license terms for Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium and Ultimate versions" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on February 15, 2012. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  66. ^ "Cour de cassation, civile, Chambre civile 1, 15 novembre 2010, 09–11.161, Publié au bulletin". November 15, 2010. Archived from the original on October 4, 2012. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  67. ^ "DIRECTIVE 2005/29/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL". May 11, 2005. Archived from the original on December 24, 2012. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  68. ^ Granneman, Scott (October 27, 2006). "Surprises Inside Microsoft Vista's EULA". Symantec. Archived from the original on May 17, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  69. ^ "Cyberinsecurity: The Cost of Monopoly" (PDF). September 24, 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 25, 2009.
  70. ^ Keenan, Alexis (June 25, 2024). "EU keeps flexing its antitrust muscles with US tech giants". yahoo!Finance. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  71. ^ "Troubling Exits At Microsoft". Archived from the original on May 2, 2007.
  72. ^ Andrews, Paul (April 23, 1989). "A 'Velvet Sweatshop' or a High-Tech Heaven?". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012.
  73. ^ "Editor's note, MSJ August 1997". Microsoft. Archived from the original on February 14, 2007. Retrieved September 27, 2005.
  74. ^ Bendich, Stobaugh and Strong P.C. (June 18, 2007). "Microsoft "Permatemps" Case". Retrieved October 14, 2009.
  75. ^ Allison, Kevin (March 7, 2007). "Gates warns on US immigration curbs". Financial Times. Archived from the original on June 16, 2007. Retrieved June 9, 2007.
  76. ^ "Senators: Companies with "mass layoffs" shouldn't hire more foreign workers". June 7, 2007. Archived from the original on December 6, 2008. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  77. ^ Gates, Bill (February 25, 2007). "How to Keep America Competitive". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 14, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  78. ^ Gross, Ashley. "Rev. Jesse Jackson Praises Microsoft's Diversity Efforts, But Urges The Company To Do More". Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
  79. ^ Carney, Dan (May 15, 2000). "Microsoft's All-Out Counterattack". Business Week. Archived from the original on January 18, 2011. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
  80. ^ Brinkley, Joel (September 18, 1999). "Microsoft Covered Cost of Ads Backing It in Antitrust Suit". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 22, 2013. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
  81. ^ Liebowitz, Stan J.; Margolis, Stephen E. (1999). Winners, Losers, and Microsoft: Competition and Antitrust in High Technology. Independent Institute. pp. 344. ISBN 978-0-94599-980-5.
  82. ^ a b Manjoo, Farhad (June 11, 2002). "Report Flays Open-Source Licenses". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on December 11, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2019.
  83. ^ Lemos, Robert. "Linux makes a run for government". CNET. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2019.
  84. ^ Milmo, Cahal (June 6, 2002). "Xbox's advert pulled after protest from TV watchdog". The Independent. Archived from the original on April 25, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  85. ^ "15 years on: The story behind one of Xbox's most notorious TV ads". GamesIndustry.biz. December 6, 2016. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2019.
  86. ^ "Non-broadcast Adjudication". Advertising Standards Authority. Archived from the original on January 29, 2006. Retrieved March 31, 2006.
  87. ^ Kuchinskas, Susan (August 26, 2004). "Microsoft Ordered to Pull Anti-Linux Ad". IT Business Edge. Archived from the original on November 26, 2005. Retrieved March 31, 2006.
  88. ^ Rick Jelliffe (January 22, 2007). "An interesting offer: get paid to contribute to Wikipedia". Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  89. ^ Brian Bergstein (January 23, 2007). "Microsoft offers cash for Wikipedia edit". NBC News. Archived from the original on December 5, 2013. Retrieved May 25, 2009.
  90. ^ "Microsoft in web photo racism row". BBC News. August 26, 2009. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  91. ^ Johnson, Bobbie; Francisco, San (August 26, 2009). "Microsoft apologises over race-swap gaffe". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  92. ^ a b Arthur, Charles (October 18, 2011). "Nokia and Microsoft fingered over comments on adverse Lumia review". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on February 4, 2014. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
  93. ^ a b c Orland, Kyle (January 20, 2014). "Stealth marketing: Microsoft paying YouTubers for Xbox One mentions". arstechnicha. Archived from the original on January 20, 2014. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
  94. ^ Orland, Kyle (September 2, 2015). "Machinima settles with FTC over "deceptive" Xbox promotion". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on September 4, 2015. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  95. ^ Williams, Chris. "Microsoft pushes Bing, GPT-4 in Chrome pop-up adverts". The Register. Retrieved March 19, 2024.
  96. ^ a b c Keizer, Gregg (September 15, 2015). "Microsoft's decision to pre-load Windows 10 upgrade sans consent is ill-advised". Computerworld. IDG. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  97. ^ a b Leonhard, Woody (May 15, 2015). "Microsoft re-re-re-issues controversial Windows 10 patch KB 3035583". Computerworld. IDG. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  98. ^ a b Leonhard, Woody (February 24, 2016). "Get Windows 10 patch KB 3035583 suddenly reappears on Win7/8.1 PCs". Computerworld. IDG. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  99. ^ Leonhard, Woody (December 15, 2015). "Microsoft narrows Win10 upgrade options to 'Upgrade now' or 'Upgrade tonight'". Computerworld. IDG. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  100. ^ Bright, Peter (October 16, 2015). "Windows 10 upgrade installing automatically on some Windows 7, 8 systems". Ars Technica. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  101. ^ a b Newman, Jared (September 11, 2015). "Didn't ask for Windows 10? Your PC may have downloaded it anyway". PC World. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  102. ^ Leonhard, Woody (January 8, 2016). "Banishing 'Get Windows 10' nagware isn't as easy as you think". InfoWorld. IDG. Archived from the original on December 18, 2016. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
  103. ^ Cunningham, Andrew (December 2, 2021). "Microsoft Edge will now warn users about the dangers of downloading Google Chrome". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  104. ^ Warren, Tom (December 2, 2021). "Microsoft's new Windows prompts try to stop people downloading Chrome". The Verge. Archived from the original on December 2, 2021. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  105. ^ Honorof, Marshall (December 3, 2021). "Microsoft tries to stop users from installing Chrome — again". Tom's Guide. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  106. ^ Li, Abner. "Microsoft aggressively trying to keep Chrome downloaders using Edge". 9to5Google. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  107. ^ Warren, Tom (March 15, 2024). "Microsoft is stuffing pop-up ads into Google Chrome on Windows again". The Verge. Retrieved March 20, 2024.
  108. ^ Warren, Tom (August 30, 2023). "Microsoft is using malware-like pop-ups in Windows 11 to get people to ditch Google". The Verge. Retrieved March 20, 2024.
  109. ^ Hancock, Ciarán. "Irish-registered subsidiary of Microsoft records $314bn profit". The Irish Times. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
  110. ^ a b Neate, Rupert (June 3, 2021). "Microsoft's Irish subsidiary paid zero corporation tax on £220bn profit". The Guardian. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
  111. ^ Doctorow, Cory (January 22, 2020). "The sordid tale of Microsoft's epic tax evasion and the war they waged against the IRS". Boing Boing. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  112. ^ Kiel, Paul (January 22, 2020). "The IRS Decided to Get Tough Against Microsoft. Microsoft Got Tougher". ProPublica. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  113. ^ Dvorak, John C. (July 17, 2008). "Microsoft, the Spandex Granny". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on January 13, 2017. Retrieved August 26, 2017.
  114. ^ Mary Jo Foley: The Exit Interview – Robert McLaws: Windows Vista Edition Archived January 13, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  115. ^ a b Gallagher, Ryan (March 7, 2024). "How Microsoft's Bing Helps Maintain Beijing's Great Firewall". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
  116. ^ "Corporate Complicity in Chinese Internet Censorship". Human Rights Watch. August 9, 2006. Archived from the original on November 22, 2006. Retrieved November 23, 2006.
  117. ^ "China: Internet Companies Aid Censorship". August 10, 2006. Archived from the original on February 14, 2007. Retrieved February 6, 2007.
  118. ^ "Microsoft says error led to no matching Bing images for Tiananmen 'tank man'". Reuters. June 4, 2021.
  119. ^ "Microsoft blocks Bing from showing image results for Tiananmen 'tank man'". The Guardian. June 5, 2021.
  120. ^ "Bing Censors Image Search for 'Tank Man' Even in US". VICE.
  121. ^ Tilley, Aaron (June 4, 2021). "Microsoft's Bing Temporarily Blocked Searches of Tiananmen Square 'Tank Man' Image". The Wall Street Journal.
  122. ^ "Microsoft says error caused 'Tank Man' Bing censorship". BBC News. June 5, 2021.
  123. ^ Greenwald, Glenn (June 6, 2013). "NSA taps in to internet giants' systems to mine user data, secret files reveal". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on August 18, 2006. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  124. ^ Gellman, Barton; Poitras, Laura (June 6, 2013). "U.S. intelligence mining data from nine U.S. Internet companies in broad secret program". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  125. ^ Savage, Charlie; Wyatt, Edward; Baker, Peter (June 6, 2013). "U.S. says it gathers online data abroad". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  126. ^ "Google, Facebook, Dropbox, Yahoo, Microsoft And Apple Deny Participation In NSA PRISM Surveillance Program". Tech Crunch. June 6, 2013. Archived from the original on June 13, 2013. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  127. ^ a b Greenwald, Glenn; Ewen MacAskill; Laura Poitras; Spencer Ackerman; Dominic Rushe (July 12, 2013). "How Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on November 19, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2013.
  128. ^ Bott, Ed. "Windows 10 telemetry secrets: Where, when, and why Microsoft collects your data". ZDNet. Archived from the original on July 12, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  129. ^ Anthony, Sebastian (August 4, 2015). "Windows 10 doesn't offer much privacy by default: Here's how to fix it". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  130. ^ "Windows 10s default privacy settings and controls leave much to be desired". ExtremeTech. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on July 30, 2015. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  131. ^ Hern, Alex (August 1, 2015). "Windows 10: Microsoft under attack over privacy". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  132. ^ Warren, Tom (March 6, 2018). "Microsoft's new Windows 10 privacy controls should avoid 'keylogger' concerns". The Verge. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  133. ^ Toor, Amar (July 21, 2016). "France orders Microsoft to stop tracking Windows 10 users". The Verge. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  134. ^ Warren, Tom (April 5, 2017). "Microsoft finally reveals what data Windows 10 really collects". The Verge. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  135. ^ Warren, Tom (February 21, 2017). "EU still concerned over Windows 10 privacy despite Microsoft's changes". The Verge. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  136. ^ "Upcoming Windows 10 update reduces spying, but Microsoft is still mum on which data it specifically collects". ExtremeTech. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  137. ^ Cimpanu, Catalin. "Dutch government report says Microsoft Office telemetry collection breaks GDPR". ZDNet. Archived from the original on June 8, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  138. ^ "New DPIA on Microsoft Office and Windows software: still privacy risks remaining (short blog)". July 29, 2019.
  139. ^ "Microsoft sacks journalists to replace them with robots". The Guardian. May 30, 2020.
  140. ^ "Microsoft 'to replace journalists with robots'". BBC News. May 30, 2020. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  141. ^ "Microsoft is cutting dozens of MSN news production workers and replacing them with artificial intelligence". The Seattle Times. May 29, 2020.
  142. ^ Alexander, Leigh (May 14, 2008). ""theGAYERGamer" Gets Xbox Live Ban, Microsoft Explains". Kotaku. Archived from the original on March 1, 2009. Retrieved March 4, 2009.
  143. ^ Alexander, Leigh (May 21, 2008). "Microsoft Explains "Gaywood" Ban". Archived from the original on February 28, 2009. Retrieved March 4, 2009.
  144. ^ "Identifying Yourself As A Lesbian Gets You Banned On XBOX Live". Consumerist. February 25, 2009. Archived from the original on October 8, 2016. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  145. ^ Plunkett, Luke. "Microsoft Looking To Change Xbox Live Sexual "Discrimination"". Archived from the original on May 16, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2009.
  146. ^ "Xbox LIVE policy and Gamertags/Profiles Redux"[permanent dead link‍]
  147. ^ "XBox Live, Homophobia, and Online Gaming Policy". September 14, 2011. Archived from the original on April 16, 2009. Retrieved July 3, 2009.
  148. ^ Warren, Tom (January 22, 2021). "Microsoft is increasing the price of Xbox Live Gold". The Verge. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  149. ^ Blumenthal, Eli. "Microsoft gives Xbox Live Gold a price hike to make Game Pass more tempting". CNET. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  150. ^ Warren, Tom (January 22, 2021). "Microsoft risks a year of goodwill with its Xbox Live price hike". The Verge. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  151. ^ "No Changes to Xbox Live Gold Pricing, Free-to-Play Games to be Unlocked [Update]". Xbox Wire. January 22, 2021. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  152. ^ "After Patent Office Rejection, It is Time For Google To Abandon Its Attempt to Patent Use of Public Domain Algorithm". EFF. August 30, 2018.
  153. ^ a b "Features of range asymmetric number system encoding and decoding". Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  154. ^ "Third time's a harm? Microsoft tries to get twice-rejected compression patent past skeptical examiners". The Register. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  155. ^ "After Final Consideration Pilot 2.0". United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  156. ^ Xu, Vicky Xiuzhong; Cave, Danielle; Leibold, James; Munro, Kelsey; Ruser, Nathan (March 1, 2020). "Uyghurs for sale". Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Archived from the original on August 24, 2020. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  157. ^ Chiu, Joanna (November 19, 2024). "Chinese startups supported by Microsoft and Google incubator programs worked with police". Rest of World. Retrieved November 21, 2024.

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]

Discussions of Microsoft's business practices:


TCO:


Tax evasion:


User feedback:

[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Criticism_of_Microsoft&oldid=1258809142"