microsoft claims it paid nothing! wtf

[SKRUhddvd]

http://www.movieweb.com/dvd/news/40/22340.php (let the spin begin)

[MovieTime]

Who cares

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by SKRUhddvd

http://www.movieweb.com/dvd/news/40/22340.php (let the spin begin)

On The Digital Bits Bill Hunt has confirmed that his contacts indicate the money did not come from Microsoft.

www.thedigitalbits.com#mytwocents

Finally today, Kevin and Amir... this one's for you: We've been doing a lot of digging into the events of last week, and have learned from reliable sources some of what went on behind the scenes. And our friends up in Microsoft's HD-DVD Evangelism office will be pleased to know that we've CONFIRMED what they've been saying in recent days: The $150 million payment to Paramount and DreamWorks didn't come from Microsoft. It apparently came from Toshiba and/or the HD-DVD camp collectively. We've been told that Microsoft was involved in the process, but they didn't cut the checks.

You didn't cut the cheque to build your local roads, right?

[jermwhl]

yea, there is a thread about this already. The claim they didn't...just insulting our intelligence....and they did contribute, just not directly into the pocket of paramount! That pretty much sums up the other thread.

[RobertB]

There is a difference between paying directly and paying indirectly (through middlemen, or organizations). What are the odds that there were no M$ in the pot offered to Paramount? If the money came through the HD-DVD organization I would bet good money that some of it came from M$ pockets also.

They're just playing with words to cover their direct involvement.

[Deane Johnson]

I believe the way Microsoft worded it was that "we didn't right out a check to Paramount". That's sure leaves a lot of room for having channeled it through someone else.

[Lord_Stewie]

Originally Posted by SKRUhddvd

http://www.movieweb.com/dvd/news/40/22340.php (let the spin begin)

wether MS bribed paramount or not, MOVE ON.

there nothing that can be done now but support BD.

[patrick99]

Originally Posted by shadblz

wether MS bribed paramount or not, MOVE ON.

there nothing that can be done now but support BD.

While I agree that there is nothing that can be done to reverse this deal, I do think that the very negative public reaction to this deal is something that can and should be used in favor of BD. For that reason I think it makes sense to continue to talk about it.

[NutsAboutPS3]

This is an interesting story about Microsoft bunging people cash:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=42035

[RobertB]

Yeah, read that sweedish article in a Norwegian HD thread earlier today. If this is the way M$ does business, should anyone be surprised they would be involved in a big bribe towards Paramounts HD position?

I also agree its not much to do about it but to support your prefered format, but from an ethical point of view M$ way of doing business is questionable to say the least.

[Need0fMany]

This is not surprising, it is just one of many such instances in Microsoft's history. I've sadly been using their products since the DOS days up to now (because of work) and their way of doing business has not changed. They are anti-consumer, ruthless unfair competitors, FUD spammers, and worst of all expert at using their monopoly to gain market share into other markets and aim for monopoly in those too.

Just as a noble sensible goal for our future is to reduce our dependency on oil consumption, I say that everyone should have the goal to reduce their dependency on Microsoft's products. Only once Microsoft loose market share and become one of many equals will they be forced to listen to the consumers and strive to offer reliable innovative products.

Otherwise, they will just keep using their monopoly to affect standards and formats to force everyone to their proprietary suite of products and lock people in. They will keep rushing unreliable products out at lower prices to undercut the competition's real innovative products. They will keep using shady deals to force companies and content providers to force their own customers toward their products and even worse, pay companies to stop supporting the competition. They will keep brainwashing hordes of people to spam the message boards, blogs and online articles with FUD, biased opinions and biased reviews.

I don't have a lot of time to make an exhaustive list but here are just some of their past practices that come to mind:

- When a DOS competitor came along DRDOS, MS sued them, then threatened all the PC suppliers who would offer their customers that choice
- When MS moved to Win3.1, they made it so that popular suite like Lotus and WordPerfect would not run well compared to their Word and Excel counterparts, any attempts by those vendors to fix their product compatibility was always magically thwarted by stealth OS updates, Word and Excel formats also changed all the time for no real reason just to make sure that no file converter could keep up and the other applications became viewed as problematic because of file porting issues, soon all business forced their employees to use MS products which then forced those employees to change their home software if they wanted to bring office work home
- Win 95 comes along, OS suffers from constant memory leaks and crashed, sounds familiar? (just look at Vista news)
- Netscape is hugely popular, MS creates a sub-par browser, then make deals and threats for PC vendors to pre-install its browser as default, then later incorporates it into its OS and claim it cannot be taken out anymore
- Also, MS internet browser doesn't follow some of the W3C rules so that some sites (like banking sites) who use MS tools to build their sites become incompatible with other browsers
- Sega gets MS to make a game OS for them (Dreamcast), a little later Microsoft announces they will make their own gaming system (XBOX), Sega abandons Dreamcast, Peter Moore leaves Sega joins Microsoft game division, later Peter Moore joins EA (while retaining his MS stock options) and then EA announces that all 360 games will be given top priority, PS3 ports to follow later
- Linux becomes popular, MS unleashes drones on the internet to spread FUD of all sorts, when that doesn't work well enough they pay SCO to file baseless suits against Linux, IBM, companies that use Linux and threatens consumers of lawsuit too, this has the intended effect of scaring consumers and corporations
- MS tries to push some proprietary XML implementation on standard bodies
- MS rushes the 360 to market to undercut Nintendo and Sony normal gaming cycle, aggressively pays studios for exclusive game rights rather than let customers choose, 360 suffers from poor reliability initially (current state unknown), a mob also appears on the net pre-bashing the Wii and PS3 before they even come out, even once they are out every little flaw is the subject of countless posts, AVS is saddly taken over, many 360 games get near perfect reviews before they are even out and PS3 games get disastrous reviews before they are out, once the games are actually out the 360 scores come down and the PS3 scores go up, the strategy here is to hype the first impression of 360 games and bash the competition, oh yeah I forgot, give Ferrari laptops and other perks to bloggers and reviewers
- MS supports HD-DVD because the format supported by most studios (Blu-ray) intends to use MPEG2 and AVC rather MS proprietary VC-1 codecs, also because the PS3 will support Blu-ray and their new gaming system still only use standard DVD. Once HD-DVD start to fall behind too much, MS indirectly (they have refined this for years, no one will ever find out how they did it) funnels money to pay off studios to stop selling the competing format even though it sells better.
- Same as the console gaming strategy: a mob also appears on the net pre-bashing Blu-ray before it even comes out, even once it is out every little flaw is the subject of countless posts, AVS is saddly taken over, many initial HD-DVD titles get near perfect reviews before they are even out and Blu-ray titles get disastrous reviews before they are out, once the titles are actually out the scores even out, the strategy here is to hype the first impression of their titles and bash the competition, oh yeah I forgot, give perks to bloggers and reviewers
- MS tries to push some proprietary "open" XML implementation on standard bodies
- MS pushes "PlaysForSure" to try to combat the success of the Ipod, deals and arm-wrestles with vendors to make their players compatible with it and advertise it, every other two or three patch Tuesday the DRM get tweaked and some of the "PlaysForSure" don't play too well until the vendors patch their firmware, then Microsoft launches their Zune which isn't compatible with the "PlaysForSure", sorry vendors, you are left out to dry, I guess nothing is for sure... except maybe Microsoft's practices.

Feel free to add what you remember, I'm sure there are many many more examples.

[Blu-Style]

"Microsoft did not provide any financial incentives to Paramount/Dreamworks' recent decision to support HD-DVD."


I´d say this too, if i would be on their sides... hahahaha

[Need0fMany]

Nice pic Blu-Style, illustrative although I think in reality it involved wire transfers to unnamed subsidiaries and such :-)

[supersix4]

lol probly because somany people filed complaints with the anti-trust agancy... I know I did everyone should go do that

[BluBerry]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

On The Digital Bits Bill Hunt has confirmed that his contacts indicate the money did not come from Microsoft.

www.thedigitalbits.com#mytwocents



You didn't cut the cheque to build your local roads, right?

Bill really thrashed Microsoft in his first article about the Paramount deal. For his latest comment, I think he just wanted to be fair and give Microsoft their say. There is no question that Microsoft is behind this, and there is no question that Paramount/Dreamworks was a considerable loss. But I think enough has been said about the situation. By all accounts, Blu-Ray has had a great year. It has so many good things going for it, and I don't think we should spend the rest of holiday season lamenting Paramount's decision.

[maconomics]

Yes it sucks, but there is nothing we can do about it!

[Elessar]

I love how you idiots keep talking about Microsoft like they are one person. "Microsoft did this.." "Microsoft did that..." What, are they the new Nazis to you people?

[Gremal]

Elessar, you seem as if you don't want people talking badly of MS. Well, MS has engaged in predatory business practices on a scale that absolutely has stifled innovation. That might be cool with you, but it is not cool by me. The new nazis? No. But consider this statement from the US DOJ:

"For a long time now -- and, if Microsoft's actions to maintain its monopoly are not halted, for well into the future -- personal computer consumers are locked into a Microsoft world, one in which a single company essentially controls the configuration of desktop computing. The evidence detailed in these Proposed Findings establishes both the anticompetitive tactics Microsoft employed and the harm to competition and consumers those tactics caused. What can never be fully known, of course, are (i) the innovative products that would have come to market had developers not been deterred by Microsoft's illegal assault on potential competitors; and (ii) the benefits that consumers would have realized if Microsoft's operating systems monopoly had been eroded. Such products and consumer benefits are inevitable wherever market competition flourishes."

[SKRUhddvd]

Originally Posted by Elessar

I love how you idiots keep talking about Microsoft like they are one person. "Microsoft did this.." "Microsoft did that..." What, are they the new Nazis to you people?

NO WAY! microsoft is not the "new Nazis". the nazis never won their dream of world domination!

[onanie]

What does it matter, indeed? Microsoft has already had their dirty hands so deep in HD DVD's behind it doesn't matter that how their $150 million got to paramount. They denied paying Paramount directly, but they never denied that somebody else paid Paramount or its executives.

What matters more is that HD DVD, being so pathetic, needed to pay cash to maintain a piss poor studio support. As Bill Hunt pointed out, it was a desperate move. The studio that accepted it was equally desperate.