Microsoft beats up Google over antitrust affairs

A Microsoft senior lawyer launched an astonishing attack on Google late yesterday.

What's astonishing about it is that Microsoft is a convicted monopolist but has turned itself into a whited sepulchre and put itself on the side of the underdog.

Dave Heiner, in a bog posting, said that complaints in competition law cases usually come from competitors. When Eric Schmidt, now CEO at Google, was CEO of Novell that company didn't hesitate to complain about Microsoft, he said. And Google "hasn't been shy about raising antitrust concerns about Microsoft in the last few years".

In its own conversations with regulatory authorities, Microsoft had been asked about Google. Google, said Heiner, controlled search and online advertising. Google's business practices "lock in publishers and advertisers" and make it harder for Microsoft to gain search volume".

Heiner said that Microsoft was also concerned about Googles book search plan. And, he said, the European Commission is investigating Google for "retaliation, exclusivity and manipulation of search results to disadvantage rivals".

That would be the three Microsoft affiliates that made the complaints, Mr Heiner, right?

Twitter to go Google way

Till the other day we were confident that Google is a globally acclaimed American public corporation and also highly reputed internet search giant but now it is evident that Google Inc. is influencing the world of business also.

How can we be so sure? Well, if we rely upon the latest version of All Things D, Twitter, internationally renowned free social networking and micro-blogging service, is desperate to copy Google’s money-spinning search ads and the first and foremost intention is to make money from its ultrapopular micropublishing system. Got it?

What is the real idea then? It has been learnt that, by means of this, Twitter will enable advertisers contract to have their ads show up as tiny 140-word posts when users rummage around through Twitter or by way of other search engines that make use of its API.

What makes twitter follow the footsteps of Google so keenly? It is to be noted that Google makes almost a third of its money from its AdSense program, which lets publishers sign up and have little text ads run on their websites. This is a unique notion of business, without a shred of doubt that has taken the world by storm almost.
Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers who are known as followers.

Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. While the service itself costs nothing to use, accessing it through SMS may incur phone service provider fees.  

US Campaign to Ban Landmines (USCBL) on Twitter and Facebook

On March 1st, Human Rights Watch and other members of the US Campaign to Ban Landmines (USCBL) are organizing on Twitter and Facebook to tell both the administration and Congress that the US needs to relinquish antipersonnel mines and get on board the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. Our goal is to make the call for the US to ban landmines a trending topic on Twitter, and to raise the profile of the issue on Facebook and other social networking tools on March 1st, which marks eleven years since the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty became binding international law.
If you have an account on Facebook or Twitter, you can participate in this initiative on March 1st and during that week by:

1. Donating your status - Upload one of the "Ban Landmines USA" icons or ‘avatars' below and use it in place of your regular photo or icon on your Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Flickr, and other accounts. Switch your status to a "Ban Landmines USA" on Monday, March 1st and use it that day, that week, or for the whole month of March!
  
2. Tweeting the hash tag banminesusa - Our goal is to make the call for the US to ban landmines a trending topic on Twitter through use of the hash tag banminesusa. So on March 1st and during that week, please tweet banminesusa every time you see an article, press release, or campaign action in support of the objective to "Ban Landmines USA." Tell your friends on Twitter to do the same. Every time you see a tweet with banminesusa, please re-tweet it.

Background
On December 1, 2009, a US official confirmed that the US has begun a comprehensive landmine policy review "initiated at the direction of President Obama." The United States has not used antipersonnel mines since 1991 (in the first Gulf War), has not exported them since 1992, has not produced them since 1997, and is the biggest donor to mine clearance programs around the world. But it still retains 10 million stockpiled antipersonnel mines and has not joined the 1997 treaty prohibiting the weapon. 

The US Campaign to Ban Landmines and its member organizations are using the month between March 1st, 2010 (Mine Ban Treaty's 11th anniversary of entry into force) and April 4th (UN Mine Action Day) to remind the US that now's the time for the US to relinquish antipersonnel mines and get on board the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.

Participating Organizations
Human Rights Watch is a founding member of the US Campaign to Ban Landmines and its parent, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, 1997 Nobel Peace Laureate. In addition to Human Rights Watch, other US Campaign to Ban Landmines members participating in this #banminesusa campaign include Jesuit Refugee Service USA and the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC).