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From itworld.com:
Let me see if I understand this. Microsoft, the world leader in amongst other things, "hacked PCs", the party primarily responsible for the security (or lack thereof) model for the leading problem OS, wants everyone on the Internet, including those of us who long ago made a conscious decision to avoid their products, to pay to fix a problem Microsoft is largely responsible for.
There's a special kind of irony in Microsoft proposing a tax on Internet usage considering they are currently on the hook for over $1B (billion) dollars in unpaid taxes to Washington state due to a little gaming of the system that Washington state is not currently happy with. As explained by Jeff Reifman on his blog:
If the company has, "invested millions" then it sounds to me like they could continue doing so with their Washington State tax avoidance slush fund, perhaps even stepping it up a bit and show some tangible long-term results, without forcing everyone else to pay even more to clean up their mess.
Or they could just let those of us who have jobs where we are expected to pick up the broken pieces of their woefully substandard POS excuse for an OS have free round-trip tickets to Redmond and half a dozen or so crotch-kicks to each officer of the company for each incident we end up having to respond to.
How will we ever get a leg up on hackers who are infecting computers worldwide? Microsoft's security chief laid out several suggestions Tuesday, including a possible Internet usage tax to pay for the inspection and quarantine of machines.
Today most hacked PCs run Microsoft's Windows operating system, and the company has invested millions in trying to fight the problem.
...
So who would foot the bill? "Maybe markets will make it work," Charney said. But an Internet usage tax might be the way to go. "You could say it's a public safety issue and do it with general taxation," he said.
Let me see if I understand this. Microsoft, the world leader in amongst other things, "hacked PCs", the party primarily responsible for the security (or lack thereof) model for the leading problem OS, wants everyone on the Internet, including those of us who long ago made a conscious decision to avoid their products, to pay to fix a problem Microsoft is largely responsible for.
There's a special kind of irony in Microsoft proposing a tax on Internet usage considering they are currently on the hook for over $1B (billion) dollars in unpaid taxes to Washington state due to a little gaming of the system that Washington state is not currently happy with. As explained by Jeff Reifman on his blog:
After King County Superior Court Judge Gregory Canova awarded Microsoft an $8.7 million judgment in a 2008 lawsuit involving unpaid software licenses, he might have been surprised to learn that Microsoft isn’t actually in the software licensing business in Washington – or at least that’s what it reports to the state Department of Revenue.
For tax purposes, Microsoft reports that it’s earned its estimated $143 billion in software licensing revenue in Nevada, where there is no licensing tax. However, for legal purposes, Microsoft executes its licensing contracts so they are governed by and rely on the protections of Washington law and its courts (some regional contracts are governed by the laws in Ireland or China).
If the company has, "invested millions" then it sounds to me like they could continue doing so with their Washington State tax avoidance slush fund, perhaps even stepping it up a bit and show some tangible long-term results, without forcing everyone else to pay even more to clean up their mess.
Or they could just let those of us who have jobs where we are expected to pick up the broken pieces of their woefully substandard POS excuse for an OS have free round-trip tickets to Redmond and half a dozen or so crotch-kicks to each officer of the company for each incident we end up having to respond to.