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kinther@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.worldEnglish · 4 months ago

FTC launches probe of Microsoft over bundling

arstechnica.com

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  • cross-posted to:
  • technology@lemmy.zip
  • microsoft@lemmy.world
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FTC launches probe of Microsoft over bundling

arstechnica.com

kinther@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.worldEnglish · 4 months ago
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  • cross-posted to:
  • technology@lemmy.zip
  • microsoft@lemmy.world
Redmond’s packing of Office with security, cloud computing services under scrutiny.
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  • Nougat@fedia.io
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    4 months ago

    Great, do health insurance companies now, with their “vertical integration” (we own all the things you need, so fuck you).

    • w3dd1e@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      Let’s unbundle health insurance from your employer. You shouldn’t be tied to a shitty job just so you can go to a doctor.

      • bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        But then how can the owner class trap workers into abusive jobs while also ensuring no one has the audacity to start their own company and become financially independent? Won’t someone think of the shareholders?

      • Nougat@fedia.io
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        4 months ago

        Yes, also that.

      • locuester@lemmy.zip
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        4 months ago

        Leave your job and lose your insurance. Everything is 100x cheaper that way. Doctors charge very little for cash paying customers. Emergency rooms and urgent cares just write off most of it to charity and charge you a bit if anything at all. The most I’ve paid for is lab work, but that’s a few and far between and still only like 500 bucks for a full panel.

        YMMV. I’ve been doing this for three years and have paid less in TOTAL than private insurance wants for ONE MONTH.

        • diablexical@lemm.ee
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          4 months ago

          The problem with this is if you have any actual significant health condition.

          • locuester@lemmy.zip
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            4 months ago

            Yeah for sure. I think the right play is to have accident, hospital, and critical illness insurance from someplace like Aflac to cover those.

            • horse_battery_staple@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              And how pray tell, are you paying for that without a job?

              • locuester@lemmy.zip
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                4 months ago

                I still work. I just don’t play the health insurance coverage game.

                Personally I own my own business, an LLC taxed as an S-Corp, and do software dev work through that paying myself a minimal W-2 wage.

                But my point is that you can leave a job without worrying about losing health insurance coverage.

                • horse_battery_staple@lemmy.world
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                  4 months ago

                  That’s a pretty privileged take. If someone leaves or gets fired they still need to pay for health insurance either on the public market or using COBRA. All of this is due to the fact that health insurance is directly tied to employment as it isn’t funded by taxes.

                  https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/savings-account-average-balance/

                  https://www.insure.com/health-insurance/cobra-problems.html

                  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-payer_healthcare

  • cm0002@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Microsoft? Anti-Trust bundling violations? What year is this?? 1996‽

    • Miles O'Brien@startrek.website
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      4 months ago

      Oooh, nice interrobang.

      • MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Didn’t know that character existed. Definitely going in the rotation.

        • AtariDump@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Really‽

    • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I WISH it were 1996!!!

      …please take me back to the 90s…I don’t like being old.

  • [R3D4CT3D]@midwest.social
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    4 months ago

    It’s been fun w Lina Khan @ the helm. gonna miss seeing the FTC make moves on corpos. (_*)

    • tetris11@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Alright I’ve been staring at it too long - what’s that emoji?

      • catloaf@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        Two eyes, mouth, and the asterisk is a flower or sparkle or something.

        Also that’s kaomoji.

      • Fades@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        I feel like it has to be a wink of some sort

        • tehfishman@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Maybe it’s the drugs kicking in

        • stephen01king@lemmy.zip
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          4 months ago

          Looks more like a one-eyes side-eye.

      • subtext@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Is it possible they didn’t escape something from markdown like an asterisk or something else?

      • affiliate@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        to me it looks like a penguins face, viewed from the side.

  • Cornelius_Wangenheim@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I support most of what Lena Khan has done, but this is stupid. Cybersecurity features should be built into the base package of all cloud products. The fact that so many charge extra for them is and always has been bullshit. It’s like trying to sell a car but charging extra to include seat belts and air bags.

    The complaint should be that they’re selling a product that is unsafe in its base offering.

    • kieron115@startrek.website
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      I agree that cybersecurity features should be included. In fact I think they should be included for free. The problem is that Microsoft wanted to charge the Department of Defense and it sounds like they used politics to make sure they could, and if true then they (and maybe also the DoD?) may have violated some federal laws around government procurement and “gifts” from contractors to the government.

    • MSids@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      What about having to switch from a $32/user/month license to a $52/user/month license for just one or two features out of the dozens you end up paying for?

    • Snapz@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Can you source whatever you are countering here?

      • Cornelius_Wangenheim@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        No, because it comes from personal experience working in cybersecurity.

      • towerful@programming.dev
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        4 months ago

        Loads of SaaS/PaaS include things like saml, oidc etc only in the higher (or the “contact us”) tiers

  • brie@programming.dev
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    4 months ago
    1. The year of the Linux laptop
    • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
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      4 months ago

      Cosmic DE ftw

  • ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml
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    4 months ago

    Guess you can never be 30 years too late

    • schizo@forum.uncomfortable.business
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      4 months ago

      Second time’s the charm, maybe?

      • ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml
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        4 months ago

        I commend the optimism, but I doubt it

  • frostysauce@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Jake from State Farm told me bundling was a good thing.

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Bill Gates about to get extremely friendly with the Trump Administration.

    • RobotZap10000@feddit.nl
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      4 months ago

      The dickhead you’re looking for is now called Satya Nadella.

      • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
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        4 months ago

        That dude is a creep… Ruined Windows

    • whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works
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      4 months ago

      does he still have much to do with Microsoft?

      • catloaf@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        No.

      • ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml
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        4 months ago

        He owns 1% of all Microsoft shares which are worth tens of billions.

    • ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml
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      4 months ago

      That was quick

  • dinckel@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    They lost it last time, and they will lose it again

  • seven_phone@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    The way my Surface Pro was packaged I can completely understand this, all the cardboard was pulled open at one side.

  • boaratio@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Timely.

    • Fades@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Just in time for nothing to happen when trumps picks defang the FTC (who has already been defanged plenty in the past)

  • Serge Matveenko@lemmings.world
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    4 months ago

    Any probe against a monopoly is a good thing

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