"There won't be anything we won't say to people to try and convince them that our way is the way to go." -- Bill Gates on Microsoft marketing
www.dot-lies.com
Fred Moody and BugTraq: Is Someone Lying About Linux?
Fear of open source
01-Feb Wired:
MS Exec: Linux Is Going Down
Counterespionage: The Oracle dumpster diving flap
01-Feb ZDNet:
News: From FUD to trash talk
In the two years since, the complaints about Linux have gone from:
"It's just a toy" to
"So it's not a toy, but it can't run reliably" to
"So it's reliable, but there are no apps" to
"So it's got apps, but nobody's using it in a corporate setting" to
"So people are using in a corporate setting, but Oracle's not supporting it" to
"So Oracle supports it, but there's no commercial help-desk support" to
"So there's commercial support, but where are the hardware vendors" to
"So IBM's putting a billion bucks into Linux, but there's no enterprise support" to
"So there's now enterprise support, let me think of something else..."
Linux Myths
Levitt on Linux Myths
You can't buy advertising this good. When Microsoft takes time out to publish a point-by-point attack of your software product (www.micro soft.com/ntserver/nts/news/msnw/Linux Myths.asp), you must be on to something. And since Linux and related products command only a thimbleful of IT purchasing, I can only assume that Microsoft is going to do anything it can to derail the Linux hype machine before Linux can compete more effectively.
Microsoft's Linux Myths page gives several "reasons" why Linux is a poor choice for the enterprise, all of which are based on inaccurate or out-of-date information. Some of them are simply wishful thinking on Microsoft's part.
Miscellaneous
Gleick: Microspeak
Linux Today: The War - Paul Ferris
ZDNet: Foley on Waggener-Edstrom "buddies"
Microsoft Myths Made Manifest (parody)
OS Opinion:
How the Book of Proverbs Relates to Linux and Microsoft
Information Week: The Knowledge Merchants
Linux Today:
The Long Siege of Microsoft Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt by Paul Ferris
What does Microsoft think about the new movie? "We deeply resent this unfair personal attack," said Microsoft spokeswoman Ginny Terzano, "against Steve Case.
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is already negotiating to settle the charges, pending before the Federal Trade Commission, lawyers close to the case said. The FTC focused on Microsoft's aggressive advertising campaign targeting Palm Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM), whose products compete against those hand-held devices using Microsoft's Windows software.
On the German Microsoft web site there's a white paper (in German) that intends to warn retailers against the main Linux "weaknesses". With the title "What every retailer should know" they've made a list of such weaknesses, each of the listed items followed by old well-known Microsoft anti-Linux arguments. One of this arguments is that Linux is insecure due to its open source nature, because this allows each user to find security flaws on the system, which is not possible with Windows.
I am currently working for a client with a Microsoft Premier Support Contract, Select Contract, etc. So every month, we receive a bunch of CDROMs ranging from service packs & beta software to the occasional CD filled with marketing mumbo-jumbo.Surprisingly enough, this month's edition contained 2 CDs titled: "Competing with Linux".
Image repair
00-Apr ABC:
Microsoft Chair Touts Company Innovation in TV Ads
"In Gates' spot, he actually says the main idea for the company 25 years ago was "that we could harness the power of the PC to improve people's lives." Substitute "music" for "PC," and it sounds like something a hippie might have said at Woodstock. Rock on, Billy!Ballmer's commercial, which started airing this past weekend, is just as goofy. "Innovation is spreading through our economy," he enthuses. "It's creating new jobs, changing our lives and helping children learn. Now I'm the president of Microsoft, and we're still focused on innovating, delivering value and listening to customers."
Hold on while I puke.
Can these commercials be any more nauseating? "
The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant today appointed Linda Stone, a Microsoft research manager, to become the company's vice president of industry initiatives, a new position designed to improve the company's relations with customers, partners and competitors and their image of the company.
Clayton Utz partner Peter Knight, who specialises in information technology and intellectual property, said Ms Tippett made many good points but some claims were unfounded."The GPL is what it is," Mr Knight said. "It's not a wicked thing and it's certainly no more or less wicked than Microsoft's licensing. That's not criticism of Microsoft. It's just another licence."
Mr Knight said he agreed with Ms Tippett's advice to examine and understand the terms of a licence before using software. But he rejected the claim that open source was in its infancy and licences such as the GPL had not been given much consideration.
Mr Knight said the absence of a liability regime was not peculiar to open source software.
"Most proprietary licences don't accept any liability," he said. "These exclusion clauses are very commonly at least partly ineffective."
Terms of the deal were not announced. SCO's Sontag said previous licensing deals have brought between $8 million $10 million dollars in revenue to the company.SCO's stock rose nearly 38 percent, to $6.55, in trading early Monday.
Hewlett-Packard, another proponent of Linux, is unaware of any intellectual-property infringement, according to a statement provided to CNET News.com. Sun Microsystems, which has lately been promoting Linux, says it is covered by its existing Unix licensing deals.
"(The license) allows Microsoft to leverage the fear, uncertainty and doubt that is moving around Linux," said Gordon Haff, an analyst at Illuminata. "This is a defensive move on the part of Microsoft, which isn't to say that the sales and marketing people won't take advantage of it."
Bruce Perens, who helped develop the Debian version of Linux and who is an unofficial spokesman for open-source programmers, said the licensing deal benefits Microsoft's anti-Linux stance and its attempt to foster fear, uncertainty and doubt--"FUD," in computing parlance--around Linux.
The deal also confirms his suspicion, he says, that the software giant has been a force behind SCO's legal push. Microsoft has denied that charge. "This benefits Microsoft more than anything else. Microsoft does a little Unix work, but not much," Perens said.
Who really benefits from this mess? Microsoft, whose involvement in getting a defeated Unix company to take on the missionary work of spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) about Linux is finally coming to light.Microsoft hardly needs an SCO source license. Its license payment to SCO is simply a good-looking way to pass along a bribe, coupled with an announcement designed to further intimidate Linux users. It's hard to imagine former Microsoft adversaries SCO and David Boies doing Bill Gates' bidding, but Microsoft's money is green. SCO stockholders should be asking questions.
The new provision will also give the company another weapon to take on Linux. Earlier this year, SCO Group alleged that some of its proprietary Unix code had been improperly incorporated into Linux. The Lindon, Utah-based company sued IBM over alleged misuse of its Linux code and sent letters to 1,500 Linux users warning of potential copyright infringement issues and other legal problems.With its new contract, Microsoft is effectively promising customers it will insulate them from those kind of messy legal problems.
In fact, Microsoft signed a licensing deal with SCO two months after the new indemnity provision went into effect, which will help insulate Microsoft customers from SCO actions.
"The whole IP thing is begging to get attention because it's not a scenario that existed in the past," Gates noted. "The SCO suit is largely related to trademark and copyright."Microsoft has not determined whether SCO's claims--that IBM misappropriated Unix Systems V code and donated it to the open-source community--are valid.
However, Gates said intellectual property from SCO and other companies--including Microsoft--has found its way into the code.
"There's no question that in cloning activities, IP from many, many companies, including Microsoft, is being used in open-source software," Gates said. "When people clone things, that often becomes unavoidable."
The Minimum Office XP requirements state 'Pentium 133 MHz machine'. In translation, this would probably be a machine used by a Windows 98SE user, which would require them to have 24 - 56 Megabytes of RAM, 375 Megabytes of Hard disk space, etc.The XP requirements for Office XP are much more interesting. 128-168 megabytes of memory and 325 megabytes of hard drive space.
Let's compare again with the OpenOffice requirements for XP and 98SE:
'Windows (98, NT, 2000, XP) - Pentium-compatible PC,64 MB RAM, 130 MB HD'.
Clear winner: OpenOffice.
Message board battlegrounds
TMF: MSFT (here's the action)
...but read this
and this
TMF: Tech Talk (conspicuously moribund)
TMF: DOJ vs MSFT (conspicuously moribund)
TMF: Expatriate MS Investors (they couldn't handle the truth)
alt.microsoft.sucks
comp.os.linux.advocacy
comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy
comp.security
misc.consumers
