"Roy Schestowitz" <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1963693.oY7mutY456@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> __/ [ Oliver Wong ] on Wednesday 11 October 2006 21:19 \__
>
>>
>> "Roy Schestowitz" <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>> news:19345845.ch8zNrmJSE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> Microsoft getting nuts! Awarding adware makers
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>> | One week after it named the creator of a Windows Messenger add-on to
>>> its
>>> | list of Most Valued Professionals (MVPs), Microsoft has revoked the
>>> award
>>> | after critics pointed out that the program is used to distribute
>>> | adware. Bottom line is, Microsoft is rewarding someone that has an
>>> | active involvement with one of the most maligned names in PC
>>> hijacking.
>>> | How can people trust their Vista security, if they give reward to
>>> | malware makers, spammers?
>>> `----
>>>
>>> http://bloggism.net/?p=109
>>
>> Isn't it obvious how unfair this criticism of Microsoft is? Some guy
>> wrote what seemed like valuable software. Microsoft praised them. Turns
>> out
>> the guy also writes malware. Microsoft chatises them. From this, how does
>> one deduce that "Microsoft rewards malware makers, spammers"?
>>
>> That's like saying SUSE condones murder, because they use ReiserFS,
>> as
>> the creator of ReiserFS is accused of murdering his wife.
>
> Firstly, see my subject line. It was by no mean deceitful.
I was complaining more about the author's phrasing than yours
("Microsoft rewards malware makers, spammer" being a slight modification of
the last phrase in the quote).
>
> Secondly, Novell had adopted ReisterFS /before/ that _possible_ incident.
> Microsoft awarded a guy /after/ he had done something wrong, which is
> negligent. I'd give them the benefit of the doubt, but bear in mind that
> it's pressure from the blogsphere that probably compelled MS to retract
> the
> award.
Yes, this is completely right. Microsoft rewarded the guy /after/ he had
done something wrong. But the way the author described it, it sounds like
Microsoft rewarded the guy /because/ he had done something wrong. I've no
doubt that the blogsphere compelled MS to retract the award. I can easily
imagine it went something as follows:
MS: Let's award this guy for creating useful software.
Blogsphere: LOL!!1! this guy is a spammer, MS is teh stup1d.
MS: Whoops. Our bad. We're retracting the award.
My point is that it's an honest mistake that anyone could have made.
Very few people are saints (in the non-religious sense), and have done
something wrong at some point in their life. It's fallacious to assume that
just because you praise someone for a specific action, you are also
implicitly praising all the "bad" things they've done.
- Oliver
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