__/ [ 7 ] on Saturday 27 January 2007 11:08 \__
> asstroturfer flatfish+++ wrote on behalf of micoshaft corporation:
>
>> On Fri, 26 Jan 2007 23:12:50 +0000, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>
>> What happened to boycotting novell?
>> What a hypocrite you are Roy Schestowitz.
>
>
> What is the name of your micoshaft supervisor that supervises
> your posts. As you are his bum boy, we need to talk with him
> about attacking micoshaft related companies.
You could probably find the responsible person (Gary's supervisor) by going
back to the OS/2 astroturfing days, when Microsoft was actually caught
_red-handed_ [1,2] for paying shills to post in forums. Much of the media is
too scared to mention these facts because, as Linux Journal said last week
[3], journalism with guts/venom is dead. It's all about sucking up to the
funding resource [4] .
[1]
,----[ Quote ]
| Long before it employed bloggers to do the job for it, Microsoft hired
| sympathetic members of the public to make its case in online forums,
| posing as disinterested citizens. Things got much more professional as
| the antitrust trial unfurled. After hiring DCI in the late 1990s,
| Microsoft created two new trade groups, the Association for Competitive
| Technology (ACT), and the Americans for Technology Leadership (ALT),
| and marshaled campaigns such as "Freedom to Innovate" - encouraging
| Windows users the chance to make spontaneous gestures of support for
| Chairman Bill.
|
| These weren't always too successful. A campaign in 2001 to petition 17
| state's Attorney Generals - who had pooled resources to bring their
| own antitrust action against Microsoft - resulted in supportive letters
| being written by dead people.
|
| And the astroturf taint continues today.
|
| Most recently, a spoof video portraying Al Gore as a Penguin was reported
| to have originated from a computer registered to the DCI Group, although
| the lobby group said it did not fund or approve the video.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/14/google_lobby/
[2]
,----[ Quote ]
| "Some years back, Microsoft practiced a lot of dirty tricks using
| online mavens to go into forums and create Web sites extolling the virtues
| of Windows over OS/2. They were dubbed the Microsoft Munchkins, and it
| was obvious who they were and what they were up to. But their numbers
| and energy (and they way they joined forces with nonaligned dummies who
| liked to pile on) proved too much for IBM marketers, and Windows wont
| he operating-system war through fifth-column tactics"
|
| Mr Dvorak wonders if Microsoft is today using reverse-dirty-tricks
| to promote the Xbox 360: pay people to create Web sites that slam the
| gaming computer in order to provoke a barrage of defenders.
`----
http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos/2005/11/2_grassroots_an.html
[3] What happened to the guts?
,----[ Quote ]
| Of one thing I am fairly certain. Microsoft all but eliminated
| mainstream software competition. As a result, Microsoft became
| the primary source of advertising revenue for mainstream publications.
| You don't bite the hand that feeds you. So instead of publishing
| issues calling for a worldwide boycott of Vista because it focuses
| more on what you can't do than what you can do, you see special
| editions praising Vista as the greatest advancement in computing
| since Windows 95. Granted we all know that Windows 95 was a dog
| from day one, but by the 90s, the mainstream press had already
| become rampant with Microsoft sycophants and they pushed Windows
| 95 like it was the second coming.
|
| [...]
|
| In short, I'd love to see a mainstream publication become an
| advocate for the consumer once again.
|
| As noted above, there are exceptions, including Linux Journal,
| most other FOSS-centered publications and even The Register.
| But we're the little guys.
`----
http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000173
[4] Bill Gates lends cash to buy newspapers - $350 million to MediaNews
,----[ Quote ]
| Gates involvement has been very behind the scenes. In fact many of
| those involved in the deal didn'teven know he was one of the investors.
| It was carried out through the Gates Foundation, the world's largest
| philanthropy outfit.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33849
--
List of candidate Microsoft astroturfers (directly or indirectly paid by
Microsoft to post in this newsgroup):
Larry Qualig (former Microsoft employee)
Scott Nudds (AKA Vistaking)
Erik Funkenbusch (formerly an anti-OS/2 astroturfer)
flatfish+++
Damian O'Leary (AKA Hadron Quark)
Nedd Ludd
Tim Smith
OK
DFS
Lintard
Terry
Ana Thema
Take everything posted by the individuals above with grain of salt.
|
|
