* Homer peremptorily fired off this memo:
> Joe Barr's understandably belligerent reaction:
>
> http://www.linux.com/articles/38081
Interesting:
After all, it was IBM who invented FUD. A classic example being the
sales call made by IBM on a customer considering another vendor. One
of the blue suits, sometime during the visit, would remark "I
certainly hope the talk about their (the competitor's) financial
difficulties is not true." If the customer asked for more details,
the salesman could simply apologize for his "slip of the tongue" and
change the topic. But whether the customer asked about it or not, a
seed of "fear, uncertainty, and doubt" about the possible
consequences of doing business with the competitor had been sown.
Microsoft took FUD to a whole 'nother level. Instead of using softly
whispered asides during sales calls, they hired shills to blare the
FUD over loudspeakers: Journalists, analysts, and astroturfing
surfers are all employed to that end. The list of victims of such FUD
attacks is too long to relate here. Let's just say that Novell
received a rather large settlement recently for the damage done to
DrDOS by Microsoft's FUD.
More history:
http://www.isham-research.co.uk/press.html
But Canopus is more than just Will Zachmann. More too than his
wonderful crew of sysops (Bruce Bierman, John Oellrich, and Ben Sano)
who slave to keep the threads in order and the flames to a simmer.
Bruce works for Microsoft, John for AT&T. This is not just a place
for OS/2 fanatics, Canopus has both Work Place Shills and Microsoft
Munchkins, but there are more fans of OS/2 there than you normally
find elsewhere.
http://www.pjprimer.com/slime.html
SLIME 1. Spin, Lies, and Insults by Microsoft Employees. The
extension of Microsoft's corporate ethic to online community.
One place that's been SLIME'd is Canopus, the forum on CompuServe
that had become my regular online habitat. At one time it was a
bastion of independent thought, consisting of contrary but
industry-wise regulars who were never afraid to criticize the
powerhouses in the industry, be they IBM or Microsoft or anybody
else.
. . .
I think the change began about the time Win95 debuted. For one thing,
honest debate and sincere conversation began to decline with the
arrival of Arnold Krueger. Whatever it is that brought him to
Canopus, or keeps him there, it is definitely not honest discourse.
Arnold is a one-man propaganda machine, boosting Win95 and dis'ing
everything else. He is the kind of guy who belongs in one of the
comp.os.___.advocacy newsgroups. And no where else. Since the first
day he arrived, his message has been simply this: Win95 is it, if you
don't use it you are stupid, if you computer won't run it, it's a
piece of crap.
Sound like anyone we know? In fact, if you keep reading, it becomes
even more obvious. Driving people out of the group, intoning TDNBW
("This Does Not Bode Well"), questioning credentials....
But this is the funniest one:
One unfortunate reality of Microsoft's reputation for dishonesty is
that its employees can immediately gain credibility by claiming not
to be MS employees. Steve Barkto and Bill Diamond are two of the best
known examples.
. . .
And spin he does. He is easily the most gifted liar the forum has
seen. He is not a buffoon-like bozo like Arnold Krueger who puts out
so much crap that it is laughable. No, Richard Shupak does it with
style. He mixes truth, fact, and bullshit in amounts calculated to
bring the most believability a spin-doctor can hope for. He uses
inuendo like a scalpel. Almost always his goal is to deceive.
More from Barr:
http://www.pjprimer.com/canopus.html
Two weeks ago a startling post by a Canadian Canopian claimed that
London Drugs, a chain of stores, had an agreement with Microsoft that
prohibited them from displaying OS/2 on their shelves. I knew it
couldn't be true. Microsoft is hard at work trying to have Sporkin
removed as the presiding judge at the hearings on their consent
decree. This sort of restraint of trade would blow up in their face
at just exactly the wrong time. Still, I decided to track it down.
I got the phone number for the store in Edmonton, Canada, and called
and asked for the computer department. Color me surprised when the
clerk told me that it was true, that they could not display Warp,
although they kept it in the stockroom and sold it on request. I
asked to speak to a manager. Said manager repeated the same thing,
that for 'certain considerations' from Microsoft, they kept OS/2 off
their shelves. This was too hot to hold for the next issue of
Tech-Connected, so I passed it on to a well-known and highly
respected newspaper man.
SLIME.
--
Your mode of life will be changed to EBCDIC.
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