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Microsoft's First Ad Targeting Linux

calx sent us a link to this image (mirrors please!) which appears to be Microsoft's first-ever ad directly against Linux. Not bad for an operating system that Microsoft claims is nothing to worry about. The ad essentially says not to trust Linux 'cuz it could mutate (it's actually pretty cool). Here's more information at LinuxToday. [Updated 19:51 GMT by timothy:] dicast threw this mirror onto the sacrificial fire, too.

356 comments

  1. Re:Hrm by dangerCoDe · · Score: 1

    Well, actually, I'm a german native.
    But I don't understand neither the german nor the english version :(

  2. Re:Morons... by kubalaa · · Score: 1

    You mean speciation? I don't know, it looks like the *cough* important parts of the penguins aren't changing. *grin*

    --

    "If you look 'round the table and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you." -- Quiz Show

  3. Re:Don't be smug by Pike · · Score: 2

    As many previous elections have shown, you don't need money if you have ABC, CNN, CBS, PBS, UPI and the New York Times on your side.

    -JD

  4. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by MisterMike · · Score: 1

    Care to elaborate? My interest is piqued as right now I can go to either platform based on an intermediate knowledge of both OS's

    --
    "Click My Computer on my Desktop? My Computer is on the floor under the desk."
  5. Re:Interesting translation by lazybeam · · Score: 1

    What happened to the LinuxToday article? It just says "This Story has been unposted". Anyone get a copy before this happened?

    --

    --
    --
    no sig for you. come back one year.
  6. Re:Mutate.. by Bushwacker · · Score: 1

    Flameboy, I'm hoome!

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    -----------------------------------------
    Perversely greped and groped by PowerPenguin
  7. Natural Selection by skallagrimsson · · Score: 3

    Mutation provides an opportunity to adapt to your environment. Usually, mutation is deleterious in organisms. However, sometimes mutation is beneficial and the organism finds a new niche and is very successful at exploiting this niche. Natural selection weeds out the negative mutations ... just like every distro of Linux isn't going to make it. At least Linux is evolving and adapting to its environment. Funny that the ad didn't talk about the forces of Genetic Drift ... where subgroups establish themselves outside of a larger population. This has the effect of eliminating alleles (all the different forms a particular gene may take) from a breeding population reducing diversity and probably survivability. I wonder if they are experiencing a nasty case of genetic drift which is reducing their talent base. Anyway, their is no way they are going to unseat SuSE in Germany ... not after it has turned into a point of national pride.

  8. Better version of picture by mvuijlst · · Score: 2
    Colour-corrected, patched together, text bleed from other pages removed -- in short: much improved version here. Rah rah Microsoft! Good one! Keep 'em coming!

    Michel Vuijlsteke
    Albania for King Zog Committee
    Microsoft Linux by 2002!

    1. Re:Better version of picture by mvuijlst · · Score: 1
      Oh yes, and a translated version too, if you should need one as a Windows background :)

      Michel Vuijlsteke
      Albania for King Zog Committee
      Microsoft Linux by 2002!

    2. Re:Better version of picture by Tony-A · · Score: 1

      Add some eyes (frog alread has some) and
      WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO TODAY?

  9. Microsoft made a BIG mistake!!! by Michael+Jennings · · Score: 1


    Does Microsoft REALLY want to get into a battle over operating systems with Linux/BSD?

    Microsoft has only ONE Public Relations department. Open Source Software has a million passionate advocates.

    Bill Gates and his partners lack street smarts. They don't see that this is a battle they can't win.

    Here is another example of Microsoft cluelessness: Microsoft did, and continues to do, things which attract the attention of the United States Department of Justice. Anyone with an understanding of conflict would not want to create such problems! 1) The DOJ has a literally endless amount of money. 2) Attacking Microsoft is much more fun than the jobs DOJ employees normally do. 3) There are people in the U.S. government who believe that killing people and destroying there property is a way to solve problems. (In the last 30 years the U.S. has bombed 11 countries!! If I counted correctly.)

  10. Re:Another mirror, and a better translation by Jagasian · · Score: 4

    "An open operating system does not only have advantages."

    "An open operating system can mutate many times. With Windows 2000 (service pack 2.1.3a stroke four with several additional undocumented manual registry fixes), however, all services are available from a single illegal monopoly. That can really frustrate you when security holes are left unpatched, and cost you when the greedy corporation wrips money from your pockets through the use of overly complex licensing agreements and upgrade plans."

  11. mirror by bennyg · · Score: 1
    1. Re:Mirror by Mike1024 · · Score: 1
      Hey,

      My Gimp enhanched copy kicks your weaselly "scratch removal" programs but dood.

      Aha, but I've got a bit of tail copy-and-pasted further down, removing the apparent break, and the reduced image size hides the inconsistencies.
      At the cost of some quality, I reduced the file size by 59% to uust 30,769 bytes over your 76,012 bytes. Mine also had a translation. And my HTML tags were right. And I remembered the www. on my website address (Your site didn't seem to diaplay without it).

      Your scratch removal is better though...

      Michael.

      ...another comment from Michael Tandy.

      --
      "Goodness me, how unlike the FBI to abuse the trust of the American public." -- The Onion
    2. Re:Mirror by poodlemaster · · Score: 1
      Dude

      My Gimp enhanched copy kicks your weaselly "scratch removal" programs but dood.

      Check http://carnagepro.com/pub/Misc/msad.jpg& lt;/a> for a manually done clone tool job, took all of three minutes. A little gamma correction helps too.

      OK the contest for the best pic fix is on ... Gentlemen start your ... Image SoftStuff and have a go ;).
      CC

      --
      Intellectual Property IS Theft.
  12. wait... by swifticus · · Score: 1

    where did microsoft get those mutant penguins anyway?

  13. Y.A.M. by BoBG · · Score: 1
  14. Re:When is it going to hit them? by Medgur · · Score: 1

    Sorry, I should have made it clearer that when I was referring to "we" I meant the general geek/nerd crowd, which this ad seems to be targeting.
    Of course, Windows is extremely frustrating for many 'leisure' users, and it seems the only reason they use it is because they don't know about the alternatives or they're afraid to give it a shot.
    How many times have I heard: "It's free? But isn't that illegal?"

    -Medgur

  15. Here's an idea!! by SuperDee · · Score: 1

    Listen folks, Linux will not win its battle with Microsoft unless the community fights back. After all, this ad is the very sort of thing that Microsoft proposed in the Halloween Documents. And the corporate world actually listens to things like this.

    I say the commercial champions of the Open Source/Linux community (i.e., Red Hat, VA Linux, Penguin Computing, etc.) should fight back by putting out ads that rebuke the point, by saying something like "The problem with Closed Source solutions like Windows 2000 is that they are tightly, centrally controlled, and the features you request or need cannot be added, unless Chairman Bill Says So." :-)

  16. This is the problem with Windows, not Linux by jetson123 · · Score: 5
    What about Windows? Right now, developing for Windows, I have to deal with Windows 95/98, ME, NT4, 2000, CE, and possibly still 3.1, all of which have come out over roughly the span of a decade. "Windows" has four almost completely different kernels (and I'm not even counting DOS). The Windows APIs have been mutating between Win16, various incompatible flavors of Win32, MFC, COM, COM+, ActiveX, and god knows what else. Microsoft cannot make up their mind whether they are going to support C++, Java, C#, VB, or something else.

    Linux follows in a long tradition of UNIX systems, and while they have never offered much in the way of binary compatibility, UNIX/Linux has always provided much more source-level compatibility among its implementations than any other multi-vendor OS. It has also, amazingly, offered much more source-level compatibility than Microsoft ever managed to offer among their own line of operating systems.

    Stable APIs and predictable evolution are one of the main reasons I choose Linux over Windows. Well-written code from 20 years ago still works just fine on Linux and takes full advantage of fast processors and large memories. If Microsoft wants to compete on this basis, they have to first reach that level of standardization of their own platforms. Until then, the best choice Windows programmers have is to insulate themselves from the haphazard nature of the Windows APIs and Microsoft corporate strategy by going with something like Java, wxWindows, or Delphi.

    Or, to put it differently, a penguin with rabbit ears is still a penguin. Microsoft has been producing a whole zoo instead.

    1. Re:This is the problem with Windows, not Linux by cculianu · · Score: 1
      dude, if someone had to come up with a counter-ad to the microsoft ad, your line:

      a penguin with rabbit ears is still a penguin. Microsoft has been producing a whole zoo instead.

      Would take the cake as the best counter-ad!!

  17. Re:M$ reminds us to pay up in Holland through ads by fortean · · Score: 1

    Actually, the Dutch Open Source Foundation (VOSN) (http://vereniging.opensource.nl) has issued
    that complaint. nl.linux.org is a VOSN member.

    And it's NOT for the record, rest assured.

    --
    Suuuomikkie Vinnouuven!
  18. Is Linux a threat ...? by The+Sith+Lord · · Score: 1

    I know it's late, but I'll post anyway =)

    How many times has Micro$oft claimed that Linux is NOT competition? Numerous times methinks, and yet they advertise about it.

    It truly is the lowest for of advertising when you're slandering your non competitor.

  19. Re:Penguin? by mdm42 · · Score: 1

    Looks to me like M$ have hooked up with the pro-GE foods crowd...

    --
    New mod option wanted: -1 DrunkenRambling
  20. Knocking copy is counterproductive by Paul+Johnson · · Score: 2
    This kind of advert is known as "knocking copy", at least over here. The advertising industry is of the opinion that it doesn't work. People automatically discount the intended message of "buy our product" because all adverts say that. But the advert carries another message as well, which is "we have a major competitor: check them out before you buy". This is actually a very good advert for Linux because it tells people that Linux is a major competitor to MS.

    Paul.

    --
    You are lost in a twisty maze of little standards, all different.
  21. Re:Advertising Rules by Chops · · Score: 1
    This is a deliberate advertising tactic... it's a kind of symbiosis. The thinking in brief is that if most of the commercials are saying either "X is better than Y" or "Y is better than X," then consumers will start to assume that X and Y are the best and second best products out there, and both products will encounter wild success.

    It was pioneered by some genius who was selling laundry detergent in the fifties or sixties... the dude simply had his one company make two different "brands" of detergent and bought ads for each of them advertising aggresively against the other. It worked like a charm, and he got rich.

    Kinda like the US elections, eh?

  22. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by scumdamn · · Score: 2

    95A, OSR1)Original retail release
    95B, OSR2)OEM only. Includes FAT32,
    95C, OSR2.1)Not sure. Either OSR/2 with Y2K fixes
    or the non-IE-doesn't-work fuck-you-DOJ version. Difficult to obtain.
    95D, OSR2.5)IE4.01 SP0. USB supplement.
    Oops on a few counts there:
    95 Gold was the original release. It's also the version sold as "Windows 95 Upgrade". No service packs, old IE, no Online Services, etc.
    95A/OSR1 includes Service Pack 1 which you can probably still find out there somewhere.
    Then OSR2 (without the USB suppliment on the CD.
    Then 2.1 which had a new IE and the /other/USB directory.
    That's the way I saw it go down.

  23. Re:Why mirror? by jamesm · · Score: 1

    Mirroring allows others to view it even if the original site gets slashdotted. Yes, it's probably copyright infringement.

  24. Treatise on Operating Systems... by Elgon · · Score: 1

    First some intro...

    I have two computers - a P120 laptop with 24M ram and a P166 desktop with 16M ram. Why? Because at the moment I am a poor student who can't afford a Beowulf Cluster to play Quake on. One runs Win95 the other Debian.

    The really great thing about things like Linux is that they are a choice based OS, you want a login shell, a text editor and a coupla device drivers? No problem. OTOH if you want several shells, more programming languages than you can shake a stick at, an MS Office clone without (hooo-fu***ng-ray) the paperclip from hell, bell whistles and three different kinds of knob, that isn't a problem either.

    This is where cumbersome implementations fall down there is little choice to have cross-platform uniformity and reasonable performance. You get the &ltsarcasm&gt perfect* &lt/sarcasm&gt operating system or nothing, there is no pick-and-choose.

    For my desktop I generally only ever use MS Word and Excel (which I must admit aren't bad) and Quake; on my laptop I like to do a bit of programmming in Perl and other assorted crufty things.

    Three cheers for Linus and Tux.

    Elgon

  25. Isn't linux designed that way? by Narmi · · Score: 4

    To mutate to your needs?

    1. Re:Isn't linux designed that way? by nachoman · · Score: 4

      I would have to disagree with the ad in general. It portrayed Windows as *NOT* mutating...

      Being a windows user for some time, I know that windows 2000 wasn't the first version of windows. Essentially first was DOS. then windows 1.0 -> 2.0 -> 3.0 -> 3.1 -> windows 95 -> windows 95 osr 2 -> windows 98 -> windows 98 SE -> windows ME. Also branched off from windows 3.1 came NT 3.5 -> NT 4.0 -> NT 5.0 (win 2k).

      Basically my point is if that's not mutation I don't know what is. Just as in linux you have to constantly upgrade your system to keep up, you have to do the same with windows as well to run the latest software.

      Some people complain that this is a bitch and it is if there is new software you need to run. You have to upgrade. But it doesn't matter if you are using windows 2000 or linux or anything else. They ALL mutate. This is just one of those simple facts in an ever changing market.

      On another note. Windows mutations are much more costly then Linux or FreeBSD...

    2. Re:Isn't linux designed that way? by falon · · Score: 1

      why has linux today uposted the article concerning the anti-linux add?

    3. Re:Isn't linux designed that way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There is no DLL hell in W2K. Compared to library management on Unix, W2K is very sweet indeed. Boundaries between user and system installed software exist on UNIX, as well. Pick up some real experience admining W2K before you spout off at the mouth. You're making Linux zealots look worse than they are.

    4. Re:Isn't linux designed that way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      At least Linux doesn't mutate like a rotting cancerous cyst that slows to a bloated halt in a blueish crawl up my monitor with a acute aching in my neck when work has to be done and the latest service packs and hotfixes has to be religiously applied in a specific order to included crap back on the machine that I never wanted.

      Windows just grows on me. Mutates into the spawn of saaaaaaaaaaatan.

    5. Re:Isn't linux designed that way? by was13 · · Score: 1

      The ad is pretty funny. It's too bad MS didn't use a quality tool like the Gimp to make the image a little more crisp and clear. Look like I'm looking through foggy glasses.

    6. Re:Isn't linux designed that way? by senfman · · Score: 1

      As soon as one of the Linux companies start an Advertisement campaign they might use the following as their slogan: Mutated to your needs

    7. Re:Isn't linux designed that way? by 1010011010 · · Score: 2

      DOS -> windows 1.0 -> 2.0 -> 3.0 -> 3.1 -> windows 95 -> windows 95 osr1 -> windows 95 osr 2 -> windows 98 -> windows 98 SE -> windows ME. Also, OS/2->OS/3->NT3.1->NT 3.5 -> NT 3.5.1-> NT 4.0 -> SP1->6-> NT 5.0 (win 2k) -> datacenter, server, professional, embedded. And don't forget wince. There's actually more versions of windows than Linux at the moment.

      ________________________________________

      --
      Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
    8. Re:Isn't linux designed that way? by MuteBorg · · Score: 1

      It is.

      We're Tux. You will be assimilated. All resistance is futile.

      Just reverse the order of the penguins in that picture, and it's just that way... The way we want...

    9. Re:Isn't linux designed that way? by 1010011010 · · Score: 2

      At least those DOS and Windows 1.0 apps will still run on Win98/NT

      Actually, most Windows 1.0 apps won't run right, even on Windwos 3.1, and a lot of DOS apps will not run right either, if at all. In fact, the dos version of warcraft will reliably hang NT, even from a non-privildged account, just by being executed.

      Most of the redhat releases were actually both binary and source compatible. Can't say that for even revisions of the same release of Windows.


      ________________________________________

      --
      Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
    10. Re:Isn't linux designed that way? by Kiss+the+Blade · · Score: 1

      'buzzword' is a buzzword. OOPS!

      --

      KTB:Lover, Poet, Artiste, Aesthete, Programmer.
      There is no

    11. Re:Isn't linux designed that way? by Hanno · · Score: 1

      That is just a bad scan, the ad looks better. I have a magazine with the original ad in front of me. In fact, the photo montage is quite well done. No reason to call for Gimp.

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      You may like my a cappella music
    12. Re:Isn't linux designed that way? by Hanno · · Score: 1

      Even better, I will call up the advertising agency on Monday (I work quite close to them) and ask them for a digital copy.

      ------------------

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      You may like my a cappella music
    13. Re:Isn't linux designed that way? by AndyL · · Score: 1

      We need to get someone to run the exact same ad with a pro-Linux caption.

      Might be some copyright issues of course.

  26. Morphf by Bushwacker · · Score: 1

    This brings M$'s fear of FreeSoftware to light more clearly. Obviously, they know the imporance and subsequent profitability of opensource software models, but are not willing to convert themselves, as moving to Free Software would be the biggest act of hypocracy in the modern computing era. I believe their logic is "If you can't beat 'em, delete 'em." Fortunately, in less than five years, 100% of AOLers will be running 'NIX (Now that's a scary thought...), so kudos to the hacker movement.
    If MicroSloth really thought their prouducts were that much better, they would never stoop down to this type of 'diss advertising'.

    --
    -----------------------------------------
    Perversely greped and groped by PowerPenguin
  27. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by shepd · · Score: 2

    >Anything previous to W95 is irrelevant cuz it wasnt useful to begin with.

    Will you say that about '95 in a decade?

    Windows 3.1 is STILL used at my college by teachers.

    >W95 compatible in all its incarnations.

    I _dare_ you to install the Windows '95 original compatible OPTi 924 soundcard drivers in a ME (or hell '98 or OSR2) box without going INSaNE. But they worked like a charm if you run windows '95 original. And yes, I am talking about the hottest, latest version of them.

    I also dare you to install my Epson Stylus Color printer driver provided by Epson for Win '95 on a newer W98/WME machine and see if you can get it working without screwing about with it. Yeah, I still use that printer. And the output STILL impresses people.

    And, to top it off, I ask if the original Trident 9440 W95 drivers work with new games in W98 (nope... no directX). But windows is fully compatible down the line, right?

    >NT is NT all the way down the line.

    Can I use a Windows NT 3.5 driver in NT 2000 and have a hope in hell of things working? Nope. I tried with my Cyrix MediaGX audio drivers. For Windows NT 3.5 _only_. Can't get them to work in 2000. Period. But the icons in the system manager (or whatever you call it) look nice... :-)

    --
    If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
  28. Admission by Mike_K · · Score: 1

    Is it me or does this ad admit that open operating systems have advantages?

    m

    1. Re:Admission by Tony-A · · Score: 1

      What do YOU want to do today?

    2. Re:Admission by Uncle+Butthead · · Score: 1

      I think it's a test ad for Corel Linux.

      --
      I'm not an idiot! I'm the village Halfwit
  29. Mutate.. by dane23 · · Score: 1

    If by "Mutate" they mean "Get Better", then their right.

    --


    Warning! Keep Out of Eyes! Wash Out with Water! Don't Drink Soap! Dilute! Dilute!
    1. Re:Mutate.. by dattaway · · Score: 2

      I prefer to think of it as evolution in action. 'nuff said.

    2. Re:Mutate.. by Black+Parrot · · Score: 2

      > I prefer to think of it as evolution in action.

      That's why billyg is pooping his pants. That cute little penguin is mutating into a 900-pound gorilla.

      And there ain't room for two 900-lb gorillas on the block.

      --
      Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
  30. CLEARER, ORIGINAL PIC by tomcrooze · · Score: 2
    Here's the original in all its glory, and it's been cleared up and color balanced.

    1. Re:CLEARER, ORIGINAL PIC by Hanno · · Score: 2

      Hmm. Your alternative scan shows two seperate pages. I have also tried to do another scan and it looks a bit better than yours:

      http://www.geocities.com/msadscan/

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      You may like my a cappella music
    2. Re:CLEARER, ORIGINAL PIC by Coolfish · · Score: 1

      Fewf, I think we can all relax. It's obviously a hoax - the words don't make any sense. I have a feeling they just made a bunch of words up and drew a funny looking picture.

    3. Re:CLEARER, ORIGINAL PIC by frost22 · · Score: 1
      Fewf, I think we can all relax. It's obviously a hoax - the words don't make any sense. I have a feeling they just made a bunch of words up and drew a funny looking picture.
      You are an ignorant d#+*&#%$.

      The text is perfectly legible - you are just too dense to recognisze that there are languages in the world you don't understand.

      FWIW, the ad text is German.

      f.
      --
      ...and here I stand, with all my lore, poor fool, no wiser than before.
  31. Tactical Attack for Anti-trust case by Zalgon+26+McGee · · Score: 5
    Microsoft needs to demonstrate real competitors for their upcoming appeal, to get Jackson's ruling altered or dismissed. Running ads attacking Linux will let MS say "See, there is a credible threat to us."

    I don't think MS is scared of Linux, but they are scared of the courts. This ad is directed to the courts, not towards consumers.

    --

    ---

    Book(n): Utensil used to pass time while waiting for the TV repairman

    1. Re:Tactical Attack for Anti-trust case by scrytch · · Score: 2

      > Microsoft can't point to /current/ competetors, but only to competetors during the period in question (when Linux most deffinately was NOT one)

      I wouldn't be so sure ... showing that there is credible competition would almost certainly affect the length and severity of continuing remedies, such as divestiture.

      --
      I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
    2. Re:Tactical Attack for Anti-trust case by Crutcher · · Score: 2

      Well, no, not really.
      Microsoft can't point to /current/ competetors, but only to competetors during the period in question (when Linux most deffinately was NOT one)

      -- Crutcher --
      #include <disclaimer.h>

      --

      -- Crutcher --
      #include <disclaimer.h>
    3. Re:Tactical Attack for Anti-trust case by RAruler · · Score: 2

      The ad was done in Germany, so I doubt it carries much meaning to the Judicial system in the States.

      ---

      --

      --
      Insert Witty Sig Here
    4. Re:Tactical Attack for Anti-trust case by gimpboy · · Score: 1

      i think the logic could look something like this...

      if ms was a monopoly how could competition have risen? ie if they had total control of the market how could this other operating system be posing a threat now (without any govt intervention).
      just a thought.

      john

      --
      -- john
    5. Re:Tactical Attack for Anti-trust case by giggls · · Score: 1

      Come on guy, we are talking about the german
      branch of Microsoft. And there is no such thing
      as an antytrust case over here in europe!

    6. Re:Tactical Attack for Anti-trust case by cHALiTO · · Score: 1

      very simple. Linux is free and open, and is written by lots of people around the globe, with no financial interests. this was the only way to 'compete' with ms. competing with a commercial OS, is plain stupid. (note that redhat and other big linux corps. were possible only after the development of the linux kernel, the gnu tools, etc. if linus and company wouldn't have done their stuff, companies like that wouldn't exist)

      please excuse my poor english.

      --
      "Luck is my middle name," said Rincewind, indistinctly. "Mind you, my first name is Bad." -- Terry Pratchett
  32. Re:Linux: The Big GA? by QuMa · · Score: 1

    Patches appear, patches get used, patches die out.
    forks appear, forks get used, forks die out.

    Seems like natural selection to me. Anyways, where you trying to imply linus isn't natural? :-)

  33. Mirror by chris88 · · Score: 2

    http://chris.upnix.com/msad.jpg

  34. Funny thing is... by Hellen+Back · · Score: 1

    ...sometimes you need small, flightless waterfowl with a really long nose to get the job done.

  35. mirror by meatspray · · Score: 1

    http://www.meatspray.com/images/msad.jpg

  36. Re:Mutate? 95x by ^_^x · · Score: 1

    Yeah, well I don't mean to sound to inflammatory here, but much like a fool running Linux will get nohting out of it, a fool running Windows will end up toasting their PC, then blaming it on something else.

    My copy of Windows 95 at home has been installed since... about early 1996. Granted, I've moved the hard drive across to another PC, and installed the drivers for it, but I've never had to reinstall.

    At work, I did a fresh install of Win98 about 10 months ago. Still running great.

    A Mac-user friend of mine tells me that MacOS 7 decays over about 4 months of heavy use, but that's the only case I've heard.

  37. Re:Doesn't matter... by Raistlin99 · · Score: 1

    I happened to have a trident card lying around and installed it on my win98 box. They installed without a problem.

    --
    I/O, I/O, its off to disk I go, with a read and a write, and a bit and a byte, I/O, I/O, I/O, I/O
  38. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by Raistlin99 · · Score: 1

    Actually you could run winNT 4.0 on PPC hardware

    --
    I/O, I/O, its off to disk I go, with a read and a write, and a bit and a byte, I/O, I/O, I/O, I/O
  39. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by jms · · Score: 2

    The difference is that each version of Windows breaks the previous generation of application software, while each generation of Linux supports the previous generation of application software.

    Put THAT in the ad!

  40. linux could mutate by do!omite · · Score: 1
    I read on MSN that linux was a socialist manifest designed to rob capitolists from their due income.

    And then there was Corel...

    /d

    Fix?

    --
    **********
    If it says "Troll" on this post,
    I successfully annoyed a nerd herd! :)
  41. Re:Advertising Rules by Tuzanor · · Score: 1

    i've seen just as many coke ads with pepsi in them...

  42. Re:Oh well, just submitted it myself by TWX_the_Linux_Zealot · · Score: 1

    The only thing I don't do with my Linux boxen that I could with the M$ ones is gaming, and that's because the games haven't been ported yet. I also don't reboot my computers unless the power goes out, so downtime if I'm serving content to someone is not a problem either. So, don't come griping to me about Windows being a better choice, because it all matters from the implementation. If I want to play most of the games that I like, I have to load Windows. If I want to do anything else, I use Linux, or another UNIX variant. If I am going to be serving public content I won't even think about Microsoft, because the closest to a good server platform they ever got was Xenix...

    --

    IBM had PL/1, with syntax worse than JOSS,
    And everywhere the language went, it was a total loss...
  43. Here's a better scan by Hanno · · Score: 2

    I will sacrifice a boxfull of Microsoft cd's at the gun range if you can scan in your copy.

    Here you are. Enjoy:

    http://www.geocities.com/msadscan/

    ------------------

    --

    ------------------
    You may like my a cappella music
  44. Now is the time to be smug by Anne+Marie · · Score: 5

    Look, the whole MS v. Linux feud has been going on for quite some time now (publicly since the Halloween documents, and privately since at least 1995). But whereas Microsoft is publicly showing its dedication to this relationship, showing they're willing to go the extra mile to keep the love burning, what have we done? What have we contributed?

    Nothing. That's right: nothing. We're like spoiled kids unable to grasp the fundamentals of longterm relationships: communication and a willingness to share responsibilities and efforts equally between the two parties. They throw the antitrust case for us, but what have we done in return? We didn't even thank them. Pretty soon, Microsoft will stop speaking to us at all, maybe crash at a friend's house and start running up therapy bills with their suicidal thoughts and deppressional motivations.

    Linux needs Microsoft the way Laverne needs Shirley. Without them, our drive for excellence will atrophy, just as theirs did when our relationship started petering out years ago. Why do we even make the pretense of a relationship at all? We should sever our ties and free Microsoft to pursue their old flames again, like that Apple fellow.

    But unless we can take that drastic step (and I don't think we can, since we're so accustomed to the emotional security that comes form an abusive and dysfunctional relationship), then we have to start contributing again. Let's reaffirm our love by sabatoging the 2.4 kernel. I realize Redhat's been trying to help with their Redhat7 bugs, but this is a responsibility we have to assume ourselves. At the very least, we must slow down development a little, get a big smug attitude of victory and give Microsoft a chance to catch up.

    Unless we do, it may spell the end of a beautiful relationship.

    --
    -- Anne Marie
    1. Re:Now is the time to be smug by quietlysubversive · · Score: 1

      Yes, I happen to know sig, and they (Anne Marie and Signal11) are one and the same.

      --
      ----(o)----
    2. Re:Now is the time to be smug by rawhyde · · Score: 1

      1. You err because: Linux is not in competition with Microsoft (M$). Some Linux advocates might have that perception, but there is no competition. M$ cannot stifle Linux. There are more people worldwide working on Linux every day and improving it than who work in all of M$. Linux gets better and better faster and faster. M$ is experiencing fear, uncertainty and doubt first hand, and that is what they are trying to associate with Linux in this ad. I find it amusing when I read reports about Linux marketshare vs M$ because Linux does not have a "marketshare." RedHat or Mandrake might, but Linux itself does not. M$ can malign it and make it out to be a lessor alternative in any way they like, but then cannot make it go away and they cannot keep it from becoming better. I think it typical that the M$ marketing response would be to suggest unsubstantiated hypotheses as a detterent to using free Linux (Forks!-UNIX forked, but its various versions are still in wide use) as opposed to buying in to the M$ lie and being caught in an upgrade/patch-bait-and-switch-buy-the-new-version cycle. I would hope that the various Linux distributors would print a similar ad pointing out the built-in obselesence of M$ OS's as demonstrated by the use of "model" years in the naming schemes. The gist: LINUX GETS BETTER AND BETTER, M$ CANNOT STOP IT. 2. You err because: "Let's reaffirm our love by sabatoging the 2.4 kernel" Unproductive thought! Let's try to hurt something you purport to love by sabotaging it. How are you going to do that anyway. Why would that cross your mind? If there are bugs, clean them up and move on. 3. You err because: "Linux needs Microsoft the way Laverne needs Shirley." Linux and Open Source will proceed right on as they have since before M$ and the attendant and pandering media discovered them. M$ should proceeed in whatever manner they deem best to their stockholders. Linux development is in no way tied to or need be responsive to that. The whole principle is to maintain and improve an OS that is freely available to anyone who would like to use it. No inherent competition there. I hope Bill Gates has tried it himself ("Uh, well they don't have the "Abort, Retry, Ignore" feature, do they...). 4. You err because: You seem to tie Linux's general acceptance and/or its "marketshare" in comparison with M$'s with its success. Your whole perception of what Linux represents is in error. Linux is not about being on all desktops or stealing "marketshare" from other OS's. Linux is about being a freely available OS that is continually improving by contributions from its user community. If this is perceived as a threat by those who have business to lose (M$, et al) because of it, all I can suggest to them (if they care) is that they step up their own efforts (Perhaps they should try to mimic Apple's success with the iMac line by selling Windows in hip-colored boxes) to improve their product. Linux makes stride after stride irrespective of "marketshare", and I don't expect that trend to stop. 5. I err because: I write this on a Windows machine. M$ has about 1/3 of my "marketshare" due to where I work. I intend to do everything I can to remedy that in a positive way. Note: I appreciate your views and applaud your Linux/OS advocacy, but we're not talking religion here (or are we?)...

  45. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by TheAncientHacker · · Score: 1
    Being even more picky.

    Windows 3.0 had real, standard and enhanced

    Windows 3.1 had standard and enhanced

    Windows 3.11 was just a bug fix

    Windows for Workgroups 3.1 added networking

    Windows for Workgroups 3.11 added new features

  46. trust by dwyn · · Score: 1

    "If you trust Microsoft, then Windows is right for you"
    -- Me, October 2000

  47. MS Germany by senfman · · Score: 3

    As many of you know Microsoft Germany is a separate company which completely belongs to Micorsoft Inc.
    There are some reasons to think, that this ad was published without having Microsoft in USA know something about it. The people who are responsible for the german advertisement at MS Germany, work at a german company. You'll see this difference if you'll compare the German ads with the US. There are also some differences on the Web between microsoft.com and microsoft.com/germany. Knowing this, I think, that there might be some problems for MS Germany and Richard Roy, CEO of MS Germany, who will propably have some problems within next days, problems with Microsoft in USA and problems with the customers worldwide.

  48. Celebrate, Just Celebrate! by eastern · · Score: 1

    I think everyone who's been involved in the creation and evolution (even as a user) of all Open Source software should mark this day in their calendars and celebrate it every year as The Day We Arrived. This is a historic day--the day the other guy blinked for the first time. The war isn't over by any means, but the enemy can see the way it's going. Congratulations, everyone.

    1. Re:Celebrate, Just Celebrate! by eastern · · Score: 1

      I'll ignore the bait, but when you say that 'people should use whatever is best for the job at hand' you are implicitly saying that most (or many, or at least a reasonable percentage) have a meaningful choice. If you look around at real homes and offices at people actually using computers, you can't fail to notice that most don't. And even an idiot can see the role Microsoft plays in prohibiting real choice. There is a cause: it is to get closer to a situation where people do actually have at least a fighting chance to use whatever is best for the job at hand.

    2. Re:Celebrate, Just Celebrate! by King+of+the+World · · Score: 1
      Oh what bullshit.

      If Microsoft could kill Linux and OSS they would. They would do anything to disrupt Linux's market/mind share - this is normal - they're a business.

      But they're not friends to Linux and OSS, don't forget that - they are devious little bastards with different goals and they'll do anything legal or illegal to get on top.

      Linux/OSS may not be directly battling Microsoft - but MS bashes OSS regularly and it's normal to react scornfully.

      Now this "bring you out of your silly Linux is god induced haze slapity slap slap" is being thrown about too lightly. Anyone saying that 'open source/free software' is an effective development model gets this kind of response.

      Which, however funny, is getting a little old AC.

  49. Mutation by nigelb0 · · Score: 1

    'cuz it could mutate... into several OS's each with the same (base) name. Seems very much like Windows.

  50. Re:Oh well, just submitted it myself by ErikSev · · Score: 1

    wonder why they don't target the actual Linux disadvantages where Windows is a better choice - which any level-headed Linux user will admit exist..."

    That's not the MS Style, and actually it's smart here. Any specific disadvantages addressed, the community is sure to respond to quickly. Ease of use? KDE2 and GNOME. Shitty web browser? Mozilla and Konqueror. etc. Instead they just spread FUD and try to turn the public against us in general.

    Erik

  51. This is a good thing... by commandant · · Score: 1

    It shows that Microsoft is quaking in its buggy boots about "that insignificant operating system." If it's dangerous to the user, and unimportant to the market, why stoop down to knock it?

    They've just made themselves look worse than before. If they had been smart, they would have withheld the ad, and only knocked Linux in press conferences when reporters explicitly asked about it. The response could have been a quick, "Well, we don't feel Linux is a viable alternative to Windows, so we don't pay enough attention to it to be able to answer your question." There it is, straight from Microsoft, that Linux is no big deal.

    But now, it's so important that Microsoft has to employ FUD tactics. The cycle is beginning: FUD->Embrace->Extend->Suffocate. Next we'll see a few "MGPL" programs, which is the "Microsoft General Public License". Next, they'll clone Linux, maybe calling it "MNL" for "Microsoft is not Linux". Once MNL is the standard Linux system (which they'll see to by flooding the market), they'll migrate everybody to MS Windows2010.

    It is always reassuring to know that even your enemies regard your tools and significant. We're no longer invisible.

    I do not belong in the spam.redirect.de domain.

    1. Re:This is a good thing... by Fervent · · Score: 2
      I wouldn't say "quaking". I would say "understanding". The now know that Linux has become a threat since Joe Luser has started purchasing boxed copies of RedHat (boosting the Linux user base to an "amazing"... *cough*... 3-4% of the user populace).

      They now know it's a little chiuana yapping at it's heels. Best to kick the little bugger away.

      --

      - I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.

  52. Re:Someone needs to design a linux advert.... by nachoman · · Score: 1

    I don't think we really need to respond to this as much as you say. I think this article itself is great advertising for linux. Microsoft is saying it's a good operating system but ours is better. They wouldn't even bother doing counter-advertising if it wasn't anything to worry about.

    People are starting to know that there are alternatives to windows.

  53. StarOffice OS??? by doublem · · Score: 2

    Point 1. Most users don't know the difference between Word and the OS.

    Point 2. Most users will NEVER know the difference between the OS and the Office products they use.

    I don't have the programming skill to make this happen, but why not create a Linux Kernel that just loads up into a customized StarOffice (Now that it's open source?)

    The Office Appliance. Give it the ability to log into Netware, Unik and other Servers and you'll have exactly what most desktop users actually want.

    Why not? Heck, most /. ers could slap together a demo within 24 hours of reading this post!

    --
    "Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
  54. Re:Someone needs to design a linux advert.... by Anonymous+Bullard · · Score: 2

    We don't need to respond to MS "in kind" - just let them keep the low ground they've taken.

    Instead, the Linux luminaries in Germany (and elsewhere) should gear up for a PR campaign to highlight Linux's natural evolution and "survival of the fittest" versus Microsoft's commercial dictatorship of computing infrastructure.

    Let's take the high ground and thank MS for publicizing Linux's versatility.

    --

    Should invading one's peaceful neighbours be opposed, or rewarded with trade deals?

  55. Uhhhh... by Knunov · · Score: 1

    Why would Tux need to build an igloo? He's a penguin...

    Knunov

    --
    Why do users with IDs under 100,000 or over 700,000 usually have the most worthwhile comments?
  56. Re:Someone needs to design a linux advert.... by Zorikin · · Score: 1

    Yep,Windows NT (broken), Windows 95 (broken as well), Windows 2000 (also broken) and Windows ME (still broken).

    And while I'm at it:

    New Computer: $1000
    O'Reilly Book: $35
    Distro CD: $2

    The Look on the Face of Your MCSE Buddy When He Notices Your Uptime Monitor: priceless.

    There are some things money can't buy. Things like Linux.

  57. Interesting translation by langed · · Score: 2
    I punched the German into Babelfish before I read the article.Hmm.

    Babelfish: an open operating system does not only have predivide
    LinuxToday: "An open operating system does not just have advantages"

    Babelfish: An open operating system can mutate mail. With Windows 2000 however there are all services and services from a hand. That thus really saves time and for cash. More information under www.microsoft.com/germany/windows2000
    LinuxToday: "An open operating system sometimes just mutates. Instead Windows 2000 offers all services from a single source. This saves time and consequently really money. More info under www.microsoft.com/germany/windows2000"

    Babelfish implies that Linux can mutate your mail? Where's this thing about advantages? I don't see the word advantages anywhere in the babelfish translation.... Hrmph. Sounds like propagandizing from LinuxToday to me.

    But I still agree, the changes to the penguin make it a direct attack on Linux.
    I'm just surprised they didn't make it a little more accurate and put the BSD daemon's head on Tux, instead of a frog head... IMHO it would have been more accurate, since the linux sources often comment about stuff that was a direct port of BSD code...

    1. Re:Interesting translation by charon.de · · Score: 1

      It's absolutly no propagandizing from LinuxToday. Just the correct translation. Perhaps they have someone handy who doesn't need to use something like babelfish. You shouldn't trust babelfish. Most time babelfishs translation is just worse a laugh, special german/english, if you read them as native german with some knowledge of your language...:-)

      In my understanding they don't name Linux or any distro, because that kind of advertising isn't allowed in germany and you could be sued if you try and perhaps M$ wouldn't like it at the moment.

      EU has an eye on M$ and more and more people are starting to mention what kind of crap Bill G. is selling for big bugs, no matter how "Advanced" he calls it.

      Michael

  58. Rebuttal by smack_attack · · Score: 1

    Linux - Your Operating system should adapt to your company... not the other way around. I relenquish this idea to the OSS community, just give me credit for it :)

  59. Mirror by Mike1024 · · Score: 2
    Hey,

    My mirror is up at http://www.btinternet.com/~Micha el. Tandy/msad.jpg. I've run it through a scratch removal program I've been working on to get rid of the center line, optimised the image and put on Booker's translation.

    Michael

    ...another comment from Michael Tandy.

    --
    "Goodness me, how unlike the FBI to abuse the trust of the American public." -- The Onion
  60. MS's coders may be stupid; their lawyers aren't. by Entropius · · Score: 1

    If you were a MS lawyer/policymaker and wanted to avoid being labelled an unfair monopoly, what would you do? By letting Linux or any other OS gain a significant niche market (by not FUD'ing it to death), without surrendering their stranglehold on the hard drives of the illiterate (the people who blindly upgrade their versions of Office), they can say, "Look, competition is rising against us" in court. Of course, MS knows that they're never going to let that competition get big enough to hurt them... ...or so they hope...

  61. Morons... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3

    I swear... you guys are morons... What the ad MEANS is that the different "flavors" of Linux are becoming so dissimilar that soon they'll all be incompatible with each other...

    aardWolf

  62. Re:Fake? by Hanno · · Score: 2

    Of course C'T also said that OS/2 Warp was by far the dominant OS in Germany and would kill Windows.

    Well, I am sure you can give me the source for that quote. I read this magazine since 1990 and haven't read any such claim in it.

    They've got a history of "Anything But Microsoft" even longer than Peterely.

    Again, give me the quote. If c't was anti-Microsoft, it wouldn't have that many Windows-related articles, don't you think?

    ------------------

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    You may like my a cappella music
  63. Doesn't matter... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    What it shows is that compatibility was not maintained very well between the various versions of Windows. That supports the earlier post that was disputed. It doesn't make a bit of difference what the hardware is, if the drivers for one version of windows don't work with another version of windows, the windows versions are not compatible.

    1. Re:Doesn't matter... by shepd · · Score: 1

      >The USB backport dosn't work with kernel 2.0.4

      Since when did Microsoft have a "kernel 2.0.4"?

      We are talking MICROSOFT WINDOWS, not LINUX.

      Stay on track. Don't derail the conversation.

      --
      If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
    2. Re:Doesn't matter... by shepd · · Score: 1

      >It shows nothing that isnt equally applicable to Linux

      Big Deal. You are trying to sidetrack us by comparing Apples to ROCKS. Linux is NOT a Windows version. We are discussing windows here, NOT LINUX.

      >Why is my anecdotal evidence any weaker than yours?

      Because you don't provide what is in these machines. For all I know they are just Pentium motherboards, P233 processors, an NE2000 network card, and an ISA ATI basic VGA original video card.

      I gave SPECIFIC and REPRODUCIBLE examples. You give the example:

      A "computer" I own works with all sorts of windows.

      I gave the example:

      The "Trident 9440 video card original drivers" doesn't work properly with windows 98.

      Now, to make it obvious:

      You:

      The "thing" destroyed something with those thingies.

      Me:

      The "Linux Penguin Called Tux" beat the Windows 95 logo to bits with its wings.

      See the difference? It's in the details.

      --
      If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
    3. Re:Doesn't matter... by LordNimon · · Score: 1
      It shows nothing that isnt equally applicable to Linux.

      And that's the whole point! The MS advertisement makes it look like Linux is the only OS with this problem, but it's a problem that also all versions of Windows have.

      No one has ever claimed that Linux doesn't have this problem. But it's equally false to say that Windows doesn't have it either.
      --

      --
      And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
      To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
  64. Ghandi said: by Jeff+Tranter · · Score: 5

    First, they ignore you.
    Then they laugh at you.
    Then they fight you.
    Then you win.
    - Mahatma Ghandi

    1. Re:Ghandi said: by cronio · · Score: 1

      Just the ones with funny foreign names.

      --


      My plan is to pimp before they realize I'm a jackass. Hit 'em hard and fast.
    2. Re:Ghandi said: by grappler · · Score: 1

      Judging by the ad, we are in the "laugh at you" stage (giving M$ the benefit of the doubt)


      -------

      --
      Vidi, Vici, Veni
    3. Re:Ghandi said: by Mr_Ceebs · · Score: 1

      So are they laughing at us or fighting us?

    4. Re:Ghandi said: by thogard · · Score: 1

      Ghandi vs Gandhi. Could it be that being born in South Africa and living in India could have resulted in at least two "english" spellings of his name?

    5. Re:Ghandi said: by cculianu · · Score: 1
      Hey meathead. Gandhi, or GHANDI, are both valid spellings as his name probably is a HINDU name, which is spelled with A HINDU SCRIPT THAT BEARS NO RESEMBLENCE to your precious ROMAN ALPHABET!!

      -Calin

    6. Re:Ghandi said: by jesser · · Score: 1
      this page is funny anyway.

      --

      --
      The shareholder is always right.
  65. Mirror by Dan+Van+Derveer · · Score: 1

    I made 2 mirrors of that image at: http://cyberkni.hypermart.net/images/msad.jpg and http://cyberkni.peon.net/images/msad.jpg While your there check out my site and CueHack. Dan

    --
    Dan Van Derveer aka. Cyber Knightmare http://cyberkni.peon.net or http://cyberkni.hypermart.net
  66. Mutated offspring by PeglaPalic · · Score: 2

    Linux, tsk tsk, all those distro's make you feel dizzy? Keep it simple, just choose between Windows 98, Windows Millenium, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows Whistler, Windows 2000 datacenter, Windows 2000 applications Center, Windows 2000 server, Windows 2000 advanced server....sir sir, are you still awake?

  67. Re:Advertising Rules by Hanno · · Score: 2

    That used to be true, but not anymore. If your ad contains a factual claim about your competitor's product, you can now mention that product.

    ------------------

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    You may like my a cappella music
  68. Windoze Mutates Too by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 2

    The real interesting side should be trying to get a good old fashion Windows 2.0 or even 3.0 program to run under Windows 2000, without any mods. I am sure that most will break. Thus proving that Microsoft is also bashing itself.
    The real issue is that if you upgrade Linux, (most if not) all open source apps running on it will upgrade for FREE. I don't see Microsoft offering to upgrade my old versions of Word and Excel, that no longer work, for free.
    I am wondering why nobody has pointed this out? What ever Microsoft says against Linux can be applied to Microsofts own products, every time.

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    1. Re:Windoze Mutates Too by Stephen+Samuel · · Score: 2

      Wintendos does not mutate.
      It has multiple evolutionary paths.
      `ø,,ø`ø,,ø!

      --
      Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
  69. Re:When is it going to hit them? by alprazolam · · Score: 1

    this is a pretty weak troll, good enough a year ago but probably not today. besides since when are average users the market? they don't buy shit. corporations, now thats where the money is

  70. Re:Someone needs to design a linux advert.... by radar+bunny · · Score: 1

    No, what would be really cool would be a parody with four identical windows in a row, each one broken.

    with tux standing around holding a snowball??

    --
    "I mean, All you can definately say about a fellow who thinks he's a poached egg, is; He's in the minority." James Burke
  71. Re:Mutate? 95x by phutureboy · · Score: 2

    W2K ate my balls.

    --

  72. Mirrored, with translation by Quartus.net · · Score: 2
  73. Re:Evolution by Zorikin · · Score: 1

    penguinmon, digivolve to ... penguindeerfrogmon!

  74. har, har, har... by JBv · · Score: 1

    My linux has mutated into a carnivore. It is eating windows together with a very nice WINE.

  75. I thought about it... by Tomcat666 · · Score: 2

    ... and I created a nice image against Micro$oft. Try this. Fight the closed source. Fight the ever-the-same OS.

    --
    Two Worlds - One Sun [Spirit]
    1. Re:I thought about it... by Tomcat666 · · Score: 1

      You're right.

      But now that Micro$oft was successful with their Windows system, made much money (and thus supported American and World Economy) and brought home computing to all of us (your argument), they can't just go and say Linux was bad because it's open-source.

      You're totally right (and yes, I do only have Windows on my PC), Micro$oft did a lot for me. But they can't just try to kill Linux now.

      --
      Two Worlds - One Sun [Spirit]
  76. Re:Forks and such by cluening · · Score: 1

    Oops, you're correct. I shouldn't have equated the open source idea coupled with a penguin to linux specifically. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen all three together before that ad. Perhaps somebody should give the idea of a penguin mascot to Linus so he can make the ad pertain to his baby...

    Also, it was rather foolish of me to think they would sell both NT and 9x as desktop OSes. Nobody has ever seen NT on anything but a server; what was I thinking?

    --
    Posted from the wireless couch.
  77. time saving by wurstfreund · · Score: 1

    Bei windows 2000 hingegen gibt es alle Services und Dienste aus einer Hand.
    >das spart zeit und wirklich geld
    this is ridiculous. in one sentence they say that everything comes out of one hand, and without explanation they claim in the next that this saves time and money. this is classic FUD. it's tantamount to the socialist answer to government (we can be more efficient if all the choices are taken away! honest!). i have yet to see an example where closing things up like this produces positive results. it's competition among the different linux distros that makes the overall linux package they present easier to use, saving the corporate buyer time in learning how to use the thing, and money in that regard, but also there's saved money just from the competition itself, for the purchased product. (i could mention that distros can also be gratis, but this isn't going to make the kind of people this ad is directed toward want it).

    1. Re:time saving by wurstfreund · · Score: 1

      the first sentence there is also a quote. my finger must have hiccuped.

  78. Re:Mutate? 95x by dattaway · · Score: 2
  79. nuther mirror by el_guapo · · Score: 1

    http://www.straightpoop.org/mirrors/msad.jpg 128kbs only tho'

    --
    mas cerveza, por favor politically incorrect stu
  80. Re: Someone needs to design a linux advert.... by Michael+Jennings · · Score: 1


    Yes!!

    Graphics people: Let's make our own ad!

  81. This begs the simple question ... by mrBoB · · Score: 1

    I wonder why this ad is first appearing overseas? I guess M$haft doesn't want to find out the hard way they've offended thousands of CEO's here in the States as to their new IT stragegy embracing openness.

    bob

  82. Re:When is it going to hit them? by kfg · · Score: 1

    You are right sir. What they want is to pay hundreds for their operating system, then pick out and pay hundreds to thousands more for all their apps, then download all the patches and service packs, and then have to do it all over again in two years or less when it's all obsoleted by artificial means which breaks all their existing apps and forces them to rewrite all custom code.

    I can certainly see why the average consumer prefers this consumer and user friendly model.

    Much better than the Linux System where you can either, at * your choice * go to the store and buy RedHat or Mandrake for 30 bucks which INCLUDES all the apps and documentation that most people will ever want, or buy a ripped copy of Red Hat or Mandrake perfectly legally for less than 5 bucks that is identical to the "official" version, or have a friend, again perfectly legally GIVE you a copy, or download a copy directly from the official distribution web page for free. Get patches and updates on a regular basis, either by going out and getting them yourself or joining a mailing list that just sends them to you, and never spending * another dime * for software.

    Install it faster than Windows, very likely with LESS trouble than installing Windows, have it work when you turn it on, and have it KEEP working damn near forever.

    Yeah, that model really sucks. People won't go for it.

  83. Forks and such by cluening · · Score: 1

    You know, I've seen more Windows forks than Linux forks. So far, I only know of one official Linux kernel. However, I know of a few (NT and 95/98 for starters, maybe CE and such too) Windows kernels. I would think people should be more afraid of Windows suddenly changing on them and making things incompatable...

    --
    Posted from the wireless couch.
  84. Re:You are right! Meanwhile *nix/Apache rule the n by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    MS-DOS works if all you need is to post inanities on slashdot.

  85. Re:Someone needs to design a linux advert.... by obscurity · · Score: 1

    > A picture of some shattered windows, caption, "Sure windows is stable..."

    "...because you can't fall over when you're already on the floor."

    (or did you mean 'stable' as in 'knee deep in shit' ?)


    --

    --
    obscurity.

    "Only the great masters of style ever succeed in being obscure." - Oscar Wilde.

  86. Re:Yet Another Mirror by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1
  87. The thing that MS can't understand... by Entropius · · Score: 1

    ... is not the "change" part. They understand change. What they don't understand is decentralized change: evolution, if you want to call it that. See, up at MS, Mr. Chief Software Architect Gates directs the direction that the mutations will take: "hey, let's stick IE into windows and slow down everyone who for some reason does fileops from a GUI." In contrast, the decision-making process for open-source software is more distributed. MS just doesn't understand how decisions can be made when there's not one person holding the reins.

    Taking this a step further, all corporations seem to be scared of decentralization. Decentralization, of course, is the thing that the Net is built on, and it's wonderful... but the corporations want to move things more and more to centralized models. I don't think they have some hidden agenda to control more and more facets of operation (well, other than MS and a few others); they just don't 'get' the concept of decentralization, partly because the corporate power structure is based on centralization. (even though the concept of stockholding is a decentralized one, someone with 10 shares of MS stock doesn't get even a tiny piece of power.)

    -Entropius
    What do you get when you multiply six by nine?

  88. ObGandhiQuote... by otis+wildflower · · Score: 3

    ... Seriously, considering that Office sales are down and they're relying on investment jiggery-pokery for their last quarter, I believe we're starting to see the beginning of the decline. Profits from operations are down significantly. And they can't get into the really nice high-margin part of the tech biz, inegration and services consulting, since their customers are that industry and M$ would never survive.. M$ has a >US$300B market cap for what is essentially a one-trick pony (software) and is not diversified across as many lines of business as a traditional corp like GE, IBM, etc. This is fine when everyone needs that one trick, but what happens when it's no longer enough?

    Micro$oft is built on a very large strong pillar, but it's only _one_ pillar, and the morlocks are starting to get thru the outer layers, and they're not going to stop. The only question is, how long before the jackhammers are done?

    Note also what they're doing with their cash. Buying back stock, while a good thing for the price, is not what a growth company is supposed to do.. It's a sign of maturity, and M$ multiples are based on growth not value.. It means that they can't find a more profitable thing to do with the cash besides let it earn interest.. What's next? Dividends?

    Microsoft .NET will be their Rambus, and possibly even their PS/2..

    Your Working Boy,

  89. Re:Actually... by wurstfreund · · Score: 1

    that's why it was printed in german.

  90. funkadelic.net - Mirror by fliplap · · Score: 1

    http://www.funkadelic.net/msad.jpg

  91. Re:Another mirror, and loose translation by wurstfreund · · Score: 1

    i prefer the strict method of translation. this is perfect accurate. you folks can decide for yourself what they mean by this.

  92. Don't be smug by metis · · Score: 3

    M$ might be worried, and linux is certainly with its serious advantages. But that is not a reason to be smug about it. M$ can dedicate huge amount of money to hurt linux, and as the coming election shows, you don't need to have substance to win if you have enough money.

    So how about some ideas for defense strategies?

    --
    -- look, cheese ahoy!
    1. Re:Don't be smug by kinnunen · · Score: 2
      M$ can dedicate huge amount of money to hurt linux, and as the coming election shows, you don't need to have substance to win if you have enough money.

      To win what? Market share? I can only speak for myself, but I for one wont be loosing any sleep if some dotcom decides to use Win2K instead of Linux for their e-bussiness thing. It's not like Microsoft can buy Linux and then tell me that I can't use it, and that is really all I care about.

      You don't like my OS for reason XYZ? Fine, no harm done.

      --

  93. Re:Advertising Rules by webrunner · · Score: 2

    It might be why they're not number one.
    ----

    --
    ADVENTURERS! - ANTIHERO FOR HIRE - CARDMASTER CONFLICT
  94. mutant penguins might be what you need... by Raleel · · Score: 2

    The irony of this is that any reasonable system administrator knows that you don't use a hammer to screw in something. that is to say, you don't use an inappropriate solution to a problem. Shoehorning in an MS solution when a Linux solution will work just as well, and cost less up front is often important. It also works the other way around, if you have no one who is willing to learn Linux.

    --
    -- Who is the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him? --
  95. Bill gates farts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Slashdot news at 11.

  96. Re:Answer: it already has. by MrBogus · · Score: 2

    So the solution for MS is to downplay that advantage and try to turn it into a disadvantage, at least in the eyes of people who see their advertisements.

    Note that's it's pretty much forbidden in advertising to admit your competitor has any advantages whatsoever, unless those advantages are widely accepted by the audience.

    Which means that advantages of Open Source Software must be pretty well understood in Germany, otherwise MS's ironic FUDing of those advantages into a disavantage wouldn't have much affect. I can't see them running an ad in the US like that (where there really isn't a wide understanding of the implications of open software other than the extremely low price).

    As a general comment, the mutatable nature of Linux is percieved as a potential disadvantage all the time here on Slashdot. People here are always fretting that the big distros are becoming more Windows-like, that KDE/Gnome is going to force desktop bloat down their gullets, that GUI admin tools are going to take their beloved commandline prowness away, and so on. Microsoft just put a funny image on a fear that many Linux users already have.

    --

    When I hear the word 'innovation', I reach for my pistol.
  97. Hrm by Timmythec · · Score: 1

    Ich denke, daß dieses mehr Linux ist, das BS liebt, erhalten über ihm Sie dumme Dummköpfe

    Translation: I think this is more Linux loving BS, get over it you stupid fools.

    --
    -TimmyC, Tech Guru
  98. Re: Yes they are by Mar_Garina · · Score: 1

    I think that they ARE afraid of Linux. Sure they're not afraid that it'd take over their HOME users, which Linux isn't easy-to-use enough for this, but Linux has already taken a big part of the internet servers, And I'm sure that they really want to rule on this area, with their w2k.

  99. Then again... by Rew190 · · Score: 2

    "Not bad for an operating system that Microsoft claims is nothing to worry about." Then again, CmdrTaco, we've seen plenty of anti-Microsoft ads coming from different Linux sources, but we don't sit here pointing at every one of them and saying "Since Linux is superior they shouldn't be worried about Microsoft." Let's try to be at least a little subjective.

    1. Re:Then again... by Derek+Pomery · · Score: 1

      Of course the Linux community is Microsoft bashing. We have a teensy tiny market share. That's why we're worried about M$ FUD and all that fun stuff.
      BTW, why don't you spellcheck your .sig?

      --
      -- perl -e'print pack"H*","6e656d6f406d38792e6f7267"' /. ate my old sig. Bastards.
  100. SuSE by Kiss+the+Blade · · Score: 1

    It's interesting that an advert of this type should appear in Germany first. Is SuSE proportionately more popular there than, say, Red Hat in America? Or are they using Germany as some sort of test bed? Or is their German Marketing department 'off message'?

    --

    KTB:Lover, Poet, Artiste, Aesthete, Programmer.
    There is no

    1. Re:SuSE by Mar_Garina · · Score: 1

      If so, they should have done this ad with a mutating chamaelon :)

    2. Re:SuSE by mikeb · · Score: 1

      SuSe *is* hugely popular in Germany. Though many Americans will find it hard to believe, SuSE is approximately as big as Red Hat, and if I remember the figures correctly, substantially more solvent on a month-on-month basis. Linux overall is a significant force in the German market and it would not suprise me at all to find that this is the first bit of Microsoft to start to panic. Most German IS managers are technologists and are consequently still capable of deciding what to buy on rational grounds rather than just following `the market'. Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Telekom are huge users of Linux. Market penetration in the rest of Europe is patchy - strong in Scandinavia, lamentable in the UK - but we know that IBM see Germany as the first likely market to reject Microsoft at the server end, and in part that is why their recent Linux-focused ads have come out. That said, I am still surprised to see this weak and tacky ad - I bet someone will get a very nasty phone call from Redmond soon - but it doesn't surprise me to see the jitters set in at Microsoft Germany first of all, that would be the natural place. Stereotypes apart, my experience of Germany is that engineering excellence gets a much higher priority that in most of the rest of the world. Unix and Linux are the natural choice when your workforce is intelligent and educated. I just wish I could get more of their beer in the UK. Anyone reading this able to export Weissbier and Weisswurst please? Forget the pretzels, I can get them here. Mike

    3. Re:SuSE by cowbutt · · Score: 1
      Based on the opinions from my German colleagues, I get the impression that Linux (SuSE particularly, duh...) is very popular in Germany.

      Maybe this is because the Germans that I have dealt with have always been happy to RTFM /before/ calling support...

      In fact, since my UK employer merged with a German company, our management has been much more amenable to Linux- and Open Source-based solutions. This can only be a good thing.

    4. Re:SuSE by bbcat · · Score: 1

      We can find SuSE here in the stores but not
      everyone carries SuSE. I have to drive 75 miles
      to the Grand Rapids CompUSA to find it.
      The local Walmart only carries Mandrake Linux
      and Staples carries Mandrake, Corel, RedHat,
      FreeBSD and Open Linux.

      Since I found that www.chumbo.com always
      carry it I don't bother with the local store.

      I tried it by curiosity after reading a few
      German posts and I think that if more people
      in the US knew about SuSE, it could very well
      outsell all the other Linux distributions.

      The only problem I had in the past with SuSE
      was it's poor support of French which is now
      excellent and as good if not better than
      Mandrake's, without the frequent core dumps.
      What is lacking in SuSE is a better support of
      Gnome which I think is far superior to KDE.

    5. Re:SuSE by discore · · Score: 2

      Very interesting idea. I'm quite curious about that myself. Being a loyal SuSE whore and all =)
      My guess is that it's about the same. Unless Germans, or other Europeans, use Linux more than the US.

  101. What we need ... by SimplyCosmic · · Score: 1
    What we need is more advertising of alternate operating system choices to the masses, or at least the masses that have control over company purchasing (ie PHB's).

    I'm not calling for ads that say Linux/*BSD necessarily better than Windows2000, but that IT departments should use the best tool for the job. The alternate OS's happen to be that best tool in a majority of these cases, yet aren't always even looked at.

    Advertising Linux so far has pretty much consisted of preaching to the choir. We need to get our message across to the eyes of those people, many of whom aren't in our camp, who make the decisions to buy all the Microsoft products at our companies, schools and other organizitions, not because it's the best tool for the job, but because they don't really understand that there's a choice in the matter.

    Ah well ... back in the THIS reality ...

  102. Re:Someone needs to design a linux advert.... by Z4rd0Z · · Score: 1

    The design work has already been done. All someone needs to do is change the text to say "Linux...it evolves along with you"

    --
    You had me at "dicks fuck assholes".
  103. Penguin? by Drone-X · · Score: 1

    Hmm, that first animal doesn't seem to be a penguin too. Perhaps they tried to draw the BSD daemon.

    1. Re:Penguin? by dlb · · Score: 1

      And what about it makes it not look like a penguin??

  104. Answer: it already has. by dboyles · · Score: 4

    Microsoft realizes that one of the primary advantages of Linux is its ability to mutate into specialized versions. Microsoft has also realized that their current and potential customers know about this advantage of OSS. But Windows isn't going to change to be more like Linux; in reality, it can't because it is proprietary. So the solution for MS is to downplay that advantage and try to turn it into a disadvantage, at least in the eyes of people who see their advertisements.

    If you didn't know anything about OSS and the passion behind it, you might think that it's foolish to rely on a bunch of programmers scattered around the world for your business software needs. After all, there's no real accountability. This is what MS is trying to play off of. But those who are "in the biz," to use the parlance of our times, know that OSS ironically has better reliability and abundant support, despite not being centralized.

    --
    -- "Complacency is a far more dangerous attitude than outrage." -Naomi Littlebear
    1. Re:Answer: it already has. by dboyles · · Score: 2

      As a general comment, the mutatable nature of Linux is percieved as a potential disadvantage all the time here on Slashdot. People here are always fretting that the big distros are becoming more Windows-like, that KDE/Gnome is going to force desktop bloat down their gullets, that GUI admin tools are going to take their beloved commandline prowness away, and so on. Microsoft just put a funny image on a fear that many Linux users already have.

      You're right, I think the belief that Linux is somehow going downhill is certainly prevalent here on Slashdot. Part of it has to do with commercialization (most notably Red Hat), and part of it with the prevalence and focus on developing GUIs. Is it just me or does it seem like every time something gets popular the folks who have been there from the beginning start proclaiming its death? What some people fail to realize is that the "hardcore" aspect of Linux will live on.

      I think it's kind of funny that MS's ad could essentially changed to a pro-Linux ad by interchanging the word "mutate" (with a negative connotation) to "evolve."

      --
      -- "Complacency is a far more dangerous attitude than outrage." -Naomi Littlebear
  105. Darwin by DNAspark99 · · Score: 1

    Isn't it the first basic law of nature that what DOESN'T "mutate", or rather adapt, will eventually become extinct?

    --

    --
    Society has traditionally always tried to find scapegoats for its problems. Well, here I am.
    1. Re:Darwin by Lurker · · Score: 1

      Isn't it the first basic law of nature that what DOESN'T "mutate", or rather adapt, will eventually become extinct?

      Not so sure about that. If you happen to be perfectly suited to your niche, there is no selection pressure to change. Look at sharks, for example. Essentially unchanged for millions of years. Why? Because they are highly optimized killing machines that swim. They are very, very good at what they do. I'm trying to think of something similar in the tech world....um....pencils?

  106. This ad is great! by TrentC · · Score: 1

    This is my new desktop wallpaper on my NT terminal at work!

    Jay (=

  107. Re:Advertising Rules by tao · · Score: 1

    Uhmmm. Maybe because their product isn't as good as the original?!

    Not that this is relevant here anyway. But I think Microsoft is slowly but inevitably digging their own grave. Not just by attacking Linux, but because they don't realise that most people, including the US DoJ is getting pretty much fed up with their business practices.

  108. where is the mutant penguin... by laxrox · · Score: 1

    ...with the red hat?

  109. Open & Closed by yesnocancel · · Score: 1
    "An open OS has not only advantages"

    So I guess a closed OS has no advantages, then?

    Btw, it's nice to see that MS *is* scared of Linux and considers it a serious competition, because they now know they have to improve and adapt Windows or fall behind.

    --

    --

    --
    Misspellings and grammatical errors in this document are intellectual property of the author.

  110. Re:Advertising Rules by DickBreath · · Score: 1

    The way I heard it, if you're one of the leaders in the field (i.e. Coke), you don't mention your competitors.

    If someone else is more a leader than you (i.e. Pepsi), it's okay to mention the competitor in advertising.

    --

    I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  111. another Mirror by gimpboy · · Score: 1
    --
    -- john
    1. Re:another Mirror by wesmills · · Score: 2
      Yet another:

      http://www.wyvern.org/images/msad.jpg

      (Crusin' at +2 today)

      ---

  112. Found a neat parody! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I found a neat parody at http://www.linuxpower.cx/linuxad.jpg.

  113. Linux: The Big GA? by Penrif · · Score: 2

    Um, that's an interesting thought... Could Linux just be concidered a big, human run, genetic algorithem (GA)? I mean, you got a large population of kernels when you concider the large amount of 3rd party patches out there. The good ones make it into the leading product by surviving a test (Linus) and the rest get thrown back into a pool. Mutation. Yum.

  114. Re:Bad Move by Alex+Belits · · Score: 1

    As for central control: this explains why a.) Soviet housing was superior to housing in the west, b.) migration from NT to W2K is painless. (Both false, of course. Just spoke with someone whose application/site went down for two weeks after migrating from NT to W2K.

    Believe it or not, as a person who moved from xSU to US in 1993 I can confirm that most of Soviet apartment buildings were superior to almost anything available at any reasonable cost in US. The reason was the fact that cost cutting at the expense of quality and durability was absolutely pointless in the economy where government paid for everything, so while extreme luxury was unavailable, and nothing was obtainable fast, reasonable quality was maintained. In Gomel, Belarus my family (me + parents + grandparents) lived in an apartment with two living rooms, two bedrooms, large kitchen, separate bathroom and tiolet, in nice-looking, clean, 9-floors all-concrete building with central heating, working ventilation system in kitchen (that had nothing to do with windows or heating), large windows with two layers of glass in separate frames, and two balconies in both living rooms. In US my parents and grandparents live in a "standard" wooden frame+panels house (parents call dry walls "cardboard", as they are not accustomed to walls shaking and making hollow sounds when something falls on them) with more space yet less convenience, and I rent one-bedroom apartment in SF Bay Area, with the second worst heating system that I have seen in my life, ventilation implemented by myself by placing a temporary fan into half-open window, and barely usable kitchen. Of course, both my rent and parents' mortgage far exceed anything that ever was paid by Soviet government for apartment in Gomel, however apparently american economy produces vast majority most of things at the worst level of quality that can be tolerated by consumers without causing large number of those consumers to start making things by themselves.

    Wait, now I get it, that applies to operating systems, too.

    --
    Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
  115. Re: Yes they are by Zico · · Score: 1
    Actually, Linux hasn't taken away anything from Microsoft's server market, Linux has just been successful at draining resources from Microsoft's competitors -- SGI and SCO for example, helping Microsoft to kill them off.

    Cheers,

  116. I bet... by Mr_Icon · · Score: 2

    That's what Grandpa-dinosaurs told their grandkid-dinosaurs millions of years ago about mammals.

    "Just yer look at 'em darn mammals. Nothin' but darned mutated bests, if yer ask me."

    Sorry, MS, I believe that's called evolution.

    --
    If you open yourself to the foo, You and foo become one.
  117. Re:Mutate? 95x by Sakke · · Score: 1

    hmm. win98 needs to be reinstalled about once a month because it just refuses to start up.

    and about this ad; i think it shows a bit bad taste from microsoft and it proves that in the long run they have started to think linux is a threat - but i think not very soon, and the dreaded truth is that linux will never conquer the desktop from windows. but who knows; i might be wrong. we'll see.

    --
    ound the message used repetitively over and over still nothing grows silen
  118. mirror by pavo · · Score: 2

    http://www.unwin.org/~joshua/msad.jpg

  119. Mirror (US - MD) by SuperJ · · Score: 1
    --

    Sheepdot: Open Source good, Closed Source baaaaaaad!

  120. Here's a mirror by Prolog-X · · Score: 2

    At Virtual Avenue. I don't know how long it will hold up, but get it while you can.

  121. Funny by tinic · · Score: 1

    I think the ad is funny and well done. Not that I take the message serious though, Debian will stay on my machine for some time to come...

    1. Re:Funny by dattaway · · Score: 2

      I liked the ad enough to set it as the root image on my gnome desktop. Its too absurd to be truth, but funny. Kind of like Mr. Gates' video testimony.

  122. Re: Yes they are by KnightStalker · · Score: 1

    About a month and a half ago I moved my institution's web site from NT/Netscape Server to Linux/Apache. Of course, Microsoft will still claim it as a purchased license, but at least in this case Linux took one small bit away from M$'s server market :-)

    --
    * And remember, it's spelled N-e-t-s-c-a-p-e, but it's pronounced "Mozilla."
  123. Someone needs to design a linux advert.... by Jakdaw · · Score: 3

    I'm no artist... but someone really needs to draw an advert to respond to this. How about starting with a Microsoft logo at Richmond, then one in the desert somewhere (all shrivled up because it couldn't adapt to the environment).

    Then maybe one in the cold.... and one in space?? (Microsoft logo just expolded!).

    Draw Tux along side having found a sunhat, built and igloo & made a space suit!

    1. Re:Someone needs to design a linux advert.... by bwalling · · Score: 1

      There are some things money can't buy. Things like Linux

      That's your ad right there. Show several large software packages that were bought by competitors along with how much was paid for them (and potentially how they went to hell). Then, remind people that Open Source software can't be bought and run into the ground.

    2. Re:Someone needs to design a linux advert.... by MACC · · Score: 2

      No, it should be based more on the BORG Theme.
      Someone sitting at a Win PC and then getting
      changed to something like the Slash BillofBorg.
      Or a couple of People( Private Home, Office personel ..) , judiciously borgified, with a fitting caption!
      Win3.11 user: about as far gone as 7of9 in her later appearances
      Win2k user: completely gone

    3. Re:Someone needs to design a linux advert.... by Hanno · · Score: 1

      Hey, I like that idea. :-)

      ------------------

      --

      ------------------
      You may like my a cappella music
    4. Re:Someone needs to design a linux advert.... by obscurity · · Score: 3

      No, what would be really cool would be a parody with four identical windows
      in a row, each one broken.
      --

      --
      obscurity.

      "Only the great masters of style ever succeed in being obscure." - Oscar Wilde.

    5. Re:Someone needs to design a linux advert.... by OpenGLFan · · Score: 1

      Nahh -- Linux is accused of being a mutant, so we should play on that. Didn't the X-Men movie prove to the general populus that mutants can run faster, fly, and wield adamantium claws? I'm unfamiliar with GIMP heavy wizardry, but I'm sure a suitable penguin in (suitably modified, to avoid the suits) X-Men garb might be apropos . . .

  124. Subliminal Advertising? by Cy+Guy · · Score: 2

    Is it just me, or does the pig/elephant penguin look just a little too much like its wearing a gas mask. Especially for an ad in German (not thet German are bad, but German soldiers in gas masks make me nervous). Do you think it is intended to bring up visions of Linux stormtroopers marching in to take away our rights, like the "Right to Innovate"?

    1. Re:Subliminal Advertising? by Gothmolly · · Score: 1

      No, that's a stupid idea.

      --
      I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
  125. Not quite. by jcr · · Score: 1

    Bacteria, after all, are robust life forms.

    -jcr

    --
    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  126. Vini, vidi... by Napalm · · Score: 1

    After seeing the pic, I've remembered a phrase, "First, they ignore you. Second, they notice you. Third, they became bothered with your existence. Fourth, they fight against you. Then you won". Seems we are close now, but there's something nobody has answered me yet. Is that announce made by Micro or by Soft?

  127. Re:At Gun Point by Syowr · · Score: 1

    oh no a troll!!! eeep!

  128. it�s real by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ive seen it. i had no chance to see it in the ct magazine, but it also appeared in the IT
    buisiness newspaper called 'Computerwoche' (engl. Computerweek.
    very large scale and full color. bye

  129. Mirror by Caine · · Score: 1

    The image is mirrored here.

  130. At Gun Point by Syowr · · Score: 1

    WHOO HOO WE ARE A REALLY THREAT!!
    (yes the spelling is intentional)
    Now who would consider the Linux community odd??
    The Mega Corp that we all love to hate points its marketing guns at us and we cheer!
    Oh well the only people who will belive the MS marketing are people who likely would never use Linux anyhow... Or perhaps those morons in middle management...

  131. Re:Mutate. by RickHunter · · Score: 1

    Yeah, this add is really, really out of place. Remember that back around the turn of the century, Germany was where a lot of the "the strong adapt and survive" philosophies that sprung off of the idea of evolution started and took hold. I know things have changed a lot since then, but I'm assuming that a lot of the really basic society stuff is still the same.... If so, isn't this ad like shooting yourself in the foot?


    -RickHunter
  132. Mutate. by clinko · · Score: 2

    "An open operating system sometimes just mutates. Instead Windows 2000 offers all services from a single source. This saves time and consequently really money. More info under www.microsoft.com/germany/windows2000"

    I think the proper word is evolve. If an animal doesn't evolve to accept its surroundings it will die. Germans must be stupid or something.

    1. Re:Mutate. by Hanno · · Score: 2

      Well, Microsoft Germany used the word mutate. But hey, they are MS employees.

      That doesn't actually speak against Germans in general, I guess.

      ------------------

      --

      ------------------
      You may like my a cappella music
    2. Re:Mutate. by Q-Hack! · · Score: 2

      I wouldn't call Germans stupid... They are responsible for Suse, which I think is better that most distros.

      Now if you had said "Microsoft must be stupid" I would belive you ;-)

      --
      Some days I get the sinking feeling Orwell was an optimist.
  133. I actually didn't mind this ad terribly... by Glowing+Fish · · Score: 2

    While M$ could have quoted some made up statistics, or given a bullshit spiel of marketese, or talked about how M$ was "forging the future with partnerships for innovation", they actually thought up something (somewhat) clever, or at least tried to.

    And if this was a Slashdot post, it could easily be modified up as +1 (funny) as well as -1 (flamebait)

    --
    Hopefully I didn't put any [] around my words.
  134. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by vsync64 · · Score: 1
    Did you have a point to make?

    ~ $ make point
    make: *** No rule to make target `point'. Stop.

    Apparently not...

    --
    TO BUY A NEW CAR WOULD MAKE YOU SEXUALLY ATTRACTIVE.
  135. That's got to be the worst ad I've ever seen by Kaufmann · · Score: 2

    No, really. I think MS Germany should get some heavy reprehension from the headquarters about this. Damn! Do they really think this'll convince anyone with this? It's really stupid!

    --
    To the editors: your English is as bad as your Perl. Please go back to grade school.
  136. When is it going to hit them? by Medgur · · Score: 4

    When is Microsoft, and other closed source advocates, going to realize that this is the whole point of an open operating system? The people using these don't want feature overkill, for security and speed reasons. It seems natural then that they'd drift to an open kernel. What you don't like you can just opt out. Can you do that with, say, Win2k? To a limited (severly) extent.
    Infact, this ad may be counter productive for Microsoft - it seems to be advertising just what we want, that Linux is a customizable, diverse OS, and that if the maintainers dissappear, it will still be extendable and updatable. If Microsoft goes down in a great ball of litigation, who's going to provide support for all the Win2K boxes out there? Even more important, will there still be support for them in 5 years time, even if Microsoft survives?
    I think not.

    -Medgur

    1. Re:When is it going to hit them? by dencarl · · Score: 1

      Germany has recognized in the past that Open Source is the way to go.
      But later they backed down. Too bad, really.

      Maybe Microsoft knows it's in for a fight there.

    2. Re:When is it going to hit them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      When will all of the linux advocats out there realize that the majority of average users (the ones that spend the most money, and thus the market), don't care what OS they run, or how adaptible it is, or how you can make your own modifcations to the source code, or how you can run 2000 different window managers, or have an up time of 34 years, or it's free to download (not free to get at the store), or any of the tons of other things that people think will make linux overcome a commercial beast like windows. They just want something that turns on when they hit the power button and stays out of the way. And they do want everything included, they don't want to spend their preciuos time/money going out to get addons, that if they went with another software came all as one. Linux is good for techies, but for the real world, it's far off. And btw, the more people try to make it mainstream, the more they fall into windows mold, thus making all of linux's pluses go away, so you can't really win.

  137. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by Wonko+the+Sane · · Score: 1
    Not to be picky but...

    3.0 had real mode and standard mode
    3.1 added enhanced mode and removed real mode
    Windows 3.11 and Windows for WOrkgroups 3.11 were different products. (Win 3.11 was an upgrade to Win 3.1 with a few minor bug fixes and new drivers WFW 3.11 had networking support)

    Now, can you list all the versions in the MS-DOS 6 product line including the differences between them and any lawsuits that might be relevant?

  138. mirrors and stuff by rootrider · · Score: 1
    This has been Microsoft's argument against the *nix OS's for a while now. I attended a sort of preview session for Windows 2000 near Seattle last December and had the opportunity to ask the presenter "Why would I want to use NT5 over a *nix OS?". The answer (almost as though it was planned -- probably did just that) was something like "because NT is easier to use and is consistent with how it works".. etc, etc. So, obviously, this is MS' main defense against Linux... "it's too flexible!!" :)

    Anyway, I've mirrored the ad over at FPN: http://floach.pimpin.net/msad.jpg


    --
    Joel D. Parker
    [ r o o t r i d e r ]
  139. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by mallie_mcg · · Score: 1

    Windows 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1 (real mode), 3.1 (standard mode), 3.1 (enhanced mode), 3.11 (aka Windows for Workgroups), 95a, 95b, CE, 98, 98SE, ME, NT3.5, NT3.51, NT4.0, NT Workstation, 2000 (aka NT5), and of course, Bob

    Ahhh yes, but that is mutating where YOU want to go today, ummm hang on a second, make that where you are TOLD to go today.

    Speaking of mutation, this is sooooo funny. A little story of how windows got virtual mem, i dont know if it has been posted before. I think that the guy should join the linux crew.


    How every version of MICROS~1 Windows(TM) comes to exist.

    --


    Do the following really mean anything? SCSA MCP CCSA CCNA
    --I'm not actually after an answer!
  140. translation by Heraklit · · Score: 1

    an open operating system does not only have advantages

    An open operating system can very well mutate some time. As opposed, with Windows 2000 you get all services from one (hand|person|organization). Thus, you save time - and thereby really save money. More information at www.microsoft.com/...

  141. LinuxToday "Unposted" the story -- Why? by Alpha+Prime · · Score: 1

    When you go to the LinuxToday site you get:

    This Story has been unposted.
    2000-10-22 03:23:33 UTC (0 Talkback[s]) (27377 reads)

    Huh?

  142. I don't understand... by JensR · · Score: 1

    ... what they are advertising. Linux has more variation ? Windows has less freedom ?

  143. Re:Another mirror, and loose translation by orabidoo · · Score: 2

    be surprised then, because it really is... the word for word translation would be: "an open operating system has not only advantages".

  144. Re:fast mirror! sorry, this time it works... by ebola-zaire · · Score: 1

    whoops, slash mangled my link. this time it works
    http://www.c-60.org/msad.jpg

  145. A loose translation... by Tiburana · · Score: 2
    "ein offenes betriebssystem hat nicht nur vorteile" basically means "an open-source system has no advantages."

    The text in the corner says: "An open-source system can mutate each time. Going with Windows 2000 you have all programs and services at hand. This saves time and, truly, some money. More information is available at www.microsoft.com/germany/windows2000"

    1. Re:A loose translation... by tinic · · Score: 1

      "ein offenes betriebssystem hat nicht nur vorteile" translates into "an open-source system has NOT ONLY advantages." So they admit it has advantages.

  146. Another mirror, and loose translation by Booker · · Score: 5
    here

    "An open operating system does not only have advantages."

    "An open operating system can mutate many times. With Windows 2000, however, all services are available from a single hand.(?) That can really save you time and money."

    Or something like that... :)


    ---

    1. Re:Another mirror, and loose translation by orabidoo · · Score: 2

      Is it me, or did Micros~1 just admit in public that Linux has considerable advantages? I mean, how else could they be saying that it doesn't *only* have advantages?

  147. Re:Mutate? 95x by sjames · · Score: 2

    Why does every discussion about Linux vs Windows degenerate to Linux vs 95? Could it be because most of you have never even tried an NT like W2K?

    Probably because There's a lot more '95 and '98 out there than NT. For the record, I have used NT, and convinced my employer at the time to upgrade to Linux for stability. That was in '96. As for ME, are you saying that it's so bad that less than a year after it's release, even MS wishes it would go away?

  148. What'd you expect? by Faizdog · · Score: 1

    That Bill Gates, that great monster, who's done so many sleazy business practices, whose one soo much illegal suff, etc, etc, etc, would just sit back and watch it all go away and lose?

    No, he's gonna fight. And now that everyone is just celeberating that Linux has been acknowledged, think about how that acknowledgement will lead to a more active strategy against Linux. Now that it's officially a threat, the negative publicity against it will skyrocket exponentially. Do we really want that?

    --
    -"Those who fought today will die tommorow."-
    1. Re:What'd you expect? by daevt · · Score: 1

      advertiszing is like campaigning, people get sick of negative VERY quickly, in short, this makes MS look like the lot of whining brats they are...

  149. Good for Linux! by no-body · · Score: 2

    It looks to me as if this is meant as a mockery.

    But I think that's a shoot in the foot - it's a great free commercial for Linux:

    "...Bei Windows 2000 hingegen gibt es alle Sevices und Dienste aus einer Hand. Das spart Zeit und somit wirklich Geld...."

    "Whereas with Windows 2000, all Services and Servies are coming from one Source. This saves Time and really actually money."

    Yes, that's correct - Services and "Dienste" are the english and german word for the same thing, so the correct translation for their stupid text is "...Services and Services..." They just want to look cool using english phrases.

    And, look at the awkwardness, how they try to show that it "really" saves money to use Windows 2000.

    Who are they trying to fool? If you buy a new Harddisk under M$oft OS - you may need to buy another license to use it legally!

    I think they are under pressure in GE. There are Linux CD-Roms attached to PC Magazine covers in grocery stores (I saw 2 SuSE versions offered that way within 6 month or so) and the german mentality looks more "under the hood" than at the glossy packaging.

    Somehwere I read that SuSE is a very successful company in Europe and actually making a buck. Is Red-Hat out of the "red" yet?

    The line below the picture:

    "ein offenes betriebssystem hat nicht nur vorteile"

    means:
    >an open operating system does not only have advantages

    So they are saying the an open operating system has advantages - well, they may feel it... - Great!

  150. Ad & Translation Mirror by Thomas+J · · Score: 1

    Here provided by LinuxBoxen.com

    1. Re:Ad & Translation Mirror by Timmythec · · Score: 1

      According to Babel fish, that's not what it says at all..

      --
      -TimmyC, Tech Guru
  151. Microsoft Operating Systems by TheAncientHacker · · Score: 1
    Agree. It's actually even easier.

    If we skip the ones that are only sold to hardware vendors we get a choice of:

    • Windows ME (Home desktop)
    • Windows 2000 Professional (Business desktop)
    • Windows 2000 Server (Small Servers)
    • Windows 2000 Advanced Server (Big Servers)
    Four choices in total. Two choices for servers, Two choices for desktops. All use the Win32 API. All use the same driver architecture. Be honest here, MS does make the choices pretty easy.
  152. Re:Mutate? 95x by camelrider · · Score: 1

    DLL morphing is what finally caused me to give up on W95 on the desktop. In linux at least you have control over versions of shared libraries.

  153. Another mirror, w/ translation by unquiet · · Score: 1
    --
    Got a beef? Plug a name into the Bizarre Rumour Generator!
  154. Re:Microsoft should know... by Tony-A · · Score: 1

    Yep. Ever heard of the internet?
    Actually open source is setting the standards that everybody will follow.

  155. LinuxToday Pulls M$ Story by mr.+fabulous · · Score: 1

    This Story has been unposted. 2000-10-22 03:23:33 UTC (0 Talkback[s]) (27405 reads)

    Why would LinuxToday pull their piece on this M$ advertisement? Are we witnessing a conspiracy in action? =)

    --
    Me pican las bolas, man!
    Thanks

    --

    --
    Me pican las bolas, man!
    Thanks
    Jaco
  156. Microsoft following Apple again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This ad is funny and everything, but so were Apple's ads when it felt competition from Windows. When Win 95 came out Apple, it their "we're still better" attitude, ran newspaper ads that read "C:1/4ONGRTLNS.W95," in reference to MS-DOS's file naming protocols. Apple also ran TV ads insulting the speed of the Pentium II compared to its PowerPC. You see, when a company feels the heat, they'll make "we're better than the competor" jokes and remarks just like these to make it seem that they're still superior. A company that feels no competiton wouldn't dare do a thing like this. Why publicize another brand at all when you're #1? I see it as tell-tale sign that Microsoft's feeling Linux-anxiety.

  157. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by shepd · · Score: 1

    >Shit hardware usually equals shit head.

    Huh?

    The Epson Stylus Color is a 720x720 DPI color inkjet printer employing the MACH technology that Epson STILL uses. You calling this SHIT?

    And you call the OPTi 924 soundcard, which does MIDI, 16-bit stereo sound, SB emulation, WSS emulation, etc etc, SHIT? Is the SB16 SHIT too?

    Yeah, the Trident card isn't good. So what?

    Interestingly enough ALL this hardware works 100% in Linux, but not windows.

    And, might I mention, that saving money on hardware (where you reasonably can) give you a fat wallet to spend on more important things...

    --
    If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
  158. Re:M$ reminds us to pay up in Holland through ads by Surak · · Score: 2

    It doesn't really irritate me that it is suggested that you have to pay licenses for all software.

    Not all software. I'm sure the Debian Project or SuSE or Red Hat doesn't care if you install their distros on more than one computer. In fact, they probably encourage it!

  159. Cool! by Chris+Johnson · · Score: 2
    Next let's stick on some bull horns, a tiger tail, a couple rocket launchers... >;)

    Talk about bad advertising tactics. This ad is funny and cool and makes Linux look funky, bizarre and flexible. Which is basically true (including ungainly, goofy, and fun) so what we have here is a MS-funded advertising agency failing to understand that and producing advertising that not only gives free publicity to their competition but un-sells their product. More please :)

  160. Germany (was Re:Tactical Attack for Anti-trust) by Simon+Brooke · · Score: 2
    It's worth noting that this ad was run in Germany, where non-Microsoft operating systems have traditionally done better than in English-speaking markets. Both the Atari ST series and Amigas had good penetration in the German market including into business. Now Linux (thanks largely to SuSE) is becoming very well accepted in German businesses. Consequently it is reasonable for Microsoft to see Linux as a credible threat in Germany - it is a credible threat in Germany.

    It's also possible that MSoft Germany ran this add of their own initiative without consulting head-office - although I agree that's not very likely.

    --
    I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
  161. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by el_chicano · · Score: 1

    Speaking of mutation, this is sooooo funny. A little story of how windows got virtual mem,

    Or "How my unauthorized fun side project became the world's dominant OS and killed OS/2"

    Too funny! You should have submitted this as a story...
    --
    You think being a MIB is all voodoo mind control? You should see the paperwork!

    --
    A man who wants nothing is invincible
  162. other ads by daevt · · Score: 1

    I have seen another ad from microsoft. it basically went on to say that UNIX was ancient, hard to train people for, and Linux/BSD was ONLY used on about 11% of americas servers.
    Its funny that they apparently don't relize how old they've become, they are older than Linux, that no operating system is intuitive, that 11% of a market is pretty good for something that was started as a re-implimentation of an "ancient" system, and that Gates has a really annoying voice, and should never do speeches or television.

  163. Mutation == evolution by TeknoHog · · Score: 1
    a rough history of life:

    Primordial ooze -> Lots of mutations -> Human

    Now repeat that with operating systems...

    --

    --
    Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
    1. Re:Mutation == evolution by curunir · · Score: 1

      Just picture a dinosaur laughing at a chimp because he has opposable thumbs where the dinosaur has claws...how will he ever catch his dinner?

      --
      "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!"
  164. Something funny... by pantherace · · Score: 1

    Microsoft did something funny. Well, there is a first time for everything...

  165. cool! by rixdaffy · · Score: 1

    i saved it as a background image on my linux desktop...

    this is really good promotion for Linux .. and free too ! :-)

    Ricardo.

  166. Babelfish sputters: by Monster+Zero · · Score: 1
    The Box in the upper right corner states:

    An open operating system can mutate already times. With Windows 2000 however gives it all services and services from a hand. That thus really saves time and for cash. More information under www.microsoft.com/germany/windows2000

    And the text at the bottom means:

    an open operating system does not only have predivide
    If I knew german, id give a much better translation, sorry folks...
  167. Re:Cool by Prolog-X · · Score: 1

    Windows has a few mutations (see the Windows History Chart, also here), but the number is delta compared to the number of Unix variants.

  168. Re:Mutate? 95x by Paradise_Pete · · Score: 1
    Saying Linux is better than W95 is like saying your baseball team is better than the Cubs.

    Pete

  169. Here's the rough text of the ad. by driehuis · · Score: 1
    The text of the ad runs something like this.

    A few years ago, you started out with computers. You bought one, with the software to go with it. But your company grew, and now you have tens of computers. But you may be in for a costly surprise, because no one told you that you need to pay for the software for all your new machines. Call Microsoft now for more information about licensing.

    The ad irritates me big time, for a number of reasons. First, it ignores the Microsoft Tax. It is damn near impossible to buy a computer without Windows anyway. Second, it implies that all software is created with their business model in mind. It skirts the transferrability issue (their is none in their mind, but I'd like to see that one dealt with in court). It does not address upgrade costs. The whole tone of the ad suggests that they're the only game in town anyway.

    Oh, and finally, the animation is offendingly ugly. Even the ads from our tax men show more imagination.

    Anyway, the thing obviously targets small businesses and not consumers.

    --

    Bert Driehuis -- All I asked was a friggin' rotatin' chair. Throw me a bone here, people.

  170. Mirror by qux.net · · Score: 1

    The US mirror listed in the article appears to be washed out (and resized). Here's a copy of the original: http://qux.net/mirrors/msad.jpg

  171. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by cculianu · · Score: 1
    >I _dare_ you to install the Windows '95 original compatible OPTi 924 soundcard drivers in a ME
    Dude, your point that DRIVERS still don't work across operating system versions is irrelevant and shows a blatant lack of understanding.

    Drivers are pieces of software that typically have a great deal more to do with the specific data structures and lower-level API of an operating system that does user application code. As a result, drivers are VERY hardware and operating systems version specific. DUH!

    So, if you want to criticize windows, you sure picked a damn stupid way to do it. In fact, some would even argue that nt's microkernel architecture lends itself more readily to quelling driver incompatibilities across kernel versions than does linux's monolithic kernel.

    -Calin

  172. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by Nailer · · Score: 1

    Not quite accurate re: 95

    95A, OSR1)Original retail release
    95B, OSR2)OEM only. Includes FAT32,
    95C, OSR2.1)Not sure. Either OSR/2 with Y2K fixes or the non-IE-doesn't-work fuck-you-DOJ version. Difficult to obtain.
    95D, OSR2.5)IE4.01 SP0. USB supplement.

    Oh, and...
    W2K Professional
    W2K Server
    W2K Advanced Server
    W2K Datacenter Server

  173. corrected link to LinuxToday by Bogatyr · · Score: 2

    The link given above and included here to the story in LinuxToday leads to a This story has been unposted page. Here is the link to the new location of the story.

  174. OS/2 anyone? by weave · · Score: 2
    This is a bit ridiculous. People are just assuming that Microsoft is so big they will never go away.

    Remember in the late 80s when Microsoft and IBM pushed OS/2 as the successor to Windows? Who would have thought that an OS backed by such heavyweights as IBM and Microsoft would just be abandoned?

    We just (last year) reformatted our last OS/2 install in our libraries here. It was required by some software to manage libraries. Some companies made some huge investments in OS/2 development to just be abandoned. At least if OS/2 was free-sourced, development could have continued.

    This ad should be read as that you should trust it all to Microsoft and if their business needs and plans change, you MUST change with them or else be left behind (at a reasonable upgrade fee of course...)

  175. Have you got the guts? by Travoltus · · Score: 1


    To face open competition with Microsoft?

    You (justifiably, and rightfully) arrogant Linux advocates finally got whatcha want - an open public challenge (in Germany) from Microsoft.

    Here's the rules:
    No whining. You've been openly bashing Microsoft for years. Now they get to bash back.
    No more anticompetitive claims (see: whining). You have to fight on the same playing field with the same rules as everyone else.
    No more distro wars. We need to united in our diversity.

    There's no running back to mommy and daddy now that we have Microsoft's attention and a position on the world stage of open competition.
    ========================
    63,000 bugs in the code, 63,000 bugs,
    ya get 1 whacked with a service pack,

    --
    --- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
  176. Oh well, just submitted it myself by Hanno · · Score: 2

    But Koehntopp was faster. Yes, this ad is real, and yes, it' stupid. To paraphrase my (now obsolete) submission:

    "While Linux isn't mentioned directly, the target of the ad is obvious. It seems silly that MS uses an argument that can so easily be refuted. While not being a Bill Gates Fanboy, I wonder why they don't target the actual Linux disadvantages where Windows is a better choice - which any level-headed Linux user will admit exist..."


    ------------------

    --

    ------------------
    You may like my a cappella music
  177. Re:Mutate? 95x by jackb_guppy · · Score: 1

    95 is a common os out right now, and MS is forcing poeple off of it by not writing compatabily to 95 in their new code (see: Windows Media Player 7) YES THEY DON'T MORPH.

    At work NT4 sp6 had it virsus software upgraded. ODBC, MSACCESS, and third party SQL was taken out, and now can not be made whole, because you have to load SQL7 drivers - there is no 6.5 and "Run this script on SQL6.5 to make it work with 7 drivers" -- yeah sure.

    MS does not MORPH... It colapses!

  178. Photoshopped Version by notcarlos · · Score: 1

    I have cleaned up the pic and sharpened it, but I don't have anyplace webwise to put it. Any takers?
    Email notcarlos@hotmail.com

    "I am so cool, you could keep a side of meat in me for a month

    --
    io hymen hymnaee io
    io hymen hymnaee
  179. mutation... evolution... adaption... by Fyndo · · Score: 1

    What's the difference anyway ;)

  180. Don't forget service packs by KillBot · · Score: 1

    "This product requires Windows NT 4 (Service Pack 3)"

  181. Why evolve? by Omar+Djabji · · Score: 1

    Evolution is not needed if you are already perfectly adapted to your environment.

    1. Re:Why evolve? by otaku42 · · Score: 1

      That must be the reason why Windows is mutating nearly completely about every three or four years, right? lol

  182. Weel, they took the words right out of my mouth: by talks_to_birds · · Score: 1
    "an open operating system does not only have predivide"

    Or at least that's what the fish makes of it...

    OK: I get (L to R) a penguin; a donkpengiger; a reinpenrog; and penpigephant.

    Now, *that's* mutation!

    t_t_b
    --
    I think not; therefore I ain't®

    --
    I'm on PJ's "enemies" list! Are you?
  183. The image is mirrored... by PooF · · Score: 3
    ...at geocities here.

    --
    From: Aaron "PooF" Matthews

  184. Oh, no... by pantherace · · Score: 1

    When are they going to sue all the mirrors for inapropriate use of our copyrighted material under the DMCA?

    1. Re:Oh, no... by dattaway · · Score: 2

      I'm waiting for my letter. How about you?

  185. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by RandomPeon · · Score: 1

    Yes, you're right. The official Win 3.1x documentation tells you to contact the vendor for an updated version of applications that would require "real-mode" (?) support. (I think the command line switch was "-r" for "real", but you get the idea.)

  186. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by shepd · · Score: 1

    >SOFTWARE, NOT DRIVERS, YOU NIMROD. MAYBE COMPUTERS JUST ARENT FOR YOU.

    Are you telling me drivers are NOT software?

    EVEN A M O R O N KNOWS THAT DRIVERS ***ARE*** PIECES OF SOFTWARE. They just do a more specific task than wordprocessing.

    FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, WHAT DO YOU THINK COMPUTER DRIVERS ARE, ANYWAYS? Little munchkins driving cars inside your computer passing messages between the hardware?

    MAYBE A BICYCLE IS MORE YOUR SPEED.

    --
    If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
  187. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by shepd · · Score: 1

    >MAYBE YOU ARE JUST TOO STUPID TO INSTALL THEM?

    Maybe you are too stupid to listen to what I said.

    Thank God the moderators are gone and I can say what I like.

    --
    If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
  188. Re:Program Compatability by Dot+Com+Drew · · Score: 1

    From what I have been seeing here it seems like linux users want it both ways. If MS doesn't support old software then they are the bad guy, but if they try to keep some level of functionality for existing products then they get nailed for not inovating.

    Not everyone has the luxury to recompile and confgure their machine to the latest distro of some utility. True linux type OS's can be amazingly stable. I honestly feel that they make better webservers then 2000 machines do right now. For me the problem is that they require too much "upkeep" to work the way that I want them too. They are great if you have the time to commit to them but I would rather do other things like go outside, talk to members of the opposite sex, or maybe both at once.

    I see people using windows OS's because they know what to expect. There are so much less hoops to jump through to get something up and running. If I want to run my old Math Blaster program from the third grade I can.

    Basically I would sacrifice other benifits for the ablity to run much more legacy software.

    -drew

    --
    This .sig is .false
  189. Re:Mutate? 95x by ^_^x · · Score: 1

    Actually, if not for a dead UPS, the server where I work wouldn't have had to reboot for years. It runs Windows NT 4.

    ...as do our computer-controlled lathes in the back shop. (2 of them) If one of them crashed, it would be... a bad thing. So, it's pretty good that WinNT doesn't crash that often.

    (I know it's not Win9x, but I already gave those examples, and you just said WINDOWS is messy and unstable.)

  190. Reading the article at LinuxToday by rivendahl · · Score: 1

    I keep getting the error message, "This story has been unposted." Any insight?

    --
    ... there is nothing that has not already been thought ...
  191. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by dvNull · · Score: 1

    Hot? Hellz No ..

    If you buy a laptop from Compaq you are screwed if you ever wipe out the drive.

    There are NO driver floppies which came with the damn thing. All it had was a CD-ROM which restored the machine back to its original state. Now mind you that CD doesnt work if the partitions on the disk were changed in any way. Compaq has this unique partition thing which ensures that the restore CDs will work only with the laptop which it came with. My mistake in being cheap and buying a lower end laptop.

    I went to compaq.com and no there are no drivers there either. I went to drivershq.com and similar sites, but no drivers there either.

    Now I dont buy from Compaq at all. I buy from Dell or IBM now.

  192. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by clovis · · Score: 1

    Did we forget Xenix?

  193. Re:Mutate? 95x by steffl · · Score: 1

    well, for me the only reason to run win are games, and the nt is always behind on drivers, directX etc... so it's out of the game...

    as a result, if there's any need for win, it's 95 or 98

    erik

    --
    ...all excited, don't know why...
  194. Re:Ghandi said: (Think Different?) by ptbrown · · Score: 1

    ... and then they exploit your image for marketing purposes.

    (Bonus points for the first person to come up with an image of Tux sitting at a loom.)

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced civilization is indistinguishable from Gods.
  195. UPDATED: Re:The image is mirrored... by PooF · · Score: 2
    A new version of the ad w/ better resolution has surfaced and can be seen here. Or direct links...

    The original (blurry) image is here

    --
    From: Aaron "PooF" Matthews

  196. Mutation.... by BlueHexahedron · · Score: 1

    It's a good job nature doesn't have a Microsoft attitude. We'd all still be bacteria.

    Evolution! Yay!

  197. Re:and so? by Timmythec · · Score: 1

    LOL.. well for one, Linux doesn't belong to a company.. since it doesn't have a company, there's no advertising.. Fool.. Oh, and another point, there is more MS Bashing coming from Linux users than Linux bashing coming from adverts and Windows' users..

    --
    -TimmyC, Tech Guru
  198. Re:Linux: The Big GA? by vectro · · Score: 1

    Sortof, except that we do not have natural selection; we have artificial selection - Linus.

  199. Re:The irony. by Nethead · · Score: 1
    Not really flamebait (as was scored).

    One of the oldest marketing tricks is to promote your worse feature as the best thing since sliced bread. Don't ask me why it works, but it does and you'll see it all the time.

    --
    -- I have a private email server in my basement.
  200. Re:Mutate? 95x by Cuthalion · · Score: 1

    Who cares about W95, 98 or ME?

    As an application developer I still basically need to make sure my code works with windows 95. What, they fixed that bug in win98SE? Or maybe this essential OS feature is provided if you have Internet Explorer v4.0 or higher instaleld! Too bad I can't use any of that!

    --
    Trees can't go dancing
    So do them a big favor
    Pretend dancing stinks!
  201. Re:Disturbing claim by King+of+the+World · · Score: 1

    One hand? Oh, that's like one click patenting. Doing things with one hand is good - it allows you free to do things with the other hand, like laundry or faxing that memo to the boss!

  202. Actually... by Electric+Angst · · Score: 4

    ...I could see this as a particular PR coup for linux...
    Look at it this way:
    Linux: Nietzchian Super-Mutant OS!

    --

    --
    Feminism is the wild notion that women are human beings.
  203. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by divec · · Score: 2
    Windows 3.11 was just a bug fix

    I'm pretty sure they removed standard mode from Windows 3.11. I remember unsuccessfully trying to install it on a 286.
    --

    perl -e 'fork||print for split//,"hahahaha"'

  204. I call dibbs on the frog! by befletch · · Score: 1

    Great. Now I have to go create my own linux distribution just so I can use that cool penguin/frog/deer crossbread as my mascot. Thanks, Microsoft, for shoehorning more work onto my schedule! Jerks.

    --
    If you say, "now I'll be modded down because of X", I'll happily oblige.
  205. Fake? by Ruis · · Score: 1

    Is this really from M$? Or is this anit-M$ FUD? Where's the source?

    1. Re:Fake? by Hanno · · Score: 4

      It's real, on page 58 of the current edition of c't magazine. c't doesn't have a history of publishing fake ads.

      ------------------

      --

      ------------------
      You may like my a cappella music
  206. copyright laws by ArchieBunker · · Score: 1

    You would get sued 40 different ways for illegaly using their logo. Since nobody here likes copyright laws I don't think the tux penguin is registered to anyone. People here would go apeshit if MS used your logo for an anti linux ad.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    1. Re:copyright laws by Trevor+Goodchild · · Score: 1


      Not necessarily. Parody is fair use.

    2. Re:copyright laws by OrionFl79 · · Score: 1

      First of all, they are using our logo. :) So why don't we just use theirs, but change the colors around in the pains of the window?

      --
      Live to be happy!! OR ELSE!! :)
  207. Re:mutation... evolution... adaption... by tijnbraun · · Score: 1

    mutation + selection gives adaptation, which is an evolutionary process, whereby an organism becomes fitted to its environment.

  208. Advertising Rules by Indomitus · · Score: 2

    One of the main rules of advertising is that as soon as you mention your competitor in your ad you're already dead. Unless this was a move by MS Germany without permission from the mothership it's a good sign for Linux I think. To me it shows either desperation or stupidity, both of which are okay by me. :)

    1. Re:Advertising Rules by schon · · Score: 4

      One of the main rules of advertising is that as soon as you mention your competitor in your ad you're already dead.

      Anyone ever tell this to Pepsico?

      Pepsi mentions Coke in almost all of their adverts.. any wonder they're still number two?

  209. http://www.kmfms.com/ by Pflipp · · Score: 3

    see http://www.kmfms.com/ .

    Good luck with it :-)

    It's... It's...

    --
    "We can confirm that Debian does *not* ship the version with the trojan horse. Our version predates it." [CA-2002-28]
  210. Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98SE.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4
    Windows 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1 (real mode), 3.1 (standard mode), 3.1 (enhanced mode), 3.11 (aka Windows for Workgroups), 95a, 95b, CE, 98, 98SE, ME, NT3.5, NT3.51, NT4.0, NT Workstation, 2000 (aka NT5), and of course, Bob.

    Now what was that about an OS mutating into incompatible incarnations?

  211. Another subtle linux-based ad? by Kirby · · Score: 1

    There's a billboard on the 101, near Palo Alto, that says (IIRC):
    If you're going to join a revolution, choose carefully.
    http://www.microsoft.com/jobs

    I certainly interpret this to be appealing to people curious about Linux, given some of the local companies ad copy (eg, Linuxcare: At the Center of the Revolution.)

    --
    -- Kate
  212. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by Kharny · · Score: 1

    Maybe the poster meant programs like "word" or games, not programs used for driver or hardware purposes...

    --
    Make a man a fire and he will be warm for a day, set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life
  213. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by shepd · · Score: 1

    I don't remember where I got this quote from, but it is all too often applicable to slashdot and (gasp!) ZDNet/CNet... :-)

    "Say what you mean. Mean what you say."

    Isn't that the problem with print, though? You can't easily say what you mean. Even I've been guilty of that (and of Ranting/Flaming... yeah, yesterday even. I gotta chill out a little).

    But, if there is any doubt, I usually try to approach these issues with a little tact. Unless someone directly insults me. In which case, all hell breaks loose. Thank God I don't go to bars.

    --
    If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
  214. Mutated 2 ur needs!! by ReignStorm · · Score: 1

    thats a nice slogan! i mean with linux u can customze EVRYTHING! while with Micro$not u get what they say u get....."Where will we take u today?"
    hahaha!
    the only thing is that i find the halloween papers a bit scary. coz 'they' have realized the power of opensource....!
    may the source be with u!


    $man why do people divorce?
    man-too many arguments

  215. A Translation of the ad from German to English by webgiant · · Score: 1

    If you're like me, you agonize over what the text actually says on the Micro$oft ad in Germany. Fortunately for me, I've got a father who has a Ph.D in the German language, and he was happy to translate the text for me, and now for all of you: The Sentence at the bottom, underneath the mutated penguins reads (my dad is nontechnical and knows nothing of "open source" so where he says "public", read "open"): "There are not just advantages to public systems." The paragraph at the top reads: "A public operating system can also mutate now and again. In the case of Windows 2000, however, all services and support come from one source. That saves time and money as well. More info at: [MS' German web address]" Those of you who tried babelfish.altavista.com for a translation of German into English (shameless plug: they translate several other languages including Italian, French, Spanish, etc.) would have, like me, received a rather gibberish translation, so its just lucky that some of us have parents who are fluent in German. :)

  216. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by Nailer · · Score: 1

    Sounds logical. But I'm quite sure there is a 2.5. The PIIX4 chipset update for Win95 figures in there somehwere too.

  217. Re:Ein Reich, Ein Volk, Ein Fuhrer by otaku42 · · Score: 1

    No, it isnt, and your opinion is wrong for most of the german people (well, there are allways some ancient-minded shitheads). If there is something you can read out of the ad, then it is _Microsoft_ assuming that one central control instance is what people want. Nothing more. And as far as I am concerned, this is wrong.

  218. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by cculianu · · Score: 1
    According to the original poster, Windows 98/ME are nothing more than some "extra features" packed into 95. Just like kernel 2.0.35 has "extra features" compared to kernel 2.0.1. They are still compatible with the software on the system. ie: If 98 doesn't work with 95 drivers, then 98 is NOT just a minor revision. It is a complete new OS line, the same as kernel 2.2 is a whole new line of kernels compared to 2.0.

    That is not true. LKM's (loadable kernel modules, which are basically a superset of linux drivers) are NEVER binary-compatible across even minor kernel revisions -- 2.2.14 vs. 2.2.16 for instance. You always have to recompile them across kernel revisions.

    The fact that microsoft drivers SOMETIMES work (without recompilation) from windows 95 to 98 is really a minor miracle, and is probably Not A Good Thing. Ideally you want your OS to reject drivers that weren't compiled for that very specific kernel version. Anything else becomes a hack on top of a hack and is prone to failure, erratic behaviour, and/or just plain unmaintainability.

    And your argument that drivers are software is correct technically, but drivers are really an extension of the operating system. They are not mere user application programs. They have access to kernel internals, which are liable to change across even minor OS version numbers. Hence, if the operating system's internals change in the least, it is unfair to expect old drivers to work in a new operating system version. This should not be a criticism of microsoft's os.

  219. Why not an Open Source OS advert? by mr · · Score: 2

    And, it should be pointed out that the complaint (according to the ad) is that with Open Source you don't have a single point of contact.

    With a purchase of a BSDi (telenet) server, FreeBSD and a 24X7 support contract you have something Microsoft can't offer.

    A vendor that makes the hardware AND software all in one. All your services from a single source.

    (To the best of my knowledge, Apple doesn't offer 24X7 OS support.)

    No where in the ad does it say Linux. The ad talks about Open Source.

    --
    If it was said on slashdot, it MUST be true!
  220. Re:Mutate? 95x by sjames · · Score: 2

    There's a lot more janitors than brain surgeons but you dont see janitors giving brain surgeons advice on surgery, do you?

    I also don't see hospitals that said the new janitor '95 is the solution to all of your brain tumor problems.

    The point is that W2K is just the latest in a long line of mutations to come out of Redmond.

  221. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by divec · · Score: 1
    You can get [...] MacOS X for the ppc.

    Not if you bought the spec that Apple said OS X would need two years ago.
    --

    perl -e 'fork||print for split//,"hahahaha"'

  222. Re:Sorry, You Didn't Win by otaku42 · · Score: 1

    Well, actually nobody has won this "war". Have a look what Ghandi said... we reached the "Then they fight you"-stage, this is the one right before "then you win". The problem with this ad is another. Microsoft claims that an open source OS never can be good, as it is underlaying steady minor and big mutations. Have a look at posting #148. Windows itself is mutating since it was born, uncontrollable for anyone outside MS (and sometimes I believe even uncontrollable for MS). So they suffer the same problem that they attack Linux for. This ad just shows one single thing: Microsoft is getting mad about Linux in a way they start to drop eggs without realizing they make themselves up as clowns. I do not believe the Linux community has to start fighting Windows in any way. Time will show which OS is the better one, and currently (in my eyes) Linux is taking the leading position. Just my 0.02$. cu, otaku

  223. Re:Evolution at its Best by otaku42 · · Score: 1

    Well, actually Microsoft seems to have enough time left for their "add composers" (whats the correct name of those people, dunno) to do such an add. And not to forget the money they have to spend for an ad that covers 2 pages in one of the best german computer mags (along with other mags).
    So what? If there is one out there who wants to improve their effort to show a better text, why not?

  224. MIRROR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    You can find the image here.

  225. What is this company called "Microsoft"? by timothy · · Score: 1

    Do they make a Linux distro?

    Are they some sort of upstart?

    How come I've never heard of them?

    timothy

    --
    jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
  226. Monoply on mutated software? by small_dick · · Score: 2

    I thik microsoft is the current leader in mutated software.

    How many OS products do they currently sell? At what prices? How many licences with each? How many optional software products to buy before you can actually do dome work? Pro or non-pro versions?

    You'd have to look through several pages of a software catalog to sort it all out.

    Linux is more like natural selection than mutation -- the way a free/choice driven market should be.

    Microsoft is more like a pit bull that terrified everyone in the neighborhood in it's youth -- bullying innocent children with its wiry muscles and snapping jaws -- but in its later stages, it's getting mangy, smelly and weak; with a variety of lumpy growths throughout its carcass.

    Microsoft: The kids are growing up, they're swinging open source clubs, and it's payback time.

    --


    Treatment, not tyranny. End the drug war and free our American POWs.
    See my user info for links.
  227. Mirror by KkiniDst · · Score: 1
    --
    Brian T Glenn
    delink.net Internet Services
  228. Need a penguin with antlers? by nagora · · Score: 1
    "Then Linux is the one for you.

    Linux - Cuz one size doesn't fit all."

    These guys are actually advertising their greatest weakness: that Windows is set in stone, you can't change it and your OEM can't tailor it to your needs.

    Someone should run this picture as an ad for Linux.

    TWW

    --
    "Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
  229. Microsoft should know... by Ruis · · Score: 1

    Somebody should explain to Microsoft why linux can mutate, but won't mutate into a pile of goo. We have these things called "standards" and we're pretty good and following them.

  230. Re:Cool by Betcour · · Score: 1

    In fact there's no such thing as NT4, since the huge number of service packs, patches and updates makes it a very variable platform. Oddly enough, I never got twice the same exact NT4 install !!

  231. Frog Head Linux :) by prefec · · Score: 1

    I really enjoyed the "frog head linux", which
    might be a good name for a distribution.
    Possible M$ is trying to extend the linux logo
    as they are not able to extend linux itself :)

  232. "Software Wars" map updated by Andy+Tai · · Score: 1
    In light of the current event, the "Software Wars" map has been updated.

    Since 1998, the image of "Software Wars" has accurately describe the situation in the world of personal computer software. A picture is worth a thousand words, and this image serves as a powerful tool for Linux advocacy, pictorially showing the events in the competition for world domination between proprietary and free (open source) software. You will be touched by it, and appreciate its humor.

    The image has just been updated to reflect the latest events. It can be found at

    http://www.atai.org/softwarewar.gif

    Old versions of the same image can be found from the top of

    http://www.atai.org/

    Have fun and enjoy!

    --
    Free Software: the software by the people, of the people and for the people. Develop! Share! Enhance! Enjoy!
  233. No DLL hell in Windows 2000? by daviddennis · · Score: 2

    How'd they manage that?

    I don't use Windows much, so I've only played around a little with 2000. If they've actually defeated DLL Hell after only 10-odd years of trying, I want to see it!

    D

    ----

  234. What's the name of those distro's by pacc · · Score: 1

    Maybe we should use mutating to keep track of the current distro's history.
    I mean, stripping redhat to get just the firewalling, or using it as a base but with 586 compiled binaries to get it faster should at least have some kind of red top of their symbols.
    And I insist that SuSe makes a suitable cross of their logo so that it's mostly penguin!

  235. Translation by AxB_teeth · · Score: 1
    to translate the ad (maybe.. assembled via the fish):

    an open operating system doesn't have to mutate.
    Though at times open operating systems *do* mutate. with Windows 2000 however, you can count service releases on one hand. That saves time, and time is important. For more info, visit www.microsoft.com/germany/windows2000
    --

    However,
  236. It's Talking About Distro's Not Versions! by Deathlizard · · Score: 1

    The Microsoft Ad isn't Targeting the Kernel versions of Linux as much as the various Distros. of Linux. It's attacking the fact that their's Red Had, SuSe, Mandrake, Turbolinux and the like. and that their all have their own upgrade path and design

    All of the windows have different kernel's running them. windows 3.1's kernel is different from the 95 kernel, which is different from the 98 kernel, which is different from the ME kernel, and the NT 3.1 kernel is different from the 3.5 kernel, which is different from the 4.0 Kernel, which is different from the 2000 Kernel.

    This ad is still not accurate because Microsoft does the same thing with win2k. in the form of professional, server, advanced server and datacenter server. the only thing i caould think of this ad targeting is the fact that their is many linux providers making different linux's for different needs, where Microsoft is your one stop place to get the OS you neeed for your business.

    --

  237. The irony. by sammy+baby · · Score: 5

    Of all the companies that should hold their tongue about the worry that Linux could "mutate" into something that causes you support troubles, Microsoft sits on top. Between versions of Windows 95 (sing 'em with me now - 95A, 95B, OSR2...), incompatibilities with service packs in NT products, and file format changes in just about every successive release of Office, it's surprising that they can even remember what the hell the products are long enough to mount a defense to the anti-trust... oh, wait. The lost that big time, didn't they.

    Of course, I suppose this experience does lend them some degree of credibility. I'm looking for an English version that reads something like this:

    Obsolesence and incompatibility aren't things you want to lose sleep over. We've been building obsolescence into our products at the design level since before that Finnish guy could even spell WWW. With Microsoft products, you know that your forced upgrades will come at semi-regular, three year intervals. Unless we need to generate some liquid cash or something. Then we'll just introduce Windows ME Double Live, or something. No big deal, right?
  238. Program Compatability by evil_one · · Score: 2

    I just need to play devil's advocate for a moment, please keep the gas away from the flames...
    Although it is true that MS dosn't have source compatibality between variants, binary compatability _is_ there. It may not be rock solid, but it's there. A typical Win16 program - one that does not use "undocumented" features - Will run on win2k. It is true that you don't stand a chance in hell of getting a current win32 app to run on win16, the same is true of getting a glibc2.1 app to run on say, slackware 3.2...

    Lets be fair here. Windows is not the best operating system, but it is the easiest to run out of the box.
    ---

    --
    Desperation is a stinky cologne
    1. Re:Program Compatability by CConkle · · Score: 1

      Why on earth is that good? All that means is that the newer kernels have code to rewrite and/or interpret old binaries. I don't want a kernel that can run ten types of binaries (only one of which I actually use), I want a kernel that can run one or two types of binaries. Well. Why? Cause I can recompile everything, of course.
      Now, this is not the case in Windows, since everybody and his megabucks corporation sees 'release source' as 'OHMYGODTHEHACKERSWILLDOSOMETHINGBAD', so... sux to be them!

  239. LinuxToday by crlf · · Score: 2

    What happened to the linuxtoday link?

  240. M$ reminds us to pay up in Holland through ads by Pflipp · · Score: 5

    Well, here in Holland, there's only one kinda frequent M$ advertisement. It is on radio and TV, and all it does is...

    ...remind you that you have to pay for Windows!

    Yes, I am serious. All the commercial says is "if you install software on multiple machines, you must not forget to pay up multiple licenses". It's presented as if this is a general rule for software, but the images in the TV commercial make clear that this is a Microsoft commercial.

    Actually, some folks on http://www.nl.linux.org/ seem to have complained to the Commision of Advertisements about this. Just for the record, I guess.

    It doesn't really irritate me that it is suggested that you have to pay licenses for all software. What does irritate me is that this seems to be all the advertisement M$ needs. I never managed to get rich of saying "hey, you, give me loads of money, and don't complain about it", so why should they.

    It's... It's...

    --
    "We can confirm that Debian does *not* ship the version with the trojan horse. Our version predates it." [CA-2002-28]
    1. Re:M$ reminds us to pay up in Holland through ads by Hanno · · Score: 3

      For a long time, before Windows 2000 became a thing to advertise for, the "did you really license all of your software?" slogan was the only advertising by MS in Germany, too.

      ------------------

      --

      ------------------
      You may like my a cappella music
  241. They didn't mean that. by jyang · · Score: 1

    This is what they really mean.

    --
    --- You make things foolproof, and they'll find you a damn fool.
  242. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by shepd · · Score: 1

    >As a result, drivers are VERY hardware and operating systems version specific. DUH!

    But the original poster was trying to tell me that ALL of windows ME/98 is compatible with 95. Are you agreeing with me by telling me the API has changed? Doesn't that PROVE that 98 and ME are somewhat INCOMPATIBLE with 95?

    >Dude, your point that DRIVERS still don't work across operating system versions is irrelevant and shows a blatant lack of understanding.

    According to the original poster, Windows 98/ME are nothing more than some "extra features" packed into 95. Just like kernel 2.0.35 has "extra features" compared to kernel 2.0.1. They are still compatible with the software on the system. ie: If 98 doesn't work with 95 drivers, then 98 is NOT just a minor revision. It is a complete new OS line, the same as kernel 2.2 is a whole new line of kernels compared to 2.0.

    >So, if you want to criticize windows, you sure picked a damn stupid way to do it.

    >than does linux's monolithic kernel.

    Oh for God's sakes, you are the THIRD person to try to derail this discussion into a LINUX argument. This is a MICROSOFT discussion. Stay ON TOPIC.

    >So, if you want to criticize windows, you sure picked a damn stupid way to do it.

    If later revisions of windows don't take older drivers, they are NOT fully compatible. Unless you choose to think like Microsoft and say "But... But... But... But... no, that doesn't count. Because we said so.".

    If ifs and buts were candy and nuts... damn I forgot the rest. Well, either way, trying to fight an argument by excluding the main topic from discussion is like trying to stop water exiting a fire hose with your hand. You just lose.

    On the other hand, you should write EULAs. Microsoft LOVES people who are willing to take a perfectly normal topic and twist it so it fits their ideas. :-)

    --
    If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
  243. Whee! This is so great... by Enahs · · Score: 1

    because, as you know, Microsoft's operating systems never change, and never change hands, and their focus on desktop && server never change. I'm gonna fire up PFS:Write on Dos 9 and host the image on my Xenix 2000 machine! Whoo! Yeah! Erm...wait.

    --
    Stating on Slashdot that I like cheese since 1997.
  244. cool! better scan please. by aCC · · Score: 1

    I want this picture as my desktop background (linux of course). Maybe someone can make a better scan available? I read it in the c't today as well and found it quite amusing.

  245. Re:Linux: The Big GA? by crt · · Score: 1

    Yes, and after running for millions of years Linux will finally tell us the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. Assuming the earth lasts that long...

  246. The Elephant-Rat Penguin by The+Kow · · Score: 1

    The end of it's trunk looks like, well.. not the end of any trunk I've seen, unless the appendage has 'grown' to mean other such shaped objects.

    --
    Moo
  247. evolve you mean at accelerated pace? by zoftie · · Score: 1

    nuff said

  248. Yes, but... by bobdylan · · Score: 1

    When will they port linux to it?

  249. Another mirror #2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    http://64.192.122.57/msad.jpg

  250. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by shepd · · Score: 1

    >Why dont you just go to Epson and Opti's website and download the damn drivers, you fool.

    Because YOU MOTHERFUCKING DUMB ASS, I DID LAST WEEK.

    ****** THE LATEST VERSION OF DRIVERS ARE THE ONES THAT DON'T WORK YOU GODDAMN IDIOT. CAN YOU NOT READ? ******

    ARE YOU A FUCKING MORON OR WILL I HAVE TO SHOUT AT YOU FOREVER TO TEACH YOU?

    NOW FUCK OFF, BASTARD SHITHEAD.

    Now for the shouting filter:

    You are a dumbass. You are a dumbass. You are a dumbass. You are a dumbass. You are a dumbass. You are a dumbass. You are a dumbass. You are a dumbass. You are a dumbass. You are a dumbass. You are a dumbass. You are a dumbass. You are a dumbass. You are a dumbass. You are a dumbass. You are a dumbass. You are a dumbass. You are a dumbass. You are a dumbass. You are a dumbass.

    --
    If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
  251. Those who did not fight today... by AlienCron · · Score: 1

    Those who did not fight today are enslaved tomorrow.

  252. Re:Mutate? W1.0/2.0/3.0/3.1/3.11/95a/95b/CE/98/98S by dvNull · · Score: 1

    How about Compaq Laptops? I have a 400Mhz laptop, it even has a Made for Windows 98 label on it. Win 98 on a fresh install doesnt see the video card or sound or the winmodem.

    Btw under Linux all work, even the fscking winmodem.

  253. PROTECTING OUR CORPORATIONS by Erik+Fish · · Score: 1

    America is built on the strength of its corporations. The question is, what are corporations built on? The answer is operating systems. Ordinary operating systems. Windows 3.1 and Windows 95, Windows 2000 and Windows ME. Operating systems like yours. Operating systems like mine.

    As I speak, there is a new and ominous danger facing our corporations. It is a danger facing every CEO, CTO and CIO. And only a handful of Americans even know it's out there.

    It hides inside the computer of your co-worker, your bowling buddy, even your trusted family physician. It's sitting on your PTA board. It's waiting in the hallways of your neighborhood parish. It may even be watching your children as they sleep.

    What menace am I speaking of? The greatest scourge of the twenty-first century. My friends, I'm talking about mutants.

    The versions of Windows we all use have been replaced, with tragic consequences. There is a growing number of operating systems out there that are impure at their most basic level. They are not, technically speaking, Windows.

    The threat that these operating systems pose to our way of doing business cannot be underestimated. It touches every facet of our daily jobs. And unless we take a stand now, our corporations will face an uncertain future where the rules of the game are not dictated by us. A world where no computer runs Windows: not your server, not your workstation, not even the proprietary architecture of your own laptop.

    So who will save us? The listless bureaucracy that we call our government is asleep at the wheel. By failing to defend our "right to innovate", the President has neglected the first business of government -- protecting the rights and liberties of American corporations. Thus, we must take matters into our own hands.

    That's why we've created the mutation advertisement: to inform our customers about the true nature of this mutant menace, and to give us a weapon in our battle for the preservation of our innovation rights. Only browse our web site to avoid propaganda for mutant operating systems. Use any and all resources at your disposal to disparage, discredit and belittle suspected mutant operating systems wherever you may hear of them.

    Require the use of our operating systems now. Tomorrow, it will be too late.



    --- Stolen from MutantWatch and mangled.

  254. You forgot Win32s, a sort-of Windows environ... by Svartalf · · Score: 2

    There's also Win32s, the failed first attempt to trick, er, decieve, er, convince people to make Windows NT applications that ran under Win 3.1/3.11

    --
    I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
  255. And how is this? by Svartalf · · Score: 2

    Because I've been seeing it for years and it's not been THAT much of a problem- and certainly less than the problems of the differing versions of Windows present to a developer or user.

    --
    I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
  256. Good, I like this, by Bender+Unit+22 · · Score: 1

    Thats means that Linux now is a "issue" for M$.
    See it as a reward.

    --------

  257. NT 3.5, hell! by AndyChrist · · Score: 1

    Try getting even NT 4 drivers to work in windows 2000. In my experience, it's about 50/50 whether it will work or not. And icons with question marks or exclaimation points never look good in the device manager.

  258. Re:Mutate? 95x by AndyChrist · · Score: 1

    I had 95 running fairly well for three years, until I started having problems with my hard disk which scandisk couldn't fix (I think there might be some physical damage to the thing...dunno, don't use it anymore) Things WORKED before, but I didn't realize I was actually having some sort of problem until I reinstalled and got about 3 or 4 extra FPS in Half-Life (on my P200) ;P

  259. Bill Doesn't Know Biology by richard808 · · Score: 1

    Microsoft's "Mutator" advertisement shoots themselves in the foot. The concept wasn't too bad: If Microsoft's ad agency's point was that Linux "mutates", well, that's a claim; and one would expect the ad agency to come up with a compelling graphic. BUT the agency screwed up! They didn't have enough deep study of biology to get the mutate part: THEY'RE ALL PENGUINS, Dumbass! They have some minor and bizarre stuff added on, but damn, that's still a penguin. The guts, in fact, literally and figuratively; and believe me, we're getting pretty far out there metaphorically with this stuff. The ad agency, either by accident or by design, makes the point for Linux, with a graphic that goes way over the heads of Microsofties who approved it. It truly is an ad for Linux, showing quite properly, I believe (I'm no expert, i.e. not a programmer) the essence of the relationship between a kernel and an interface; scratch that, between (and this goes out on a limb, and hopefully engenders some discussion) between a kernel and it's interfaces -- different stuff that workers produce for different situations.) One could go on and on about the representational nature of the penguin with the frog head and the antlers, for example, but who cares? I'm sure it symbolizes an application that's good for something; and it won't crash.

    --

    Education is learning from other people's mistakes, Experience is learning from yer own.
  260. Re:Mutate? 95x by slickwillie · · Score: 2

    It's been my experience that Windows mutates just by itself. I never know what to expect each time I start it up or shut it down. I figure it has a half-life of about 6 months. Then, due to bit decay, it's time to reinstall it.

  261. Evolution by dbs6183 · · Score: 1

    my charmander is evolving into a penguin with an elephant's trunk!!!

  262. Re:Linux: The Big GA? by Penrif · · Score: 1

    Aye, in this habitat of OS's, Linus is a force of nature-of sorts.

  263. Pulling the rug out from under users by verbatim · · Score: 1

    The really interesting thing is what would happen if Microsoft went under (or got broken up). When you licence everything you have from one company, you get pretty screwed if they vapourize. So Microsoft has claimed that they will be around forever... uh huh. It's possible, I suppose, but are you really going to base your buisness strategy on Microsoft's existance?

    What the ad forgets is that an operating system that is open cannot die and will remain compatable for users. When Microsoft went to 95 from 3.11, I remember a lot of app vendors getting pissed because all of their stuff either had Windows induced problems or flat out stopped working. I pissed off an instructor because I used DOS to copy files from one place to another (it took him 5 minutes to find-folders/click/drag/drop whereas I spent 10 seconds using the copy command).

    Yeah, lets make everything we have all based on one vision, one strategy, one fuhe... uhh.. no thanks. I prefer diversity in my systems.

    Verbatim

    --
    Price, Quality, Time. Pick none. What, you thought you had a choice?
  264. ROTF,LMAO That's M$'s response to Linux? Bwahaha! by crovira · · Score: 2

    Did you see the piss-poor poor quality of the morphs?

    I'd be embarrassed to be associated with the amateur, chicken-sh*t outfit that cobbled that ad together...

    Ouch... My ribs hurt.

    M$ had the right idea when they were just ignoring Linux. Because it looks like they're about to pull another campain as successful as Bob!

    --
    MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
  265. I think Microsoft is feeling Tremors.. by MikeFM · · Score: 2

    Remember that lameass movie Tremors 2. I think Microsoft is hearing the speaker for the trailers..

    "Evolution - It's a bitch."

    Linux evolves faster and better than closed source companies can engineer. Think they are feeling the tremors of change as all those penguin feet shake the ground? :)

    --
    At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
  266. Geez! by MrProgrammer · · Score: 1

    Man, I saw the headline "Microsoft's First Ad Targeting Linux" and I almost had a heart attack! I sat there trying to think of what product Microsoft might have ported to Linux. Man, I was scared