Slashdot Mirror
Computer and Technology Show
SLUG member writes: "At the Computer and Technology Showcase this week in Clearwater, maddog was the keynote speaker, but Microsoft still thought they owned the show. There was a little confrontation out front with the guys from the Suncoast Linux Users' Group when the MS people decided they didn't like them handing out free Linux CDs and magazine. There's something about it at Newsforge." Newsforge is owned by VA Linux, which also owns Slashdot.
Alright! Best slashdot news I've read all day!
"You can't pass out free software here!" *G*
And yet, and yet... it doesn't really matter, does it? MS is not the only one that can fight dirty. I think the 'free-in' (like a sit in only you give people your free stuff) was a brilliant move PR-wise, intentionally or not. Why?
"You can't pass out free software here!"
You couldn't _pay_ for a more damaging line... and who really gives a fsck if it suggests a nepotism and unfairness that didn't really exist? Ballmer is going to great lengths to lie his ass off that using open source... USING it... forces you to give out all the source code for everything you do. He put together his little remarks very carefully, I think. The implication is plain, it's the most direct reading of his statement, and it happens to be flat nonsense and propaganda.
Sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander. At a recent trade show, Microsoft reps cried "You can't pass out free software here!" and went to get building security to drive the peaceful Linux people away, and prevent them from even _giving_ their stuff to attendees, much less selling it. That's the story, that's the spin, that's the way it is perceived.
Now- you can argue we should be _nobler_ than Microsoft- but isn't it interesting that without any effort at all, Microsoft can damage its position as easily as it can prop it up? This is because what MS is fighting is a difficult thing to hate- people sharing, cooperating, giving to each other willingly. So, MS has to cling to technicalities in order to try and block this cooperating and giving- and you get "You can't pass out free software here!" at the trade show- easily interpreted as indicating Microsoft's _real_ wishes, that _nobody_ should be allowed to pass out free software under any circumstances.
I'm sorry- whether they were in the right or not, this was a colossal PR foot-shooting on Microsoft's part. They ought to fire the guy who was damnfool enough to give the world THAT quote, because it's going to haunt them, taken out of context- and so it should. War is war.
"Sure you can come to the party... just don't start handing out gifts to the guests". :)
Generally I wouldn't respond to a post like this, but I have some time to kill...
First of all, just because it is a munincipal building does not mean that private citizens can do whatever they want on the property. I suppose you would think it is fair game to drive up to your local Police department and set up a flea market in the parking lot. After all, it's public property! Just because your taxes paid for a (miniscule) portion of the property does not give you the right to do whatever you want there. In this case the show organizers (who probably rented the convention hall from the city, and who therefore were entitled to make the rules) had the following set of guidelines. Here's an excerpt of the relevant bits.
Microsoft was clearly within its rights to ask that the Linuxers be stopped. If Microsoft would have done the same thing, they would have been stopped too.
Your passion for Linux is a good thing, but you really could temper that passion with a bit of understanding. If you want to be an effective Linux advocate you also should stay away from phrases like "wormbrain." They make you seem very juvenile.
Those are good points, and I wish the article had spent more time pointing them out. Instead it tried to turn it into a freedom issue, and it clearly wasn't. It would have been refreshing to see an article that talked about how well Linux was doing and not how Microsoft is a bunch of loser cry babies.
I can't imagine how this was rated as newsworthy. The whole point of conventions is to charge companies obscene amounts of money so that they can give stuff away. The more money you pay, the better location you get, and therefore the better your chances are of giving away insane amounts of stuff. Which, if you are into marketing, is a good thing.
As for the fact that the Linuxers were giving away "Free" software, well, I would bet that Microsoft was also giving away "free" (as in free beer) software as well. So the problem obviously wasn't that these folks were giving out CDs of software. The problem was that they were doing it in the middle of a display that Microsoft had paid huge money to rent. The guard that told the crazy Linuxers to move probably has no idea that there is a difference between Free Software (as in free speech) and free software (as in AOL CDs). He just knew that Microsoft had paid for that spot, and someone else was using it.
I am as big a fan of free software as the next guy, but that doesn't mean that I think that sharing free software justifies trespassing. I am grateful for the time and effort that goes into Free Software, but if a free software developer climbed in the window of my house to give me a CD he would do so at the risk of his life. Passing out CDs in an area of a convention hall that Microsoft had rented is no different (except for the fact slow-witted folk don't see convention floor space as private property).
Move along folks, there's no news here.
OK, the guard that kicked the Linuxers out definitely did not know the difference between Free Software (as in free speech) and free software (as in free beer). He almost certainly knew that what the Linuxers were doing was contrary to the rules that the Linuxers agreed to when they signed up for the convention.
Read about it here:
I did read the heavily biased NewsForge article. I just didn't assume that this was the entire story. The contract that someone fromt he LUG had to have signed to get them into the show specifically stated that they were not to give out stuff outside of their booth. Here's the excerpt from the contract:
If the LUG didn't think that this was a good deal, then they shouldn't have signed the contract. Blaming Microsoft for their failure to comply with the rules simply makes these Linuxers look childish.
You missed the part where the Suncoast Linux User's Group had a sponsored table at the show. That was significantly more populated by visitors than the MS booths, but that's besides the point. The point is, they paid to be there, just like MS did. And during their paid attendance, MS got pissy.
These are the facts as attested to in the article. Now stop making up your 'probably's and 'maybe's and 'i bet that's and learn to read.
This space for rent. Call 1-800-STEAK4U
Microsoft has Linux in its target sights. Be afraid, be very afraid.
Above all else, remember that Microsoft is not addressing you. They're addressing your boss, who by definition is almost certainly not capable of completely understanding the complexity of the situation and by default doesn't even want to try thinking about it.
Microsoft can and will convince the people who make the decisions to avoid Linux like the plague.
The only chance there is to avoid this assured outcome is to gain control of the bosses' minds.
You must couch your persuasive arguments in simple terms, as soundbite-compatible as possible. You need to implant memes that paint Microsoft with a tarry, black brush; and make Linux look like a glowing angel.
"Linux is a cancer" is the perfect meme. It's memorable, and it's nasty.
You much create countermemes -- and you must be able to get them publicised to the same extent that Microsoft can. And that, I suspect, is impossible. It may be impossible to win the war, simply because Microsoft owns the territory, the media, and the minds of your bosses.
It's been suggested that "Microsoft is afraid of Linux" may be one of the better counter-memes to spread to your bosses.
I should think we can come up with others, too.
[this message has been brought to you by the emergency rebroadcast system]
--
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
It doesn't matter that Microsoft was legally correct. We are not discussing contract law here. This is what is known as *funny*. It is funny for the following reasons.
- According to the LUG folks, more people were interested in the Linux displays than the MS displays.
- People from the LUG were passing out free copies of GNU/Linux software. They were doing so right in front of MS type propoganda.
- People were taking the software and were interested.
- This bothered MS enough to have to run and whine to the building managers.
- MS looks like a bunch of cry babies.
See it is funny. Look at it like someone screwing with MS, and suceeding. The fact that MS is legally correct is wholly inconsequential.I always see this argument that "MS can't compete against a free product". This is so untrue. You have to factor in benefits of each. All MS has to prove that the gains of buying their product outstrips the cost difference.
I hate seeing this argument so much because it give the inference that Open Source products are only better because they are free. If you think that is what Open Source is about, you missed the point.
The strength of Open Source is it allows more eyes to scrutinize and more ideas into the camp of software development.
-Pen
Microsoft must have tucked its tail between its legs and run to the building management, because they showed up and kicked the SLUG members out of the entrance area.
So from what I read there, and other places in the article, the LUG people were either A) Actually ON Microsoft's area of the floor, or B) in the entrance area in front of it (I wish they put up a floorplan).
How many linux zealots would put up with Microsoft guys handing out CD's in front of or near a Linux booth?
If you want a one-sided, theatrical rendition of the facts, read the article, but please don't let it make up your mind before hearing both sides.
---
python -c "x='python -c %sx=%s; print x%%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))%s'; print x%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))"
Come on crackheads, read the damn article, it's not that long. The LUG people were handing out CD at the showroom entrance, no one's "turf".
Of course there were people hanging out greeting people there and all, but Microsoft complained that they were handing out CD, which is just bullshit, every expo I've ever been to people were handing me free shit as I walked in.
This was simply Microsoft not wanting any attention to be distracted away from them, so they open their big mouths and bith and whine and get their way.
Do you think Microsoft doesn't hand out shit at these things? Of course they do, it's just not "free software".
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
The article failed to address the question of whether or not the show organizers normally allow this sort of activity from other participants. Whether Microsoft's assertion that "you can't pass out free software here" was a rule MS just created, and was enforced because they're a big sponsor of the show, or if Microsoft was informing SLUG of a rule to which they had previously agreed in a signed contract. (Assuming they're even an exhibitor at all...if they're not, they're even farther off base). From paragraph 14 of the exhibitor contract linked at http://www.techshows.com/Exhibitors_Only.html:
The distribution of samples, souvenirs, publications and the like or sales promotion activities must be conducted by Exhibitor within its booth. The distribution of any article that interferes with the activities or obstructs access to neighboring booths or that impedes aisles is prohibited.
This isn't public property, it's a private business, leasing space to trade show organizers trying to make money. Part of that involves setting up rules to keep guerrilla marketers in check, because the show organizers want to make money from the marketers, not provide a free venue for them. They also need to protect the interests of the people who are paying for advertising placement. If they sold Microsoft prime entrance real estate for a big display, but then allowed anybody else to stand around pitching product there, it would devalue that advertisement. They sell all sorts of marketing rights, such as exclusive rights to advertise on the shuttle busses, on the ticket booths, and so on. If they don't protect the companies paying for this, they'll have a tough time selling such placement at the next show.
Don't let the pictures attached to the article fool you. Sometimes Microsoft users are overweight too.
s/Microsoft/Scientology/
s/Linux/Lisa McPherson Trust/
Maybe M$ is there to bone up on $cn's "fair game" methods of "doing business." Two organizations that deserve each other.
(but then again, maybe I'm just in a bad mood because I had to beat the crap out of M$SQL *and* watched Greg and Darhma this week... <shudder>).
If you don't have anything nice to say, say it often.
If you don't have anything nice to say, say it often.
- Ed the Sock
Thank you for that wonderful post. Others will now be able to see you Winvocates for what you really are. Angry, rude, and full of hate. A dying breed, proponents of the last of the proprietary operating systems.
Um, be that as it may, the article that this post is about may not have been angry or full of hate, but it was certainly rude and juvenile. It refers to Microsoft employees as "droids" and "bulldogs". It's pretty rough on a guy who was just asking the Linux advocates to comply with the exhibitor contract, as another poster has pointed out.
Less venom, please. More substance. There are zealots enough in both camps.
The heart has reasons that reason does not understand. - Jacques Bènigne Bossuet
It seems to me that linux is now public enemy #1 on MS's hit list. It seems more and more now that there's an official statement from microsoft saying that linux isn't this, or open source isn't that. Or as this article claims, they stop distributions from distributing. This only means one thing, they're scared. And I think they have real reason to be. With Linux powering tons of webservers, and databases and with the dotcom failures, these dotcom tech professionals will now be entering old-line companies in droves, bringing Linux with them. Additionally the Itanium processors are here now, and that means that the Linux for Itanium will be the #1 *nix for high-end servers. I realize responding like this on slashdot is preaching to the converted, but my point is that the writing's on the wall. If microsoft hopes to expand its market share its going to have to take it from the server market. The way things stack up there now, the great obsticle for them is Sun and Linux, and with Itanium, it'll be more Linux than anything else. Of course the irony is the Linux community wants Linux to be a desktop system. I guess because it is so good at being a server, and because of its arch nemesis, Microsoft is "so good" at being a desktop system. I think Linux should stand its ground and consolidate its place in the server market. The time is extremely ripe for that. If Linux is to be a desktop system, it needs to have its own OS X type system. But then it would loose credibility as a server, and that would be a great tragedy, for then all would be lost.