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AOL: Lindows Is Misleading People
jgeelan writes "According to this breaking news item, AOL has apparently said over the weekend that it is going to ask Lindows to change its promotional material after concluding that Lindows is misleading people into thinking that it has a strategic relationship with AOL."
I think AOL needs a kernel module. :D
As if calling it Lindows isn't misleading enough already.
warn "Just Another Perl User" if $anyone_cares;
um.. I don't get it. AOL is actually trying to divorce itself from software that requires quite a bit of tweeking to work right?
The Internet is generally stupid
concluding that Lindows is misleading people into thinking that it has a strategic relationship with AOL...
/. crowd!
So that's how they got so popular with the
Lindows CEO Michael Roberts, formerly CEO of mp3.com, was reported as saying "We have great faith in AOL's ability to fund me with another $100 million in venture capital, and I'm really sorry about that whole mp3.com blowout thing. Anyone want to go for a ride on my new yacht?"
For their next trick, having pissed off Microsoft and AOL, Lindows will be renaming to iLindows, just to attract attention from Apple
Lawyers - collect the set.
a grrl & her server
Really, here is a company seeling a product with a name that is already strikingly close to a trademark infringment. Now they're lying (Or deliberatly misleading, same thing) about their associations and business partnerships. On top of all this, they've mislead people about the abilities of their distribution (Remember their early claims about Windows compatability? Its not so compatable now, apparently...). Last but not least, they released "Closed" betas, which were a direct violation of the GPL.
Shaddy company, methinks.
...just how hard is it to mislead potential AOL customers?
I suspect the main reason Aol is doing this is to distance themselves from being a possible competitor to Microsoft.
After all, they wouldn't want to do anything to weaken the M$ monopoly notion would they?
eTrade SUCKS
Is Lindows the next Microsoft?
It certainly looks like they've learned a lot from them.
Linux is only free if your time has no value. Windows is only free if you threaten to use Linux.
Nothing surprising.
Lindows is misleading everyone and everything. When you read their PR, it's like they claim to invent everything. It's always something new, something better. Just marketing, nothing much behind
This is what happens when marketing is the sole reason for a company's existence. They just get more and more 'creative' in their quest for dollars, with no substance, i.e. anything innovative, to back it up.
After all, history has shown us that this never works, right? Right.........
Xavodim.com
That Lindows is a really shady operation? Everything they do seems a litle scummy.
Reminds me of AIMster.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
esp. since most of the people buying these boxes will think it can actually run Windows apps, which is what killed OS/2.
Linux will never get anywhere, never, until it stops acting like it owes people something and makes its own headway without emulating anything.
I think Lindows is trying to follow the Napster model:
1. Create a product (it doesn't have to be any good).
2. Get everybody to sue you.
3. Take advantage of the publicity you've received by selling the company for a few million dollars.
Obviously, they haven't done (3) yet, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if AOL announced that they were buying Lindows.
Tarsnap: Online backups for the truly paranoid
Why, it even had MSNBC talking about Lindows 2.0 as "AOL's new Netscape OS."
;-)
So this wasn't just a case of Lindows stretching the truth- it was also a case of bad reporting by MSNBC, without whom the "AOL-Lindows" link would never have been brought up (or at least, it would not have been as hyped as it was).
But what if it wasn't just "sloppy reporting"? You have to wonder- why would a site associated with MS hint at a non-existant connection between Lindows and AOL?
I smell a conspiracy here...
Oh how true!
:)
"Error Occurred While Processing Request "
I thought that Lindows had a strategic relationship with AOL. Good thing that's all cleared up now. Whew.
I planned on inserting something witty here but never got around to it.
Richard Stallman, director of the Free Software Foundation, wrote a 43 page letter to Lindows telling them why they should NOT call their operating system GNU/Lindows.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Imagine this in the future, grom Ask Slashdot:
"Hello. My name is John and I'm having problems with my new PC. The AOL daemon (AOLd) keeps crashing. Anyone had this problem before? Thanks!! u r so cool if u can help!"
they could always follow this tried and tested plan of action:
:)
1. Make Lindows OS
2. ??????
3. PROFIT!
of course, insert 1.1: bend truth and 1.2: whore free advertising from clueless journalists
Seems as though they have almost completed steps 1 and 3 already
Lindows is misleading people into thinking that it has a strategic relationship with AOL...
This just in.. Company changes its name to AOLindows. Claims it's just an amazing coincidence.
=-Jippy
...except that I suspect that the "Wal*Mart" connection is probably just as exaggerated and overhyped as the AOL connection.
My wife, who's a just-plain-computer-user, has a Gateway/Windows 98 SE system that's a little old in the tooth. She's starting to think about new system. She likes Wal*Mart and shops their frequently. She certainly is totally unaware of Lindows.
At one point I was worried about boxes falling into the hands of lay users who expect their edutainment titles and arcade games to run properly... and imagining them calling customer support and getting told "Oh, just check out the source code fix it yourself..." But I suspect that lay users that don't read computer magazines are not in much danger.
Everything inside Lindows 2.0 is improved. Not perfect, but improved. The graphics are better and there's an overall feeling of a professional OS inside, rather than geeks-only software. The KDE desktop looks and feels like Windows, with a few exceptions.
Jeez I don't know where to start...
There's an overall feeling of a professional OS inside, rather than geeks-only software.
Ummm I'm just reading this and my head begins to hurt. I use linux and I believe it has always been a professional OS. By professional I mean, well it works, it's extremely advanced, can be used for just about anything and it's very customizable. Not because it isn't "geeks-only" what kind of stupid statement is that? If I give my cousin a fisher price computer thingy with those plastic crappy cards that have different games on them, I don't call it a professional computer because it's not. It isn't "geeks-only", but that doesn't make it professional.
When I want a professional OS, I don't install Windows Me, that isn't professional, it isn't "geeks-only" either. I would install Linux (or FreeBSD which I have started to use these past few weeks.) When I use Linux it does have a "geeks-only" feel to it, that's one reason why I like it. It's stable, secure (well most of the time), small, powerfull, and all this stuff is what makes it professional (in my opinion), I don't call something professional when it isn't "geeks-only." I don't want a little paper clip to hold my hand when I compile a kernel, I don't want a little dog to help me updatedb and locate | grep. I want a raw OS, one that's powerfull and secure, not one that's designed with my grandmother in mind. The things that make it professional are the same things that make it feel like it's "geeks-only."
The KDE desktop looks and feels like Windows, with a few exceptions.
Why does everyone try to compare desktop managers with Windows? Isn't the whole point of installing Linux to get away from Microsoft? Out of the 6 billion people in this world (yeah they're not all comptuer geeks but still at least one should be good enough) is the Windows desktop the most creative and easy to use interface we can come up with? I'm sure there must be something better out there to use. Why do we keep making Linux more and more like windows in all these Distro's. Well I guess it's to make the transition into Linux an easy one, but people seem to learn how to use Mac OS just fine and that's far from windows (at least from what I've seen it is, I could be wrong, not a huge Mac user.) Anyway that statement about Lindows being more professional because it isn't "geeks-only" really pisses me off, and also the comparison to windows.
Why shouldn't AOL team up with a linux distribution to make some kind of "AOL-Linux"? It would be a niche product basically for people who use their PC's exclusively for AOL and web browsing. A 50% tax on perfectly usable hardware ($200 bare bones at Walmart, $300 for same system with windows) is quite excessive.
Ive been saying this since day one.
.. Setting us back years in the home market. Just like SLS did long ago.
Joe user will get one, buy a windows based game on the shelf below and when it dont work...
"lindows is useless and this whole linux thing sucks"
Yes they are wrong, but the general population is driven by marketing.. And lindows IS marketing well.. ( it seems )
---- Booth was a patriot ----
That MSNBC article reminds me very much of the early days of micros... when nothing worked but nobody would admit it. An attitude that has, alas, to some extent been internalized into the whole PC industry.
... doesn't work. Outlook almost works (it can't find my e-mail server at work) and Internet Explorer works sometimes. I haven't tried other Windows software titles, but I'm told some do work."
In the late seventies, an acquaintance of mine used to rave about his Northstar system. I asked about reliability and he said it had been perfect, never any problems. I asked for a demo. He said he'd love to give me one but he couldn't right then, as the power supply had burned out. I said "I thought you said you hadn't had any problems." He said, "Oh, the problem is just in the power supply. The computer itself is fine."
The MSNBC article has that flavor to me. "As for the Microtel hardware, everything works as advertised except for the CD-ROM drive, which I haven't been able to get sound from yet." Right. It's not as if sound were an important function.
He says "I mentioned that Lindows was originally touted as being able to run Microsoft Windows programs. Guess what? IT CAN." (Capitals his). That's what he says first. It's only a little later that he mentions "[in Office the] Open New Document icon;
Yeah, right. It's not as if you'd ever want to create a NEW document, editing existing ones should be good enough for anyone. It's not as if it matters that the email program can't talk to your email server. And, yes, I'm so picky that I expect IE to work more often than "sometimes." I demand nothing less than "mostly," and you should, too.
Lindows... "IT CAN" run Windows software. And my friend's Northstar computer wasn't broken.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
You did it!!!
1. Write open source software.
2. Get everybody to sue you.
3. Profit!
You know, Microsoft's street address also says a lot about their mentality.
you had better give people the right links, after all you wouldnt want their cookie sharing exploits to get in the way
http://msid.msn.com/mps_id_sharing/redirect.asp?w
Heck, IE only works sometimes under Windows 98 as well, so it's not any more broken there as it is under Lindows!
Perhaps the problem is not the OS but IE?
Hell, I'd care more about IE crashing and killing the entire computer (as it often does with mine), than if IE only worked some of the time under Lindows.
My current problem with Windows is that I have to start Outlook 2000 in "safe" mode if I want to actually open and read Emails. Otherwise, opening mail in it's own Window locks up the computer and I have to pull the plug out of the wall to shut it off. That's how good Windows works -- so if Lindows isn't any better, than it's as least as good as Windows!
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
I read the article (imagine that around here) and it seems to me that the author (MSNBC payroll) of the article is the one that makes claims that there is a relationship between Lindows and AOL.
Speak truth to power.
I've been swashdotted -- Elmer Fudd
I looked at the article again. There was no credible quote from Lindows saying they had any kind of agreement with AOL. This was entirely a PR spin from M$nbc timed for the anti-trust remedy.
prisoner# msce18xxxxx. Currently planning my escape.
well...im glad that lindows didn't stoop and actually CREATE a relationship with aol...whew
if u kant get outlook runnin you are worthless...you better just return that computer right now and stick to the postal service
I've read the reviews and it would appear that there's a lot of potential in Lindows 2.0. However I have a problem with the fact (or at least the perception) that the driving force behind Lindows' marketing is deception.
Say what you will about it's differences, 'Lindows' CAN imply a connection, or at least a similarity, to the popular Microsoft offering. This latest news only strengthens the perception that Lindows is trying to achieve success/market share by deceiving it's target customers.
If Lindows is going to gain any credibility, it has to be a little more careful about the face it shows to the public. It would be a shame if a great product (who can't like a $199 computer system?) is never realized because it's creators can't play by the rules.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
Plus, I don't want to support this cruddy distro for my friends and family that attempt to escape from Bill G's clutches.
..AOL is misleading people into thinking that it is actually a ISP.
never bring a twinkie to a food fight.
What sort of market are they going for, anyway?
Let's try and get the aol crowd!
Hi! It's in a tin so it must be important!
No, let's try and get the geek crowd.
We use linux! We can recompile a kernel on a whim, bow before us!
No! We can get both! Aol likes linux, linux is geeky, linux can be in a tin! You should like linux too! (Our distribution in particular)
Those that have found serious logic problems with the above should take comfort in the fact that they aren't alone.
Right at this very moment I am posting this message using Lindows 2.0. I have come to the quick realization that too much FUD is being circulated about this fine distro. Properly setup and configured this is a very nice debian distro. I have tweaked mine quite a bit, running as a user vs root and removal of most of the click n run stuff. On a happy note the debian core is fully intact and extremely stable. Until now I have always used redhat as a desktop machine but the mighty apt-get is a welcome change to rpm pains. Do yourself a favor and give it a test ride, nice distro when properly configured.
Please Michael, just go away. From your involvement with MP3s to this it's quite apparant that like a mosquito you're trying to suck the lifeblood out of whatever trend geeks are into. Please stop. Go away, don't start an OGG company or a DIVX company next. Just go get a job, stop pissing off the suits and embarassing Linux.
And posting a story on how the licensing was "changed" with MP3 decoders even though it's been the same for years isn't misleading people?
I wouldn't have touched XP yet, except that an artist friend of mine just upgraded from a hand-me-down machine to a new one. That was his first comment, why did they change everything? He's thinking about returning it and spending a little more on an Apple.
I loaded the Windows version of the GIMP to give him a chance to get away from Photoshop. I'm trying to convince him that it is worth his time to learn GIMP rather than Photoshop which will continue to cost him money that he doesn't have. Unfortunately, I'm not experience enough with any of these tools to be able to say that the GIMP has all the features that he will want from Photoshop, or to help him learn it.
For a Linux user, this put AOL in a postive light for me. To bad for them.
going offtopic for a moment:
I would actually like to say that the latest version of mozilla has won me back. It finally works: really good. I even tried it from windows, and it brought a tear to my eye. I was reminded of the day of Netscape 4.x (a beautiful time), when Netscape was THE browser, and all others were not even close to being good enough. Thanks everyone who has worked on the Mozilla project.
mechanicos ergo cogito
Lets see...
open source code...
Microsoft's user base...
AOL's brand name...
Apple's website look and feel...
Has Lindows created ANYTHING themselves?
How many people actualy buy a lindows pc to use Lindows? It seems to me that most people I've talked to buy low cost lindows PCs and install a pirated copy of Windows. In the short term this benifits Lindows since they will profit from the sale of the pc, but in the long term it would seem that Microsoft will come out ahead, since even tho the copies of Windows are pirated, Microsoft is expanding its user base as Lindows user base dwindles.
I'd bet $20 that the Microtel PC doesn't have one of those pass-thru wires from the CDROM to the sound card.
But does MSNBC's target audience know that? Nope. It's entirely possible people will think that Linux doesn't support playing audio CD's.
"I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
Lindows *does* have a strategic agreement with AOL/Netscape.
1. They *did* agree to AOL/Netscape's terms for licensing Netscape in such a manner.
2. They did so as a part of their overall strategy.
3. You *can* customize how Netscape looks/feels on PCs with their Client Customization Kit or whatever their calling it nowadays.
So? They spun it a little bit. Nowhere did they say "We are now butt-buddies with AOL/Time-Warner." What's the big deal?
*shrug*
Much ado about absolfrickinlutely nothing.
Ed R.Zahurak
You know, oblivion keeps looking better every day.
I wish WebMD would request AOL to stop implying that they have an exclusive relationship.
I've also noticed in some of their screen shots, that their new custom desktop (widgets etc.) are eerily aqualicious. Lots of jelly-like spherical buttons, shiny, shaded bubbly menu bars that are "slightly" transparent, an emphasis on blue...
These have already been linked, but the screen shots definitely have more than a passing resemblance
This is where I get my recommended daily allowance of "Foot in Mouth."
Actually, most of what people genericly refer to as "Mexicans" are Guatamalans. They make up an almost equal portion of immagrees in this country. There are others of course, Peruvians, Brazillians, but chances are, youre seeing more guatamalans than youd realize. And by the way, in my town, which has a HUGE latino community, its mostly teenage white boys graffiti'ing up the place. They make the paper all the time getting caught. I am a whitey, but thats not a point of pride, as over all, we are some of the biggest global trouble makers of any.
Libranet GNU/Linux - Excellent Debian Based Distro http://www.libranet.com Check it out!
a 200 doller door stop. Oh Joy. who cares what os it runs. Lets take half a computer (if that) and spout obout the os. Common! I want a 200 doller video card. what the hell would I do on a 200 doller computer? It might make a good target. is the motherboard certified to explodenicely when a shotgun fires at it?
Not misleading, misreading !
I read the article and I don't see where the developers and producers ever made a quoted statement nor did I find a reference in the article to a web address reflecting the views of Lindows© developers making claims that AOL© has partnered with Lindows©.
I think AOL© may have misread the article or perhaps they are only taking cautionary steps toward clarifing to the public (Microsoft©) that they are for all operating systems.
I personally think that the article written by the MSN(BC) columnist was a cleverly disguised ploy by Microsoft© to tilt the public opinion against AOL© and Lindows©.
-AC
I suggest you buy a 5 dollar dictionary and learn how to spell 'dollar'...
at least on my backup machine..I have to admit coming from Windows to Lindows was relatively painless, easy for a user of Windows since Version 2 (or was it 3?) Anyway it was easy, much easier than Windows, and a damn site easier than learning Linux (for a lifetime Windows user)
AOL's market niche is the non-savvy...
just imagine the joy that tech-support would experience trying to talk 1,000,001 (l)users through the joy of a linux install...
and that doesn't even begin to address the woeful state of the desktop....
What do you call the claims Lindows made about AOL? Marketing. What's a synonym for marketing? Lying. No surprise here.
How ya like dat?
They call it a "Professional OS" for the same reason that Lincoln and Cadillac refer to their leather and sunroof equipped SUV's as "Professional Grade" and why Drain-O calls itself "Professional Strength". It's so people wouldn't think that they're buying something made specifically for the mindless consumer masses. It's that simple. Lindows is billed as a "Professional OS" to blow smoke up the asses of people who would buy a "no user servicable parts inside" PC from the likes of Wal-Mart. Try not to be offended by the "non-geek" label. These people are trying to make sales, and calling things "Grandma Friendly" isn't going to work nearly as well as stroking people's ego.
The reason for comparing KDE, or anything else for that matter, to Windows is because the "average non-geek" doesn't have any computer experience besides Windows. It gives them something familiar to relate to. Comparison and contrast are very effective means of explaining things to people... "Doing A is like doing B." "A looks like B, except with regard to C, which is sort of like D and E, and totally different than F." Giving people a common, familiar reference such as Windows is, actually, doing Linux a service, because (the more observant) people who consider buying a PC from Wal-Mart are now being informed that Linux is a Windows-like alternative to Windows. Wherever they get their PC, hopefully they'll take that factoid with them.
So, it's purely marketting. "Linux people" aren't used to having things sold to them with hype (except for Mountain Dew and crap from ThinkGeek), but it works for just about every other kind of consumer.
The REAL jabber has the user id: 13196
What you do today will cost you a day of your life
Microsoft could stop including the AOL sign-up icon with new computers (now that the anti-trust trial is some kind of joke). Or add "features" to the OS that make the AOL client seem "buggy" or slow . . . (with their next "bugfix" update). This could easily overwhelm any gains from creating a AOL friendly Linux distro.
It never ceases to amaze me how people continue to be completely oblivious to the amount of power they are turning over to MS when they use Windows . . .
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
"it is going to ask Lindows to change its promotional material after concluding that Lindows is misleading people into thinking that it has a strategic relationship with AOL."
They appear to me to simply be afraid of the wrath of M$. What other legitimate reason could there be? It's promoting AOL in a positive light. Any exposure is good exposure right? So WTF?
Why do you think MSNBC was promoting it?
From the lindows FAQ:
Question
Can I allow my friends to have a copy of any software I obtain?
Answer
The Lindows.com Insider program is designed to be exclusive to the individual that signs up. As an Insider member, we ask that you not distribute copies of the LindowsOS to other individuals and that you abide by the end user license agreement that comes with our software.
Damn: I was looking for someone to give me a copy of KDE or GImp. I need to be l33t.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
Naw, most of the industry is a little scummy. Lindows just doesn't seem to understand that you can only BS so long before people stop listening to you.
Learn from other people's mistakes.
Look a little larceny probably has to exist in the
heart of any succesful business.
But just a little little.
Hype alone will not make a company succeed anymore.
Too much hype will do the opposite.
You are not going to bullshit Lindows into
success.
Change the ratio of truth to bs and and things
will be better for Lindows.
Otherwise you will turn into linuxone.
There's a great article in this month's WIRED about why AOL should re-envision itself as a broadband provider. (The argument largely being that AOL is 95% dialup, and dialup is slowly but surely going the way of the dinosaur.)
An AOL brand of Linux could really complement this strategy. AOL could offer even lower cost computers with a broadband commitment, the same way cellphone service providers offer discounted cellphones when you sign up for a service plan.
For all the grandmas, moms, dads, and technophobes out there, an 800 Mhz box for $100 with a broadband connection could really drive some upgrades, if AOL did it right.
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
I have one of those $199 Microtel PCs (scrubbed Lindows from it, obviously, as I'm a Slackware person.) It's properly set up, including (if you really want to do it that way) a cheap old analogue link between the CDROM and the "sound card" (actually, it's a VIA motherboard with the sound hardware built in.) I opened it up very early so I could put in my TV card and an old SCSI card with a DVD drive.
Actually I really can't fault the way it's set up. The only annoyance I have (and it may be the way I'm doing things) is that the 800MHz VIA C3 CPU doesn't seem to be faster than my old 300MHz PII Laptop when it comes to decoding DVDs, which is to say not fast enough (using Xine and MPlayer 0.90pre8) I don't understand that, as everything else whizzes in comparison.
A bargain, and worth getting IMO. But install a proper Linux on it, Lindows is neither a great Linux, nor a terribly usable Windows.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Why anyone would want to Assosiate themselves WILLINGLY with AOL is beyond me, if they go to court they could just point to that fact and the case will be thrown out of the court, that is unless the judge is paid off or put under pressure by the big satan(tm) (/not microsoft this time..)
And what about making commercials that mislead people into thinking that sites like Ebay and WebMD are services of AOL? I can't wait for the Version 8.0 commercials, when they claim to have invented the internet.
Friend: "The NIC is misconfigured..." Me: "No prob, I'll just telnet in and fix it." *Silence*
Mac (Clinton)
Lindows (Ross Perot)
Can I finish? Can I finish?
This is a typical Maureen O'Gara troll. Lindows signed a pact or agreement to put the AOL logo on the Lindows desktop. Odds are they talked to an engineer or two before they went ahead with this. The PR is just fine. AOL is on the Lindows desktop. If Gary Krakow chose to call it 'the AOL PC' in his article and others jumped days after the story to say that was the Red Hat deal -- good for them. But Lindows is offering AOL and Earthlink and a damn good distro based on LInux. Attacking Michael Robertson - who has self-funded this company does not seem to make much sense.
with Gateway. Here's the first hit from Google.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
It's MUCH better than Lindows, doesn't have any "strategic" product placements, and doesn't sell as a PC from Walmart...
http://www.lycoris.com
And it's free to download, without a ridiculous "pay to update" scheme (mine ran just fine under VMWare, without having to set up any prepaid accounts)... Or, if you're so inclined, you can buy it on CD at retailers/online retail... Even without any customer support for the downloaded version... There's also a fairly large community available for Lycoris, who'll give advice on several platforms, physical or virtual (in fact, that's how I learned how to make it work within VMWare)...
I tell you, it's good enough to make me want to go down to Walmart, buy one of their $199 computers, format the HD and install Lycoris... And I'm a Windows user...
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
Hmmmm.... they're all ASP pages, I'm sure that means they would never use an MS solution if there were something more secure and free...
Hey, wait a second... what kind of servers do ASP pages usually run from...?
From Lindows President(Kevin) on the Lindows forum:
As with any company, you have press that like what you're doing, and those who don't like what you're doing.
Maureen O'Gara who wrote this article certainly falls in the "not like Lindows.com" camp. She has from day one not liked Lindows.com, and she has time and time again tried to short circuit much of what we are doing. For example, she didn't like the Wal-Mart deal and tried all she could to get Wal-Mart to kill their deal with Lindows.com. She called them, emailed them, and so on to short circuit the deal. It obviously didn't work, and to this day Wal-Mart remains thrilled with their association with Lindows.com. She's apparently doing it again here, trying to short circuit our relationship with AOL. Of course, it won't work. AOL is a HUGE corporation, and not every department at AOL may know what the other dept. is doing. Certainly, a "reporter" for the Linux press would have the least access to AOL or information about their plans.
As we have said many times, we don't pay too much attention to this sort of thing. We simply remain focused on building a great product. This reporter has been proven wrong many times already by Lindows.com, but not by our words, but by actions and the history of this company.
As for an "AOL Computer," the MSNBC reporter was the one who made the inference of an "AOL Computer." That's why the headline had a question mark after it. The MSNBC reporter was saying, "Hmmm...COULD this be an AOL Computer?" I think it was clear what the MSNBC reporter was suggesting, NOT reporting that there WAS an "AOL Computer," but that this could certainly be used in that way.
We stand by our press release. It is 100% accurate.
Kevin
PS: I responded as soon as I saw this thread. We're very busy, as you can imagine, getting ready for the General Release. When we're not on the forum it means we ARE working! Don't give this "reporter" too much of your energy, as I'm sure it's exactly what she wanted.
M$ bought a news outlet so it could shape the news. No news there, people have been doing that forever. It's a problem with comercial news. The fewer news outlets people have the more subject to abuse those news outlets are. The stronger the power of advertisers, the weaker the news organization. You can't get a weaker news organization than one that has litteraly been bought by one of it's cheif sponsors. Did you miss the news that M$ was going to spend more than a billion dollars to promote Windows XP? That kind of spending buys lots of favors at comercial news outlets. A free internet may take us away from that as the power of advertisers goes to zero as the number of news outlets goes to infinity.
The thread is correct to suspect that MSNBC might intentionaly create controversy between AOL and Lindows. Trouble in either house is good for NBC and M$.
DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
The proof that IBM didn't invent the car is that it has a steering wheel
and an accelerator instead of spurs and ropes, to be compatible with a horse.
-- Jac Goudsmit
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