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SCO Prides Itself on Inspiring FUD
ronaldb64 writes "According to a recent press release they are "...honored to be named among the many influential companies that comprise the SD Times 100. We pride ourselves in the work we do to create world renowned Unix-based solutions designed by some of the most experienced and outstanding engineers in the industry," said Jeff Hunsaker, senior vice president and general manager, SCO's UNIX Division.
What is the reason for the SD Times nomination? "The company's legal assaults on IBM and Linux users dominated 2003's tech headlines and shook up the open-source community. No other IT topic inspires such fervent debate, fear, uncertainty and doubt.". I guess any press is good press these days for SCO. Congratulations..."
SCO's new restaurant
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
"SCO prides itself on..."
Soon will they say they've invented FUD and hold the IP rights to it?
Oh wait, that was IBM that started that...
do() || do_not();
They're not even bright enough to note what they're being "honored" for....
Reminds me of the bullies in Jr. High that you could insult with big words as long as your vocal inflection made it sound nice.
--
As a matter of fact, I am a lawyer. But I play an actor on TV.
Evil criminal type: "I am honored to be named among the many influential individuals who comprise the Ten Most Wanted list down at the post office. I pride myself on the work I do to create nefarious plots and solutions designed to pry cash from my victims. Some of my schemes are among the most interesting solutions developed in the criminal world."
Like the Oscar.
How 'bout the Elmer?
If you post it, they will read.
Lindon, Utah; you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
Trolling is a art,
Yes. It's a nice operating system you've got there. Be a shame if anything were to happen to it.
++ Say to Elrond "Hello.".
Elrond says "No.". Elrond gives you some lunch.
And perhaps we should thank bin Ladin for increasing America's national security. Cause I feel much safer now. And heck, he's made headlines more than SCO.
<insert witty linux comment here>
I think there is a bug in the web page. In Internet Explorer the frames render with bars as separators but in Mozilla Firefox the bars are replaced with balls. This isn't funny until you scroll down the end of the report to find unlike everyone else in the list Darl McBride only has one ball.
Omnis amans amens
Seriously, is SCO actually creating new products right now? (other than the product of lawsuits, $699 profits, FUD, scare, etc). Actual user/consumer/business products?
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
That in the first 3 sentences it states the "SCO the owner of UNIX" but the most interesting fact is at the bottom of the artice -- "Source: The SCO Group"
A bunch of Tech Stuff
Although FUD needs to be constantly and consistently fought in corporations by knowledgable IT employees, FUD is a legitimate marketing technique. It ~works~. Few, if any, businessmen knew who SCO was 2 years ago, but now they have almost universal brand-name recognition.
So, full marks for their marketing and communications strategy. Its distasteful and full of lies, but so far they've been effective at getting their message out, and have avoided any consequences (e.g. perjury; public backlash) to this date.
The real question, though, is whether they will be able to translate this notoreity into $. Can they execute a business plan that will translate into consistent streams of revenue? Given their poor execution so far (e.g. they have not strategy outside of lawyers) I think not. If they get out of this intact, or maybe with a blip of one time profit on their books, they should count themselves lucky!
John Maynard Keynes: "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?"
The SD Times is intelligently embracing a controversy in order to attract attention and increase its brand value. Getting a story on Slashdot mean they hit the jackpot.
I doubt anyone at the site actually considers SCO to be a worthy company. Editors really should be more aware of this kind of manipulation.
... is where they spell your name right."
-- old showbiz saying
Welcome to the Turing Tarpit, where everything is possible but nothing interesting is easy.
Reminds me of SCO's spin on a VARBusiness article back in October. Here's SCO's version. Now check out the original article. SCO did indeed rate in the top four. Out of five.
===== Murphy's Law is recursive. =====
better be carefull...
"he'll make you an offer that you cannot refuse..."
wtf is that a violin playing?
"If I were bound by all laws everywhere I'm sure I would have committed a capital crime somewhere."
And what is up with that shirt Marc Fleury is wearing? OK, he's French, but still!
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Microsoft, leading cause of IT-related suicides, announced today that it is, in fact, proud of the accusations of monopolistic practices
Quote from Mr.Gates
"Hell yeah, we've been using our power and influence illegally for quite some time now. I've wanted to admit it for such a long time, but the boys in Legal say its a BAD thing to admit the obvious. But now, thanks to SCO, we can admit to owning BOTH Park Ave. and Boardwalk, all the houses and hotels therein, and yes, we do charge $20 for a snickers from the minibar. Why? Because we can"
"You've got a nice operating system here, Mr. Torvalds... We wouldn't want anything to happen to it now, would we?"
"Dinsdale!"
Woohoo! I got to slam SCO, Darl, and invoke Godwin in one post! Ahh, I'm done.
Maybe there should be a prize called 'SCO'.
Like an Oscar for FUD.
And the SCO of 2005 goes to......
Cool. Someone else using the Baghdad Bob playbook on public relations.
Anyone else ever notice how the heat-grading units for peppers are called Scoville Units?
In honor of this, I propose a scale for rating the FUD of companies & other groups/individuals based on SCO Units.
I can't think of where the scale would top out or even start, but that earlier story that got Linus to say he was a frontman for the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus has to be worth something.
And besides, SCO probably won't be around for much longer once IBM steps on them. They might as well contribute to some great cause before they are just a footnote in that future book, The History of the Greatest Operating System That Ever Lived.
Although FUD needs to be constantly and consistently fought in corporations by knowledgable IT employees, FUD is a legitimate marketing technique. It ~works~. Few, if any, businessmen knew who SCO was 2 years ago, but now they have almost universal brand-name recognition.
So, full marks for their marketing and communications strategy.
Murder works. Someone competing for the affections of the same girl as you? Someone competing against you in the workplace a little too successfully? A competitor gobbling up too much marketshare that is rightfully yours?
Off the bastard. Kill 'em dead.
Murder is by far the most effective way of dealing with unwanted competition and conflict, particularly if you are reasonably clever about it (it is an ugly, dirty little secret of our 'justic' system that most murders go unsolved, and most murderers thus get away with their crime).
By your logic, murder is a legitimate tool of competition.
I beg to differ. No amount of success justifies, much less legitimizes, a despicable methodology.
FUD and disinformation are unethical and despicable in the extreme, and their use is not legitimate, no matter how successful they are.
The courts would agree. It wasn't so long ago that IBM got seriously slapped down by the courts for exactly that sort of illegitimate, successful behavior.
SCO, Darl, and their sponsors (Microsoft and Sun Microsystems) should face similiar sanctions for engaging in this illegitimate, and quite possibly illegal, behavior.
(And lest you think defamation and libel are legal, check again. It may be hard to win convictions, but that doesn't make the act any less illegal, or any less illigetimate, and FUD, by its very definition, is libelous).
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
...you say as you submit yet another SCO story to Slashdot.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
...but this just irks me.
"...honored to be named among the many influential companies that comprise the SD Times 100.
"Comprise" is not the word you want. That would be "constitute." See Strunk & White's The Elements of Style.
I have discovered a truly marvelous
...SCO is in the real business of technology these days, this is no surprise. Read with me now:
1. There is technology for technology's sake (open source, true innovation)
2. There is "technology" for business sake (lowest common denominator ripoffs, more focus on marketing than R&D, specific focus on profit)
3. Then there is SCO (sue, sue, sue, sue, sue... ad nauseum and "Here is our repackaged version of our crap OS with open source stuff")
Which technologies will still be around 50-100 years from now? Undoubtedly those that originate in group 1.
Un-news
That's OK, OptInRealBig will continue to bring great deals to those who want them. It should be a crime for service providers to deny the great offers we make to people who took their busy time to sign up for our lists.
Scott
...I think it's about time that the "word" FUD dies off. It's used way too often when someone's propagandizing and there's no fear, uncertainty, or doubt involved. Second, what's the practical difference between uncertainty and doubt? We need them because we couldn't use FU or FD? Why can't we just instill fear rather than spreading FUD? It's not butter or anything. Of course, if you're not really making people afraid, you can't instill fear. FUD's good for that, since with the uncertainty and doubt part(s) of it, you don't need to.
It seems to me we have a "word" which is used too often and doesn't really mean anything.
As for SCO, it seems that the list isn't necessarily a good thing to be on. Influential people of the 20th century include everyone from, oh, Mother Teresa to Hitler.
READ THIS multi-page tiff: IBM's reply
IBM roasts SCO for the lack of evidence and delay tactics. Practicaly asks the Judge for a contempt of court ruling.