Slashdot Mirror
Are You Ready for the SCO Blitz?
eibhear writes "Over on Groklaw, PJ has a theory that SCO is about to embark on an astroturfing campaign, based somewhat on Darl McBride's repeated comparison of the Slashdot and Groklaw styles of blogging at the recent SCOForum conference. PJ reckons: 'an astroturf campaign depends upon a non-moderated site, which explains McBride's sudden fondness for Slashdot.' '" The whole thing is really fishy, but the story is really worth reading just to see the weird battle occurring between SCO and Groklaw now.
SCO is cool and stuff!
SCO is here and we are the rightful owners of Linux. So pay your licenses slashdotters or feel the wrath of Darl!
Oh crap I'm not signed in am I?
How could anyone accuse a reputable company like mine^h^h^h^h SCO of blatantly manipulating people like that.
This is obviously an attempt by the administrators of this website to discredit SCO and avoid paying for their legally extort^w required license.
--Kevin
SCO is an honourable company based upon a sound business model. The evil Linux hackers stole all of our..*cough* their code, and gave it away for free. Heathens!
-Dar...Trollkore?
I for one welcome our astroturfing overlords from Utah.
/., they still got jack shit in the "what is true" department.
(btw: wtf is in the water out there? SCO, Orrin Hatch, etc.)
i welcome them because be it on Groklaw or on
in fact - bring it on so that you can trial ballon every ounce of bullcrap here first, before putting it out in the press, so we can prep for it and practice beating it down here.
guns kill people like spoons make Rosie O'Donnell fat.
Which, thankfully isn't slashdot. Most readers probably don't know this, but the editors have full control over moderation, and can use their unlimited mod points to mod stuff over and over again. It doesn't show up publicly, but editors have been doing this for quite some time.
By doing this, they can trigger IP bans and therefore thwart these nefarious astroturfing campaigns. I trust the good editors here to use their unlimited powers justly, to keep things ontopic, and relevant.
When you focus equal attention on a multi-billion dollar company and a paralegal's weblog, you're probably screwed...
what's next? push polling???
Enterprise Linux users would be called up by SCO employees and asked:
"Would you be more likely or less likely to install Linux as a Server OS if you knew Linux has copied source code from SCO?"
Consensus is good, but informed dictatorship is better
By not posting SCO stories unless there's actual news. Like a final judgement that actually means something.
/. story about it.
Everytime one of their lawyers cuts wind theres a
Don't give them the chance to astroturf. Simple enough. Just regurgitate more marketing text about the awesome power of the iPod or Tivo instead. It all goes to the same place.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
If you work for SCO, or are affiliated with SCO in any way, please reply to this message.
Failure to do so will result in (insert any patent or copyright threats here).
Feed the need: Digitaladdiction.net
SCO doesn't have to realize anything. The investors that keep pumping money into SCO are the ones that need to realize it and pull the fuck out.
I think SCO are really good, they make the best, err, Unex, er Unax, Unix I mean. Loonux isn't Unix 'cause its not the real thing.
Hey, can we move the autocue a bit nearer?
Using a free Unix rip off is like being a communist and me and my buddies at the steel mill don't like commies.
</Astroturf>
And he [McBride] predicted that "open blogs" like Slashdot will start to tell SCO's side of the story, and then the media will get to understand what is really going on.
Allow me to be the first to 'tell SCO's side of the story, then (Slashdot style, of course):
1. File lots of lawsuits
2. ???
3 Profit!
Sorry, that was just too good to miss :P
I hear there's rumors on the Slashdots
What is going on here? Has Groklaw suddenly decided to use accusations in an attempt to damage SCO's case instead of logical arguments. This isn't like PJ, and seems unprofessional.
McBride and slashdot are technically oxymorons, are they not?
That's like saying he likes having his tiny nuts bitten by badgers.
It has been said that the difference between gutsy and foolness is very thin. However, picking a fight with an active community of highly intelligent zealots who have a product that's years beyond your current product goes under the foolish cateygory.
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
...
-1 Flaimbait
-2 Astroturf
(btw: wtf is in the water out there? SCO, Orrin Hatch, etc.)
/that/ long ago that Utah was at war with the United States of America (and no, we're not talking about SCO vs. IBM). On top of this, throw in the whole persecution of Mormons and you'll get a bit of cultural paranoia. I've worked with a lot of people of the Jewish faith and some will share that a few thousand years of persecution tends to orient the survivors towards paranoia (remember, the ones who weren't paranoid in Germany and didn't flee didn't get to stick around to pass along their genes).
A lot of it is seige mentality. Don't forget it wasn't
Granted the Mormons are a much younger microculture, but the defensiveness and inwardness is there. This often helps grow Mormon businesses, but tends to remove criticism and skepticism over false claims by a church member. Much of this defensiveness is still somewhat limited and not an embedded cultural practice - yet - but church leaders need to recognize this reactionary trend and correct or remove members that practice it.
Still, Mormons have done much to contribute to society. In fact, I'm perpetually amazed that so many don't condemn the SCO parasites and call them what they are as it goes so much against church teachings of open-paradigm systems. Remember, each new family that arrived in the valley was not regarded as another mouth to feed from a finite pie, but rather a new producer to make the pie bigger for everyone. If you have read "Seven Habits," "First Things First", or any other Steven Covey works, much of what you've read is a secular version of Mormonism applied to the business and personal domains. One of the legitimate heirs of the claim to "founding dot-com", Bill Washburn (executive director of the Commercial Internet Exchange, who fought against the NSFNET's plans for an Internet monopoly grant to the regional Bell operating companies and ANS, an IBM and MCI venture) and many other Internet leaders all hail from this open thinking, progressive faith (of which I am not, but have a great deal of respect for).
Open source shares much philosophically, so it is ironic that one of the greatest haters of open paradigm thought is Senator Hatch, and one of the greatest pump and dump anti-open paradigm companies (new SCO) both hail from Utah. Then again, we all have crooks we have to deal with in our respective faiths and communities from time to time.
Wake up Utah friends and throw these imposters out!
Microsoft Apologist Apologizes for Microsoft
Rob Enderle Announces Death of Bluetooth
and
Enderle's Ferrari Laptop
have appeared on Slashdot in the past.
This "technology analyst" is also the author of In Defense Of the Microsoft Monoculture and ranted and raved in an "informative" Eweek article about his Windows Ferrari theme and gushed happily about how his colleagues were impressed by it's cool shutdown and startup sounds.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
I think Groklaw is the biggest thorn in SCO's side. The media has been pretty content to just print whatever random press release SCO throws at them without doing much (if any) verification at all. Groklaw has been consistenly documenting SCO's actions, court filings, and contradictory statements to the press, which makes it much harder for SCO to try their case in the media rather than a courtroom.
Groklaw is also something that SCO could never have forseen because it's never been done before. Hundreds of volunteers donating their time to get court procedings and transcribe them, research and debunk questionable claims to the press, and write thoughtful articles explaining the technology being used so those who don't have the background can understand what's going on. It's the power of the open source model applied to law. It's anti-FUD, and it's been the worst possible thing for SCO's media campaigns. Go PJ!
"Seek first to understand." - Socrates
As in politics, corporations do not like it when they fail to control the "message" and public discourse on the message. The fact that sites like Groklaw exist and flourish is one of the few things that gives me hope these days. Sure, Groklaw has a point-of-view. But it is also chock full of raw legal documentation of a lawsuit that is near and dear to us all. I don't need to read SCO's "spin" on their latest court filing. I can read it in all of its raw legalese and see directly that it's full of sh*t...
When SCO is DOA. RIP. IANAL, but IBM will send them out to BFE, ASAP. WTF?
I like big butts and I cannot lie.
Keep your eyes to the sky.
... and who don't feel like googling in the middle of reading Slashdot posts:
astroturfing: n. The use of paid shills to create the impression of a popular movement, through means like letters to newspapers from soi-disant `concerned citizens', paid opinion pieces, and the formation of grass-roots lobbying groups that are actually funded by a PR group (astroturf is fake grass; hence the term). This term became common among hackers after it came to light in early 1998 that Microsoft had attempted to use such tactics to forestall the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust action against the company. This backfired horribly, angering a number of state attorneys-general enough to induce them to go public with plans to join the Federal suit. It also set anybody defending Microsoft on the net for the accusation "You're just astroturfing!".
They have $61 million in cash, no debt, and a market cap of $62 million. Think about that. If they just shut down and paid out their cash, stockholders would be right where they are now. The stock price is so low that it indicates the market assumes management will blow the cash doing something stupid. Given management's behavior over the last year, that's a reasonable assumption.
Yeah, I liked that part of "sudden fondness for Slashdot". As though getting endless free coverage from the obsessive Linux media hasn't been part of their plan from day one. I'm still not sure if people like the Slashdot editors simply don't realize they're being played like fish or if they just regard controversy as a win-win situation for both themselves and SCO.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
But in Slashdot's case, "Don't trust anybody with a Slashdot ID Number > 800000."
Why did I lurk so long before registering for a Slashdot account? I could have had a Slashdot ID of less than 100000.
Dear Mr Jail Brekr
We wish to inform you that it has come to our attention that large portions of your post have been determined to have originated from our copyrighted Post base. If you wish to continue posting, you must arrainge a license agreement with our legal department as soon as possible. Failure to do so can lead to legal action against both you, and any who reply to your post with any part of it quoted, thereby also infringing our copyright. For those users who have posted after the original offending post, but before the posting of this post, you will be given the option to obtain a Posting License for a very minimal and reasonable fee. Please contact our legal department as soon as possible.
Have a nice day (c)
SCO Legal
In Sydney they call that "getting off at Redfern".
Norman Cook's Ode to Sl
Does anyone have any ideas on how SCO can hope to create the impression of grass-roots support for them? I don't see any feasible ways that someone could come along and post something which would make me, or any informed person see SCO as anything but a company exploiting IP and the legal process to extort companies out of money.
It's amazing to me that it's even legal for them to offer Linux licenses before establishing in a court that Linux in fact contains their IP. It's like selling the Brooklyn Bridge.. and having it be legal, because the buyer didn't bother to find out if you owned it.
"'Yrch!' said Legolas, falling into his own tongue."
Check it out!
Nasty isn't it?
She starts off with this self-referential, circular narative about "blows != violence", but then brings up "sending Enderle over the top" and then she mentions guns and how she really wants to keep Enderle calm, and then she comes full circle and no that's not what she means and suddenly she's *really* talking about "blowhards" and "step-by-step".
Why bother with the entire prologue, except that it makes good "press" when written by someone who's now a "journalist".
And she ends up with a long monologue about how poor Groklaw (center of the known universe) is about to be astroturfed (the latest "attack!" "attack!") by that dreadful SCO.
All this angst really comes from the ongoing facts that:
So, Pamela's got issues, and a lot of people have issues with Pamela, but to hear her tell it it's all Enderle's and McBride's and SCO's fault.
Pamela's backed herself into a corner. Period.
As for SCO itself, fuck 'em.
SCO clearly isn't going to get anything past anyone here, and anyone (Pamela included..) who thinks that /. is going to be fooled by any such BS from SCO is smoking something I don't want any part of...
Finally, no, I'm not an SCO astroturfer:
http://www.finchhaven.com/TSCOG/index.html
I've done my work in the trenches; have you?
t_t_b
I'm on PJ's "enemies" list! Are you?
I don't know if she's noticed but Slashdot is moderated. And also, again I'm not sure if she's worked it out - SCO aren't popular around here. So an astroturfing campaign is likely to be moderated to oblivion. (Well, oblivion is a bit harsh. Actually one post will be modded down, then the subnet IP ban will kick in, preventing any other posts, and also preventing the entire eastern seaboard of the USA from making anonymous posts as collatoral damage. Nice one CT.)
A more likely motivation for McBride's praise of Slashdot is that it was an attempt to slime Groklaws system of deleting posts. Trying to suggest some suppression of legitimate viewpoints. In other words, more FUD.Here be post deleters.
I always figured McBride had a screw loose somewhere, after all he is probably headed for what is technically known as a federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison, but to actually praise Slashdot? If I were an investor I'd be breaking into a cold sweat. I wonder if he also eats his own excrement now, and hums tunelessly to himself while rocking back and forth.
Meine Schwester ist sehr, sehr reizvoll - Nietzsche
"Allah is great..."
SCO Akbar?
700000 is just too round of a number. It should be something like, (picking a number at random) anything greater than 720677. It's a good prime number.
William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
And Darl in the back said, "Everyone attack!" and it turned in to a slashdot blitz...slashdot blitz...
// Agent Green (Ian / IU7 / KB1JQO)
// IEEE 802.3: All 10base Are Belong To Us
a) If Darl Eats beans
b) If Darl would like to see a movie staring George Wendt
c) If Darl would like to see George Wendt Eating Beans in a movie.
Obscure references are the best
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Don't forget, this is the man who predicted Apple would switch over to all Intel processors before the end of 2003, and of course, that the iTunes Music Store would never fly with Windows users, because it was arriving after hugely successful Windows music stores like BuyMusic.com.
Ahhh.... SCO licenses...
The toilet paper of choice for those who don't find $20 bills ostentatious enough for the task.
Do they come in two-ply?
-- I could tell right away that she was impressed with my HUGE Slashdot Karma.
It's more than just coincidence that SCO and Hatch seem to have similar agendas. Hatch's son is actually SCO's lead attorney in the state courts.
There are no Groklaw soldiers in Utah! I triple-guarantee you!
The Tlog - a technology blog
The editors don't give a shit if they're getting played. They know every SCO article generates thousands of page hits and hundreds of posts of discussion from loyal Slashdotters, which means more advertising revenue for OSDN.
That's right. Slashdot is a corporate-owned site. That very fact when placed alongside the various philosophies Slashdot typically espouses is very amusing and contradictory. It is the users here who are getting played, every time they excitedly click "Read more" on an SCO article so they can post their knee-jerk response and see another ad in the process, they add another hit to the site logs for Rob Malda to report back to OSDN, so they can use them when shopping for more advertisers. This site is a business now making money off a lot of gullible people. Why should they care if they're getting played by SCO's media schemes?
Note--if you disagree, fine, but reply and tell me. Don't mod me down for it.
Hey, watch it, this 700000+ UID has mod points today... =P
;-))
Heh! The reason I chose 700000 was that statistically speaking, more people under that number than over it are likely to have mod points. If I'd gone with 300000 I think I'd have been beaten down to -1 much faster
Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
SCO seems to have this fondness of picking on those that can thoroughly kick it's ass. but then again, it's fights are obviously chosen by others who are too chickenshit to fight themselves.
Darl's is obviously a puppet, aparently this Enderle creep is too. Amazing what can be found under rocks if you are up to scraping away enough slime.
yep, MS found a couple of real specimens in these two. funny, I recently sent a very similar specimen to my septic tank. MS may want to use some soap when they're done.
gee, maybe SCO can print grassroots articles with photos of "real people" that totally agree with their bullshit story...photos that will be immediately found in common clip art libraries. MS has set a great example for such bozo tactics.
the trailer park has certainly gone downhill since Darl & company moved in. but nothing an IBM tornado can't clean up.
Considering that M$ has recently started doing this on Slashdot, I don't see why SCO wouldn't be taken lessons from them. Notice, how anybody who criticises M$, now gets a barage of Anonymous Cowards trying to drown him out?
I'd say that the only way this would work is if the SCO people could manufacture a loyal userbase,
:::: keys) and other winners.
Ha! Customers are sooooo 1990s. You know, all that quality improvement mumbo jumbo crap. Hell, I'd bet you're one of those "customer is always right" freaks too.
The progressive business model is definitely anti-customer. We learned this from the dot-com experience. You see, marketers put up perfectly brilliant companies, distribution channels and products. Think of winners like Pets.com (come on, anyone who doesn't love the Sockpuppet is a Nazi and outta be insulted by a pack of PETA freaks), Flooz.com (as if anyone could not buy something with Whoopi as a spokesperson!), DigitalConvergence (home of the CueCat and a huge excess of keyboards with way too many
These companies were introduced to consumerspace and what happened? Customers didn't buy like they were supposed to. Losers! Countless VC firms realized that customers were the weak link in the chain and when a VC makes a radical discovery like this, the business world listens. So customers were out.
Naturally, employees became sorta lame too and nearly a million telco employees had to be thrown out the window. But this has much more to do with needing good storage space for all the products that didn't get sold than anything else. No hard feelings techies - if we could have stored all that unsold junk in India, we would have. It was just easier to move your jobs
Dear SCO Corporation;
It has come to our attention that you have been using the term "Astroturf" in deliberate violation of our trademarks, and in ways which will dilute the value of the trademark.
Astroturf(R) is not merely an artifical sod replacement. It is a next generation fiber surface with a look similar to grass and low mainenance requirements. Since 1985, we have been manufacturing such high-quality products and have been heavily investing in our brand. Please immediately cease and disist from using our trademarks in your marketing campaigns.
Sincerely,
Astroturf, Inc. www.astroturf.com
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
"Groklaw turned into this orgy of groupthink with respect to issues of Linux technical and usability merit."
Really? Every time I go there, it's entirely about the law and how stupid SCO is. I don't think I've ever read anything about "Linux usability" there. Maybe I didn't look hard enough, since I don't read *every* post.
"Let's not turn Slashdot into that."
Not likely. Too many Windows trolls post here. Especially the ones that act like they really like Linux, "it's just that Linux [fill in the blanks about usability, installs, and other ruminant evacuation.]" Sorry, these morons fool no one.
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
I am Kwame Rufatata from the SCO Group in the wonderful lake-strewn state of Utah.
I am writing to tell you that I have a problem which you can help me solve. It seems that we have received a large sum of money from an unnamed company in the wonderful lake-strewn state of Washington that we do not wish to pay the exorbitant taxes of the government on.
So, we would like to transfer these funds to an account outside the jurisdiction of the government. To do this, we need someone who is prepared to use their account to transfer our funds in order to conceal their point of origin.
If you will please give us your bank account number, we will transfer our funds through your account to an unnamed institution in the wonderful lake-strewn country of Switzerland. In return for this service, we will gratefully transfer you to a service fee of 10% of the funds transferred through your account. This could amount to as much as FIVE MILLION DOLLARS!
Please respond to my email as soon as possible, because our investors may force us to pay out these funds due to our falling stock price.
Sincerely,
Darl^H^H^H^HKwame Rufatata
SCO Group
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
Everyone already understands what's going on. SCO, the RIAA, the MPAA, and a number of other old businesses are led by executive management who just don't get the new service-based models, can't adapt, and just can't accept that if they don't adapt, their business is dead.
So instead they try to plead, whine, and use barratry to protect their pathetic, outdated business models.
What they forget is the problem is the socio-economic market shifts are to blame, not their competitors. If it weren't their "enemies" such as Linux, it would be BSD or some other "product."
Ah well, at this point maybe Darl could at least interest some execs in the media industry. After all, Darl's and SCO's viewpoints on "reality" are about as honest and truthful as "Survivor" or "Big Brother".
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.