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Groklaw Refutes LinuxWorld Story About AIX Sources

rimberg writes "Maureen O'Gara printed a story about what allegedly was said in the last court hearing between IBM and SCO. Groklaw had eyewitnesses at the hearing. None of them reports seeing Ms. O'Gara there. Furthermore, none of them heard any of what she 'reports' about IBM supposedly claiming not to be able to find code. Let me repeat that. IBM never said anything like that, according to groklaw eyewitnesses."

249 comments

  1. It's SCO revisionist history by Xpilot · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't believe SCO's revionist history! Han Fired first, dammit.

    --
    "Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds
    1. Re:It's SCO revisionist history by Nurseman · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm shocked.You mean a journalist would listen to someone who has an axe to grind, not check simple facts, and use forged documents to support its claim.? Someone call Mike Wallace. He needs to do a story on this !!

      --
      Save a Life. Donate Blood. Please.
    2. Re:It's SCO revisionist history by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It works for Dan Rather.

    3. Re:It's SCO revisionist history by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I totally blew that, it was supposed to be Dan Rather.. ugghh.. sunday mornings :-)

    4. Re:It's SCO revisionist history by ZX81 · · Score: 4, Informative

      If you would like to contact Maureen O'Gara to let her know your thoughts you can do so at the following URL:

      http://www.sys-con.com/author/?id=2390

      --
      -={ Security does not exist - give up }=-
    5. Re:It's SCO revisionist history by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You may be thinking about Dan Rather on Sixty Minutes 2.

    6. Re:It's SCO revisionist history by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you are referring to 60 minutes, in that case all the facts fit and the documents have yet to be conclusively determined to be forgeries. At this point all that is known is that the authenticity of those documents cannot be determined. It's an unknown. What is known is that Bush did not show up for service he was legally, morally, and ethically required to attend. What is further known is that Bush got his position stateside when others' children went to die Vietnam due to his father's political influence. But even with the cush assignment Bush couldn't be bothered to show up. Bush deserted his post in the 1970s (the same year mandatory drug tests were instituted). Just like he deserted the soldiers of the United States on the ground in Iraq by rushing to war without adequate preparations or cultivating an international coaltion. Bush's insistence on pretending the Geneva Conventions do not apply to him is why Bush, rather than just being a simple criminal for having been convicted of drunk driving in the 1970s, is also a war criminal. It will take decades for the United States to get back to where it was before Bush took power.

  2. Re:Groklaw is NOT a reputable source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    I agree. Much more reliable information can be found at the ProSCO website.

    Hope that helps.

  3. Re:Groklaw is NOT a reputable source by jponster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Don't you think there's a certain irony about a poster on Slashdot saying to take anything you read on Groklaw with a pinch of salt?

  4. Jeff Merkey's behind this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Jeff Merkey has been involved in contacting media figures around OSS centric sites, and it's the information he's involved in spreading that's problematic.

    Like he's been known to do before, he spreads several versions of the "truth", often completely at odds with one another depending on which situation he's in at the moment. Having had to deal with him in the past, I can only say: He's going to get worse, and quickly. Never was a repository of 'just the fact ma'am' needed.

    The plan? to push management towards prosco.net as it will appear one HELL of a sane place compared to OSS news sites that insist on following Merkey's manipulations.

    1. Re:Jeff Merkey's behind this. by xmedar · · Score: 1

      Oh and I thought they had just got the byline wrong and it was really Verity Stob, thanks for clearing that up

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced man is indistinguishable from God
  5. Re:Groklaw is NOT a reputable source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    > Groklaw is heavily censored and always has been. PJ deletes/
    > hides posts on a regular basis.

    Logical fallacy. Response posts have nothing to do with the repository of information and editorials.

  6. Sources ? by noselasd · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Indeed interresting.
    Now, where did the rumor that IBM said it couldn't find the sources come from ?

    1. Re:Sources ? by bwalling · · Score: 4, Insightful

      In the world of Internet news, you don't need sources. You just need a handful of people eager to get in on the scoop, and whatever you say can proliferate quickly.

    2. Re:Sources ? by Timesprout · · Score: 1

      excepting the /. dedication to journalism of course, no fear of seeing anything unsubstantiated here.

      --
      Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
      What truth?
      There is no dupe
    3. Re:Sources ? by born_to_live_forever · · Score: 5, Funny

      Who needs sources, when you've biased reporting and scurrilous innuendo?

      Milo Bloom: Senator? This is Milo Bloom at the Beacon. Will you confirm that you sunk Jimmy Hoffa in your backyard pond?
      Senator Bedfellow: What? Of course not!
      Milo: Fine. I'll go with "Sen. Bedfellow denies that pond is where he sunk Hoffa."
      Bedfellow: That's not true!
      Milo: Okay. "Bedfellow did sink Hoffa in pond".
      Bedfellow: I don't know where Hoffa is!!
      Milo: "'I lost the body' says Bedfellow."

      --

      - Peter Ravn Rasmussen

    4. Re:Sources ? by Skater · · Score: 3, Informative

      What's really sad is just how old that comic you're quoting is. It's from the mid 80's, I think. Sad that it would still apply (and a testament to Breathed's understanding of the world).

      RJ

    5. Re:Sources ? by schon · · Score: 2, Informative

      where did the rumor that IBM said it couldn't find the sources come from ?

      Ask and ye shall receive

    6. Re:Sources ? by rts008 · · Score: 1

      That would be funny if it wasn't sooo fitting. May O'Gara's next plane flight be hijacked, diverted to Antarctica, hijackers toss here out, and she be drowned by a cluster of mad penguins!

      --
      Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
  7. looks and trustworthyness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    some people believe that o'gara is more believable because you know what she looks like. http://images.google.com/images?q=Maureen+O'Gara&h l=en&btnG=Google+Search/

    On the other hand, it's impossible to find out how PJ looks like. Or for that matter why she doesn't use dots in her initial. How could we believe her!!

    1. Re:looks and trustworthyness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    2. Re:looks and trustworthyness by pyrrhonist · · Score: 0, Troll
      be the judge ... http://photos.sys-con.com/2390/maureen90_new.jpg

      Yeesh... I think you found the missing picture of tubgirl's face.

      --
      Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
    3. Re:looks and trustworthyness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    4. Re:looks and trustworthyness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
  8. pwn3d! by MadFarmAnimalz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Clearcut case of failing journalistic integrity.

    Let LinuxWorld know what you think of the journalistic integrity of their writer.

    Make it polite, short, and to the point.

    --
    Blearf. Blearf, I say.
    1. Re:pwn3d! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And Groklaw DOES have journalistic integrity, right?

      Anyone who reads it regularly knows that is not true. PJ is anything but a journalist.

    2. Re:pwn3d! by jasontheking · · Score: 4, Insightful

      maybe you should watch that john stewart - crossfire movie that's going around at the moment.

      or just stop making strawman arguments.

    3. Re:pwn3d! by MadFarmAnimalz · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It seems a lot of people have already contacted the LinuxWeek editors; they've posted a link on the front page to the story with the tagline

      Fed up with crap articles like this?

      Let the management know: lwmeditors@sys-con.com


      Way to get mileage out of tis bizarre mistake...

      --
      Blearf. Blearf, I say.
    4. Re:pwn3d! by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The tagline you are seeing is actually the latest feedback item posted on the article.

      Its currently showing:
      I call Shenanigans! (read more and respond... )

      On the LinuxWorld front page, and on the page you displayed.

      I bet the feedback display system works REALLY well for decent stories, but I think its backfiring here - or is it ALL done just for the page impressions....

      Their sites ARE overloaded with ads.

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
    5. Re:pwn3d! by Fnkmaster · · Score: 1
      Maureen, is that you? Darl, you there buddy? I can clearly tell you are the same AC that went around trolling (unsuccessfully) in all the threads in the last Maureen O'Gara story the other night ranting irrelevantly about how Slashdot editors have no journalistic integrity either.


      You already lost the argument once, and now you have the gall to come back for more?

    6. Re:pwn3d! by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Sure, PJ has a pro linux bias, but she does print the facts, facts that you can check because she also provides links and transcriptions of the sources.

      I've often found her editorial commentary overwrought and hyperbolic, but her information is excellent and her legal analysis is spot on.

      Bias does not cancel out integrity. Lies and misrepresentation of the facts does cancel it out. Therefore PJ had integrity and Mo O'Gara does not.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    7. Re:pwn3d! by the_illuminatus · · Score: 1

      The one I got was "In other news, I have a itchy sphincter. Details at 11."

      --
      knee-jerk? check. post? check. okay, time to read the article.
    8. Re:pwn3d! by miu · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I've often found her editorial commentary overwrought and hyperbolic, but her information is excellent and her legal analysis is spot on.

      I avoid reading that site for that very reason - she may be spot on and an excellent analyst but her fangirl presentation style damages her credibility.

      --

      [Set Cain on fire and steal his lute.]
    9. Re:pwn3d! by Xenographic · · Score: 1

      Err, that's the thing, people have questioned whether it *was* a mistake.

      Then again, even if it wasn't, I suppose they could clean up their act. *shrug*

    10. Re:pwn3d! by killjoe · · Score: 1

      Why do you think the editors would object. They get lots of hits from trolling the OSS crowd and each hit means more advertising.

      It's not sys-con is interested in truth or journalisting integrity. They are simply there to sell advertising.

      --
      evil is as evil does
  9. Good point by erick99 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Groklaw seems rather peeved at SlashDot. Is it deserved? I'm not sure, but, it's worth thinking about.

    I have not provided a link deliberately. If you wish to read her article, you can find it, I'm sure by a Google search or off of Slashdot, since they made what I consider the unfortunate editorial decision to give the story more widespread readership than it otherwise would have received.

    --
    http://www.busyweather.com/
    1. Re:Good point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      > "unfortunate editorial decision to give the story more
      > widespread readership than it otherwise would have received."

      If you take it that slashdot is a place that performs editorial checks on submissions then yes, but I don't think it's designed to be that. It's a link dump with a place for us to comment.

      Nobody comes here for just the stories, it's the comments on those that are important, and as part of the self correcting nature of an unedited site, you get submissions like the one all the comments you're now reading are a response to.

      In other words, the O'Gara article came out, and slashdot linked to it. Then the groklaw correction came out, and slashdot linked to it too.

    2. Re:Good point by tod_miller · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I commented a while ago regarding the news source definition of /.

      Google ran a title from /. that misrepresented the very story they were aggregating. Thus /. dilluted the truth on this occassion to the detriment of the news reading folk.

      Now a link in the very same /. that proclaims this stupid story here points out that groklaw put things to right.

      However, groklaw v slashdot readship... so while I think this story is a bit redundant in news terms, it does go some way to patch up the and clearly show linuxworld.com to be a bunch of twerps.

      I say each sotry categorically states its news source(s) linking to a modded style news source rating (which moves up and down etc)

      Then msn.com/msnbc.com can royally go and fsck themselves in -1 universe.

      The story google picked up on was the Kodak / Sun claim case. I think google shouldn't link Slashdot stories - as they are not news sources, but commentary on news sources.

      --
      #hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
    3. Re:Good point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yep! PJ has a VERY important point. Slashdot has power and it uses that power like a MAC-10 with a rope around the trigger housing thrown into a room full of friends and enemies.

      Sooner or later, /. will lose the power to turn the public's attention to news that would otherwise languish in obscurity. In other words, /. has only a finite amount of power, power that will end. Afterward, people will look back on what /. accomplished and say "this part was all wanking" or "that part made a real difference" and you know it will be a mix of good and bad, but what mix?

      It's worth thinking about what PJ said because you can influence the mix, make it better, make /. more important, or you can help it move down the path toward being part of the news community of Rupert Murdoch, Drudge, Crossfire, and others who like to turn the spotlight on items like Maureen O'Gara, outrage items, three-headed frogs who predicted the Internet or Senators who secretly meet with bin Laden. In other words, what is the "Stuff that matters?" How much sensationalism do you need with your News for Nerds?

    4. Re:Good point by frdmfghtr · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I have not provided a link deliberately. If you wish to read her article, you can find it, I'm sure by a Google search or off of Slashdot, since they made what I consider the unfortunate editorial decision to give the story more widespread readership than it otherwise would have received.

      We've see this reaction before from a /. link, and I'm still confused. Isn't the whole point of publishing something on a website available to the public to get it read by said public? Don't you WANT people to read it? Furthermore, the aforementioned public that is going to add to the readership is the type of public that even has more than a passing interest in the story!

      On the surface, this looks as crazy as the Washington Post printing a story then complaining when readers tell other people about it, and they go read it.

      Somebody enlighten me please before my head caves in.

      --
      Government's idea of a balanced budget: take money from the right pocket to balance...oh who am I kidding?
    5. Re:Good point by strider44 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I agree in a way. Slashdot has the right and in fact the job to link to the stories that concern nerds as well as the open source community.

      But really, come on! This one was just stupid. Slashdot do have the editorial as well, and some bloody common sense has to be used! Just take this exert:

      Well, during the Third Amended Complaint discussion, SCO's lawyer held up a piece of paper - that was duplicated on a projection screen that only the magistrate judge, Brooke Wells, could see - that listed all of the AIX code that IBM has and hasn't turned over to SCO. And SCO's lawyer pointed out that the only piece of code that IBM hasn't come up with - which was highlighted in red - was the AIX-on-Power code - to which IBM's lawyer replied that IBM "can't find it."

      On-Power code???? Can't find it? If that's real then my mum's turned into a five hundred kilo shark-eating baby panda. And a sad one at that. Could you imagine a lawyer saying "umm ahh I can't find it! I was in Australia the other day and there was this really good looking girl and an available closet that I might have mislaid her, I mean it, in..."

      God - really common sense has to occasionally be used. Though I'm not in favour of censorship, such a blatant and unrealistic article should have at least been delayed a day or so before release.

    6. Re:Good point by kaleco · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Slashdot was justified in reporting the article. Slashdot, as a tech blog, was merely reporting that a claim had been made. If it ignored this claim, it could be accused of having an IBM bias.

      Slashdot does not claim to conduct primary journalism, it merely centralises interesting things that others have said. Which is fine by me.

      --
      Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped. Calvin Coolidge
    7. Re:Good point by Dark+Lord+Seth · · Score: 0, Troll

      Really, Slashdot as of late can easily be described as a "large and unfortunate string of editorial blunders and mismanagement".

      Nothing new here. Hey, for a free service it's tolerable. Barely. I'd rate Slashdot on the same level as Fark.com. Except they know at Fark that no one cares about what they say. :)

    8. Re:Good point by igrp · · Score: 5, Interesting
      God - really common sense has to occasionally be used. Though I'm not in favour of censorship, such a blatant and unrealistic article should have at least been delayed a day or so before release.

      Well, in my humble opinion, that's the real beauty. You not only get to make up your own mind. You get to read what others think about a statement, an assertion or a broader concept and make up your mind based on that.

      It's a two-way approach, if you will. Unlike a newspaper, not a single entity decides if a story is "true" (if there even is such a thing). Sure, the editors decide if it's newsworthy, ie. if it gets approved and if it makes the frontpage. But the determination if what the story is about is non-sense or not is left to the reader.

      And since Slashdot has such a wide-ranging readership, there are usually plenty of people to point out mistakes, misconceptions and straight-out lies and add insight to a story. That's actually why I keep coming here - because I'm interested in other people's views. I usually already have an opinion before I read the first comments (I actually do the articles, at least most of the time). But there's always a comment that makes me go "hmm, I never looked at it like that".

      That's what's so cool about having a global readership - diversity and perspective.

    9. Re:Good point by strider44 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The problem with the article is that it just has more openly glaring factual errors or misrepresentations than the "get the facts" campaign. I'm all for printing facts and letting the reader determine what's right or wrong. But really, half of the readers of slashdot just read the summaries. They don't read the comments or the articles. Look at the summary - it looks fine, told in the usual slashdot vogue. Click through to the story and you'll see crap, but half the readers won't be enlightened by the multiple layers of crap in that article, and will believe that the summary is true, that IBM are in trouble, have broken the law, and are dishonest.

      Now nothing came out of it this time since there was a virtual retraction posted not long later, but slashdot, like it or not, is a respected news website with what I've heard is a million readers. Many people trust what they read without reading the articles, and public harm can come of it.

    10. Re:Good point by pjt33 · · Score: 1
      Nobody comes here for just the stories
      Actually I know someone who does just that.
    11. Re:Good point by fermion · · Score: 2, Interesting
      this only makes Groklaw look like they are hiding something. truth does not emerge through the selectrive printing of prescreened propoganda, but through the widespread distribution of varied opinions and points of view, some of which are probably propoganda. The truth is further served by acive discussion on those opinions, a think for which /. is quite good.

      By whining that /. posted a unfavorable story, groklaw is establishing itself as exactly the fan stie other accuse it of being. There was likely nothing amiss with /. editorial decision. An interesting point of view was submitted, posted, and generated active discussion. An opposing point of view was then submitted posted, and will again generate discussion. That last part is the difference between freedom and not. As I often say, if you can't handle the responsibilies and dangers of freedom, move to someplace where you don't have them.

      --
      "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
    12. Re:Good point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful
      Groklaw seems rather peeved at SlashDot. Is it deserved? I'm not sure, but, it's worth thinking about.

      PJ has made it clear that she won't link to "incorrect" articles. She has also made it clear she will delete "incorrect" comments. She is displeased with sites like Slashdot that permit (mostly) unfiltered comments and articles.

      I think unfiltered comments and articles are far more valuable. I can read many points of view and draw my own conclusions. I don't like being told what to read, what not to read, what I should think, what I shouldn't think. That's precisely why I stopped reading Groklaw several months ago.

      Well, also the site was getting boring. The important events in the case will be reported on Slashdot. Everything else is tedium of interest only to the obsessive compulsives. It's not like the transcribing of PDFs is going to hurry the case along. IBM will destroy SCO; I don't need running commentary from the balcony.

    13. Re:Good point by global_diffusion · · Score: 2, Interesting

      If you take it that slashdot is a place that performs editorial checks on submissions then yes, but I don't think it's designed to be that. It's a link dump with a place for us to comment.

      But you could also argue that since slashdot has become such a major player in internet news, that it should think about playing to higher journalistic standards. Kind of like how the news media is pressing Jon Stewart to ask more "hard-hitting" questions in his interviews after his cnn/crossfire comments.

    14. Re:Good point by The+Famous+Brett+Wat · · Score: 1
      It's a link dump with a place for us to comment.

      Close, but there is the fact that the "editors" do pick and choose which submissions to accept or refuse. The selection process seems to be an unashamedly subjective question of whether it looked interesting to the editor-on-duty at the time. Thus, it's not just a link dump, and it does engage in a certain kind of rudimentary editor-work; it's just that "editor" is to "Slashdot" is as "artist" is to "stick-figure".

      I think I'll make that my new sig.

      --
      proof, n. A demonstration that a conclusion is implied by certain premises and axioms.
    15. Re:Good point by nomadic · · Score: 1

      If you take it that slashdot is a place that performs editorial checks on submissions then yes, but I don't think it's designed to be that. It's a link dump with a place for us to comment.

      They may be saying that slashdot should do at least a minimum of fact checking. Which is a pretty reasonable position to take.

    16. Re:Good point by KilobyteKnight · · Score: 1
      If you take it that slashdot is a place that performs editorial checks on submissions then yes, but I don't think it's designed to be that. It's a link dump with a place for us to comment.

      Read Section 2) Editorial Independence of this old article.
      --
      When will Windows be ready for the desktop?
    17. Re:Good point by justins · · Score: 2, Insightful
      If you take it that slashdot is a place that performs editorial checks on submissions then yes, but I don't think it's designed to be that. It's a link dump with a place for us to comment.

      No. If that were the case the whole bit could be automated. It's not.

      Editors make decisions about what gets posted. They just happen to be very bad at it. But there is an editorial process, of sorts.

      Nobody comes here for just the stories, it's the comments on those that are important

      On the contrary, I'm sure there are lots of people who read the links but only glance at the comments, or do not even look at the comments. I tend to read it that way, depending on how much time I have and how much tolerance I'm feeling.

      In other words, the O'Gara article came out, and slashdot linked to it. Then the groklaw correction came out, and slashdot linked to it too.

      And in both cases an editorial decision was involved.
      --
      Now before I get modded down, I be to remind whoever might read this that what I am saying is FACT. - bogaboga
    18. Re:Good point by mwa · · Score: 4, Insightful
      We've see this reaction before from a /. link, and I'm still confused.

      I think you still are. PJ was not refering to /. linking to her site, she was refering to /. linking to the Linuxworld article thus boosting it's readership which she was not going to oblige.

      Somewhere in the Groklaw archives is a report on readership stat's for O'Gara. Her page hits are usually abissmally low. The only time they seem to hit the 10's of thousands are when /. links to them. So the theory that /. is helping to perpetual journalistic rot like this has some merit.

      OTOH, if /. is going to post about a story, I think they are under some obligation to link to it. In this particular case, Groklaw was specifically mentioned in a rather derogatory manner, so for it to not link back is fair because Groklaw has every right to defend itself against false and malicious charges without driving up the advertising dollars of those leveling the charges.

      Is your head safer now?

    19. Re:Good point by Fnkmaster · · Score: 4, Insightful
      The problem is that, as I hypothesized the other day, O'Gara may just be trolling for ad impressions. If Slashdot dumps every trollish article printed by a marginal trade publication on their front page, it just rewards them for adopting the most confrontational approach and printing the most outlandish, non-fact based pieces imaginable. As often as not, the bosses seem to just look at the massive number of ad impressions these stories get and don't give a rat's ass that the attention is negative, not positive, in nature.


      Remember all the attention heaped on Rob Enderle by Slashdot? He brags about it. He thrives on it. Will it ultimately be good for his career? I don't know, but I prefer to take the "don't feed the trolls" approach.


      PJ (sure, she's a bit strange sometimes, but she seems like a smart woman) is right that the best way to punish people for writing this kind of fiction is to ignore it, not to give it maximal Slashvertizing.

    20. Re:Good point by Tony-A · · Score: 1

      Close, but there is the fact that the "editors" do pick and choose which submissions to accept or refuse. The selection process seems to be an unashamedly subjective question of whether it looked interesting to the editor-on-duty at the time.

      Maybe it's just me, but it feels more like script editing than news editing. The idea seems to be to provoke controversy, to provoke a lot of good commentary about the subject of the hour. Within a medium of links to old news Slashdot seems to have a degree of success in making the news, something quite different from reporting the news.

    21. Re:Good point by antiMStroll · · Score: 2, Informative
      "But you could also argue that since slashdot has become such a major player in internet news..."

      One part of my job is providing technical support to a (real world) newsroom. In the past four years I struggle to remember a single occasion they followed up on, or drew as a source, a story from Slashdot. Most don't know what Slashdot is. Stories from Fark on the other hand appear daily for filler.

      Slashdot is still first and foremost an online forum focusing mainly on computer technology. The 'editors' don't perform the same function news editors, they link to claims made elsewhere choosen to stimulate conversation, leaving it to contributors to sort out.

    22. Re:Good point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, in my humble opinion, that's the real beauty. You not only get to make up your own mind.

      Yes, but it's not feasible to make up your mind about every little rumour or piece of FUD that anybody says anywhere. You get inundated with crap. That's why news aggregation sites like Slashdot are useful; they weed out the utter crud and only pass on the interesting stuff. When Slashdot runs crap stories like that one, it's negating its primary reason for being.

    23. Re:Good point by 1u3hr · · Score: 1
      But you could also argue that since slashdot has become such a major player in internet news, that it should think about playing to higher journalistic standards.

      Like spellchecking? In the few hundred words the editors publish each day, it's a rare day when there aren't several basic spelling, and many grammatical and punctuation, errors. Stuff a primary school kid should know are wrong. Not to mention the equally easy-to-avoid dupes. Three seconds to run a spellcheck, 20 to search their archive for similar recent stories, are just too much work. Slashdot has a long way to go before it'd meet the standards of a high school essay, let alone anything professional.

    24. Re:Good point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      And since Slashdot has such a wide-ranging readership, there are usually plenty of people to point out mistakes, misconceptions and straight-out lies and add insight to a story


      Don't you mean "people who share the same predjudices as you and thus validate them by repeating them??


      Oh wait. That was TV news...

    25. Re:Good point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In other words, the O'Gara article came out, and slashdot linked to it. Then the groklaw correction came out, and slashdot linked to it too.

      Fellow AC, I agree completely with your entire post.

      If Slashdot had just avoided the O'Gara hassle altogether, how would we know about her now? Her stuff is bound to appear elsewhere, and I'm glad I got the heads up here.

      (I don't go to Groklaw anymore, because the zealotry and emotionalism about a frigging computer operating system became too much for me... But to each their own, of course.)

    26. Re:Good point by EMIce · · Score: 1

      It does promote open discussion to release a questionable story rather than wait for a decision from less informed editorial staff. But look at the submissions that are often picked!

      A story over at Linuxworld states that IBM has been less than forthcoming with its bits and pieces of source code SCO is demanding. SCO is alleging in its 3rd Amended Complaint that 'IBM put SCO-owned SVR4 code in System 3-based AIX for its proprietary Power chip architecture.' The problem? IBM 'can't find' that source code. Does IBM have something to hide?"

      This submission was picked based on how well it pandered to the slashdot crowd, regardless the unknowns that have changed that sentiment. Is there nothing wrong with that? Isn't this an insult to the intelligence of an average slashdotter?

      I suspect slashdot editors do this because advertising revenue does have it's influence. After all, click-through rates on the individual stories is an important marketting bullet for selling.... ads. They aim to shock, I'll often click on a pandering, mis-informed submission to see if things get corrected in the commentary. Sometimes things don't get corrected till 100 to 200 or so comments down, with many of the earlier comments being knee-jerk karma-whoring that mirrors the pandering sentiment of the submission. But often I wonder what effect Slashdot's pandering headlines have on people that don't read the comments through? It comes at a cost - but hey, if CmdrTaco gets a bigger, brighter, thinner, shinier new color television at the end of the year, what's the big deal?

    27. Re:Good point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Actually I know someone who does just that.

      Carrot Top?

    28. Re:Good point by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I don't go to Groklaw anymore, because the zealotry and emotionalism about a frigging computer operating system became too much for me...

      It's not about OS zealotry. It's about thieves and robbers and scoundrels.

    29. Re:Good point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you have a 'reporter' either making stuff up, being used to spread disinformation, and generally being totally unreliable, its nice that the issue is brought up front and center so everybody knows this person is not reliable, and the issue is not shoved back in the shadows. I think its cute that she's being slashdotted so we can all laugh at her from here on out when we see her name. And Linuxworld and others will not thus be so likely to print her guff in the future.

    30. Re:Good point by Korgan · · Score: 1

      Think of it simply as deliberately not helping to improve the pagerank of the article at LinuxWorld. The Groklaw readers aren't exactly stupid and PJ did say where the article was published.

      Quite simply, given her own pagerank for topics such as Linux, SCO v IBM and so on, I think she's been pretty wise about the whole thing. Would you want a complete shill publishing on a site dedicated to spam and advertising over content having their pagerank improved by just a simple link?

      If it were myself in the same position, I do not think I would have done any differently.

    31. Re:Good point by MikeBabcock · · Score: 1

      Slashdot has a lot more to do with the comments on the stories than the stories themselves.

      I rarely read the stories before reading others' perceptions unless I'm a personal expert on the issue in question.

      I'd rather read what Bruce Perens thinks of a programming book that gets written about, or what John Carmack has to say about the latest 3D thingamajig than what Cowboy Neal thinks.

      I'm glad Slashdot exists for the sake of the community; not because the articles are always well chosen or edited.

      --
      - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
    32. Re:Good point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Inflaming the Linuxheads with trollish tradepress articles is nothing new for slashdot -- remember Bob 'Open Sores Movement' Metcalf? They don't do it as often anymore because the rags are largely pro-Linux nowdays.

      The motiviation here is that everyone in the press (including /.) wants to get a little more mileage out of this story. Total domination by IBM isn't selling ad impressions.

    33. Re:Good point by innocent_white_lamb · · Score: 1

      Actually I know someone who does just that.

      Says the guy who's responding to a comment in a long slashdot thread.

      Ba-bing! Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week. Try the veal...

      --
      If you're a zombie and you know it, bite your friend!
    34. Re:Good point by pjt33 · · Score: 1

      I'm bemused. I tend not to refer to myself in the third person.

    35. Re:Good point by georgewilliamherbert · · Score: 1
      Inflaming the Linuxheads with trollish tradepress articles is nothing new for slashdot -- remember Bob 'Open Sores Movement' Metcalf?
      Bob Metcalfe, though he had a number of contrarian opinions that I disagree with, was in no way misreporting or lying about sources or court filings.

      There is a tendency in open source circles, and on /. in particular, to assume that anyone who disagrees with the open source dogma is some sort of malign entity with secret agendas.

      Bob, and a number of other people, had and have honest disgareements with open source among other things.

      Treating this as a religious war... in which no dissenting opinion can be held honestly and with integrity, and where all dissent must be supressed or ridiculed... is just wrong. Open source is ultimately about economic and social value: if it works better (for users / consumers / programmers / IT organizations / businesses) it will be used more and it will win on its merits. I think that it's clearly winning on its merits there now.

      The motiviation here is that everyone in the press (including /.) wants to get a little more mileage out of this story.
      I think that getting a bunch of people aware that the author is writing apparently false material, and exposing that SCO are possibly feeding false stories to the media (can you say illegal stock manipulation and SEC investigation?) is an important thing to do.

      If nothing else, I want to know that I can't trust the next thing she writes, and I want to know that I need to not trust the next magazine/newspaper/website that publishes the next thing she writes.

      It may be difficult to get the word out about misinformation in journalism without perversely giving some protmotions to the particular story, but it's important for people to know when news sources go bad. Asking for a perfect way to publicize the bad without unfortunately boosting it a bit temporarily is asking too much. Real life is about compromises.

  10. Re:Groklaw is NOT a reputable source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Not only that, but an annonymous coward!

  11. O'Gara has an anti-Linix/anti-Open Source history by ezraekman · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Well, quickly browsing through other articles she's written, a pro-microsoft/anti-linux bias can clearly be shown. This isn't the first time GrokLaw has reported on O'Gara. She also seems to go for more sensational headlines, in general. I can't say I'm terribly surprised. Here's my favorite quote:
    O'Gara's fondness for anonymous sources and unattributed quotes diminishes the corroborative value of the story.
  12. Maureen O'Gara herself refutes the article by esap · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It seems even Maureen O'Gara thinks the article was not true:
    ( http://www.linuxworld.com/story/46800_f.htm)

    "Maureen O'Gara commented on 23 October 2004:

    * I'm really sorry everyone. I want you all to know that this was really intended as a satire piece, but the editors didn't realise and have published it as fact.

    It was really hard to keep a straight face while writing it, and I was obviously hoping for the same reaction from my readers.

    Oh, the ads here are satire too. Have you read the M$ TCO one? It's a hoot!"

    So I think there is nothing to see here.

    --
    -- Esa Pulkkinen
    1. Re:Maureen O'Gara herself refutes the article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      +5 Interesting? Jeeze, it's a joke.

    2. Re:Maureen O'Gara herself refutes the article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Yeah, that probably was her alright, because that site seems to use a pretty clever authentication system, where you have to *Enter Your Name* so people can see who wrote it.

      Nothing to see indeed.

      Now, feel free to use the same argument, that is, satire to defend your own post. But satire isn't written that way and you just made a complete and utter ass out of yourself.

      You have lost. Thanks for playing, and better luck next time!

    3. Re:Maureen O'Gara herself refutes the article by tdvaughan · · Score: 3, Informative

      Either Maureen O' Gara (the real one) posted that or someone else posted it under her name. Other commenters include "Linux guy", "Johnny Cash" and I remember seeing "Darl McBride" himself post somewhere there (although it's now removed). There's no way of knowing if, in fact, it was the real Maureen or an imposter.

    4. Re:Maureen O'Gara herself refutes the article by toxic666 · · Score: 1

      A post in a comment section of the article should not be taken at face value as actually being written by O'Gara. There is no way to assure it was written by her.

      A published retraction or explanation would have some credibility. If they do no do so voluntarily, once IBM's lawyers contact Linuxworld, we'll be seeing that.

    5. Re:Maureen O'Gara herself refutes the article by Gubbe · · Score: 2, Insightful

      ... and if you take a good look, you'll find that Darl McBride, Bob Dole and even the late Johnny Cash have commented on the story...

      Sure, that apology could have been written by the actual Ms. O'Gara, but I wouldn't bet any money on it.

    6. Re:Maureen O'Gara herself refutes the article by raju1kabir · · Score: 5, Funny
      It seems even Maureen O'Gara thinks the article was not true

      Har har har.

      Further up in the comments:

      William Gates commented on 23 October 2004:
      Thanks for the Pro-SCO article Maureen. I'll be sending you another $20,000 soon. Keep up the good work.

      Darl McBride commented on 23 October 2004:
      Everything Maureen has said is exactly true. I can't believe that we haven't used this in our case! Keep up the good work! We could really use some advice.

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
    7. Re:Maureen O'Gara herself refutes the article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      YHBT.
      YHL.
      HAND.

    8. Re:Maureen O'Gara herself refutes the article by Magickcat · · Score: 1

      "Refute" is the wrong word.

      I'd say instead "Maureen O'Gara evades the article."

      There was no apparent humour in the article whasoever, and it was not clear that it was a bold faced lie, therefore, it was deliberately misleading.

      --

      Si tacuisses philosophus mansisses. If you had kept quiet, you would have remained a philosopher.

    9. Re:Maureen O'Gara herself refutes the article by Telex4 · · Score: 1

      Or you could just point out that if a journalist ever makes a correction, the publication will include that prominently in the article, or publish a correction in a later edition.

      If that really were the author posting that comment, she's either an idiot or LinuxWorld are an untrustworthy news source.

      So no, it's not her.

    10. Re:Maureen O'Gara herself refutes the article by phauxfinnish · · Score: 1
      If that really were the author posting that comment, she's either an idiot or LinuxWorld are an untrustworthy news source.

      So no, it's not her.

      I don't follow.

      The story is false but printed as true, so she IS and idiot and LinuxWorld IS an untrustworthy news source, regardless if she is the one who make that post.

    11. Re:Maureen O'Gara herself refutes the article by pjt33 · · Score: 1

      The "Darl McBride" post is still there, as is one from "William Gates" promising a $20k kickback. Not very imaginative, but I suppose the people posting those comments enjoyed it.

    12. Re:Maureen O'Gara herself refutes the article by r_j_prahad · · Score: 1

      [...] I remember seeing "Darl McBride" himself post somewhere there (although it's now removed).

      No, it's still there; I just saw it. But what I found interesting was a post from one of the editorial staff at Sys-Con... one Maryann MacBride. Any relation to Darl you suppose? Anyway, after skimming through a handful of articles, I can't tell whether the entire site is for real (and just horribly done) or whether it's just tasteless satire. It really reminds me of Mad Magazine, it's so over the top.

  13. Re:Groklaw is NOT a reputable source by beacher · · Score: 2, Funny

    I wonder if anyone from Groklaw thought to check to see a bobbing head under SCO's table....... hmmm

  14. Please stop the FUD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Everytime a story involving Groklaw comes up these kind of posts appear on /.
    They always claim that Groklaw is not a reputable source, make certain claims about the site, like for example that it has a nazgul posting policy and never, ever back their claims up with anything.

    Also note that these kind of posts are always posted by ACs. (Just like my post, I know, but I simply don't have an account).

    These kind of posts are neither interesting, nor are they insightful, they are plain and simple FUD!

    1. Re:Please stop the FUD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      You insensitive clod! Just because Anonymous Coward always says (with no evidence) that Groklaw sucks / is evil / deletes moronic posts / holds satanic rites, that doesn't make it FUD. You just have no idea how much sand we have to look under to find the evidence that Groklaw isn't really doing the public service it seems to be doing.

    2. Re:Please stop the FUD by ashridah · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Actually, Strictly speaking, it's not FUD, just an exaggeration of the truth.

      Pamela Jones most certainly does remove posts she deems a) repulsive (goatse, etc), b) fake (attemts to register a username as Darl, etc) c) inflammatory (trolls, astroturfing, etc)

      This is perfectly reasonable, as she maintains, and always HAS maintained, that groklaw is a blog.
      The simple truth is that she can do what she likes, and you can take HER OPINION with whatever sized grain of salt you like.
      Of course, she's also good at ferreting out documents, and she's gathered an excellent team who help her make things available to people with disabilities (transcribing non-OCR'ed pdf's, for example)

      Now, since you seem to be under the impression that an opinion site shouldn't contain opinions, you might be surprised to learn that she infact does editorialise facts, with her own bias.
      You can probably ignore all of it, and just use the legal documents link on her site however, and no-one's forcing you to read the comments on her site either.

      ashridah

    3. Re:Please stop the FUD by RobertLTux · · Score: 0

      How are they supposed to provide proof of DELETED posts? Read groklaw regularly and you'll see compelling pro-sco posts disappear on a regular basis. ----------- okay so next time you see a good post use the Mozilla Archive Format extension to grab the page. problem solved

      --
      Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
    4. Re:Please stop the FUD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Any reason why these compelling posts can't be re-posted anywhere else on the internet?

      Is Groklaw preventing you from starting your own web site featuring the proof?

      Back under the bridge!

    5. Re:Please stop the FUD by Fnkmaster · · Score: 1
      Why are you still posting AC? Are these 'compelling' posts as 'compelling' as this article? This article may have seemed compelling at first glance, but is in fact a troll.


      If you have compelling pro-SCO arguments, I would encourage you to log on to Slashdot and post them in one of the relevant stories here. Your posts won't be deleted. They will surely be corrected however.

    6. Re:Please stop the FUD by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      She also removes posts (or used to) that she perceives to be critical of her in any way. Which is fine, if she doesn't want to see (or let anyone else see) honest criticism, it's her right.

      The AC's here who claim that Groklaw isn't a reputable source, though, are astroturfers, plain and simple. Even if they wanted to, the couldn't point to any misrepresentations made on Groklaw that weren't immediately corrected (only one occasion comes to mind, when the SCO site got DoSed). Groklaw reports the facts and legal analysis with editorial commentary mixed in. It's not very difficult to sift out the bias.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  15. My retraction by toxic666 · · Score: 1

    Yesterday, I posted that O'gara has as much credibility as Didio in the original topic. I did so before reading the article.

    I formally retract that statement. As bad as Didio (and Enderle) are, Ms. O'Gara has sunk to a level beneath them. It looks like she is willing to tell outright lies without any effort to check facts. Rather than ignoring her stories, I will now read them so that I may keep up with the statements that IBM is likely to use in a lawsuit against her and her and anyone who prints her stories.

  16. Say "Aye", those who... by optimus2861 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    ...believe that the comment in the parent post was actually written by O'Gara?

    *crickets chirp*

    Right.

    1. Re:Say "Aye", those who... by lobsterGun · · Score: 1

      whay kind of polish do you use on your tin foil hat?

    2. Re:Say "Aye", those who... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Looks as if your Irony Detector is out of batteries again. Time for a trip to the Pigglie Wigglie.

    3. Re:Say "Aye", those who... by hunterx11 · · Score: 1
      "Oh a sarcasm detector, that's real useful!"

      On a more pedantic note, if Comic Book Guy is so learned, why can't he use a damn adverb?

      --
      English is easier said than done.
  17. ...whatever... by nblender · · Score: 0
    So there's some bad blood between groklaw and maureen.. I couldn't care less.. I go to Groklaw to see facts and read the interpretations; but occasionally the interpretations don't match the reported facts and that's ok... They're interpretations; not necessarily truths...

    But the editorializing just hurts groklaws credibility... Had PJ reported just the facts that would have been great. Adding crap like "blarney", etc, just lowers the bar and makes it all seem childish and ironically; calls into question groklaws credibility...

    1. Re:...whatever... by Gothmolly · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Sorry, but your argument doesn't make sense - if PJ writes "editorial" "crap" like "blarney", its clearly not a fact, thus, how is her credibility "called into question" ? If she said that Maureen was secretly a Dalek, THAT would call her credibility into question. Everyone's entitled to an opinion; PJ at least clearly identifies what hers is, and doesn't try to pass it off as fact (hence the somewhat silly name 'blarney')

      --
      I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
    2. Re:...whatever... by ScrewMaster · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yes, but you forget ... Maureen is a Dalek. However, your point is still well-taken.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    3. Re:...whatever... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let me guess, you are an American pussy.

      There seems to be a trend in Americans these days that some of them can only take the truth if you coat it in sugar.

  18. waffling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    In a statement released to the press today, O'Gara said, 'I actually voted for the AIX code, before I voted agaisnt it.'

  19. Linux owns Linux trademark, yes? by Blymie · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Hold a moment here.

    Doesn't Linus _own_ the Linux trademark now? This being the case, is there not
    some form of direct action he could take, forcing anti-Linux websites from using
    the word "Linux" in their name?

    1. Re:Linux owns Linux trademark, yes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Doesn't Linus _own_ the Linux trademark now? This being the case, is there not some form of direct action he could take, forcing anti-Linux websites from using the word "Linux" in their name?

      If he were able to do that with a trademark, then Microsoft would have too, and would have censored every anti-MS news site out there.

      Considering the MS tactic of being bitches with the law, if they could have they would have, since they didn't they can't.

    2. Re:Linux owns Linux trademark, yes? by RAMMS+EIN · · Score: 2, Interesting

      ``If he were able to do that with a trademark, then Microsoft would have too, and would have censored every anti-MS news site out there.''

      Well, that's kind of happening. Lindows had to change names due to trademark suits from Microsoft, and some people I know had their MSN Messenger fan (WTF?) sites shut down by Microsoft (WTF?) for trademark infringement.

      As for shutting down anti-Microsoft sites, I guess they could do that if the site uses some trademarked word, or something similar (like Micro$oft) in their name.

      I also think the same thing applies to Linus. He _could_ take action against LinuxWorld, but why would he? Better to let the FUDsters make asses out of themselves. Then he can point a finger and say "that's what our enemies are like". In this case, at about the same level as Linux zealots...

      --
      Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
    3. Re:Linux owns Linux trademark, yes? by Blymie · · Score: 2, Insightful

      As for shutting down anti-Microsoft sites, I guess they could do that if the site uses some trademarked word, or something similar (like Micro$oft) in their name.

      This is what I am referring to. We're not talking about taking down anti-Linux websites. Obviously they can use the word "Linux" in an article or descriptive means all they desire.

      However, when a website has "linuxblahblah.com" as its name, it is definitely a trademark issue. The same for a company name.

      I also think the same thing applies to Linus. He _could_ take action against LinuxWorld, but why would he? Better to let the FUDsters make asses out of themselves. Then he can point a finger and say "that's what our enemies are like". In this case, at about the same level as Linux zealots...

      The problem I see is that the word "linux" in the url or name of a company gives many people the impression that the site is Linux friendly. What's to stop SCO from opening a site called "LinuxNewsFest.com", and writing every article in an anti-Linux slant? What's to stop SCO from doing the same, but with 1000 web sites of like names? With simular, slightly randomized articles? This is an issue of initial setup, not continual manpower.

      With massive Google manipulation (as spammers / porn companies do) to get top rankings? So that Linux "news" that is falsified appears in Google's news section, because 100 fake news sites mirror the story?

      This could result in every new potential Linux user, every suit, even converted Linux users finding themself overwhelmed with false and deliberately misleading information.

      Sometimes simply leaving this alone is not sufficient.

    4. Re:Linux owns Linux trademark, yes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      some people I know had their MSN Messenger fan (WTF?) sites shut down by Microsoft (WTF?) for trademark infringement.

      WTF? Any links?

    5. Re:Linux owns Linux trademark, yes? by Bloater · · Score: 1

      Of course Linus owns Linux, so all works with that name appearing on them are derivative works of Linux and thus are also owned by Linus Torvalds. Linuxworld.com now owes Linus $699 per page view for distributing his intellectual property.

    6. Re:Linux owns Linux trademark, yes? by Epsillon · · Score: 1

      That would be a bit like admitting you are frightened of what they may say. Far better one should give them enough rope to hang themselves to vindicate your cause.

      --
      Resistance is futile. Reactance buggers it up.
    7. Re:Linux owns Linux trademark, yes? by Zelatrix · · Score: 1
      Yes he does own the Linux trademark, but Linuxworld are not infringing it. Their site is all about Linux.

      If they were discussing some other operating system and passing it off as Linux, Linus could put a stop to that. For example, if they were really a QNX site, but insisted on referring to it as a "flavour of Linux". But they ain't, so he can't.

    8. Re:Linux owns Linux trademark, yes? by HiThere · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You mean what's to stop a site like "LinuxInsider" from existing?

      Nothing. It does exist. So does "LinuxWorld". Both are sites that are frequently, to my eyes, less than favorable to Linux. In fact, they tend to be sufficiently slanted that I won't bother to read them any longer.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  20. Re:Groklaw is NOT a reputable source by oberondarksoul · · Score: 1

    Isn't it just ever-so-slightly wonderful that one of the links on that placeholder is for 'Windows 2000 Pro'? Perhaps they're trying to suggest something...

    --
    And tomorrow the stock exchange will be the human race
  21. Groklaw wins again! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    So I think there is nothing to see here.

    Nothing other than another rapid response refutation of what used to work in the good ole days.

    Groklaw wins again!

  22. Groklaw - I tip my hat to you by Magickcat · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Thank goodness we have people like those involved in Groklaw who actually know their law and subject matter, and are able to correct this sort of misinformation.

    Companies like SCO depend on the poor skills (or the dishonest collusion) of "journalists" so that they can continue their skullduggery.

    Personally, I think SCO would do anything, even get a jornalist to lie for them, in the hope that they might just be bought out. SCO is a sinking ship full of desperate liars, but I think they're desperate to appear like they might be worth purchasing. After all, their days are sorely numbered.

    --

    Si tacuisses philosophus mansisses. If you had kept quiet, you would have remained a philosopher.

  23. Anonymous Coward is NOT a reputable source by argent · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you have any facts to refute anything posted on Groklaw, you can post them here.

    If you don't, we have to assume you're just posting innuendo on SCO's behalf.

    1. Re:Anonymous Coward is NOT a reputable source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't bash us all just because of that nolife troll.

    2. Re:Anonymous Coward is NOT a reputable source by argent · · Score: 1

      Sorry, Anonymous Coward, I didn't mean to besmirch all Anonymous Cowards. But you have to admit, almost by definition Anonymous Coward can not be a reputable source. :)

    3. Re:Anonymous Coward is NOT a reputable source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Sorry, Anonymous Coward, I didn't mean to besmirch all Anonymous Cowards. But you have to admit, almost by definition Anonymous Coward can not be a reputable source. :)


      Like hell. Anonymity can be a powerful liberator for people to state the truth. Witness such things as the US whistleblower laws. Believing a person involves trying to understand their motives, benefits and liabilities. A statement from an AC may be a better source in some cases, because it may remove benefits and liabilities in an obvious way.

  24. Even if he could....why would he WANT to? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Most of this rubbish is actually rather transparent FUD. Let them kick and scream. In the end, it can only help in spite of the authors' biased intentions.

  25. I've heard from a reliable source that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    MIT scientists have shown a direct correlation between tiny breasts and anger management issues. Film at 11.

  26. From what I understand by earthforce_1 · · Score: 1

    The piece was intended as a satire that was mistakenly posted as a genuine news article. This whole thing may be just a weird mistake, but if so I would hope the editors at linuxworld put a disclaimer or retraction up ASAP, or they may be getting an unfriendly nastygram from IBM's lawyers. I don't need to be a lawyer to know that posting verifiably wrong information about somebody can get you into serious trouble.

    --
    My rights don't need management.
    1. Re:From what I understand by 16K+Ram+Pack · · Score: 1
      I wouldn't trust the comments - I think the name is free format.

      There's a key ingredient missing - any humour. Satire would be suggesting that RMS is going to work for Microsoft.

      Satire needs to show something that is obviously untrue or heavily exaggerated.

  27. And here's her email address by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    maureen@sys-con.com

  28. I think it was deserving. Here's why: by FunWithHeadlines · · Score: 4, Insightful
    "Slashdot, since they made what I consider the unfortunate editorial decision to give the story more widespread readership than it otherwise would have received."

    Here is what I think Slashdot did wrong yesterday when it first reported the O'Gara story. Remember, /. has great control over how a story is reported. It is NOT just putting up a link and that's it. A headline is created by /., and the editor posting the story has the ability to add editorial comments to what the submitter added. Finally, they usually get many simultaneous submissions, which means the one submission they picked is the one they think has the most interesting wording or the best links or something they feel makes it most post-worthy. With that in mind, let's see how /. handled this story yesterday:

    The submission came from Ghostx13, and here is what he or she wrote that caught /.'s eye: "A story over at Linuxworld states that IBM has been less than forthcoming with its bits and pieces of source code SCO is demanding. SCO is alleging in its 3rd Amended Complaint that 'IBM put SCO-owned SVR4 code in System 3-based AIX for its proprietary Power chip architecture.' The problem? IBM 'can't find' that source code. Does IBM have something to hide?"

    OK, is this slanted? Yes. The loaded question at the end, the complete acceptance of the underlying Linuxworld story facts, all leads an air of acceptance of these facts. 'Does IBM have something to hide?" That's a laughable question given what the facts turned out to be, but it's a question that, left unchallenged, serves the wishes of SCO very well. That is precisely the sort of uneasy feeling they want us to have about IBM.

    Did CowboyNeal add any editorial comments to this? No, he did not. On the one hand, that's good because he didn't choose to add any slanted thoughts to the already slanted submission. On the other hand, he didn't issue any caution about the submission as /. sometimes does. That, in itself, is an editorial decision that amounts to him implying that the submission stands on its own. Because they chose that submission over any of the others, it implies they were satisfied with it as it was.

    Now here is the title that /. added to the story: "IBM Tells SCO Court It Can't Find AIX-on-Power Code." Well, that is no longer true, is it, even if you read the O'Gara story at face value. So the headline refers to past circumstances that the actual submission contradicts. Again, an editorial slant that makes IBM look worse than the facts show.

    Finally, go back and look at the comments to that story and see how many people contradict the idea of the story, point out the true facts, etc. So yeah, I do think /. made an "unfortunate editorial decision" to the story. They didn't just give a link, but they made a series of editorial decisions that gave extra weight to that link, weight it did not deserve. Did CowboyNeal do this out of ignorance of the facts? Probably. He may not have had the time to research this. Was it deliberate, to stir up the readership and get lots of angry comments? I have no idea. But it wasn't a good editorial decision, IMO.

  29. Excellent troll! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Perfect! You fit the Groklaw troll just right:

    "I like Groklaw for the facts.

    If only PJ didn't hurt her credibility by doing ....

    1. Re:Excellent troll! by nathanh · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Perfect! You fit the Groklaw shill just right:

      "I will ignore your criticism by calling you a troll..."

  30. Lousy Hearing by Bloater · · Score: 1

    I went to the hearing, and all I got was this lousy staple remover

  31. Google exploits foreign workers for profit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  32. Why can't we MOD whole stories? by Danathar · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Instead of the Slashdot editors making the final say on what gets posted as a story. Why not have a list of stories that people can mod up or down. Then only let the stories that have a high enough score get on the front page? That might of kept this story off of the front page

    1. Re:Why can't we MOD whole stories? by MrHanky · · Score: 4, Funny

      Slashdot works perfectly as it is. First, the editors post a story. Then, you have 20 comments saying "F1TS P0ST!!11" at -1, mixed with various +5, insightful reiterations of the story as posted by the editors. Then you have the comments about how this will stifle free speech and innovation, and others on that CmdrTaco has posted yet another dupe. After a couple of hours, the people who actually bothered to read the linked article, comment on how the story is totally wrong, and that, yes, it was a dupe. At last, the editors will update the story with "Update: Dupe!" and correct some of the most grave mistakes, so the readers will understand that the story wasn't remotely interesting to begin with.

    2. Re:Why can't we MOD whole stories? by X-Nc · · Score: 1

      Like the system K5 has? Yes, it would be much better to have that but I don't see it coming.

      --
      --
      If I actually could spell I'd have spelled it right in the first place.
    3. Re:Why can't we MOD whole stories? by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 1

      That means these turd editors have to give up power.

      Now, they can "Bitchslap" (-1 to thread of conversation).

      They have unlimited -1 powers.

      None of their mod points show up in meta-mod. That would "assume" the're wrong.

      They can lock out legitimate users who complain.

      They can post inane drivel on the front page. April 1 is the worst...

      --
    4. Re:Why can't we MOD whole stories? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...followed by the usual stereotype-riddled posts claiming Slashdot sux.

    5. Re:Why can't we MOD whole stories? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In this FAQ entry, they claim that their moderation are sent to metamoderation just like the readers moderations. Is there any reason you have to believe otherwise?

    6. Re:Why can't we MOD whole stories? by Insipid+Trunculance · · Score: 1

      Or since its /. 's stated policy that its editors decide the 'flavor' of /. , have a subsidiary page where users prefer to read the stories at their mod point status. /.should as well move to a system where a post is ranked as either the median or average of mod points instead of the simple addition system.This will prevent too many +5 mods. /. defends freedom on the internet, it should give its readers a bit of a say as well.

      --
      Wanted : A Signature.
    7. Re:Why can't we MOD whole stories? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    8. Re:Why can't we MOD whole stories? by DMUTPeregrine · · Score: 1

      Slashdot works perfectly as it is. First, the editors post a story. Then, you have 20 comments saying "F1TS P0ST!!11" at -1, mixed with various +5, insightful reiterations of the story as posted by the editors. Then you have the comments about how this will stifle free speech and innovation, and others on that CmdrTaco has posted yet another dupe. After a couple of hours, the people who actually bothered to read the linked article, comment on how the story is totally wrong, and that, yes, it was a dupe. At last, the editors will update the story with "Update: Dupe! [slashdot.org]" and correct some of the most grave mistakes, so the readers will understand that the story wasn't remotely interesting to begin with. Update: This post is a dupe!

      --
      Not a sentence!
    9. Re:Why can't we MOD whole stories? by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 1
      well, then whats the point then? Its not like they'll be quit being given mod points.

      dumb troll

      Moderate this comment

      Negative:
      Offtopic
      Flamebait
      Troll
      Redundant

      Positive:
      Insightful
      Interesting
      Informative
      Funny

      --
  33. Are you truly surprised? by born_to_live_forever · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Are you truly surprised that it would still apply?

    This SCO story isn't just one instance of bogus journalism - it's a hypotypical example of the weaknesses of the journalistic profession as a whole (although I hesitate to lump that person in with the real professionals). This sort of thing isn't something that we're ever going to "get over", because it isn't just a "sign of the times". It's an endemic condition.

    There's always going to be a difference between conscientious professionals and sloppy hacks. In any profession, not just journalism.

    Caveat lector.

    --

    - Peter Ravn Rasmussen

    1. Re:Are you truly surprised? by dnoyeb · · Score: 1

      I the USA we place great understanding and value on the power of money.

      We understand it can motivate people into great things. Sometimes we forget the power of money, and forget to check where one's money is from.

      Usually the source of the revenue is who the person receiving it serves.

    2. Re:Are you truly surprised? by born_to_live_forever · · Score: 1

      So you're saying, basically, that every American is really a slave to money?

      Hmm. Yes.

      --

      - Peter Ravn Rasmussen

    3. Re:Are you truly surprised? by flosofl · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      "Hypotypical"??

      Ummm... Did you just make up a word? If not, what the hell does it mean? (can't find anything at google or dictionary.com)

      It looks like "hypothetical" and "typical" had a bastard child that was kept in the basement until you let it out :)

      --
      "This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence" - Vyvyan "The Young Ones"
    4. Re:Are you truly surprised? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a difference between conscientious professionals and sloppy hacks

      Wait, I thought we considered hackers to be a good thing around here. Or just the conscientious hacks?

      Maybe that should be sloppy cracks? eeeewwww.

    5. Re:Are you truly surprised? by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 1

      There's always going to be a difference between conscientious professionals and sloppy hacks. In any profession, not just journalism.

      You seem to be under the impression that O'Gara is just a sloppy journalist and not simply a paid shill. Add her to your list of names including DiDio and Enderle.

    6. Re:Are you truly surprised? by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      hypotypical as defined by the dictionary of neologistics--

      hypo- :less than / below
      typical :common

      Less than common example.

      Doesn't do anything to support his point though.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    7. Re:Are you truly surprised? by born_to_live_forever · · Score: 1

      Well, let me respond to that by saying that I don't call people "paid shills" unless I know for a fact that money changed hands. My private suspicions and concerns are another thing.

      --

      - Peter Ravn Rasmussen

    8. Re:Are you truly surprised? by budgenator · · Score: 1

      Bullshit, can't find anything at google; Results 1 - 10 of about 131 for hypotypical. (0.54 seconds). I mean come on at least check google, with over 4 bilion pages indexed, what are the chances that any word wouldn't be found, even if it isn't really a word?

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    9. Re:Are you truly surprised? by Xenographic · · Score: 1

      Hypo- is a prefix meaning less than (e.g. hypothermia--not being warm enough, but there's also it's opposite hyper-, as in hyperthermia, or being too hot).

      So, hypotypical would be less than typical? Actually, given the media, hypertypical would be a better word--shoddy journalism is FAR too common :[

    10. Re:Are you truly surprised? by Associate · · Score: 1

      I went to Disney on drug money as a child.

      --
      Someone hates these cans.
    11. Re:Are you truly surprised? by Skater · · Score: 1

      Where did I say that I was surprised?

      Just pointing out the sadness of the situation.

      --RJ

    12. Re:Are you truly surprised? by flosofl · · Score: 1

      You're right... I finally did find it. I had done "define: hypotypical" search with no result. Without checking if actual web pages had the word. In my pedantic glee I rushed off to post. Next time I'll also search web pages for it.

      I was serious, though. I did want to know what it meant if it existed (which it obviously does as evidenced by the posts). It just looked funny to me.

      Regards

      --
      "This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence" - Vyvyan "The Young Ones"
    13. Re:Are you truly surprised? by goatan · · Score: 1

      I would love to go to disney on drugs, i would hopethat it's like lisa's trip to duff gardens.

      --
      Saying Apple is better than MS is like saying Botulism is better than rabies.

  34. Could Groklaw ever admit they were wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    I'm not saying they are but their whole claim to fame is debunking SCO stuff so what happens if something turned out to be true? Could they ever admit it? They are so invested in taking the anti-SCO side I don't see them as able to really bring an unbiased analysis. I like the bias in favor of Linux and IBM of course but I don't want smoke blown up my ass if something illegal actually did occur! Mainly because I don't want a nasty suprise after false sense of assuredness.

    1. Re:Could Groklaw ever admit they were wrong? by gujo-odori · · Score: 1
      They are so invested in taking the anti-SCO side I don't see them as able to really bring an unbiased analysis

      Groklaw does not claim to be unbiased. They support Novell/IBM/Red Hat/Anyone else arrayed against SCO, and have never claimed, implied, or pretended otherwise. That's fine. Groklaw exists to point out SCO FUD and BS, and that is a Good Thing.

      That said, would they admit it if they were wrong about something? I think so. Groklaw is not impartial and doesn't pretend to be, but based on everything I've seen their, PJ strikes me as a person of integrity and I believe that if Groklaw got something wrong, it would be admitted. Not that I expect that to ever be necessary, of course.

  35. Re:Groklaw is NOT a reputable source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    *sigh*
    Every time I see that URL the first thing that flashes into my mind is "that must be some company that sells prostate medicine". Perhaps this is an indication that Darl should pull his finger out?

  36. Letter I sent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Here's the message I sent; cc's include O'Gara as well as the board of advisors of LinuxWorld's owning corp (Bruce Perens in on there... input Bruce?)
    To: info@sys-con.com
    CC: maureen@sys-con.com,samuel.greenblatt@ca.com,wim.c oekaerts@oracle.com,shandy@us.ibm.com,alan@sys-con .com,bruce@perens.com,simon@sphipps.com,gduval@man drakesoft.com

    Hello,

    Having read both Maureen's recent story

    <http://www.linuxworld.com/story/46800.ht m>

    and this followup by GrokLaw

    <http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?sto ry=20041023153851359>

    I can't help wondering where the truth lies. Was Ms. O'Gara in fact in attendance at the event on which she reported, contrary to the accounts of Groklaw? How does one explain the differences between what Ms. O'Gara wrote and what was reported by multiple Groklaw reporters? I'd hate to be left with the impression that something other than journalistic integrity drove LinuxWorld's reporting.

    - a concerned reader
    1. Re:Letter I sent by drawfour · · Score: 1

      Just a quick question, but did your email reach "wim.c oekaerts@oracle.com", "alan@sys-con .com", or "gduval@man drakesoft.com"?

    2. Re:Letter I sent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I presume my email did reach them, partly because I got no bounces and partly because the spaces don't appear in the copy that I sent. I too noticed the spaces after having posted to slashdot (some in the url's too) and I don't understand where they came from... but again, they weren't in the originally sent material.

      Bruce Perens did reply, confirming that O'Gara was *not* present at the hearing, and further commenting that her journalistic standards are not known for being high.

  37. IBM code in SCO hands by forsetti · · Score: 1

    So now that IBM has handed over millions of lines of code to SCO, and SCO's engineers have poured over it, will IBM be going after SCO for IP theft? What is to keep SCO from using IBM's IP from this revealed code? Even if the code is 'old', algorithms and processes don't necessarily age, and may very well still be applicable. How is this handled?

    --
    10b||~10b -- aah, what a question!
    1. Re:IBM code in SCO hands by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I believe the court ordered, at IBM's request, that the AIX and Dynix code only be reviewed by SCO's outside counsel and outside experts. The executives and engineers were forbidden to see it. In spite of that order, I vaguely recall comments attributed to Darl commenting on things *he* supposedly found in the code.

  38. O'Gara - Mouthpiece for SCOX Price Manipulation by MooseByte · · Score: 1


    Standard SCO tactic - carefully timed press release via shill to manipulate the stock.

    SCO vermin are either trying to make a quick buck through this, or they are trying to prevent a freefall of the stock once it slips below the $3/share mark.

    Over the past weeks I've always seen SCOX rebound in the last hour of trading every day I've checked. Far more often than other stocks I've followed, to the point of curiousness. Who on earth would be in a rush to buy SCOX at the end of the day? Regularly? And why? Hmmmm.

    Friday that did not happen.

    Also on Friday (I'm assuming after markets closed - no timestamp on the article) we get this absurd piece from O'Gara, SCO shill at worst, clueless hack "journalist" at best.

    Someone's trying to make a buck. Either that or SCO is no longer able to prop up their stock with timed buybacks and are using this as a way to avoid a sub-$3/share freefall.

    Delisting a stock takes time, but having your stock head toward $1/share is a good start. I have a feeling that drop to a penny stock will accelerate if SCOX falls below the $3/share mark.

  39. What is up with IDG allowing this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I know IDG has many profit motives for catering to Linux. They haven't had a perfect record. However, they were one of the first companies to 'get it' and I think there is a large amount of respect given between them and the community.

    What I want to know is: What does IDG think about this magazine using its trademark? Does it want its expo name associated with it?

    If you look at the current list of articles on the site, they seem pro Linux, the have many unique and postive articles. However the 'scoops' that get picked up by other sites appear to be totally biased against Linux. Someone is approving of the spew from Maureen O'Gara. Someone is paying her for this. Is the SYS-CON management/editorial staff looking for yellow journalism as it sells hits?

    If so, they are shooting themselves in the foot here in the long run. Just as these are the only articles people read on their site, they will be the only ones people think the write. However, right now they are also damaging IDG's credability by direct association.

    1. Re:What is up with IDG allowing this? by Fnkmaster · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Is the SYS-CON management/editorial staff looking for yellow journalism as it sells hits?


      Look at some of the stuff she's written in the past. It's clear that she and her editors are thriving on the advertising impressions that trolling gets. Slashdot is just encouraging them by giving them attention - they have no concept of negative press or feedback.


      Several people have pointed out that Bruce Perens is on the SYS-CON Media "International Board of Advisors". Bruce, I don't know if this gives you the ear of anybody significant at SYS-CON (this could just be an honorific with no meaning whatsoever), but if it does, we would all seriously appreciate you using that ear to express your disgust over this practice.

    2. Re:What is up with IDG allowing this? by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      Or simply resigning, and no longer allowing them to trade on your good name.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  40. My letter by Mr.Ned · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Hello LinuxWorld editors,

    I was very disappointed with the article "IBM Tells SCO Court It Can't Find AIX-on-Power Code" (http://www.linuxworld.com/story/46800_p.htm) by Maureen O'Gara. I was offended by the demeaning tone of the article which shamelessly mixed personal opinion with reported fact. However, it has come to my attention that the article may not even have fact in it - another reputable news site, Groklaw, apparently had several people on hand at that particular hearing and not only reported that nothing Ms. O'Gara claims to have happend did, but also that Ms. O'Gara was never there. The full article is available here (http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20041023 153851359).

    I hope you investigate this matter to discover if Groklaw's claims are true. This is a serious breach of journalistic integrity that should not be ignored if LinuxWorld expects itself to be seen as a source of reliable news.

    Thanks,

    <me>

  41. Another O'Gara quote by RodeoBoy · · Score: 1

    aureen OGara commented on 24 October 2004:

    LinuxWorld sucks WEENER!

    Don't buy it!

    Really, this magazine SUCKS WEENER!

    It must be her.

  42. MS settled the suit they initiated by bstadil · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Lindows had to change names due to trademark suits from Microsoft,

    MS paid them $20M to change names after it looked like they were going to lose the very dubious Windoes Trademark. MS sued and pretty much lost.

    --
    Help fight continental drift.
  43. Grain of salt by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1
    While it appears that the latest charges are nothing more than pro SCO FUD, I think their existence is not necessarily bad for IBM or PJ. IBM let Darl shoot SCO in the foot by making outrageous accusations and claims in the press. They have used his statements against him in court. Maureen will hang herself with her statements too.

    Maureen and SCO have a right to say whatever they want, even lies. They do however have to deal with consequences. This latest fiasco does illuminate some things about Maureen. She's not a fact checker or she's a spin doctor. The other thing is that she might have an insider on the pro-SCO side.

    In this case, the inside information that she presented might harm her more than anything. Should IBM desire it, she would have to answer to the court about this inside information. IANAL but I don't think she can hide behind the 1st Amendment as documents are sealed for a reason. She might have to divulge her source. At the very least an admonishment from the court.

    Some people here seem to disagree with Groklaw printing PJ's opinions and her policing policy. It's HER site. She can print whatever opinions she wants and police it however she wants. If you don't agree with her, don't read it and/or start your own site. The difference between her site and other sources is that she also has all legal documents to back her up.

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    1. Re:Grain of salt by 16K+Ram+Pack · · Score: 1
      Wasn't there something a while ago about IBM issuing subpoenas on journalists who made claims about the SCO case?

      It would be great to see IBM hitting some of the papers who wrote FUD in this case with lawsuits regarding damaging their business.

  44. I don't think so by Len · · Score: 2, Informative
    Someone posted a comment below the article under O'Gara's name claiming the article was meant as satire, but that comment is pretty obviously phony:
    Oh, the ads here are satire too. Have you read the M$ TCO one? It's a hoot!
    Note that you can post comments under any name on that page.
    1. Re:I don't think so by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This doesn't change the conclusion of the post you replied to.

  45. good reason for not providing links. by rsmith · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There are good reasons for not giving it wide-spread attention.

    First is that the judge sealed the hearing transcript. Probably because one of the SCO lawyers tried to read sealed material into the record. Sealed material is not for the public eye. Helping to spread it could even be an offence, but IANAL.

    Second, links to stories that are debunked on Groklaw have a tendency to disappear, so the links could very well be dead soon.

    Groklaw is dedicated to accurate reporting. Providing links to bogus articles could give the articles more credit than they deserve.

    --
    Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.
  46. LinuxWorld Controlled by Msft? Remember /. story? by walterbyrd · · Score: 1

    A few months ago I read an article on slashdot about the creater of linuxworld advising against reading linuxworld now.

    He said that since linuxworld was taken over, it seems the entire purpose of linuxworld is advocate msft.

    Who took over at linuxworld? Any msft connection?

  47. IMO: not just a failure to do proper research by walterbyrd · · Score: 1

    I think Maureen O'Gara, and LinuxWorld have an agenda. I also think msft is behind it.

    Yeah, I know, tinfoil hat and all. But, I've followed this scox-scam for a while now, and I've followed msft for even longer. There have been way more dirty tricks than I can even begin to remember.

    Again, JMHO.

  48. Speaking of revisionist... by Xenographic · · Score: 3, Informative

    Remember the *other* O'Gara story? About IBM's "discovery abuse"? Funny, that may well have been put out by SCO--see here. Groklaw refutes yet another wild story.

    As an aside, though, that sure looks like a direct quote of the article in the story above. I wish submitter had at least put it in quotes... *sigh* :]

  49. Re:O'Gara has an anti-Linix/anti-Open Source histo by Fnkmaster · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Yes, but most importantly, the article you linked to makes it perfectly clear how she feels about the troll articles she's written. They get tons of editorial complaints, but the bosses love them because they get tons of ad impressions.


    Giving her articles front page placement on Slashdot is exactly what she intends. It get tens of thousands of ad impressions, her bosses think she's writing controversial, hard hitting opinion pieces, and everybody is happy except a bunch of fuming Slashdotters. This is EXACTLY like Rob Enderle - these people desperately want attention, and they don't care if it's negative.


    Please dear Slashdot editors, once it's been established that a particular writer is trolling for page views (i.e. they brag about how hated their articles are and exerpt Slashdot hate mail their publication has received) STOP giving them the front page placement they want, or you'll just encourage more of the same.

  50. I'm sure by DaveAtFraud · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm sure the /. editorial staff will jump right on this. Not checking the background of a story could even lead to duplicative stories being posted. Heaven knows, /. would never do something like that.

    --
    They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
    Ben
  51. I'm not so sure... by Xenographic · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't dispute that the man seems to me like he has a screw loose (and that just from the posts I've seen by him--there are plenty of others who offer evidence that would tend to support the idea that he's clear out of his mind).

    Anyhow, if you read this Groklaw story, you'll see that there may be a SCO lawyer connection here. That might be bad, because when they talked to O'Gara, they sure went on a lot about the privilege log and such concerning that privileged document SCO tried to read into the public record (which is *bad*). In other words, it *really* looks like SCO is leaking things it ought not to the media. Now, I can't prove any of that, but I would say that it's certainly beyond the appearance of impropriety to even discuss that with the media.

    As for Merkey, here, I doubt he was behind the O'Gara stories here--I suspect O'Gara and a source close to SCO were. Expect IBM to be on the ball here and to start seeing just *what* all SCO has told the media. Now then, you're probably right about him coming up with more wild stories (buying Linux for $50,000 and putting it under a BSD license to "save" it... after he removes all the "SCO-owned" bits).

    In other words, we can expect a LOT of crazy stuff before this story is over :] Damn, someone ought to make a movie out of it, though I guess it'd be hard to explain the importance of it to people who didn't follow this...

    1. Re:I'm not so sure... by stevesliva · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Damn, someone ought to make a movie out of it, though I guess it'd be hard to explain the importance of it to people who didn't follow this...
      A story in which a massive multinational corporation defends the right of the little guy with its lawyer hordes in a battle royale against creativity-killing, hard work-stealing greedy bastards from the most conservative of the United States!

      Yeah, that would suck.

      --
      Who do you get to be an expert to tell you something's not obvious? The least insightful person you can find? -J Roberts
    2. Re:I'm not so sure... by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      Depends on how they cast it. Will Smith as hard working IBM attorney Steve Marriot. John Travolta as archvillian Darl McBride. Mike Meyers as both the judge and the magistrate. Meg Ryan as PJ.

      Wait. It would still suck. It might make lots of money, but it would still suck. Now, a TV mini series on the other hand. . .

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    3. Re:I'm not so sure... by inode_buddha · · Score: 1

      That would tie in quite nicely with the "leaked" e-mail and sealed transcription.

      --
      C|N>K
    4. Re:I'm not so sure... by dickrichardv8 · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't it! How about the cast of the old Dallas show? Larry Hagman as Darl, Victoria Principle as PJ, etc. Instead of oil spilling everywhere, there would be barrel after of barrel of leaking code. Great!

  52. cryptgraphy by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

    This SCO case is turning into some kind of messianic saga, complete with apocrypha. Linus backs up, but does he save?

    --

    --
    make install -not war

    1. Re:cryptgraphy by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      But uh, linux doesn't back up. He thinks backups are for wimps. He uploads his data to FTP sites and lets everyone else mirror it, remember?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:cryptgraphy by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      That's distributed backup. Didn't Jesus just get FTP'd to the root server on Ascencion Day?

      --

      --
      make install -not war

  53. I smell... by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

    ... a slander lawsuit!

    Or am I being too optimistic?

  54. delaying tactics by jjohn_h · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Although Maureen O'Gara is creeping quite lowly, I wonder if she is worth much attention as a person. There are enough prostitute scribblers in the media and they are totally immune to any moral outrage.

    Instead, let us consider her role in SCO's delaying tactics. Last month, she was kind of announcing that SCO would charge IBM for fraud:

    http://www.linuxworld.com/story/46384.htm

    And why? Because of a killer story unearthed from IBM e-mails SCO got during discovery. Well, if you have been following the SCO-IBM case from the beginning, you may recall that SCO charged IBM of fraud in the initial complaint of March 2003. They retracted the charge in the 2nd Amended Complaint of July 2003, which is the one currently valid. Just imagine, SCO would ask the judge for permission to revert to the initial fraud charge in a 3rd amendment. And they cannot simply amend the complaint, they need permission these days.

    One month has elapsed since Maureen's Sept. 18 exercise, SCO is not murmuring any longer of fraud charges, nor is Maureen. What can they do to keep the FUD simmering and delay the case to the end of time? A 3rd Amendment would help. Maureen proclaims it is already in place (in other words, accepted by the judge after consultation with IBM) and under seal. This time the reason is non-licensed code included in AIX. Needless to say, the issue is another rotting carcass of zero importance. For details, please do a search on Groklaw.

    At this point, let us refresh a few other details of the case. SCO succeeded in Summer 2003 pushing up the closure of discovery and the start of the hearings. But when Judge Kimball set November 2005 as new date for the hearings he also said very forcefully that there would be no further delays. However, a 3rd amendment would possibly make his position untenable both in respect of discovery and of hearings. If SCO gets a 3rd amendment, they will be able to request additional months for discovery and the case would skid to Spring 2006.

    Parallel to the 3rd amendment dreams, SCO is also trying hard to disrupt operations of the magistrate court managing their discovery shenanigans. First they introduced papers at the very last minute before a discovery hearing so IBM could not respond. The magistrate judge postponed. They took a dislike to her and tried to get Judge Kimball to convene an emergency meeting to bypass her. He refused. In the discovery hearing on October 19, they read from confidential material and it takes two interventions by the judge to stop them. One week after the hearing, Maureen O'Gara helps spread confidential details plus blatant lies purporting to be confidential material. This is an attempt to trap the judge in formal procedural errors - from which the desired delays may hopefully follow.

    Memo to los SCOjones: you will not get a 3rd amendment, not even if Maureen O'Gara and LinuxWorld present fresh fanciful reasons in November and December. The reality check is approaching, drop by drop. Next Spring one of the three pending Partial Summary Judgments requested by IBM will have been decided. It does not matter which one because that will be your end in any case.

  55. Target the sponsors by wasted · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ladies and gentlemen,

    If you write to LinuxWorld, that letter confirms that they have readership and ad views, which is a good thing, and encourages that behavior.

    If you write to the sponsors and question their integrity for sponsoring such an article, THEY will contact LinuxWorld, and that will threaten LinuxWorld's income, which LinuxWorld will see as a bad thing. Hopefully this would discourage the behavior that you want discouraged.

    1. Re:Target the sponsors by Bloater · · Score: 1

      Except that the most visible and eye-catching ad is from Microsoft...

    2. Re:Target the sponsors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, it sounded like a good idea in theory.

      What was that saying about best laid plans or vice versa?

  56. Don't worry - sco has no programmers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    SCO has no employees even technical enough to remove the spyware from their windows machines.

    1. Re:Don't worry - sco has no programmers by HiThere · · Score: 1

      That may, or may not, currently be true. It was false 6 months ago. One of the contributors to the GCC c compiler worked for SCOX, and may still.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  57. "Presserat" by CaptainZapp · · Score: 4, Interesting
    In the German speaking sticks of the globe there's an institution called "Presserat", which translates roughly to press council.

    It's not a government organisation, but rather a self control entity by the press.

    The idea is, that the public or victim of a press campaign can file a complaint and they will determine if the general agreed upon press ethics where violated by that media and/or journalist.

    Of course there are a lot of frivolous complaints around the lines "they shortened my letter to the editor" (which is perfectly fine as long the meaning is not distorted) or "this article hurt my feelings" (which a paper is not obliged to respect in the first place, you can stop reading it after all).

    What is a clear violation is to publish gross accusations (Politico Suchnsuch embezzled the church bingo fund and then fucked a pig) without confronting the victim with such allegations prior to publishing. A practical example was a paper being reprimanded for fotoshoping water stains to a blood red color, to make the site of a terror attack more ghoulish.

    Of course lying outright, possibly knowingly and heaven forbid! taking payola for such an outrage (alas I don't know if this was the case and would never accuse a fine member of the press of such an atrocity) is about as much violation of press ethics as humanly possible.

    Finding are published and the idea is that the media in question is publicly hung up high and dry and shamed into humility.

    It doesn't replace a libel court case, though but overall it seems to work pretty nicely.

    --
    ich bin der musikant

    mit taschenrechner in der hand

    kraftwerk

  58. Re:LinuxWorld Controlled by Msft? Remember /. stor by karnowski · · Score: 1

    I believe that was linuxtoday.com not linuxworld.com

  59. Its not her by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Look further down for another comment from "her":

    # Maureen OGara commented on 24 October 2004:

    * LinuxWorld sucks WEENER!

    Don't buy it!

    Really, this magazine SUCKS WEENER!

    Is it her? Methinks not.

  60. Re:O'Gara has an anti-Linix/anti-Open Source histo by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 2, Insightful

    these people desperately want attention, and they don't care if it's negative.

    And if links to their stories are posted, at least remind us that Enderle and O'Gara went to the John Dvorak school of Journalism. where they majored in page hit whoring.

    --
    It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  61. Maureen has spammed me (over and over) by volkerdi · · Score: 5, Informative
    Let LinuxWorld know what you think of the journalistic integrity of their writer.

    Good idea. However, since sys-con (the company behind this) has supported Maureen's spamming operation, I can't say I think they all that much in the way of "integrity". Complaining to them about anything has been a waste of time for me.

    Allow me to explain. About two years ago I started getting "newsletters" from Maureen. To my knowledge, I never signed up for them or gave sys-con my primary email address. These were sent using a mailer by Lyris (according to their site "Lyris develops opt-in email marketing software"... oh, great), and were as spammy as can be. 10K to 20K of HTML marketing. Here's a partial sample:

    To: "linuxgram"
    From: "Linux Business Week"

    Maureen O'Gara's LinuxGram
    Maureen is single-handedly the reason why most companies in the software have abandoned having press conferences ! ...
    Linuxgram is published weekly by G2 Computer Intelligence Inc.

    Send press releases to: news@g2news.com

    Subscription price per year: $195/?140 individual reader.

    Maureen O'Gara's LinuxGram Breaking News

    To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-linuxgram-2307683E@mailbox.sys-con.com

    I will assure you that, for me, sending the blank unsubscription email was about as effective as pissing in the wind. I complained to every address I could think of @sys-con.com but the garbage continued to arrive. I finally had to resort to adding this block to sendmail:

    207.178.67.103 ERROR:"550 known spammers (sys-con) blocked by SPOO database"

    Suffice to say that I've (whenever possible) avoided doing business with sys-con ever since, and have lost most of the respect I might have had for them. So now they're spreading lies about the SCO case? Big surprise. Maybe there was some cash in it for them.

  62. Nice job Slashdot giving Maureen O'Gara readers... by RealRoadKill · · Score: 1

    I have a hard time understanding why Slashdot ran the first story about Maureen's article... Nice to see that CoyBoyNeal has a purpose besides stupid polling options.. Idiots...

  63. My favourite neologism... by born_to_live_forever · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Heheh... no, I didn't make it up. But somebody else did. Umberto Eco, to be precise.

    Look for it in Eco's The Name of the Rose. Eco uses it (judging from context) to mean the quality of being an atypical but illustrative example, and applies it to describe that quality which lists and list-making have of creating a sense of understanding where none may actually exist.

    I'm the meme thief... I don't coin phrases - I steal other people's coinage.

    --

    - Peter Ravn Rasmussen

    1. Re:My favourite neologism... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You do know that name of the rose was not written in English, right? In which case that would be either a word in Italian or a word made up by William Weaver, not Eco.

      I'm posting this anon because some dweeb with mod points and nothing better to do seems to think that modding this sub-thread as offtopic is cool. Well go ahead and mod me down hypoasshole!

    2. Re:My favourite neologism... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or Eco could have made up the word 'ipotipico' which Weaver then translated as the made up 'hypotypical'. Ipotipico doesn't seem to be in my Italian dictionary. Unfortunately, I don't have an Italian copy of The Name of Rose handy to check this out.

    3. Re:My favourite neologism... by Bush+Pig · · Score: 1

      That's hypERarsehole to you, pal.

      --
      What a long, strange trip it's been.
    4. Re:My favourite neologism... by born_to_live_forever · · Score: 1

      I'm well aware of that. Tell me, how does this affect the discussion at hand?

      Since everybody is agreed that it is a neologism, does it really matter whether or not it started out as a pseudo-Latinate Italian neologism which was then translated to English to become a pseudo-Latinate English neologism?

      I like to nitpick as much as the next geek, but there comes a time when the nits get too small, and the cost/benefit of picking them becomes prohibitive.

      --

      - Peter Ravn Rasmussen

  64. Re:Groklaw is NOT a reputable source by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 0

    I agree completely. I've stopped posting or even reading the comment section at Groklaw because of the censorship and hyperbole, but I still read the articles, which are mostly excellent, despite the overwrought emotional language that PJ to which PJ sometimes descends. I used to find it annoying, but now I find it amusing, though not in the way PJ intends. Still, overall, the presentation of facts (including primary sources!) and the legal analysis are top notch and make up for the shortcomings.

    I thought I would miss reading the comment section, but to tell you the truth, the gems there are buried so deeply in the uninformed fanatical crap that it's really not worth the bother.

    --
    It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  65. How Maureen Got Her Wife to Run Linux by Trojan · · Score: 1

    I'm not quite sure I can follow this, but see
    this story by Maureen O'Gara. Hmmm, maybe they both live in the Netherlands.

    1. Re:How Maureen Got Her Wife to Run Linux by dtfinch · · Score: 1

      Looks like someone's feeding her stories and she's publishing them as her own. Or she just gave them her login. I can't imagine her posting that as hers having known what it said unless she really did write it.

    2. Re:How Maureen Got Her Wife to Run Linux by ZX81 · · Score: 3, Funny

      That's crazy. By the way in case you're wondering the article says:

      "My wife runs Windows 98 on her little 300mhz computer and it basically does what she needs - some photo editing, writing of documents, spreadsheets, e-mail, and Web surfing."

      Um...Maureen's Wife?! Wow ok cool. Maybe Maureen is not a real person. Maybe she's like agony aunt or whatever. Maybe Maureen is just the name that they put on articles when they're so bad that no author would want to have their name associated with the article. :-)

      --
      -={ Security does not exist - give up }=-
    3. Re:How Maureen Got Her Wife to Run Linux by flacco · · Score: 1
      "My wife runs Windows 98 on her little 300mhz computer and it basically does what she needs - some photo editing, writing of documents, spreadsheets, e-mail, and Web surfing."

      where does it say that?

      --
      pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
    4. Re:How Maureen Got Her Wife to Run Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Follow the LinuxWorld link that Trojan posted, then it's just under the Sponsored link. First sentence: ... "my wife...". You can also click on the author's name and you'll be taken to her bio page.

    5. Re:How Maureen Got Her Wife to Run Linux by julesh · · Score: 1

      Other than the obvious, there is just so much wrong with that story. '"That's why Linux will never be mainstream", she tells me,' after failing to open an excel spreadsheet in kspread. Kspread? What the hell was she doing even attempting that. The KDE office apps might be nice when they're finished, but they're still a long way from that. And 2.5 years ago, when that article was written, I'd say they qualified as alpha software. Get some sense and install openoffice for god's sake.

      And... running KDE in 800x600??? My god, no wonder things aren't working.

  66. Be that as it may... by Xenographic · · Score: 1

    Heh, while you're right that calling someone a troll doesn't make them one, grandparent is right.

    Yes, Groklaw does censor the comments. PJ is up front about what she deletes and why. PJ does have a bias against SCO, but she's clearly able to separate fact from opinion, and does so quite well. She gives us lots of facts to work with. This article was pure innuendo. It appears to be nothing more than SCO talking about sealed documents to the press.

    Now, did you have any valid criticism of the site, or did you just want to point out that calling someone a troll doesn't refute what they say (though the easily verifiable facts I've posted above should take care of most of them)?

    1. Re:Be that as it may... by nathanh · · Score: 1
      Now, did you have any valid criticism of the site, or did you just want to point out that calling someone a troll doesn't refute what they say

      Just the latter. I think the site's great but I have a problem with people who cry "troll" simply because they don't have anything constructive to say. It's depressing that all the dimwits have ruined the Groklaw comments section with "troll sections" and "back under your bridge, troll" comments. They're not being witty and they're not worth reading, but of course you have to waste your time reading them before you realise that. I wish they'd keep quiet instead. It's increasingly difficult to wade through the junk to find the thoughtful and insightful comments.

      I honestly think the anti-trolls are a bigger problem than the trolls. They certainly inject more noise into the comments than the real trolls! I used to read the comments section each day. Now I can't bear it and just stick to the articles. The anti-troll brigade has done a far better job of ruining the comments section than the actual trolls had ever done, IMHO.

      NB: I wrote something similar to this comment once on Groklaw and, you know what's coming, I was called a troll.

  67. This is really sad by Jack+Action · · Score: 1

    I just wanted to chime in and say this is really sad. The propaganda efforts have reached Soviet-era levels of hilarity. How soon before they airbrush Linus out of his highschool yearbook?

    1. Re:This is really sad by lauterm · · Score: 1

      Maybe they already have. I haven't been over to Finland to check. Have you?

  68. IBM already did in their counterclaims by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    IBM's counterclaims include copyright infringement claims--SCO has been using a whole lot of IBM's GPL'd code after violating their license and losing all rights to use it.

    IBM documented all that code for the court with specificity (which SCO seems unable to do despite a year and a half waiting, and two court orders).

    1. Re:IBM already did in their counterclaims by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Yes, but you have to accept that SCOX did violate the GPL. I think it did with the license to EV1, but prior to that I'm not aware of any violation, so it might be limited to damages since then. And have they made any sales since then?

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  69. Re:O'Gara has an anti-Linix/anti-Open Source histo by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Please dear Slashdot editors, once it's been established that a particular writer is trolling for page views (i.e. they brag about how hated their articles are and exerpt Slashdot hate mail their publication has received) STOP giving them the front page placement they want, or you'll just encourage more of the same.

    Yeah, but what would /. do for stories if it weren't for R. Piquepille?

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  70. Julkisen Sanan Neuvosto in .fi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    In Finland the same kind of thing is the "Council of Public Word" (Julkisen Sanan Neuvosto).

    If someone complains, and the JSN reprimands some newspaper, the newspaper in question has to print it like "The JSN has reprimanded Blah Magazine for forging numbers and other evidence in the story about corrupt politicians." And they also have to add some related background information.

    AFAIK the chief editor has to take the heat.

    I bet this kind of thing exists in many, many countries.

  71. Bad Journalism by Kaenneth · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wouldn't an effective way to complain about poor journalism be to complain directly to the advertisers whose ads appear in association with the matierial?

    A simple statement of "As long as you continue to support the publication of (insert description here) such as in/at (insert example here) I will aviod the purchase of your products, and encourage my friends and workplace to do the same."

  72. Re:Groklaw is NOT a reputable source by An+Onerous+Coward · · Score: 1

    Hmm. It managed to throw a pop-up at me when I closed the window. Thanks to Firefox, I haven't seen one of those in months, but it still managed.

    --

    You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!

  73. PJ Says by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    PJ says, in so many words, that she cannot hold Slashdot in high esteem. I agree.

    PJ also once said she started Groklaw because she didn't want to register at Slashdot. This is both understandable and fortunate. Groklaw is today a terrific site. Thinking of what the wankers here would do with items she posted, I shudder.

    Finally, it's time again to look at the possibility that Microsoft have further infiltrated the world of Linux and put journalists in their pocket. Maureen O'Gara seems a likely candidate.

  74. Re:Groklaw is NOT a reputable source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There has been a time in which the fact that you are posting as AC plus the fact that you have been modded troll would have made me believe that you are indeed a troll.

    But nowadays, having actualy read the post, I suspect there is something wrong with the moderators. And this is very unfortunate for slashdot itself, because when one advises us to take something with a grain of salt, he probably means that we should not take whatever we hear at face value.

    And no, it does not matter whether it is being said by groklaw or the pope himself, the price of blindly beleiving someone is very high.

    But wait, groklaw is a neutral party in this whole story so it has no interest in providing biased opinions. If I was Zeus I would be running out of thunders.

    Wake up, the fact that they are on the side of linux does not make them saints nor does it mean that you have to believe everything they say.

  75. Solution: by Kwil · · Score: 1

    Write Sys-Con's advertisers, express how disappointed you are that they've chosen to associate their name with a disreputable company, and that you'll be taking that into account in future purchasing decisions.

    --

    That Jesus Christ guy is getting some terrible lag... it took him 3 days to respawn! -NJ CoolBreeze

  76. Re:LinuxWorld Controlled by Msft? Remember /. stor by HiThere · · Score: 1

    The LinuxWorld site is run by Sys-con, a company which publishes many useless magazines. It may also publish some good ones, but I've never seen any.

    As to their being biased in favor of MS...possibly. Or possibly they are merely biased in favor of their big advertisers. They've clearly proven themselves an unreliable source of information in a number of areas (not just this one...I won't take their advice on java, either, e.g. Or on Unix system administration.)

    This is a pity, because many once decent magazines have ended up there.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  77. LinuxWorld Track record by stock · · Score: 1
    On July 31st i was called by a sales employee from LinuxWorld : http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=116367&cid=985 0632

    Guess what? Lately i found there isn't a LinuxWorld Expo planned this fall or winter in the Netherlands. I guess LinuxWorld.com has some problems getting their record straight.

    Robert

  78. Why would you understand that? by walterbyrd · · Score: 1

    I see absolutely nothing satirical about that article. What makes you think it's supposed to be a satire?

  79. Re:LinuxWorld Controlled by Msft? Remember /. stor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It was Linux Today. The creator of that site objected to the abundance of Microsoft ads on rotation.

  80. Is it possible by Joseph_Daniel_Zukige · · Score: 1

    that cowboy whats-his-face posted the original to get the slashdotters to go after linuxworld and its ilk?

  81. Maureen O'gara has a wife??? by Stephen+Samuel · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The actual article is entitled The Trials of Getting My Wife to Run Linux (LinuxWorld) and claims to be authored by Maureen O'Gara. The leading paragraph starts:
    My wife runs Windows 98 on her little 300mhz computer and it basically does what she needs - some photo editing, writing of documents, spreadsheets, e-mail, and Web surfing. ...
    Not much wiggle room there. I can see 3 possible explanations here:
    1. Maureen is Lesbian... I live on the west coast (Vancouver), so that's not only not hard to swallow -- It seems entirely feasable.
    2. She's in a polyamorous relationship. Given that she likes supporting SCO, who hail from Utah, This too, doesn't strike me as entirely unreasonable. (yes, I know that most people in Utah only have one spouse, but Polygamy is at least more infamous there than anywhere else).
    3. She's fobbing off someone else's as her own and didn't even botheer to do the most minimal of editing before posting it.
    4. Personally, I'd say that #3 is the most disturbing of the three.
    5. I guess we could add #4, that she's really a transgendered "he", but I'd say you could swallow that inside of #1.

    --
    Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
    1. Re:Maureen O'gara has a wife??? by CyanDisaster · · Score: 1
      I've googled the title and a random (short) passage of text, and all I've come up with was stuff written by Maureen. So, I can see three possible explanations here:
      1. She actually wrote the article herself, and really is a lesbian.
      2. Someone else wrote the article, possibly for her, with their own views and perspectives, and she didn't do any editing.
      3. She found the story on the net and managed to somehow get all other copies removed via cease and desist letters.
      Something like that anyhow.

      Hope be with ye,
      Cyan
    2. Re:Maureen O'gara has a wife??? by Stephen+Samuel · · Score: 1
      She lives on the 'net. I doubt that she'd be so stupid as to try and fob off something that could be found with a quick google. Then again, I've seen stupider things in this world, and she does repeat some really stupid stuff.

      I take it you can't wrap your mind around my #2?

      --
      Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
  82. Good advice! by alexo · · Score: 1


    > PLEASE take anything you read on that site with a grain of salt.

    s/that/any

    On second thought, also:

    s/site/media

  83. Complain to the advertisers... by clickety6 · · Score: 1

    ...if you want LinuxWorld to act with integrity, then complain to the companies that are advertising on the LinuxWorld pages and ask what readers will think when their adverts are associated with shoddy reporting. After all, page views doesn't equal sales, and if the advertiers see negative publicity associated with their goods, then maybe they'll put some pressure on LinuxWorld...

    --
    ----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
  84. The link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0