Slashdot Mirror
Leaked Microsoft Dossier on Journalist
Ludvig A. Norin writes "Wired journalist Fred Vogelstein blogs about how he accidentally got hold of a dossier on himself produced by Microsoft's PR firm, Waggener Edstrom. While it's not unusual for PR people to create background files on journalists, it's notable that this one leaked, and got commented by Waggener Edstrom's Frank Shaw and Wired Magazine editor in chief Chris Anderson. Makes for an interesting read — there's lots to learn from the inner workings of the Microsoft PR machinery." Someone please send me mine? I bet it's really friendly!
/offtopic: Did anyone else immediately think of the old old Where In the World is Carmen Sandiego game for PC? Just seeing 'Dossiers' there brought memories flooding back.
/ontopic: Anyone think the documents were leaked intentionally?
You aren't a fucking journalist.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
You don't always have to act like a 6-year old with impulse control problems.
But, CmdrTaco, the summary (no I didn't RTFA) is about journalists?
Contents: one Vista software voucher and a free year's subscription to MSN
I wonder how microsoft feels about the leak. If anything it will be a bargain chip for cheaper rates when it comes time to pay their outsourced PR firm.
It seems highly appropriate that, the one time a blogger gets a scoop, it's about himself. Go blogs!
.... if Microsoft's PR firms do the same thing with sites like Slashdot? Do they keep track on what certain users say? Do they keep track of what topic are posted?
That would be interesting to know IMHO.
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
CmdrTaco CMDTaco CmdrTacoo CmdrTco
This guy needs to realize that he is also corrupted by the power that his writing has. For instance, saying "It also was strange to see just how many resources are aligned against me" is a complete giveaway of how highly this guy thinks of himself and how purposefully biased he is that he thinks MS's concern and attempt to show him things that might sway his opinion in the other direction is somehow being "against him".
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
In your Microsoft "Dossier"...
10. Does not know what "checkdisk" is for.
9. Thinks WINNT is still useful.
8. Very Cheap: (s)he likes White Castle. Buy hamburger and get a nice article.
7. Cheap: (s)he likes Wendy's. See above. A tad more expensive.
6. Reminds me of RMS, only cleaner.
5. Reminds me of ESR. Gun nut.
4. Has a fanboy penguin T-Shirt, talks about Gentoo. Still uses WinME.
3. Steve Jobs byotch.
2. Dines with BillG and SteveB regularly. Treat with caution.
And the number one thing you don't want to see in your Microsoft PR Dossier:
1. Open Source Communist Agent. Terminate with extreme prejudice.
[Yes, this is a shameless attempt at being funny. Mod down accordingly.]
The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
Like the list of articles can be gathered off by a few searches off the web.
I thought they might be tapped his phone and what not when I saw the title but apprently no.
Microsoft doesn't need to have a dossier on CmdrTaco or slashdot. Once upon a time, this site might have had some influence or respectability as a threat against Microsoft.
But nowadays it's fallen so fast, it's not worth Microsoft's time. CmdrTaco makes himself and slashdot look bad enough without any prodding from others.
I'm not seeing anything sinister here.
I can only *wish* my PR and markettings guys did this good a job on their briefing materials before sending me into a room. I don't do much press, but I do the occasional analyst and a fair number of customers, and knowing the lay of the land before you walk into that room is critical.
Who in there is friendly?
Who in there is looking for an excuse to hate you?
What are folk's pet issues?
The more information you have, the better a job you can do with your pitch (and fundamentally most corporate to press communications are a pitch at some level or another). Once you reach a certain level in an organization though, you're sufficiently removed from the ground game that most pitches you walk into largely cold. The local rep knows what's going on, but you don't, so they have to brief you. All you know without a packet like this is that you've been flown out to Akron to talk to John Doe from ACME inc.
My underlying point being, I don't see anything remotely sinister here. Rather I see an efficient PR organization doing its job.
The Malebox Bar
Ever since Eric Raymond had raped him at his house in Holland and later again at Slashdot New Year's Eve party, Rob Malda's life had reached an all time low. Sleeping until four or five in the evening, he would wake and surf the 'net for pictures of young, boyish men and call and talk tearfully to Hemos on the phone. He ignored Slashdot, thinking himself above editing tech-news, while his Open Source stocks slipped. Depression and anxiety had Rob so entirely that it seemed he would never again enjoy life. He had truly hit bottom.
In the midst of his malaise, Rob had forgotten his birthday but Hemos managed to coax him out for a night on the town across the state in Detroit. After their little road trip, the pair went on a shopping spree, took in a movie, and ate dinner at a very chic -- and expensive -- restaurant. After stopping for ice cream, the two friends headed to Rob's favorite Detroit night spot, the Malebox Bar. There they wasted no time dancing to the latest hard house remixes and downing shot after shot of watermelon Jolly Rancher drinks.
As time wore on and mix after mix pounded the dance floor, Rob and Hemos began feeling tipsy and decided to take a break in the club's arcade. The two fought through Mortal Kombat like an old married couple, went back and forth in Altered Beast, and played a couple rounds of Spy Hunter. The conversation had slowly turned to MAME, an Open Source program that emulated dozens of arcade games by means of illegally pirated ROM files, as they began playing Rampage. Rob and Hemos had gigs and gigs of illegally pirated ROM files.
It's ludicrous playing video games here when we have MAME on our systems at home, Hemos said as he punched Rob in the back of the head and jumped halfway up a building.
Yeah, Rob said as he smashed a tank. But you can't get any action sitting at home playing video games like you can here.
Too bad there's no way to pick up guys and play MAME at the same time, Hemos said as he ate a bathing woman and burped. That would be the best.
Yeah, that would be pretty great, Rob said.
Rob stopped climbing the building he was on, leaving Hemos to smash the building and jump away before it collapsed. Rob fell on his butt and lost some life.
Rob, are you okay? Hemos asked while button-mashing Rob's character into oblivion. Rob?
Hemos continued speaking, but Rob wasn't there. His eyes were wide and glazed, focused elsewhere. He was smiling weird and crooked as the game showed in reverse in his eyes. Hemos finally turned to look at Rob.
Robert Hubert Malda! Hemos yelled, hands on hips in frustration. Not waiting for a response, he reached out and pinched his friend's elbow. He didn't like that look in his eyes -- it always meant something bad was about to happen. Rob came to, shaking his head and stepping back from the game, which was now blinking GAME OVER at him. He turned and looked at Hemos, who was fuming.
Jeff, uh, I'm sorry. I- I guess I zoned out there for a minute, he said as he looked around the bar. I, um. I'll be right back.
And before Jeff could say a word, Rob was off like a flash into the crowd.
Jesus Christ, Rob! Jeff said between breaths. This thing is heavy and there's barely room for it in my back seat!
Ha, yeah right, Rob said, grunting. There's always room in your back seat!
Jeff rolled his eyes at Rob's little jab. You be nice, you're lucky I'm letting you do this.
With one final shove and groan, Rob was finished, and the old, worn arcade game shell was wedged tightly the back seat of Jeff's VW Jetta. They bound the back doors to the machine with bungie cord and then tied their red hankies to it, sat down against the side of the car, and lit cigarettes.
So what exactly are you going to do with this thing? Hemos asked between puffs. You're building a MAME system?
My plan is much more ambitious than just some MAME system, Rob said, smirking. But it's based on the same concept. It also combines my love of hai
It was a briefing memo for the PR encounter. Of course it'll talk about the journalist but that doesn't mean they watch his every move - it just means they read up on him for when they're going to cross paths.
It's a bit chatty in places - and this sort of work will always be subjective - but it reads to me as a good professional briefing by an efficient PR outfit.
Wow, whoever put that file together, and it was a prep for a single phone interview on top of a general dossier, is top notch. If only I had a staff to put together stuff like that for my phone meetings!
As I note in my blog posting, it is way more interesting to claim to have received a "secret file" than it is to note that a briefing document exists. Nobody should be surprised that people are briefed before speeches, customer visits, interviews, etc. It is standard practice.
And who is Steve Ballmer married to? Pam Edstrom.
Therein lies part of the problem: WE is captive to Microsoft.
It is, what it is.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
Snooze......
If it's intentional, it's a softball that doesn't really amount to anything. If it's not, some PR hack gets a deserved spanking.
Nobody cares about you.
If they really cared that much, they'd hire a hitman.
I don't see the big deal here. Microsoft needs top notch PR people, they have an image issue as can be seen by the blatant anti-MS posts which consists of half the comments on any article dealing with Microsoft. Knowing this, no company wouldn't do their utmost to prepare their executives for an interview. As far as I could tell the summary was fair and provided in depth coverage. I'm somewhat amazed at the level of preperation that goes into these interviews and would like to know if they did it any time someone talks to the press but talking to someone from Wired and getting a positive article out of it surely is worth the effort that you hit on the right points. Not every company can afford it but I don't think Microsoft can afford not to.
* First came into public view after the Nao Dong massacre where he stabbed a village to death with a pen. Sources report this was because he was given chocolate with almonds in.
Action point: If buying gifts, do not give almond chocolate.
* In the summer of '93, produced robotic army to destroy Latin America. Points to a methodical, cool and cynical personality. Coolness may be related to ventilated robotic helm.
* Was reported by his mother to give minimum 20% discount on sight of the Vulcan hand greeting.
Action point: If handlacking disabled people want to attend meeting, fob off with legal-seeming excuses.
Briefing for your call with Wired is below. We want to keep it short and not offer any new avenues to him - Fred has done plenty of reporting here and it is time for him to stop and just write the article.
Microsoft PR Person:
This guy DOES look for sensationalism and tension where there is none!
The PR guys did their damn jobs. Good for them. There was nothing sinister in there at all.
Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
I don't see many people saying this is sinister, I think most people are just interested in what type of information MS follows.
And you're right, everyone does this. Do you think a politician just blindly goes into a press conference? Do you think a coach randomly chooses people to ask questions? So yeah, this is pretty much business as usual, but still pretty interesting.
If there's no tension for Wired to find while performing the interviews, why would Microsoft execs need so much coaching to make sure they "get their message across" and portray a consistent message. Doesn't make much sense to me. Clearly Microsoft's PR firm is pretty contradictory, much like Microsoft themselves. It's a match made in hell, I tell ya! PR hell!
Don't you know it is now both immoral and criminal to think beyond the next quarterly report?
Yeah, all I saw was boring stuff. Stuff that would be useful if I was the intended recipient and was going to be giving that interview, but as just a regular guy with no involvement in "Channel 9" or any of MS' dealings, I really couldn't care less. I'm just amazed that they went to all that trouble to track things in the level of detail that they did. I'd be really glad to have it if I were being interviewed, although the coaching parts would have bugged me. There's nothing like being told what to say and how to present information. Who wants to be a puppet?
The only story here is that this information ended up in the wrong Inbox.
As has already been remarked by others above me there is nothing sinister about anything said in the briefing document. It's candid in places, perhaps a little chatty in others, but overall this what you should expect if not hope for in this kind of document. If a reporter has a history of "digging for dirt" then that's what the document should state.
It seems a bit disingenuous to me to take Microsoft to task over something like this when it is the standard practice in any PR-conscious company, you can bet that Wired probably has similar documents flying about that offered guidance about individuals in companies who are easier to coerce, more likely to reveal sensitive information, etc.
The interesting thing here is the amount of energy, effort, resources that Microsoft is using to gain and reinforce control over the entire process, that is taking place before publishing the article. Their PR people work pretty much as investigative reporters when it comes to uncover the background and activities of the Wired reporter. The simulated QA session deeply rooted in religious traditions for safeguarding the dogma with prefabricated answers to anticipated questions.
It's nothing really new - it's only interesting the extent and the industrial nature of the efforts to control, clearly demonstrated with the original documents - instead of anecdotes.
How highly this guy thinks of himself? He's biased? He has the damn proof in his own email account! He's not IMAGINING this, its friggin real. What are you? The Lord King Emperor of Denial and Enabling?
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
Why doesn't Microsoft just ask for the memo back and claim that Homeland security is at stake?
Ok can someone let me know if Hell has frozen over, Slashdot appears to think an action that Microsofts done isn't evil and I know which I thought I would be seeing first
...news for Fred Vogelstein
I totally agree. My first thought, before even finishing reading the memo, was, dang, how do I get these people to work for me?
Makes me wonder whether the "leak" was accidental, or they were getting free publicity
Speaking of, if you like this stuff, you should watch the BBC sitcom Absolute Power.
they were busy putting together a dossier on me and a few others around X-mas of 1999?
Do you have ESP?
What surprises me about this PR analysis is that none of it -- not one word -- is dedicated to selling the journalist on the quality of Microsoft's products. Not their web products, not their development environments, nothing. At a minimum, they could have said something like "Channel 9 will help us show developers how we make the best development products."
If you're going to make a video blog for developers, I'd think you would focus on the quality of your development products.
Instead, it's all a bunch of internal politicking about transparency and alleviating fear. Is that how Microsoft makes money these days? Selling transparency? Alleviating fear?
I think I've got some synergy and some new paradigms for sale too, guaranteed to be content-free.
Ronald Reagan's briefs were one page. If I were being interviewed, I would rather be handed one page of background and bullets than to drown in thirteen pages of mush.
OT: Favorite part of the document is where they try to squelch any thought that there might be bureaucracy afoot. The section kind of reads like, "We consulted all the bureaus, and the message from the top bureau is that there is no bureaucracy at our company. If there were any traces that somehow remained, the Bureau of Bureaucracy Eradication would soon ferret them out and communicate that fact through the appropriate channels (and with proper adherence to internal protocols)."
Their they're doing there hair.
CmdrTaco: Mostly Harmless
Very interesting. If anything can be concluded at all, this is at least a tangible piece of evidence of how corporations & government attempt to manipulate public opinion. No, it's not news that PR exists, but just seeing it in detail makes you wonder how sad it is, that as an individual you are constrained to "key messages". So in the end the PR spokesperson of XYZ Corp or ABC Government Agency really is that - just an empty shell regurgitating back key messages.
Then again, I could see it as a legit job, where you still have to answer questions and spin things "correctly" like, for example, how the White House PR guy is. You still need to think on your feet, redefine, reposition. All this reminds me of that recent movie "Thank you for Smoking" where the main character gives some fatherly advice to his son, saying something that it doesn't matter if you answer the question, as long as you are convincing, you are correct.
Really, seems like a fun job, apart from sysadmin and programming work doesn't it? Where we are all constrained to finding answers (make sure mail works! make sure this compiles correct!). Would be awesome to be able to convince people it's "not a bug" (a feature) or no, the main server really isn't down!
the "story" here is that Microsoft pinged Wired Magazine a few times on a story about their "new" communications mechanism( Channel 9 ) and when Wired finally put someone on it, Microsoft orchestrated every aspect of the information the reporter received. There's a big difference in knowing what your going to go up against and having a group of dozens analyzing this person and then telling you what to say to him/her to get "the right message" across.
This isn't new to me but I'm quite sure that many many average Joe/Joans don't know that Microsoft puts this kind of money into making sure the press sees things the One Microsoft Way.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
Some folks may not be impressed by this but after reading the whole thing I have to applaud M$ PR firm. They do their research extremely well and prepare the employee so thoroughly for what is going to transpire that I'm in awe. I've never worked for a huge company with a "good PR machine" and I've given interviews before -- what I wouldn't have done for this kind of prep!
farting your dumb shit on here hardly matters to ms.
Q. Is this driven by DOJ?
A. No. It's about furthering the dialogue with customers, expanding and encouraging that
discussion and making it more two-way. We've been doing this long before the DoJ and will be
doing it long after.
'Waggener Edstrom, reported it would meet with "a lot of editors" regarding MS-DOS 5.0 in 1990, and: .. 'informally' plant the bug of FUD in their ears'
davecb5620@gmail.com
Maybe you should fix your ENTER key before Windows...
Rethinking email
If they only knew how true that statement was going to be...
At some companies, the guy who screws up has to buy donuts or cake for everyone. At Microsoft, it means that at the next few monthly meetings, Waggener Edstrom will have to supply the chairs for Steve to throw.
Mark Martin, the Wagg-Ed guy who wrote most of that briefing document, is a detail-oriented pro. I've had plenty of contact with him, both during the work day when we're on opposite sides of the fence, and after-hours, when we stop thinking about work and have friendly conversations (often over a drink or three) about sports, family, politics, and other non-controversial topics.
:)
The only thing surprising to me about this "story" is that anyone is surprised to learn that Mark is just as good and thorough a researcher as the reporters he deals with all day long.
I would not be surprised to read one day that Mark has left Wagg-Ed and started his own PR agency -- and I would be even *less* surprised to learn that most of his clients were open source-based companies. He is often Microsoft's point man in their "Why proprietary software is better than FOSS" PR efforts, so he has an exceptional grasp of FOSS benefits. This knowledge will serve him well if and when he decides to leave the Dark Kingdom and join the Forces of Goodness.
- Robin
Wow, I didn't think I'd be saying this but ... I tend to agree.
By way of explanation: Until recently I have been a senior editor at InfoWorld. My primary responsibility was features. I've written hundreds of articles and attended hundreds of vendor briefings, private meetings, etc. In pretty much every single one of those meetings there is some woman sitting there with a pad of paper, jotting down notes. She seldom says a word. You just can't let it bother you.
You want "When PR Attacks"? This Microsoft dossier ain't it. I've had PR people, thinking they were being cute, drop little comments about me into their emails. "Hey are you going to the such-and-such concert this weekend?" What they've done is Google searched me, pulled up my personal Web page, and added all that info into my file, also. So if they see that I like heavy metal music, for example, they'll make some comment about that.
Or, if you meet them in person, they might make a casual comment about Indian food. If you say that you like Indian food, they will mention the name of a particular nearby restaurant that they like. You'll think, "Oh, that's interesting, I'll make a note of that." But guess what? They will too. That information will also go into your dossier, and from then on every time you meet that PR rep she will try to get you to grab lunch at that particular Indian restaurant (and her client might come along too, just for kicks).
If you get laid off from a media job, somebody will Google search you and e-mail or call you at home, trying to find out where you will be working next, to preserve the relationship. (Never mind that you didn't even realize that you had a relationship with this person.) It doesn't occur to them that you might have left work to care for your wife, who is dying of cancer. To them, if they can reach you, you're fair game.
This Microsoft dossier, on the other hand ... this is pretty much what I'd expect. If anything, I'd say it looks like WaggEd is doing a competent and professional job.
Breakfast served all day!
If the dossier were written in C#, leaks would not be an issue.
Who in there is friendly?
Who in there is looking for an excuse to hate you?
What are folk's pet issues?
The first two don't even belong in business, what do these things belong in a folder for? Businesses should not be keeping this type of information. If there is a problem with the employee it should be dealt with, not kept in a folder on a list of idiosynchrasies. The last one is the only reasonable one in that a list of the frequency of bringing up a certain issue may allow one to be more prepared to deal with that issue, but that's the only legitimate one.
I'm sure they have documents on who can be "persuaded" to write a nice article for them and who will bash their competitors given the right incentive. I'll bet that these documents are helpful in Microsoft's current viral campaign against the PS3.
They're finally releasing MS-DOSsier!
Who said this was business? At this level, you are talking strictly corporate politics and media manipulation.
Wow! Microsoft's PR group really goes the extra mile to analyze and try to control a situation. Under the "Expected Q & A" section where they give the questions that they think will be asked and supply the PR approved answers they seem to have forgotten one:
Q: Have your answers been scripted?
A: No, we here at Microsoft believe in spontaneity. It is the true source of our innovation.
The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!
Man, I RTFA and I can't believe MS would spend so much time, money, and effort to try and
manipulate an article about a freakin blog site or wtf ever channel 9 / 10 is.
Funny and pathetic at the same time.
It won't be long before a couple of smart kids in a garage somewhere
put together something that finally disrupts MS.... who knows maybe
those guys are named Larry and Sergey, but they alreay moved out of the garage..
At the top of the PDF article, Wired made sure to note that they redacted email addresses... might they also have thought to withhold Fred's contact phone numbers from the article, or are they already public knowlege?
You can picture me wearing a tinfoil hat if you want, but I've never seen this many people claim to know so much about PR on Slashdot. Moreover, they all seem to think that this particular firm is "excellent" in spite of this information having been leaked, which might be seen as embarrassing, though not damaging.
:-)
You guys don't happen to work for the PR firm or Microsoft, do you? I mean, I just have to wonder here
There are people that do what you are describing at MS, its just not PR, its developer content and user assistance teams. PR doesn't really work with the products in the sense that they would have that capability. Don't assume that what PR does is the sum of how a developer product is sold to developers. Marketing isn't even the biggest resource for that. The method for promoting development products varies for every single product team. Every division has their own user assistance groups and developer content groups that consist of programmer writers, editors and technical writers. Those people sell products to developers in the manner that you are requesting. They conducts labs, make videos, do training, booths, make developer centers and are often the people who handle API documentation since they have both development and communication skills. Sometimes evangelists augment that process. And FYI evengelists are not part of PR. PR has its own job to do. Most MS oriented developers wouldn't go to PR for such a resource. MS does have significant resources selling development platforms in the manner you requested they just don't think PR is the most qualified resource for that aspect of a development products promotion.
It'd be silly if the PR people would ignore Slashdot. They don't. [We are just like you, dear reader ... and we care about you ... sleep.]
Oh, that and Slashdot has a larger readership than Wired. Quit bullshitting.
Your PR goal, as is evident to your Wired target, is to make others carry your message. You dedicated 5,000 pages to that little spin how to. Your company's efforts here are just what they were for BBS's where you slammed and FUDed OS/2 and DRDoS. Your company also considers developers as pawns to be lied to, and slashdot gives you both - how convenient. The same tricks and bullshit are in play here today, but on a much larger scale.
It's not working. We know you for what you are and your "products" are things we'd rather avoid. The bottom line is that a billion dollars a month can't replace actual product. Zune, Vista and Office are second or third rate. Try as you might, the industry is liberating itself and the end of your monopoly is near.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
N8F8 slams the victim and misses the point:
saying "It also was strange to see just how many resources are aligned against me" is a complete giveaway of how highly this guy thinks of himself and how purposefully biased he is that he thinks MS's concern and attempt to show him things that might sway his opinion in the other direction is somehow being "against him".
His job as a journalist is to report reality. The forces arrayed against him finding reality included the 5,000 page paper and a series of interviews across the country. They wanted to guide him down the M$ path. It must be sobering to him to think what those agents could do to him if he has deviated from that path.
Consider the case of Peter Quinn. They smeared him, forced him to resign and are now trying to dismantle his former organization. This is no small effort, it's a billion dollar a month job.
All of this just to maintain a monopoly on an OS and a text editor. Strange? Yes but very real and threatening.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
twitter, you forgot to complain to this heathen about Bill Gate's personal crusade against you!
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
A blatant Astroturfer pretends he masturbates over Forbe's glossy pages:
but it reads to me as a good professional briefing by an efficient PR outfit. ... I totally agree. My first thought, before even finishing reading the memo, was, dang, how do I get these people to work for me?
Oh, sure everyone wants a world wide spy and spin organization preparing 5,000 word papers your other minions must read. There is nothing like having more power and paperwork than the UN and half the world's companies. It only costs a billion dollars a month to own that many slaves.
Come one, did you even read all of that crap? Would you really want to apply Peter Quinn type hit tactics to people?
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
FTA: We're also trying to get him to talk to Charlene Li at Forrester who just published a positive report for us on the ROI of blogging.
As if anyone at this point had any doubt that these 'research companies' are paid shills.
Office is second rate? And OpenOffice, by emulating it, is a first-rate product emulating a second rate product?
The number of hysterical anti-Microsoft geeks is slowly decreasing, but it's nice to see that they haven't quite gone extinct yet.
And as full disclosure, I used to work for Microsoft a few years ago. You probably think I'm part of some evil borg hive-mind now, but your characterization of Microsoft as one voice, despite it having tens of thousands of employees, is as hysterical as your characterization of their products.
Office is second rate? And OpenOffice, by emulating it, is a first-rate product emulating a second rate product?
No, Office is a second rate imitation of Word Perfect, Latex, Emacs, Lotus, QuatroPro, FileMaker and a host of other better programs that M$ put out of business. Open Office, Kword, Gnumeric, Abiword and other free programs are better reimplementations of age old ideas if for no other reason than saving the user from the M$ data roach motel.
You probably think I'm part of some evil borg hive-mind now, but your characterization of Microsoft as one voice, ...
Yes, because you are touting the M$ party line and saying things about me as if you know me, I can conclude you are a M$ Astroturfer. That does not mean you represent any of the people who work for M$, it just means you are paid to read a script here and annoy people. You may have been given a file about who Twitter is, which would tie in to this story very well. I fully expect M$ to be keeping a PR database that rivals those owned by Casinos. It's pretty clear they are not putting their effort into anything other than marketing.
The number of hysterical anti-Microsoft geeks is slowly decreasing ...
There never was such a thing. Free software users are serene. It's your customers that have problems and act cranky. At the same time, you don't need to worry about people like me. I'm still outraged at the way your abuse your customers and other vendors in ways that make my life difficult.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Jesus christ...
Free software users are serene.
Most of them are, yes. You on the other hand are a hysterical, pompous, arrogant insulting FUDster. 6,000+ posts and counting don't lie. I have the links, if anyone wants them.
You obviously can't be bothered to read my history.
Does your mommy know you're using teh computar this late at night?
There never was such a thing. Free software users are serene.
This is the funniest thing I've ever read.
Didn't you once say Microsoft killed the fax machine? Jesus christ.
By summer it was all gone...now shesmovedon. --
"It'd be silly if the PR people would ignore Slashdot. They don't. Lots of folks at Microsoft read Slashdot. I frequently see Slashdot on people's notebooks when they are 5 minutes early for a meeting. We're geeks, too. Especially us in the product teams. If /. thinks we suck we want to know why so that we can keep fixing the parts that suck. We're doing a lot better here than we did 5 years ago." - by netczar (584195) on Wednesday March 28, @12:02PM (#18516435)
/. opinion these days, even though lots of the contributions start with "I hate Microsoft like the next guy, but ...". That's perfectly cool." - by netczar (584195) on Wednesday March 28, @12:02PM (#18516435)
You are doing a LOT better! Examples via experimentation & testing I have seen in VISTA being better, & especially on the security front?
Well, not too far back (maybe 1-2 months now) on the TechPowerUp.com forums, I & many others ran VISTA vs. XP, & w/ myself using against a 'security hardened build' of Windows Server 2003 SP #1 fully hotfix patched (I use SP #2 now though) using tools to test our security (along with the developer from Belarc Advisor since we saw some differences between the results that program came up with, vs. CIS Tool 1.0 (security benchmark by the Center for Internet Security)).
(Users of Windows XP, Server 2003 were participants, and screenshots were a requirement of our scores)
Systems were 'security hardened' via policies (SCW for myself on Win2k3 SP #1 fully hotfix patched, first, & then gpedit.msc, secpol.msc, & Security Configuration Analysis + A template I built up) AND also finally, a lot of registry hacks etc. + services cut offs & logon entity tunings for them (much more that the testing programs do not account for, such as hardware routers & custom adbanner blocking hosts files, hardened browsers configs (no java/javascript/activeX/activescripting turned on), etc., but, basically the usual).
RESULTS?
Vista lost to the hardened build I did on Windows Server 2003, BUT, not by THAT MUCH, and it beat XP setups, soundly, without being tweaked for security!
E.G.-> I scored off a 84.735 on CIS (center for internet security) Tool 1.0's security benchmark test, & VISTA batted off well into the 70's iirc, which is NOT THAT BAD for a default config imo, & in fact also imo, very very good for a stock-outta-the-box setup!
Still, VISTA losing on this account? This I can understand: You guys HAVE to sort of go "generic" on a shipping model of an OS so it 'meshes' w/ everything out there & especially in networked environs, let alone home users' usage.
I'd wager VISTA security would blow away even Windows Server 2003's default security setup, when not 'security hardened'... no question in my mind about it in fact. This proves you guys @ MS did do a great job.
I will tell you 1 thing though that I did see & am not just speculating on:
VISTA knocked the chocolate out of XP in its default config on BOTH CIS Tool 1.0 (center for internet security) & also Belarc Advisor... bigtime. This alone tells me you guys ARE 'hard at work' & doing a great job!
This IS why Microsoft IS #1... regardless of the Pro-Linux/UNIX penguins here (& they have their points @ times as well, & I don't dislike Linux &/or MacOS X & in fact, like them myself), and the MacOS X folk, besides having a larger body of apps around your OS. It amazes me it all works as well as it does, & with so much peripheral softwares + hardwares in fact.
"Heck, there are even threads where the firm clearly comes out on top in the
I have noted your STIFFEST critics online, imo & experience @ least, ARE the crowd here @ slashdot. You are doing the right thing about it though, in that as you stated, you use them constructively.
Sure, you have to separate the wheat from the chaff, not everyone is at say, John Carmack (member here) level, or your own Anders H
I agree with that. I see a lot more sinister motive in posting as an Anonymous Coward than in a PR firm building a comprehensive profile :-)
What I thought about most as I read the leaked document is the effort that goes into building and tracking this information. Microsoft must spend a hugh amount of money on these types of documents - and is in the fortunately position of being able to pay for this kind of service. It's a J Edger Hoover type operation going on there, and perhaps this was leaked to let all those tech reporters know they are watching the watchers:
"Fred, per his MO, is relatively tight-lipped about other interviewees
though we know he's talking to Winer, Scoble and he'll be talking to Tim O'Reilly."
They have a lot of people chasing things down and maintaining a communication network of informers.
An upstream comment on this firm being Ballmer's wife is insightful as well. There's a lot of inbred thinking going on in Redmond and a lot of the smarmy attitude of their employees might be explained by this.
Sleep is for the Weak
Oh, yeah.
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo