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The Continuing War Against Microsoft's "Facts" Campaign
davidmwilliams writes "I've been rallying against Microsoft's so-called 'Get the Facts' site for the last fortnight in my blog. Rather than give any legitimate comparison facing off Windows Server vs similarly spec'd Linux options, the Microsoft spin doctors opt for bunkum and hogwash with sensational headlines that don't have any substance underneath. Here's the state of play, including an update on my request to Microsoft PR to do something about the blatant lack of integrity displayed. I also go over the latest case study put up by Microsoft: they promise to show why people are choosing Windows Server 2008 over Linux using the City of Uppsala as an example."
Doesn't anybody read H. L. Mencken anymore?
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
i just spotted a "Get the facts" google adsense text block at the top of the page, rofl!
That and blog pimping on /. just screams "loser".
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
You mean to say that a sales and marketing website is manipulating the facts in order to show their product in a better light than competing products?
I am honestly shocked! I commend you on your campaign and congratulate you on your inevitable victory. Microsoft can do nothing but shamefacedly admit their blatant bias here and comply with your demands.
No, but I hear third time's a charm.
Since the improved GPU-detection of 'Product X' you won't have to fiddle with xorg.conf anymore. This leaves me with no 'feel' of satisfaction when it works.
If you mod this up, your slashdot background will turn into a beautiful sunset!
It's really just that FUD. Go to http://www.microsoft.com/ On the upper right is a search field, search for "FUD" - the first or second hit should help you out ;)
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Wasn't Uppsala the city with university forcing professors to leave using strange methods because did not have the same opinion as the leaders of the university?
>> Two wrongs don't make a right... or do they?
No, but three lefts do.
Tie two birds together: although they have four wings, they cannot fly. (The blind man)
I say pish-posh to that!
/Mike
-- "So, what's the deal with Auntie Gerschwitz et all?"
See, you highlight the quote, and paste it in google, and get your own citation.
Product A sucks too. He just doesn't have enough of a customer base for anyone to notice.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Right, I'm hijacking this troll to get eyeballs. Let's all post anecdotes about our funny/stupid bosses.
So we have this website, and a few Sundays ago the database that drives it fell over. It was around 1.30am. Around 11.30pm just before going to bed I decided to check my work email, just in case there was anything I needed to know for Monday. Turns out I needed to know our website was down all day. Of course, I have Nagios monitoring this, but since it was a weekend I didn't check my work email and never knew.
We happened to have a meeting the next day, so I mentioned that the site had been down for nearly 24 hours. Naturally nobody knew, because it was on a Sunday. So I said I wanted to get a GSM modem so I could receive SMS notification if important things went South, and after assuring the boss it'd only be a few hundred dollars he said okay.
Later a colleague (who was going to actually get quotes and buy it) told me he'd been asked to defer it. We had security auditors coming in soon, and the boss wanted to get their okay, because he thought it was a security risk. Bit strange I thought, but fair enough; we're hooking a wireless modem up to a server on our internal network, I can see how that can be perceived as a risk. Easy enough to explain how it wouldn't be possible to access the server using it.
But no, that wasn't the risk. The risk was we were using Nagios. It's open source!, he says. Doesn't that mean it's less secure?
Wow. Just wow. I'm disappointed I heard this 2nd hand, otherwise I would've been in there with a "1998 called; they want their FUD back". He might not have understood, but it would've amused me a great deal. And that's what matters, after all.
So it just goes to show there are still people buying the Microsoft-styled spin hook, line and sinker. I sure hope he doesn't discover the Brocade SAN switch we use runs Linux. Or our ESX servers. He might have a heart attack or something. Maybe it's okay if there's some proprietary code on it, though?
Bonus anecdote: my colleague also wanted to get pricing on sides for the racks in our server room, in order to improve airflow (they're completely open at the moment). The same boss said we don't need them, because hot air won't be coming out the back of the servers. It appears our boss feels that if cold air goes in the front, then cold air ought to come out the back. Sadly my colleague was too awed by this to press further, so we'll probably never know the full thought process behind this.
Microsoft is like McDonalds, It sounded like a good idea at the time, but now you've got explosive diarrhea and can't find the bathroom.
On second thought, Microsoft is more like Hot Pockets. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFFTwnYXI20