Slate Takes on Linux

alkali writes "The weekend edition of the Microsoft-owned, Michael-Kinsley-edited Slate has two articles on Linux, one written by Slate's chief program manager (i.e., a techie) and the other written by a staff writer without any particular technical expertise. No surprises, but the Redmond connection will probably interest at least the conspiracy-minded. "

Comments

I would like to see her install Win98..

[John Fulmer]

I've spent a horrific 3 days instaling Win98 on my system. Install Win98, install patches, install new stuff, fire up directx, BANG! fall down dead. Format drive, start over. (It's a hardware/driver problem, but Linux and X run JUST fine!)

The big problem is that people don't install operating systems very often. OS installation can be one of the most painful experiences in computerdom. (With the exception of MacOS 7.x, 8.x, is is actually pretty easy)

Also, I hope that RedHat replaces FVWM95 with something else for 6.0. "Start button"? Sheesh.

An unfair comparison

[Anonymous Coward]

For a fair comparison, the two authors should have purchased their machines from VAResearch. I'm sure both normally use PCs with windows *preinstalled* at the factory. So of course the effort to get a Linux PC would be much more than they had to invest in Windows.
Granted I'm not a novice computer user, but I've installed Linux on two different desktop systems (one with no OS, one with Windows 98 preinstalled) and on a laptop with Win 95 previously installed. You'd think I would have run into at least one of the problems they mentioned. Nope. All went smooth as silk (Redhat 5.2, no plug intended).
In my office I have a Win 98 based Dell and a clone box running Linux. Win 98 crashes, on average, about every other day. Really. Yesterday it crashed 3 times. The Linux box has *never* crashed. I've thrown Staroffice at it. I've thrown Oracle at it. I run KDE, Netscape, etc. Never crashes. The only time it went down unexpectedly was when someone cut the PG&E main power cable feeding our neighborhood. Even Linux has its limits I guess... :-)

fine example of classic propaganda techniques

[Roundeye]

The lady's install article was almost fair, and
an echo of things heard in the highly flamed
Katz install dilemma (I think she faired much
more admirably than Katz actually).

The "techie" article was, IMHO, one of the more
disturbing pieces of propaganda that I have seen
as of late. It reminds me of "Purple Heart" -
a WWII-era propaganda movie (one of *ours* folks)
aimed at the Japanese culture and war machine.

By the second paragraph he is already setting out
to portray Linux as confusing, different, and
something that Windows people don't have any
contact with. It appears to me that he is
targeting the average Windows user who has no
contact with Linux (to their knowledge) and
who wants their questions settled in an article
from someplace safe. He makes Linux immediately
seem confusing and alien. Good strategy. Many
of his finer facts are wrong, but within the
realm of plausible deniability. He sets out
immediately the "good guy/bad guy" duality
(Linux is made by one guy instead of a faceless
monolith, but really it's made by a bunch of
faceless organizations who can't decide on
names. Shreds of truth on both counts, but
the second one is where he puts his emphasis)
he uses throughout the rest of the article
to establish "objectivity" while he trashes the
system.

He continues on to draw upon the party line to
subtly attack the FSF's motives. Far be it from
me to side with a Microsoft instrument, but I
have to agree that I don't expect to see sellable
software vanish from the world in my lifetime,
but I don't think that's the point. I'll let
the debaters rage on that one -- I just enjoy
having a choice, being able to use good software
that I can muck around in with the code.

His description of Linux as merely a kernel to
which one could add a windowing system, etc. Is
the first point where I began to get disturbed
and decided to post a response. The author
slips from debatable propaganda/FUD and slight
confusion of facts into a not-so-subtle attack
on the (debatable) weaknesses of Linux with the
implication of "...and so the thing's useless. Go
now back to your homes and play with your Windows
boxes and enjoy your hair." You are free to go
now. The verdict is in.

Linux *is* short of application software when
compared to the Windows software base. To split
hairs one can install Linux without X, but if a
GUI is important to you then you would install
it. The implication that significant extra work
or (as with NT for example) extra purchases must
be performed to install the OS with what should
be considered "standard" features is another
example of fine propaganda techniques. The
implication that the web (similarly Internet) is
the domain of the average Microsoft user, and
therefore must have come from Microsoft, is one
that must resonate well with their user base.
So when the author says "I even installed a web
browser." He is masterfully drawing upon this
unspoken belief -- as one of them.

The basic premises of the article are what I would
call the "Party Line" of the MStocracy:

- free software can't win
- the Linux community is too disorganized to
stay around
- they started from 1 guy, but they have the
same corporate disadvantages as the rest of
the industry
- to get their free software you have to pay
- you don't get any functionality with Linux
- Linux is struggling to emulate Windows
- Linux is nearly impossible to install and won't
recognize your hardware
- the stability of the system isn't important
- Linux doesn't really perform any better/faster
- you can't run your old DOS/Win3.1 programs on
Linux

Any of these points can be the basis for a healthy
flame war or otherwise religious debate.

The propaganda techniques the author uses include:

- identifies himself as a member of the reader
community (here day-to-day MS users with little
known contact with Linux). This is
particularly ironic since his initial
credibility takes him, by definition, out of
that group.
- establish apparent objectivity by supporting
facets of the system which do not conflict with
the "party line" tenets
- establish that Linux is associated with a group
very different from the reader community
- make that different group seem overly complex,
strange, non-conformist. The important
psychological tactic here is that the
demographic of the reader group (due to the
way the article is targeted) is exceedingly
conformist, and will react adversely towards
a non-conformist representation.
- focus upon the valued facets of the reader's
current beliefs (Word documents are important,
printing is important...) and analyze the
competitor rigidly within this framework.
- make the reader group appear to be the
important group, the misunderstood group;
further highlighting the difference between
"us" and "them"
- resting upon the implied conclusions, show that
the enemy must necessarily fall since our way
must be superior to theirs
- allow the reader to believe that since "we"
drew these conclusions then the reader shares
some of the credit
- finally establish a feeling of membership in
the knowledgeable group by letting the reader
know that there are others (fools) around who
will still pursue the Linux phenomenon, but
"we" know better

A fairly broad array of effective psychological
tools. Well done, Herr Shuman.

roundeye