The History: I belong to the Cape Linux User Group in Cape Town, South Africa. For a while there has been a member on the list that has been posting from a domain (winisp.net) whose technical contact address is listed as "1 MICROSOFT WAY, REDMOND, WA 98052-8300, US". There
was some (heated) debate about why someone halfway around the world would be subscribed to a South African Linux Users group even if, as he claimed, he is a South African expat and Linux enthusiast. The debate eventually became off topic and died down.
3-5 Nov: A number of the more active members on the CLUG mailing list (the ones that are generally the most helpful, with good responses) received the message copied below off-list. (I obscured the address it was sent to, but otherwise it is as received by one of the
members of the list).
Now:
On the one hand he claims to be doing research on his own, but on the other, the message was sent from an MS address (which the routing information in the header seem to confirm) and there is a very official sounding MS disclaimer near the bottom.
The obvious questions are:
Is this an isolated rogue MS employee with an interest in Linux and a naive, but genuine belief that Linux enthusiasts would like to help him
look good with his bosses and improve Windows.
Or
Is there an official MS policy to monitor and solicit information from LUGs in obscure parts of the world?
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Hi,
I noticed some of your great postings. Would you mind sharing some of your
insights with me about why Linux can be a good solution for home users?
I am a Microsoft employee doing some research on my own, so I can make
recommendations to our managers about how we can really make Windows much
better for the home. Believe it or not, I think there are a lot of great
things about Linux, and would love to learn more so I can make useful
suggestions on improving my company?s products.
If you could spare a few minutes, I would love to send a few questions,
asking some of your opinions.
By offering suggestions through this survey, you give Microsoft full
permission to use them freely. We can't guarantee we will use your
suggestions, but we will review them for use in future products. If
appropriate, we may explore your feedback further. We will not provide
compensation for your suggestions submitted through this online survey,
though we appreciate your feedback and look forward to building better
products with helpful feedback such as yours.
Thank you
xxxxxxx xxx
Slashdot Mirror
I belong to the Cape Linux User Group in Cape Town, South Africa. For a while there has been a member on the list that has been posting from a domain (winisp.net) whose technical contact address is listed as "1 MICROSOFT WAY, REDMOND, WA 98052-8300, US". There was some (heated) debate about why someone halfway around the world would be subscribed to a South African Linux Users group even if, as he claimed, he is a South African expat and Linux enthusiast. The debate eventually became off topic and died down.
3-5 Nov:
A number of the more active members on the CLUG mailing list (the ones that are generally the most helpful, with good responses) received the message copied below off-list. (I obscured the address it was sent to, but otherwise it is as received by one of the members of the list).
Now: On the one hand he claims to be doing research on his own, but on the other, the message was sent from an MS address (which the routing information in the header seem to confirm) and there is a very official sounding MS disclaimer near the bottom.
The obvious questions are: Is this an isolated rogue MS employee with an interest in Linux and a naive, but genuine belief that Linux enthusiasts would like to help him look good with his bosses and improve Windows.
Or
Is there an official MS policy to monitor and solicit information from LUGs in obscure parts of the world?--------Original Message --------
X-UIDL: 3f489db654abe1d66c451f3663553efa X-Mozilla-Status: 0001 X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 Return-path: Envelope-to: XXX@XXX.co.za Delivery-date: Tue, 04 Nov 2003 16:05:08 -0500 Received: from [131.107.3.116] (helo=SCF-IMC-01.redmond.corp.microsoft.com) by server2.ns4ua.com with esmtp (Exim 4.24) id 1AH8MG-0000v8-Lw for XXX@XXX.co.za; Tue, 04 Nov 2003 16:05:00 -0500 Received: from wintermute ([157.59.142.179]) by SCF-IMC-01.redmond.corp.microsoft.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.1069); Tue, 4 Nov 2003 13:05:04 -0800 Message-ID: Reply-To: Linux Networking Questionnaire From: Linux Networking Questionnaire To: Linux Networking Questionnaire Subject: Linux Questionnaire Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2003 13:05:07 -0800 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1158 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 04 Nov 2003 21:05:04.0892 (UTC) FILETIME=[51D3DBC0:01C3A317] Hi, I noticed some of your great postings. Would you mind sharing some of your insights with me about why Linux can be a good solution for home users? I am a Microsoft employee doing some research on my own, so I can make recommendations to our managers about how we can really make Windows much better for the home. Believe it or not, I think there are a lot of great things about Linux, and would love to learn more so I can make useful suggestions on improving my company?s products. If you could spare a few minutes, I would love to send a few questions, asking some of your opinions. By offering suggestions through this survey, you give Microsoft full permission to use them freely. We can't guarantee we will use your suggestions, but we will review them for use in future products. If appropriate, we may explore your feedback further. We will not provide compensation for your suggestions submitted through this online survey, though we appreciate your feedback and look forward to building better products with helpful feedback such as yours. Thank you xxxxxxx xxx