Is Linux For Losers? (Forbes) [LWN.net]

Is Linux For Losers? (Forbes)

Posted Jun 19, 2005 3:29 UTC (Sun) by Misterfixit (guest, #15748)
Parent article: Is Linux For Losers? (Forbes)

I hope we all remember that insidious flame wars over "whose code is better" are sometimes started subrosa by the Microsoft Corp's "X Office". "X Office" is the same group whose infamous flames put the quietus on many of the OS2/Warp help threads back in the "good old days". Those of you who remember "Team Warp" will remember that their virulent comments were designed to run off anyone who was an innocent, a naif, and return them to the every present Windows for Workgroups 3.11. CompuServe's archives are full to the brim of examples.

MS has long employed a group of covert on-line operatives who have a mastery of Maskirova, "damning by faint praise", innuendo, and rumor-mongering. It's all part of the MS Business Plan to rusticate potentially competing operating systems. The BeOS debacle and corporate sell-out has roots reaching far back into Microsoft's historical twisting of executives, employees, and clandestine control of other company's boards of directors and stock prices. The final iteration of BeOS got Redmond folks real nervous.

Remember folks that this is war ... corporate war ... where sometimes you drop atomic bombs and other times you sneak up behind the sentries and slit their throats. Tactics such as "carpet bombing", "poison the well", sow distrust and emphasise individual's contention with each other.

Read "The Prince" and you will understand Bill's ideation.

Move along now, citizens, there is nothing to see here.

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Is Linux For Losers? (Forbes)

Posted Jun 19, 2005 9:56 UTC (Sun) by chbarts (guest, #28896) [Link]

Maybe I'm being utterly dense, but are you really suggesting that Theo's knocking Linux on Microsoft's behalf? Or are you accusing Theo of using Microsoft-esque tactics in an attempt to steal Linux's marketshare for OpenBSD?

The first one is laughable. First, Theo knows (presumably) that if it ever got out (and it would) that his public statements could be bought, especially by someone like Microsoft, he'd never regain a shred of credibility. Ever. Plus, why would MS bother bribing someone who's only known at all in the Open Source and Free Software worlds? Practically no CEOs/CIOs have ever heard of OpenBSD, let alone its cantankerous creator.

The second is kind of sad. To pull off Microsoft's tactics you need Microsoft's level of marketshare and mindshare. FUD only works if you have an established customer base and want to frighten them into staying with you. Trying to strike fear into the hearts of people who've never heard of you is impossible unless you have an obvious big stick, which Theo does not.