"The FSF today launched a campaign with a twofold mission of exposing the harms inflicted on computer users by the new Microsoft Windows Vista and promoting free software alternatives that respect users' security and privacy rights. "Vista is an upsell masquerading as an upgrade. It is an overall regression when you look at the most important aspect of owning and using a computer: your control over what it does. Obviously MS Windows is already proprietary and very restrictive, and well worth rejecting. But the new 'features' in Vista are a Trojan Horse to smuggle in even more restrictions. We'll be focusing attention on detailing how they work, how to resist them, and why people should care", said FSF program administrator John Sullivan."
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Member since:2006-04-21
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2005-07-02
Oh, of course. If you're against the FSF's manipulative practices and fearmongering, you're clearly a Microsoft astroturfer.
That's not what I said, eMagius. Please stay honest and don't distort my words.
The fact is that when someone *never* criticizes Microsoft, *always* jumps to Microsoft's defense, *always* claims that the MS version of any program is the best there is, *always* claims that competitors to Microsoft are irrelevant, or inferior, or even immoral...well, one is right to suspect that this person is a prime candidate for astroturfing.
Then, when you openly state that you suspect that this person is astroturfing, that you confront that person and they don't even try to deny that they are astroturfing, then this tends to reinforce the notion that they are.
I mean, it is entirely possible that this particular someone (which I will not name here) is not an astroturfer and merely a overeager cheerleader...however, I have a hard time believing that someone could be that dedicated, that philosophically and emotionally attached to a company through pure fanboyism. It boggles my mind to consider this - even die-hard Apple fans are not as utterly, completely committed to MS as this prime candidate for astroturfing is.
BTW, comparing FOSS advocates to Republican is quite a cheap shot, considering how good a friend the Republicans have been to Microsoft under Dubya's reign...
And if you believe that MS doesn't hire astroturfers to pollute web sites with their propaganda, well, I'm sorry to say that I consider this to be incredibly naive. It wouldn't make *any* sense for MS to pass over such cost-effective "guerilla marketing" tactics. They have the means, the motivation, and the past history of underhanded shenanigans to do this, I would be very surprised if they didnt.
Member since:
2005-07-02
And here is broken-record NotParker again, with his slew of statistics he copy/pastes in just about every thread he's in.
No matter that the statistics mean very different things that he says they do.
For instance, they are about revenue share, not market share, because the market share numbers are bigger (about 28%) and therefore would not play well to his agenda of making Linux look irrelevant.
He is also mum on the fact that one reason MS has a much higher revenue share compared to its market share is that its offerings are overpriced. Being a MS astroturfer (a charge he's never denied), he couldn't possibly say that, or anything else that would paint MS in a bad light (even tomcat has agreed that Microsoft has been incompetent in the past).
Also, he often refers to the growth "tending towards zero" when anyone looking at the stats can easily tell that the growth is moderating at around 5%, which is more than for Windows servers.
Of course, this is all off-topic, but that has never bothered him. Just like regularly insulting people who dare to disagree with him.
So, to all the pro-MS posters who talk about the FSF's fanaticism, let me tell you: whatever their positions, these guys have nothing on the fanaticism displayed by MS astroturfers and/or fanboys on this site.