07.30.09
Masters of FUD: Apple, IBM, and Microsoft
‘We recommend that we *informally* plant the bug of FUD in their ears. “Have you heard about problems with DR DOS?”‘
–Microsoft (internal correspondence)
• Is Apple Suggesting That The DMCA Prevents Terrorism? [Note: jailbroken iPhones might also molest the children, so new legislation and enforcement are needed immediately]
However, Apple’s response to the Library of Congress, suggesting that open or jailbroken iPhones could be used by terrorists to bring down cell towers is both preposterous and totally unrelated to the issue at hand. First it’s preposterous, as there are plenty of “open” devices out there already, and there has yet to be a single report of anyone taking down a cell tower with their mobile phone.
• IBM flings FUD at Neon zPrimers [Note: IBM is the originator of "FUD" as we know it today and it still uses software patents FUD to advance itself in the GNU/Linux market at the expense of others]
£50 cash back & £50 off selected Toshiba laptops
As El Reg anticipated when the zPrime mainframe acceleration software tool was announced by Neon Enterprise Software, the tool has not only gotten the attention of IBM, but has compelled Big Blue to warn its customers about using it.
• Struggling With the Vistaster Disaster [Note: this is not an example of FUD as much as it is another case of forced Windows purchases where myths about "ease of use" in Windows are debunked]
Since ASUS refused to refund the cost of Windows on the N10J that I recently purchased (not surprising), I figured that I am stuck with it, I might as well at least see how both Vistaster and XP Professional work on it. I’m now into my second day of fighting with this monstrosity, and I still don’t understand anything about it. Seriously.
Before I go on, let me say that this is UNIQUELY a Windows disaster. I can install any one of a variety of Linux distributions on the N10J at any time that I want, and be done in well under an hour. I’ve probably spent in excess of 12 hours over the last two days trying to get EITHER Vistaster OR XP Professional to reinstall, with extremely limited success.
Yuhong Bao said,
July 30, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Well, maybe this is FUD, but I don’t think Apple really is a master of FUD.
“[Note: IBM is the originator of "FUD" as we know it today"
Yep, an old quote is "no one gets fired for buying IBM". In fact, I think it was a big factor in why the IBM PC was successful despite the technical mistakes. I still wonder what would happen if IBM was able to license DR's CP/M-86 for the IBM PC instead of having to turn to MS for an OS. The later crimes (which included similar FUD) used by MS to defend their monopoly made that question all that more important.
"and it still uses software patents FUD to advance itself in the GNU/Linux market at the expense of others]”
Really? As I said before I don’t think IBM tries to get other companies to pay IBM to sign deals for their own patents for Linux like MS did with the MS/Novell deal (which, yes, IBM supported), nor does IBM have it’s own Linux distro, or are you referring to something else?
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
July 31st, 2009 at 1:59 am
IBM markets its own Linux-based solutions (e.g. mainframes) using indemnification. As in, “come to us, we have loads of software patents and we’ll keep you safe.” IBM prefers it when people don’t notice that.
Yuhong Bao said,
July 30, 2009 at 9:36 pm
BTW, on Apple, you should look at the recent suicide in China caused by Apple’s secrecy:
http://www.internetnews.com/breakingnews/article.php/3831151
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=15810
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=15766
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
July 31st, 2009 at 1:55 am
They compensate the family with $40,000, IIRC.
JohnD said,
July 31, 2009 at 7:36 am
The IBM piece is hardly a true FUD campaign. They never said zPrime violated any IP. They simply notified their customers that by using zPrime software to run certain jobs they may incur charges based upon their LIC agreement. Now if they turned around and stated that they WOULD start charging anyone using zPrime then you’d be on to something.
Since IBM already provided the ability to offload work, chances are zPrime is just an extension of that functionality. My bet is that IBM will change their licensing to allow more job types to be off loaded and make zPrime irrelevant.
That’s not FUD – it’s business.
I would also request evidence that IBM has used it’s patent portfolio against Linux.
What do you think RedHat would do if someone cloned JBoss?