Bonum Certa Men Certa

FSF Campaign Upsets Exactly Those Whom It Ought to Have Upset

Summary: “Windows 7 Sins” campaign is well received by most who have already embraced the message, disliked by staunch supporters of Microsoft and/or greed

BASED on the widespread exposure that the “Windows 7 Sins” campaign has received, we consider it to be a great success, better than "Bad Vista" even. It addresses more than just the operating system while earning the chance to pass on an important message to a lot of individuals outside the choir, so to speak.



The preparations for this campaign paid off and SJVN -- despite thinking that the message was a little too negative -- welcomed the effort.

The FSF (Free Software Foundation) has never liked proprietary software, but for most of its history, it's focused on singing the praises of free software, and, with some distaste, its near-twin, open-source software. Not anymore. These days, the FSF is spending its time attacking proprietary software, like it did today, August 26th, when it went after Windows 7 in its new Windows 7 Sins: The case against Microsoft and proprietary software.


In our IRC channel, some people expressed satisfaction with the campaign, whereas others thought more humour would have helped soften the message. There are many comments in The Register on an article posted by Microsoft proponent Gavin Clarke. He has spent a lot of time this week promoting Vista 7 by mention, so maybe it's a balancing act.

“The de facto Microsoft PR people who disguise themselves as journalists did not want to appear as though they were attacking the FSF, but they took other subtle approaches to making a veiled attack.”An attack on the FSF came from Business Week, to whom the FSF seems 'scary' for obvious reasons. There are also the "perception management" folks [1, 2] in Slashdot -- whose who, as usual, took the time to mock Richard Stallman through spin and cherry-picking (typical techniques for disrepute). The de facto Microsoft PR people who disguise themselves as journalists did not want to appear as though they were attacking the FSF, but they took other subtle approaches to making a veiled attack.

It was also unsurprising to see Mac enthusiasts mocking the FSF, which has never been kind towards Apple, either. Some of this is being addressed at The Source:

Now, as I said it is no surprise that the FSF is engaging in this important effort, but what was a bit surprising was some of the reactions to it.

For example, consider Mr. Matt Asay’s column, where he ignores the entire message of the site and chooses instead to try to paint the FSF as hypocritices for using a CC-No Derivatives license, and then has the laughable audacity to call for more code from the FSF – as if the FSF doesn’t already have a project or two out there - code which he hints is not derivable, a truly foolish red herring to wave about.

Mr. Asay has written many critical pieces about the FSF, the GPL, and related matters recently – it’s a shame that he continues to pretend to be a proponent of Open Source, when it is quite clear he is actually some sort of pro-commerical open-core “fauxpen source” evangelist.

This is the same sort of dishonest dismissal we see from non-Open Source supporters like Business Week, right down to using the same language (both articles deem the effort “silly”). In fact, Mr. Asay endorses the juvenille ranting of the Download Squad’s article in his own writing – a truly vacuous rock to build upon, I should think.


We hereby repeat the claim that the campaign has been successful. It upset only those whom the FSF ought to have expected to upset. The message did not fall on deaf ears. Vista 7 is failing.

Novell newspaper

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
 
People Don't Just Kill Themselves (Same for Other Animals)
And recent reports about Boeing whistleblower John Barnett
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day