09.27.09
If Microsoft is Right About Vista 7 Being So Great, Then Why Are the ‘Yes Men’ Usually Paid?
Summary: Microsoft pays people for house parties that create an illusion of anticipation; Silverlight adoption by Intel/Moblin a sign of Microsoft grasping at straws to gain at Adobe’s expense
THE great hype behind Vista 7 is not only being extinguished by actual reviews from KDE4 users but it is also being acquired, as we showed early in the week. Microsoft offers little bribes/incentives to those who help intensify the hype and one of our readers puts it like this: (there is also a satire from another reader of ours)
In my opinion the desperation of Microsoft in wanting you to use its products is displayed perfectly in the Windows 7 Party campaign (below video) where it takes a Tupperware/Ann Summers type approach to try and get YOU to promote its software with the enticement of chances to win prizes etc (IMO). As I’ve said before, it appears to me that Microsoft gets its advocacy by enticements. A little different to someone who recommends Linux eh?
The above also mentions ITV dumping Silver Lie. It is one among many departures from Silver Lie (“cross-platform” is a lie), which Microsoft is now trying to advance with Intel’s help [1, 2], not just Novell’s.
So another trend of hype has constantly surrounded Microsoft’s Silver Lie (phrases like “Flash killer” thrown out and about), which as Sean Michael Kerner puts it, is hardly required by anyone.
Does anyone really need Silverlight on Linux?
For better or for worse, the vast majority of video content online today is delivered via Adobe’s Flash media. Silverlight is still the underdog in that fight and is likely to remain so for the immediate future.
As one person has just put it, “mono proponents should focus on explaining why we should trust Microsoft and stop complaining about @rms”
We wrote about this yesterday. █
Charles Oliver said,
September 27, 2009 at 5:58 am
Considering the recent palaver around the view of the gentle sex in free software, I’m outraged that the speech bubbles in the picture accompanying this story have two girls spouting off-topic inanities in unison, as if they are incapable of independent thought, whereas the two men appear to be on-topic and thoughtful.
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
September 27th, 2009 at 6:20 am
It’s a coincidence. It was not intended. They just happen to stand close to the balloons. The big bubble only fits the LHS (I didn’t want bubbles below the faces).
saulgoode said,
September 27, 2009 at 7:26 am
You obviously didn’t caption the Polish version.
Will said,
September 27, 2009 at 10:33 am
My favorite line from the video was at around 5:10, where one of the party planners says:
“Hey, it helped me to remember that I’m not a salesman at this party.”
Umm, then what does he think he is?
Better question: What does he think Microsoft thinks he is?
twitter Reply:
September 27th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
My favorite line is, “They put the Windows 7 launch in our hands. Are they nuts or what?” Major fail.
Will Reply:
September 27th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Maybe MS thought that would be safer than putting the launch in Ballmer’s hands?
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
September 27th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
I couldn’t watch it for longer than 30 seconds. It’s embarrassing. At least I grabbed a screenshot.
Needs Sunlight said,
September 27, 2009 at 1:17 pm
In all the years those strange people have been promoting mono, I have never gotten any answer either about why the technology should be pursued or how MS can be trusted not to yank the carpet. The latter sometimes gets a vague “goodness in and of itself”, but often personal attack. The trust issue *always* results in personal attack. *Always* regardless of forum.
You know what. No one has to put up with crap from M$ or, especially, fake OSS spreading M$. Moreover, doing nothing is not an option. That’s how the crap spread in the first place: skilled people laughing at M$ or M$ boosters instead of putting them where they belong.
The very presence of M$ products takes away choice. As revered political philosophers famously pointed out, their right to swing their fists ends at our noses. But don’t make the mistake of blaming M$ technology. If left on its own or evaluated on technical or economic merits it would disappear in a quarter. The problem to deal with are the M$ interns, partners, boosters and other minions.
twitter Reply:
September 27th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
It’s sad how toxic everything related to Microsoft is. Even in a toned down response from jono, there was personal attack. They used the term “paranoia” to describe worries about M$ taxing free software with patents on mono, even when presented with a long list of threatening quotes and plans by M$ executives about how patents would be used against free software. A couple of applications that use mono were named as a reason to include mono but even DaemonFC considers this a bloated waste of space that has no place on a default install.
Needs Sunlight said,
September 27, 2009 at 1:19 pm
In all the years those strange people have been promoting mono, I have never gotten any answer either about why the technology should be pursued or how MS can be trusted not to yank the carpet. The latter sometimes gets a vague “goodness in and of itself”, but often personal attack. The trust issue *always* results in personal attack. *Always* regardless of forum.
You know what. No one has to put up with crap from M$ or, especially, fake OSS spreading M$. Moreover, doing nothing is not an option. That’s how the crap spread in the first place: skilled people laughing at M$ or M$ boosters instead of putting them where they belong.
The very presence of M$ products takes away choice.
Some would even say that Microsoft is a threat to democracy, as it also is to the market.
http://www.expressen.se/ledare/1.1663751/johanna-nylander-microsoft-hotar-var-demokrati
As revered political philosophers famously pointed out, their right to swing their fists ends at our noses. But don’t make the mistake of blaming M$ technology. If left on its own or evaluated on technical or economic merits it would disappear in a quarter. The problem to solve is the ‘former’ M$ employees, M$ interns, partners, boosters and other minions.
Mikko said,
September 27, 2009 at 3:18 pm
i tried the latest beta of moonlight and i’ve never seen firefox eat 500MB of RAM before and all the remaining processor