02.26.10
Microsoft’s Fake “Choice” Campaign is Back
Any card you want as long as it’s an ace
Summary: Microsoft abuses words of the English language in order for people to feel confused about the difference between one product and another
MICROSOFT’S “Software Choice” campaign was mentioned in this older post. To quickly repeat it, Bruce Perens wrote that “Microsoft’s new “Software Choice” campaign is all for your right to choose… as long as you choose Microsoft. It’s too bad that Intel and the U.S. Government couldn’t see through the rhetoric.”
“Yasmin Mahmood from Microsoft Malaysia used this type of lies repeatedly…”Those lies about choice are nothing new and right now there is this ballot which provides an illusion of choice (regarding browsers and ODF). Yasmin Mahmood from Microsoft Malaysia used this type of lies repeatedly (calling for “choice” between a proprietary format and a standard rather than between office suites). That was before she jumped ship. She didn’t quit the company before getting involved in the many OOXML scandals, e.g. [1, 2, 3].
Here again we see that Microsoft misuses the word “choice” to market its monopolistic, proprietary software.
At Microsoft’s Public Sector CIO Summit this week, Microsoft is promising governments “choice,” a theme normally reserved for the freedom-loving open-source set.
But Microsoft’s “choice” campaign is all about giving governments the option to step into the Google-blessed cloud realm without leaving the comfort of their Windows/Office/etc. environments. For some, and perhaps many, this may be just the sort of safe choice they’re seeking.
The word “open” (or the term “open source”) was also misused to confuse and IIPA/BSA slander Free software at the moment by claiming that it reduces "choice". They distort the language; they destroy the vocabulary and connotations that come with it. █
“If thought can corrupt language, then language can also corrupt thought.”
–George Orwell
