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Vista 7 Does Have Battery Issues (Microsoft Lied) and Microsoft Gives “MVP” to Man Who Loves "to Argue Against Linux Fanatics"

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Summary: Vista 7 battery Issues are now confirmed because a "fix" is made available; Microsoft promotes one of its Internet trolls, Andre Da Costa (also known as "Mr Dee")

AFTER battery issues [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] were reported -- affecting only Vista 7 one might add -- Microsoft apparently lied to the public by denying the problem (Microsoft previously denied any such problems existed, so just check out top results for "microsoft denies" in Google). The monopolist is trying to guard the image of Vista 7 and this is not the first such example where Microsoft contradicts itself. From Mary Jo Foley:



Windows 7 battery-fix available for LG machines: Remember the dust-up earlier this year regarding Windows 7 and battery-life issues? Although Microsoft officials said at that time that there weren’t any battery-related problems of note, it looks like there were battery problems with certain LG machines, including the R500 family of notebooks. Microsoft published a Knowledge Base article that points to BIOS refreshes now available from LG that will fix false “battery is low” reports. (Thanks to Ars Technica for the pointer to the KB article.)


OpenBytes says: "The Windows 7 problem that never existed is finally fixed."

So thats good news eh? The problem that didn’t exist is now finally fixed.


It is worth remembering that prior versions did not have the problem and it required a fix at the software end, not the hardware end.

As The Mad Hatter points out in the comments: "That’s Microsoft. Claim that the problem doesn’t exist, and then fix it by stealth." At the very least, Microsoft did not coordinate compatibility with partners and then it concealed real problems.

“Is this MVP also for Andre's pseudonyms that troll GNU/Linux and F/OSS bloggers?”Microsoft uses similar tricks in security by silently patching security problems without announcing these (the code is secret, so they can usually get away with this).

OpenBytes also has a new article about a Microsoft AstroTurfer, Andre Da Costa [1, 2, 3]. It turns out that Microsoft sometimes rewards its trolls with expensive gifts and later "MVP" titles. Is this alleged MVP also for Andre's pseudonyms that troll GNU/Linux and F/OSS bloggers? He has confirmed that these pseudonyms exist because he got exposed.

According to Tim from OpenBytes, Da Costa says in his Twitter profile: "Microsoft MVP, Technology Enthusiast, Windows Enthusiast, Windows Live, Windows 7, Blogger, Notebooks.com, ActiveWin.com"

Tim says that "according to his blog he received an email on April 1st... He gives a little "history" of his "work" on the Net... it's funny he doesn't mention Mr Dee or his posting on Microsoft Watch." From his blog: "with the MVP Award come new responsibilities, which is to bring you information that is always accurate, responsible and dependable while building on that strong spirit of community!" To quote further from OpenBytes:

Here’s Andre’s comment which Joe Wilcox left Microsoft Watch, obviously Microsoft thinks this behaviour is the stuff of MVP’s:
I don’t understand, if there is no Joe Wilcox on Microsoft Watch where will I go to argue against Linux fanatics? I find it therapeutic.
You can see the MSwatch article here.

It seems to me (if Andre is not the unwitting victim of an April fools joke) that Microsoft either hasn’t researched its new MVP properly or merely doesn’t mind. Does this to you sound like MVP material? After the Plurk incident nothing would surprise me about Microsoft.

Take the time to research Andre’s posting. It seems the only rule you need to follow to get one is “promote, promote, promote” – by any means necessary and you can look at some of the Openbytes articles covering the behaviour which Microsoft seems to deem worthy of an MVP:

[...]

I think thats enough to get you started on the well documented comments of Andre Da Costa. If you are interested you can also see him over at Twitter where his (known) handle is Adacosta although after him admitting to having more than one handle at Cnet, one could be forgiven for thinking he has more than one on Twitter.


Yes, Microsoft seemingly recruits and rewards people "to argue against Linux fanatics". Microsoft sometimes hires such people, who in turn harass this Web site (among other Web sites that are critical of Microsoft, to this date).

"Mind Control: To control mental output you have to control mental input. Take control of the channels by which developers receive information, then they can only think about the things you tell them. Thus, you control mindshare!"

--Microsoft, internal document [PDF]

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