During the last 15-20 years Microsoft has led a campaign against Free Software as defined by the Free Software Foundation. Using sneaky tactics such as astroturfing; they have been flooding USENET and the blogosphere with anti-GNU/Linux propaganda and lies. One of the most prominent GNU/Linux USENET groups is comp.os.linux.advocacy (referred to as COLA) and it has been flooded with over 500,000 posts.
"We have proof that in 1998, it was found that a flood of pro-Microsoft propaganda messages with fake identities were being posted to Usenet actually from within the microsoft.com domain, by paid anti-social Microsoft employees."There is only one entity in on this planet that wants to take our freedom away. That entity is Microsoft and it has been doing this to us on several fronts. It has been spreading anonymous propaganda messages, false advertising, OEM infiltration/discount programs, fraudulent lawsuits and blackmailing android handset makers into paying royalties. We have no idea how much this costs Microsoft but the popular ballpark figure is $100,000,000. We know it's spent at least that much promoting its anti-freedom search engine Bing (which filters GNU/Linux and Free Software results).
We have proof that in 1998, it was found that a flood of pro-Microsoft propaganda messages with fake identities were being posted to Usenet actually from within the microsoft.com domain, by paid anti-social Microsoft employees. Around the same time Microsoft was sued for bundling Internet Explorer with Windows. It still bundles IE with Windows, yet we're supposed to believe they changed? We're supposed to think they aren't still astroturfing their false propaganda?
"They are using lies, obscenities, ad hominem attacks, and sometimes they even harass people in real life."The floods of propaganda messages are mostly attacking GNU/Linux and free software. They are using lies, obscenities, ad hominem attacks, and sometimes they even harass people in real life. This has never stopped. Microsoft has since employed various techniques to prevent the messages from being traced back to their source.
Microsoft has anonymously posted similar bogus warnings against websites that speak the truth about Microsoft, or push Free Software. Microsoft really is evil. It's hard to accept that at first because most people think that businesses are just invested in making money, but if you read the all the stuff out there, and think about all of it together, the conclusion is inescapable. ⬆
Sources:
http://everything2.com/title/Microsoft+grassroots+support
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-04-29/tech/29982304_1_bing-search-microsoft-s-bing-traffic-acquisition
Comments
formic_
2012-04-19 15:45:37
I'd like evidence that I'm insane. Due to privacy laws, even if I had a diagnosis you wouldn't be able to prove it.
How exactly do we prove people are currently being paid by Microsoft? We can assume based on their previous behavior that they are still doing what they were caught doing in 1998. They didn't stop bundling IE, why would they stop AstroTurfing? Especially when they can prevent being caught by the use of paying bloggers who aren't on a microsoft.com domain, or use TOR, etc.
How would we prove you are being paid at the job you work at? You think astroturfers will be scanning their paycheques? How do we know they won't omit the microsoft cheques. Nobody in their right mind will post their income tax return. Microsoft doesn't publish information on who they pay.
You have to look at their past behavior, how they don't change, and who benefits the most from Astroturfing.
Michael
2012-04-19 16:27:12
Heck, the lies about me being anti-Linux or anti-OSS, which are completely contrary to reality, are also irrational (insane, if you wish). Do you hold on to that unsupportable view? If so you are holding onto views which are, at best, irrational.
Deny such irrationality is a sign of insanity if you want... does not really matter to me. But what is clear is that many in COLA - largely the COLA "advocates" (the herd) hold onto many very similar irrational beliefs (I mention just two, above). At best they do not call each other out on these irrational and derogatory claims, and often they actively support each other. This *is* very cult-like.
And there is a lot more: the absurd support of Stallman's reprehensible statements about kids and sexuality, the denial of Gimp being an offensive word and thus a poor term to use for a program if you want it taken seriously in a corporate environment, the denial of the term "gimp" being used on the Gimp splash screen... on and on and on... completely irrational beliefs pushed by the COLA "advocates"... again, very cult-like in how these folks back each other. I can list more examples if you wish - and the evidence of them being wrong is sold and irrefutable. A whole group of COLA "advocates" pushing the same irrational beliefs... or at best refusing to question them. Same with when people agree with Linus Torvalds, Mark Shuttleworth, or Jim Zemlin and are deemed "WinTrolls" for holding these views. This is not the way *real* Linux advocates would act. They are false "advocates". A herd. A cult-like group. This has been shown over and over.
If I were to hold on to your BS views, I would insist Stallman must be paying them to act in such a way, but unlike you I make no such claim as I have no more evidence than you do with your accusations.
formic_
2012-04-19 17:06:35
One sure sign of mental illness is egomania. You seem to think this article was written about you when I've never really even heard of you.
I'm not a psychiatrist or a doctor, so I have no weight in carrying out such a diagnosis. Are you a psychiatrist? Have you experienced the whole life story of the people you deem insane? If not, you should have any license you have taken away for malpractice.
Michael
2012-04-19 01:20:48
I know of the loonies in that group regularly accuses me of being paid by MS. Or Apple. Or aliens. Or whoever... his story is not real clear. And it is an utter fiction. I have never worked for nor been paid by MS or Apple or any subsidiary of them. Ever.
These types of accusations are just more proof of how insane the Stallman cult-liike group is. Just utter madness.