08.08.12
Gemini version available ♊︎Microsoft is Obscene
F***ing priceless hypocrisy
Summary:The Microsoft crowd speaks about “micro” and “soft” penis
AT Microsoft, sexism examples are a dime a dozen [1, 2, 3, 4]. The company was repeatedly accused by Microsoft’s own staff of sexism and a culture of misogynists (concealed, as in many other large companies, by a culture of secrecy and a layer of PR people).
“Microsoft says developers are a one-night stand, so why should anyone help them?”Recently, Microsoft pushed “boobs” into Linux [1, 2, 3] (much to the detriment of Linux) and later “apologised” (it did not even fire the staff who was responsible for this). We are seeing this “apology” strategy again and this time it’s a “penis” scandal. To quote: “It then continues “I got the skills to impress, I’m a computer genius. The words “Micro” and “Soft” don’t apply to my penis”. The closed caption screens at this point also show the words “(or vagina)”.
“Perhaps the typists working the closed captions included the “(or vagina)” as an attempt at inclusiveness. Unfortunately it conjures up a worrying alternative .”
Since Microsoft likes to accuse FOSS of being sexist we must keep track of examples that show Microsoft’s sheer hypocrisy. Don’t let the FUD be. It’s not about daemonising Microsoft but about defending FUD from the Microsoft FUD about “sexism” of “chauvinism” in FOSS. This is reactionary because the FUD usually flows in one direction: against FOSS. This way Microsoft can discourage more than half the population from participating in FOSS. Microsoft says developers are a one-night stand, so why should anyone help them? █
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Michael said,
August 8, 2012 at 2:21 pm
Not to defend MS, but when you have the leader of the “Free” movement, which you back so heavily, talking about how he thinks it is harmful to the education of public school children to not allow them unfettered access to porn of all types, you simply have no moral high ground here.
mcinsand said,
August 9, 2012 at 10:18 am
As I remember it, this was from a MS public party/PR deal, and this was from a song that was preformed live. I can’t remember where, for sure, but I think it was Northern Europe. The point is that, as someone that has been in business life for a good while, most companies would not tolerate this sort of thing at an internal event; heads would certainly roll.
After a minute of looking, the story seems to be very consistent, and you can read more here. For most companies, this would be a huge deal, at least internally.
PR is definitely an area where Apple outshines MS. Of course, when image is all Apple has going for it, they would be out of business, otherwise. With MS’ marketshare dwindling and security, reliability, and hardware support a total wreck, they might well enter the death spiral soon.
Michael Reply:
August 9th, 2012 at 10:35 am
Apple has much more than image – they have products with the highest user satisfaction ratings in desktops, laptops, phones, tablets, etc. To put it simply: they make products which earn satisfaction from users.
They do this through a strong focus on usability and great innovation (which includes knowing what to put in, what to leave out, and how to make it easy and pleasant to use). They do this better than the competition.
Does not mean they do not screw up… they do. But to say all they focus on is “image” is amazingly naive.