03.23.15

Microsoft Admits Lying (or Deceiving) About the Cost of Vista 10

Posted in GNU/Linux at 5:23 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

False marketing again

A billboard

Summary: After much hype in the press about Windows being ‘free’ it turns out that Microsoft just lied yet again, leaving that lingering perception that Windows is as inexpensive as GNU/Linux

Microsoft has been generating interest (from the press and the public) in Vista 10 using misleading statements if not utter lies (sometimes from peripheral marketing heads). It’s a clever PR ploy. Microsoft Peter put Vista 10 in headlines of GNU/Linux and BSD sites by alarming about UEFI policy changes (this too generated much press, and no publicity can be bad publicity). The other day Phoronix wrote: “Right now I’m cautiously optimistic though that most motherboard vendors will still offer the option to disable SecureBoot, so it’s not a nightmare scenario quite yet. At least these days more IHVs are concerning themselves with Linux thanks to SteamOS & Co. Windows 10 computers will start surfacing later this year.”

In the mean time, however, the alarmist reporting spreads “Vista 10″ (marketing) to more sites. One site wrote that “Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) may be letting hardware manufacturers have the option of locking a certain option with Windows 10 that would essentially result in machines running the newest operating system from the software giant be unable to boot other alternative operating systems.”

It also says that “Terry Myerson recently made headlines from after he announced that the company will upgrade Windows 7 and Windows 8 systems in China to Windows 10 regardless of genuine license or not (which the company later clarified to not be the case).”

So he basically lied. Microsoft’s mouthpiece Paul Thurrott debunked these lies about Vista 10 several days ago even though he used ugly language and misused of words to call people and installations of Windows something they’re not.

So the bottom line is, Microsoft is willing to go very far to stick Vista 10 in headlines everywhere. Vista 10 is expensive, it’s not free, and it is as proprietary as anything can be. Regarding claims that Windows is gratis, we debunked this utter nonsense earlier this year. Why do some journalists still fall for it? Microsoft has a track record of misleading and lying to change perceptions. █

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