Moral objectivity does not matter when there's money to be made from false characterisations

They also told us Mr. Elop came to Nokia to 'save' it rather than liquidate it and hand over what's left to Microsoft for a bonus (same as Novell and Yahoo!)

Summary: A disturbing pattern emerges wherein people who oppose bad behaviour (like monopolists doing illegal things) are themselves being framed as "unruly" and "rude"; this kind of reversal of narratives is not unique and it's prevalent even outside the domain of technology; we know whose side the media takes because money typically comes from affluent advertisers, not universal objectivity

THE people who are said to "hate" Microsoft (strong words, implies emotion without logic) have a lot of legitimate grievances, many reasons to feel the way they feel. They're rightly suspicious of Microsoft.

Likewise, people who dislike patent trolls (so-called "NPEs") and former Microsoft employees who say for over a decade that "Linux sucks" (classic concern-trolling tactics) aren't trolling or abusing those whom they merely defend themselves from. Don't fall for the inventive/'invertive' spin. It's like white supremacists claiming that black people whom they want to hang from a tree are "racist" for distrusting whites like themselves whilst they're inflaming the online debates (if not black churches; it's no longer 'fashionable' to set these ablaze and arson is a crime, even if the state's authorities are thoroughly racist).

"It's like white supremacists claiming that black people whom they want to hang from a tree are "racist" for distrusting whites like themselves..."I've been noticing some of the push-back from the likes of IBM, not only Microsoft spinners. They want to make the ludicrous claim that their critics or sceptics are just some lousy 'trolls' -- people whose facts-based argument and evidence-supported assessments are nothing but 'spin'.

Remember the time when we called for a boycott of Novell (well, Novell has not really been around for a decade now)? Oh, how much of that nonsensical spin we got, trying to label us "trolls" for airing legitimate and factual arguments. Last year Novell's last CEO also asked me to remove my articles simply because they were old, not because they were wrong. Need we add that this CEO originally came from IBM?

"Last year Novell's last CEO also asked me to remove my articles simply because they were old, not because they were wrong. Need we add that this CEO originally came from IBM?"GNU/Linux is still under attack. Don't be in denial about it because Microsoft says it "loves Linux" and IBM supports kernel coders (it also supports systemd coders, who code on Microsoft servers). Recently, while researching the 'cancel culture' aspects in particular, we saw several examples where systemd critics were conflated with something else altogether (totally irrelevant stuff too, including transphobia). We suppose that the ultimate goal is to stigmatise critics as losers with no credibility and no understanding of the technical issue, only "hatred" based on nothing of substance. Team UPC has used similar tactics to convince themselves that UPC critics don't exist and don't count. The European Patent Office (EPO) will never mention any issue whatsoever with the UPC. Nothing. To them, we suppose, UPC critics are just some "trolls" -- people who don't know better and look for a fight. Ironically of course it's Team UPC that supports patent trolls, always looking for a fight, foaming at the mouth at the prospect of blackmailing people everywhere in the EU.

"People who oppose oppressive behaviour are not trolls. And if you treat them as such, watch out. This will only make more of them and they'll get angrier."The bottom line is very simple: be very fast to identity these patterns, which typically involves shaming if not dehumanising critics of some corporate agenda. They're just "irrational" little "haters" who "misunderstand" the topic and "have an agenda"... "don't listen to them," they assure the media. "Look at us, we're far richer and thus we're more credible..."

"Don't listen to these poor peasants, these trolls..."

It's funny how many parallels exist or can be drawn between the litigation 'industry' and proprietary software giants like Microsoft and IBM (whose legal teams are massive and the basis for these companies' very existence, e.g. shaking down OEMs to not stock the competition's products, blackmailing companies using patents in bulk, 'perfuming' bribes, crafting user-hostile EULAs that neutralise litigation prospects when things go awry).

People who oppose oppressive behaviour are not trolls. And if you treat them as such, watch out. This will only make more of them and they'll get angrier. ⬆