Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Attacks Another Legitimate Critic, Tries to Get Him Fired?

John West, The Microsoft Shill-Employee Du Jour?

O

SCON began a couple of days ago. It's a lavish -- if not a tad crass -- display of status... oh, and products. In fact, as a bit of a protest, Professor Eben Moglen gave quite a show there last year. Here is the video and here are some related stories from one year ago:



It is very clear that Tim and his group have made a fortune riding on the backs of Free software volunteers, bypassing the 15-year-old movement (while exploiting its fruits) with the "Open Source/Web 2.0" fluff.

OReilly Media, perhaps much like the OSI, even made room fotr those that call Open Source a "cancer" and "un-American". But hey, can you blame them? More guests at the show mean more revenue, right?

Anyway, so Microsoft 'pulled another OSBC' [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] and attended yet another open source event. it always does, no matter how unwelcome it is. "Var Guy" noticed their presence. Dana Blankenhorn characterises this event as gathering of the tribes, but he did not attend; neither did Matt Asay, who wrote to say that Microsoft isn't genuinely interested in open source (unless it can destroy its meaning and spirit). Microsoft only studies the phenomenon so that it can derail it and use it to own advantage.

Here is the ugly part. Matt Asay commented quite politely on the reality behind Microsoft's motives. Look what he's getting.

Just when I think Matt's bias against Microsoft can't become any more evident, he has the audacity to blog on an event * HE DIDN'T EVEN ATTEND *. Congratulations on showing more and more why your opinions and blogs are worthless.

Cnet, are you going to continue to have this guy represent you (of course, officially that's not the case)? Please, get some editorial standards in place, and remove him. He doesn't deserve the spot of recognization that's being given to him.

John

[...]

John, for some reason the system seems to have neglected to register the last comment I made. Basically, I just noted that you're a blogger for Microsoft (unless it's a different John West), working in its SharePoint group. So perhaps your bias is an equal and opposing force to mine?

I think you missed the point of this post, and you've missed the point of my posts for the past 4-5 years. I'm not a Microsoft hater. I genuinely and generally like its technology - it's the business practices that I often criticize. I even like your SharePoint quite a bit, despite competing with it. As a product, it's great. As a way to lock customers into its existing platforms, it's not so great.

Microsoft will need to open up in order to compete on the web. It's not a critique - it's just required.


Once again they strongarm writers. They cannot accept criticism, even criticism which is perfectly reasonable given Microsoft's consistent attack on Free software.

The only person who needs to be fired or excluded in this case is John West, who is attempting corporate censorship. There are other examples of this. Yes, this is not the first time such a thing happens (and the vandal caught red-handed). A couple of years ago, similar comments from Microsoft employees (under pseudonyms whose IP addresses mapped back to Microsoft's headquarters) shamelessly attacked. Even Matt was attacked in InfoWorld. If that's not control of the press through a form of cyber-bullying, what is?

From Open Sources:

Backhanded compliments are always transparent. If you want your blog to have any credibility at all, you might want to consider putting some facts in with your opinion. You might also consider putting more of your own words in a blog post. You seem to have put the other blog's words in your own little wrapper -- hoping to get credit for the ideas.

[MATT'S NOTE: The IP address for this one came from One Microsoft Way in Redmond, WA. Imagine that.]

Posted by: Tobin (Microsoft Employee) at May 29, 2007 08:39 AM


From Rob Weir's blog:

Anonymous said...

I hope Microsoft sues you for inciting panic.


Carry on, Microsoft. Shut people up. Try to have their publishers throw them out. Let's see how far it goes and how your public image is affected. Microsoft has already done this to security figures.

"Windows 2000 already contains features such as the human discipline component, where the PC can send an electric shock through the keyboard if the human does something that does not please Windows."

--Bill Gates

Recent Techrights' Posts

More on "Lunduke is Actually Sending His Audience to Attack People"
"pepe the frogs"
Dalai Lama Succession as Evidence That Determined, Motivated People Can Reach Their Nineties
And we need to quit talking about their death all the time
Many Lawyers (for Microsoft) and 1,316 Pages to Pick on a Litigant in Person Who Exposed Serious Microsoft Abuses
Answers must be given
Layoffs and Shutdowns at IBM, Not Just Microsoft
Same as Microsoft
With Workers Back From a Holiday Weekend, Microsoft Layoffs Carry on, More Waves to Come
Now it's Monday and people are bad to work, even some journalists
You Need Not Wave a Rainbow Flag This Month to Basically Oppose Arseholes Looking to Disrupt and Divide the Community
Don't fall for it
What Miguel de Icaza and Microsoft Lunduke Have in Common
Similar aims, different methods
 
Gemini Links 08/07/2025: Creativity, Gotify with NUT Server, and Sudo Bugs
Links for the day
Links 08/07/2025: Sabotage of Networking Infrastructure, Microsoft XBox Game Pass Deemed “Unsustainable”
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/07/2025: Ancillary Justice and Small Web July
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 07, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 07, 2025
The FSF's (Free Software Foundation, Inc.) 2025 Summer Fundraiser Already Past Halfway Line
This is where GNU/Linux actually started
Mozilla Had No Good Reason to Outsource Firefox Development to Microsoft
What does Mozilla plan to do when GitHub shuts down?
Mozilla Firefox Did Not Die, It Got Killed
To me it'll always look like Mozilla got killed by its sponsors, especially Google, which had a conflict of interest as a sponsor
Dan Neidle, Whom Brett Wilson LLP SLAPPed (on Behalf of Corrupt Rich Tax Evaders), Still Fighting the Good Fight
Neidle fights for the poor people
Wayland Should Start by Dumping Its Very Ugly Logo
Wayland wins the "ugliest logo" award every year
Stop Focusing on Hair Colours, Focus on Corporate Agenda
If someone commits a crime, it does not matter if his or her hair was mostly white or there was no hair or a wig or whatever
Links 07/07/2025: Science, Conflicts, and a Fictional K-pop Group
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/07/2025: Being a Luddite and Announcement of Gotify
Links for the day
Links 07/07/2025: XBox Effectively 'Dead', DMCA Subpoena Versus Registrar
Links for the day
The 'Corporate Neckbeard' is Not the "Good Guy"
Works for IBM
The Nasty Smear (and Stereotype) of "Neckbeard" or "Greybeard" is Ageism
This is the sort of stuff they might try to volley at critics of Wayland
Why Many of Us Use X Server and Will Continue to Use It For Many Years to Come
Don't make this about politics
Microsoft's Nat Friedman Became Unemployed the Same Time the SLAPPs Against Techrights Started Coming From His Friends (Weeks After We Had Exposed Scandals About Him and the Serial Strangler, His Best Friend, Who Got Arrested a Few Days Later)
Nat Friedman is not "Investor, entrepreneur"
Brett Wilson LLP Uses Threats to Demand Changes to Pages or Removal of Pages Without Even Revealing Which Staff Member Does That (Sometimes People From Another Firm!)
This has been in the public for years
Dan Neidle Said "It Really Then Became a Job of Tormenting" Lawyers Like Brett Wilson LLP (Who Threatened Him for Exposing Crimes, Just Like They Threatened My Wife a Few Months Later)
he and his wife decided to take on the evil people and their evil lawyers
Large Language Models (LLMs) Externalise Their Cost to the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
"The forty-sixth Free Software Bulletin is now available online!"
Weeding Out Extremism in Our Community
To me it seems like Microsoft Lunduke is rapidly becoming like a "hate preacher" who operates online, breeding an extremist ideology or trying to soften its image
Censorship Versus Fact-Checking and Quality Control
It's not censorship but a matter of quality control
Reinforcing the Allegations Some More, Bryan Lunduke Digs His Own Grave
In his latest episodes he merely repeats his own lies, which I debunked using evidence right from his own mouth
Global Warming and Free Software as a Force of Mitigation
we'll need to think about Software Freedom, not just brands like "Linux"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 06, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 06, 2025
Gemini Links 07/07/2025: BaseLibre Numerical System and TUI Rant
Links for the day
[Video] "Copyleft Isn't a Bug."
"Copyleft isn’t a bug. It’s a feature. GNU GPL forced the world to treat code like a public good."
Being in Social Control Media Means Exposing Oneself to Heckling
Richard Stallman does not (either himself or directly) post to any social control media
Links 06/07/2025: Airlines Perils, Scams, and Breaches
Links for the day
Two Risks to Companies: The Microsoft Culture and the Microsoft Tools
Novell was killed by a form of "social engineering" by Microsoft
It's Hard to Trust People Who Worked - Not Only Those Who Still Work - at Microsoft
Bryan Lunduke is just what people would call an "arsehole of a person"
For the Second Time, Bryan Lunduke From Microsoft is Siccing Racist Trolls and Vandals at Me
You're only reinforcing the point we made yesterday
Links 06/07/2025: End to End Encryption at Risk, Reuters Twitter ("X") Account Withheld in India
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/07/2025: Tinylog and Certification Rotation
Links for the day
Links 06/07/2025: Climate Change and "The Right to Criticise"
Links for the day
PCLinuxOS Sites Coming Back, Gradually
let's just be patient
Social Control Media, Even If Based on Free Software, Still Has Many Problems
a distraction from what actually mattered and still matters
IBM is Not Your Master
IBM makes friends with people who exclude the majority of the population: women
Help Fund the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
If you have some dollars to spare, go support the FSF
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 05, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 05, 2025
A Short History of Attacks on Techrights (and Boycott Novell Before That)
good opportunity to tell again the story of several (not all) attempts to silence us
The Mainstream Media Took 4 Days to Realise Microsoft Shut Down Its Operations in Pakistan and Fired Everybody
We estimate that Microsoft has had about 29,000 layoffs since January
Leadership in Free Software
Don't let IBM lead. It's a terrible flag bearer.