Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Shills Index: Under Construction

There is already one index of Microsoft AstroTurfers ("MicroTurfs"), but it's far from complete and it no longer seems to be maintained.



Throughout the past month or so, we have accumulated new examples (with proof) of Microsoft AstroTurfers and/or disguised PR agents. Recent posts on this subject include:



Over at Slashdot, Über-user Twitter has amassed his own list of Microsoft "Poisons Pens". Readers may wish to see it in order to properly judge their sources of information.

This is going to be a list of big publisher shills. Those are people who take their marching orders from big companies but pretend to be independent experts.


We mentioned ACT several times in the past and yesterday in the IRC channel it emerged that the group is not only a front for Microsoft. It actually came into existence/inception because of Microsoft (at least on the face of it) in order to represent "small businesses" in the same way that Microsoft wants to represent (by hijacking) "open source software". It wants to control and master both sides of the coin and control a pseudo-two-sided debate. Remember Black Duck (with Microsoft roots) moderating panels on the GPL?

Anyway, here's Source Watch's analysis of ACT, which claims to work for small businesses while actually represented and funded by none:

The Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) was a group that was founded in 1998 in response to the anti-trust action against Microsoft then taking place in the United States...

The initial version of the groups website, which was first indexed in October 1999, stated that "as a grassroots information technology trade association, ACT is working to preserve the freedom to achieve, compete and innovate." (The group's orignial office address was 1225 Eye St. NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC, 20005.

[...]

* Jonathan Zuck, Founder President 1999-2007 * Steve DelBianco, Vice President for Public Policy 1999-2007 * Morgan W. Reed, Vice President for Public Affairs 1999-2007 * Mark Blafkin, Vice President for Public Affairs -2007 * Braden Cox, Research and Policy Counsel - 2007 * Melissa Moskal, Director of Membership -2007 * Allison May Rosen 1999-


We must have hit a sensitive spot there because ACT has already taken the time to publicly attack Boycott Novell for saying the truth.

Another Washington-based group, which was discussed in IRC last night, is the Carlyle Group. Wikipedia describes it as "a global private equity investment firm, based in Washington, D.C., with more than $81.1 billion of equity capital under management." Mind the part which says: "Carlyle was founded in 1987 by Stephen L. Norris, and David M. Rubenstein."

“The Carlyle Group recently came under fire for a fiasco, possibly one among many.”Stephen L. Norris, eh? Remember who had plans to invest in SCO (maybe still has)? Stephen L. Norris [1, 2, 3, 4]. The Carlyle Group recently came under fire for a fiasco, possibly one among many. If The Carlyle Group has "$81.1 billion of equity capital under management," then why did Norris approach people in the middle east for funds to invest in SCO? It's important to stress that those people from the middle east are friends of Bill Gates. As we all know, legal fights by proxy are not rare where Microsoft is involved. For this particular example, it's worth adding that it recently used its talking point Jeff Gould to attack IBM's mainframes as well. We wrote about this before [1, 2].

Our plan is to set up an easily-navigable page (or set of pages) for people to easily explore the relationships between Microsoft and those whom it pays to stealthfully do some legwork in the press and on the ground (e.g. lobbying in Brussels and Washington). If you are aware of connections we have not covered yet, please share them in the comments or in the IRC channel so that they can be studied and documented. We wish to piece this puzzle of corruption together.

"Working behind the scenes to orchestrate "independent" praise of our technology, and damnation of the enemy's, is a key evangelism function during the Slog. "Independent" analyst's report should be issued, praising your technology and damning the competitors (or ignoring them). "Independent" consultants should write columns and articles, give conference presentations and moderate stacked panels, all on our behalf (and setting them up as experts in the new technology, available for just $200/hour). "Independent" academic sources should be cultivated and quoted (and research money granted). "Independent" courseware providers should start profiting from their early involvement in our technology. Every possible source of leverage should be sought and turned to our advantage."

--Microsoft, internal document [PDF]

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
Slop is a disease on the Web
IBM's Debt Ballooned by 8.5 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months!
Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
Big Trouble in GNOME
even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
 
The Cost (to Linux) of LLM Slop
Slop 'artists' like Fagioli are far from harmless
Links 25/04/2025: Ubisoft Spyware, Hegseth Fails at Tech on Every Level
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Food Forest Update and Facebook Destroying the Net
Links for the day
Streaming Apps Are “Investor Fraud” That Kills the Planet
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
Slopping the Trough: Disney Plus Loses Billions and the Decline of Physical Media in America
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025
Links 24/04/2025: GAFAM Problems and No Peace (or Ceasefire) in Sight
Links for the day
Slopfarms on the Web Almost Always Generate Anti-Linux FUD When They Produce "Linux" Output
Welcome to the dying Web
Richard Stallman's Oxford Talk Has Just Ended, Here Are Some Photos
he might hop over to another European country
Gemini Links 24/04/2025: Birthday and Good Work of Academia in Esotericism
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2025: EU fines Apple and Facebook, Another Microsoft GitHub Security Blunder
Links for the day
New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
Congrats to the management!
In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
"I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
Links 24/04/2025: IBM Loses Many Contracts, Intel to Lay Off Over 20% (Not Counting Those Who Leave 'Voluntarily')
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Promoting Microsoft and Proprietary Software Using Microsoft Operatives
Because nothing says "Open Source" like GPL violations facilitated by Microsoft
Another Site Bites the Dust: "Open Source For You" Becoming a Slopfarm (LLM Slop)
What a shame. Another dead site.
Links 23/04/2025: Crackdowns on Dissent, Palin Loses Libel Retrial Against New York Times
Links for the day
Links 23/04/2025: Hard Times and Digital Amnesia
Links for the day
The GNU/Linux Site Formerly Known as "linoxide.com" is Back... as an LLM Slopfarm!
Better for linoxide.com to go offline than to do this
Richard Stallman to Speak in Oxford University Exactly a Day From Now
outsourced to GAFAM
Links 23/04/2025: "Hiding Corruption" and "The Cost of Defunding Harvard"
Links for the day
Microsoft 'Studies' Again? Leon Musolff is Writing Papers With Microsoft.
Even if one can see/find a link to "the study" (in the Bezos-controlled publication), most people won't look any further and just take everything at face value.
Towards GNU World Domination
The FSF led by Geoffrey S. Knauth with his friend Richard Stallman in the FSF's Board [...] Let's encourage people to adopt GNU/Linux. There has never been a better time.
statCounter Helps Visualise Just How Deep in Trouble Microsoft is (Especially in Africa)
Microsoft sabotaged efforts to connect Africans and equip them with GNU/Linux laptops
The Register is Using Linux-Hostile Clickbait in Articles of Linux Proponents
Don't be a "whore" to advertisers, team El Reg
Microsoft Windows in Cyprus Lacking a Future
Most people access the Web there from mobile
Matrix Has a Severe Problem With Illegal Images
If Matrix cannot get the CP problem under control, many projects and people will dump Matrix
Never Try to Justify Strangulation of Women (Not in the US and Not in the UK)
Joint post by Mrs. Rianne Schestowitz and Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Links 23/04/2025: Tesla Profits Plunge 71%, Intel Ready to Lay Off 20% of Staff, Microsoft and IBM Layoffs
Links for the day
Microsoft's Most Profound Issue is That People Moved to 'Mobile' and "App Stores" (Microsoft's Presence There is Negligible)
Expect a wild ride for Microsoft this year
Google News is Amplifying FUD and Lies About Linux (and OpenSSH/SSH) by Promoting Slopfarms With Machine-Generated FUD and Slop Images
Google should know better
Gemini Links 23/04/2025: Librarians, Anubis, and Refactoring a Gemini Capsule
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 22, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 22, 2025