Yesterday we published a little roundup of Microsoft-hired agencies or groups that are used to contaminate the Web and wash errand readers' minds. It's not a speculation, it's a reality and it needs to be throughly investigated and documented. We are still at the stage of collecting evidence before it can be presented in a tidied-up fashion.
Reading reddit today, I come across this reddit user who is apparently a Microsoft shill. I honestly can't think of any other explanation except that Microsoft is paying him/her: this user posts lots of comments, all are pro-Microsoft, and every single one of Microsoft's products gets praised at every opportunity. He/she also puts down all competing products, and has apparently no opinions about any other topic than areas in which Microsoft competes (it's nice that you can see all past comments).
I've seen XBOX fanboys and Windows fanboys, so I don't automatically assume anyone who likes a Microsoft product is a shill. But all of their products? Windows, IE, SQL Server, Silverlight, IIS, etc. etc.?
Has Microsoft no shame? This is, frankly, pretty disgraceful. I hope I'm wrong here, perhaps someone can explain this?
“It's a win-win situation to those who resort to such tactics.”Some people have reported being harassed by 'gangs of modders', who are modding down critics of Microsoft, e.g. in Slashdot. There's evidence of this, too. It's a way of shooting messengers along with their messages and -- at best -- a way of discouraging them from participating. It's a win-win situation to those who resort to such tactics.
Speaking for myself, I guess this explains why 4 people in Digg (at least two of whom stalk, libel and harass me in USNET) still systematically mod down every single comment of mine (regardless of the content/context) and occasionally throw in some slander, too. They have done this for almost a year and some proof of this was included here.
Anyway, personal attacks are small potatoes compared to titanic manipulation that goes on in corporations and the press, as opposed to social media. Whitepapers are another story. In the following oldie, for example ("Microsoft shills on the attack again"), Microsoft is compared to Enron, which is interesting not just because of its financial secrets and woes [1, 2]
"The real wonder is that there is any users left who buy the grist that comes out of the shill mill. It would seem to me that Microsoft has been so fully discredited that their methods and minions would also be suspect.
The Microsoft Anti-Trust trial painted them fully as the Enron of the Information Industry, with Gartner playing the role of Andersen. How Gartner escapes the destructive and discrediting taint of Chairman Bill's own special breed of Enronitis is beyond me. Enron collapsed because the investors (users) discovered the scam. Andersen kept the scam going long after the jig was up.
Will someone please explain to me how what Gartner does is any different?""
By Daisuke Wakabayashi
[...]
Gartner analyst Ray Valdes said 90 percent of the top global 1,000 companies have yet to deploy any sort of RIA, while 90 percent of the top 100 consumer Web sites have already done so using the nonproprietary and more simple AJAX format. That opportunity has Microsoft eyeing current leader Adobe for business that extends beyond Silverlight and into the sale of design tools along with server and database software to enable these new applications.
--Microsoft, internal document [PDF]
journalisted.com
says about Daisuke Wakabayashi.
Daisuke Wakabayashi has written...
* More about 'microsoft' than anything else
New York Times Violates its Own Microsoft Shill Policy
[...]
Randall Stross tried to explain in the New York Times that Apple is bungling its limited window of opportunity to sell Macs as Microsoft recovers from its Windows Vista retail sales flop. In doing so, he had to rely on overly broad generalizations, ignore well known retail realities, and violate the Times’ ban on interviewing Microsoft’s weaselly shills.
To conclude this post — Shame on yourself Microsoft for paying Jerry Seinfeld $10 million when people in North America are hit by recession and foreclosures and barely surviving. We urge everybody not to buy Microsoft’s products.
Microsoft should just forget about being sexy
[...]
Alternatively, and perhaps more realistically, Microsoft could give up on the cool, sexy image. It really doesn't fit. And, honestly, I'd rather buy my software from a dork.