Bonum Certa Men Certa

Paid Microsoft AstroTurfer Strikes Boycott Novell

"It could be argued that Microsoft’s unethical Technology Evangelism (TE) practices are “old news”—i.e., that Microsoft stopped using these questionable TE practices long ago. This is very unlikely to be the case, for at least three reasons."

--James Plamondon, former Microsoft shill (aka 'Technology Evangelist')



Summary: Microsoft shill Jonathan Wong travels the Web to defend Microsoft

WE RARELY bother to check who is leaving comments in Boycott Novell, but moments ago someone left a comment to police the image of Bing. It took him only a couple of hours to find the post. A quick glance at his blog shows that the about page says absolutely nothing about his job at Microsoft, but a little more sniffing reveals the "evangelist" tag (the blog is all about Microsoft, which is the top tag). Looking deeper inside the posts, we find only this one post from 2008 where Wong writes: "And since Monday, I have started a new and exciting role with Microsoft as part of their Developer and Platform Evangelism Team in Singapore."

“Neither the blog nor the E-mail address (or even the comments) say anything about his job at Microsoft.”Nice disclosure there, eh?

Neither the blog nor the E-mail address (or even the comments) say anything about his job at Microsoft. In fact, he leaves comments with a GMail address and one common theme among Microsoft "TEs" is that "Google is evil" (Jonathan Wong's blog shows it too, explicitly). Look at the blog. Look at what he does around the Web (e.g. regarding "Bing" alone). That's his job as a Microsoft "TE" (another term for AstroTurfers, whose roles are borderline criminal). We wrote about one colleague of his last month because they are policing individual FOSS people and even FOSS companies in that one particular case. Wong calls all this "social media marketing", but we call it AstroTurfing and there are laws against it.

No wonder people who negatively review Vista 7 get attacked so viciously [1, 2, 3]. They are probably being stalked because they cover particular products to which Microsoft assigns "perception management" [1, 2].

"Just keep rubbing it in, via the press, analysts, newsgroups, whatever. Make the complete failure of the competition's technology part of the mythology of the computer industry."

--Microsoft, internal document [PDF]

Recent Techrights' Posts

Advertisers and Their Covert Impact on Publications' Output (or Writers' Topics of Choice, as Assigned or Approved by Editors)
It cannot be trivially denied that sponsorship in the form of "advertising" impacts where publishers go (or don't go, won't go)
Terrible Year for Microsoft Windows in Cyprus
down from 86% to 72% since January
 
Brittany Day Connects Windows Ransomware to "Linux" Using Microsoft LLMs (FUD Galore, Zero Effort, No Accountability)
FUD and misinformation made by Microsoft LLMs again?
Links 24/12/2024: Labour Strikes and TikTok Scrambling to Prop Up Radical Politicians That Would Protect TikTok
Links for the day
Where the Population is Controlled by Skinnerboxes Inside People's Pockets (or Purses)
A very small fraction of mobile users practise or exercise freedom/control over the skinnerbox
[Meme] Coin-Operated Publishers (Gaming the Message, Buying the Narrative)
Advertise (sponsor) to 'play'
[Meme] How to Kill Unions (Staff on Shoestring Budget Cannot Afford Lawyers)
What next for the EPO? "Gig economy"?
The EPO's Staff Union (SUEPO) Takes Legal Action to Rectify the Decrease in Wages (Lessening of Purchasing Power)
here is what the union published
Gemini Links 24/12/2024: Deedum Gemini Client Gets Colour Support, Advent of Code 2024
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows Slides to New Lows in Colombia
Now Windows is at an all-time low
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, December 23, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, December 23, 2024
A Strong and Positive Closing for the Year's Last Week
In a lot of ways this year was a good one for Free software
Feels Too Warm for Christmas
Christmas is here, no snow in sight
Links 23/12/2024: 'Negative Time' and US Arms Taiwan Again
Links for the day
Links 23/12/2024: The Book of Uncommon Beings, Squirrels, and Slop Ruining Workplaces
Links for the day
Links 23/12/2024: North Korean Death Toll in Russia at ~1,100, Oligarch Who Illegally Migrated/Stayed (Musk) Shuts Down US Government
Links for the day
The World's 'Richest Country' Chooses GNU/Linux
This has gone on for quite some time
Richard Stallman on Love
Richard Stallman's personal website includes a section that lists three essays on the subject of love
Apple's LLM Slop Told Us Luigi Mangione Had Shot Himself, BetaNews Used LLMs to Talk About a Dead Linus Torvalds
They can blame it on some bot
Microsoft, Give Me LLM Slop About "Linux" and "Santa", I Need Some Fake Article...
BetaNews is basically an LLM slop site
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, December 22, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, December 22, 2024
Technology: rights or responsibilities? - Part XI
By Dr. Andy Farnell
GNU/Linux and ChromeOS in Qatar Reach 4%, an All-Time High
Qatar has money to spend, but not much of it will be spent on Microsoft, or so one can hope
Links 22/12/2024: Election Rants and More Sites Available via Gemini
Links for the day
Links 22/12/2024: North Pole Moving and Debian's Joey Hess Goes Solar
Links for the day
This 'Article' About "Linux Malware" is a Fake Article, It's LLM Slop (Likely Spewed Out by Microsoft Chatbot)
They're drowning out the Web
Early Retirement Age: Linus Torvalds Turns 55 Next Week
Now he's almost eligible for retirement in certain European countries
Gemini Links 22/12/2024: Solstice and IDEs
Links for the day
BetaNews: Microsoft Slop is Your "Latest Technology News"
Paid-for garbage disguised as "journalism"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, December 21, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, December 21, 2024