--Steve Ballmer, 2001
LESS than a year ago we showed how Microsoft actively fought GNU/Linux at Wal-Mart, later remarking that similar tactics may have been used against OEMs that carry GNU/Linux on sub-notebooks. Now we find these leaked pages which show very vividly how Microsoft is training Best Buy staff to vilify GNU/Linux. Here is the opening statement.
So I work at Best Buy (insert boos and hisses) and I was doing some Microsoft ExpertZone training.
Well, the new one for Windows 7 allows me to get a $10 retail copy of Windows 7 after completing the courses. So I figured I'd get it and sell it for a quick buck. Now, during my training modules, a "Linux vs Windows 7" module appeared.
Best Buy is one of the few national computer retailers that has survived Vista and the recession. Here's how Microsoft is training their employees. It's like a throwback from the badly discredited "Get the Facts" campaign.
“Microsoft is mentioning Linux. You only do that if you fear your competitor, otherwise you just talk about your own product and hope the staff don't know about the other.”
--Oiaohm"I hope this guy has covered his identity," says the former person, as "Best Buy and Microsoft will fire him for sharing [...] employees are fired for such things. There are plenty of people in line for the job. [...] Vista pushed many retailers into bankruptcy. Windows 7 will challenge what's left. Best Buy is going the full Microsoft route and will pay a terrible price. They think they have it easy because no one else is left selling computers brick and mortar."
The latter reader adds: "The best part of it [is] Microsoft screwed up. Always a percentage of people giv[en] a briefing will question it."
"The question is," he concludes, "will Microsoft have to cut their price before release? Microsoft has dumped out more free copies of Windows 7 than any other version of Windows. And it's not even released yet."
Well, guess what Microsoft is doing right about now? It is offering small bribes (in the form of Vista 7 licences) to people who help Microsoft hype up the release. There is already a parody about it and another rather sarcastic take.
So lets now look at the party idea. http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/02/get-windows-7-[...] and see the title “Get Windows 7 Ultimate for free…..by throwing a party”. They say:
Sure, you’ll have to suck up your pride and invite your friends to a party with a theme like “setting up with ease” or “family friendly fun,”[...]
Windows 7 party time? In my opinion the only thing to celebrate will be the end of the hangover from the Vista one. Will history be repeated with 7? Dip into your wallet and find out!
60 Thousand Russian Teachers Will Learn Linux by the End of 2009
[...]
As part of the initiative, Russian schools have already received CDs with Linux and other open-source tools distribution kits so that such solutions could be installed even in the schools with no broadband internet access. But of course such a large-scale deployment is not that easy to carry out without help of qualified professionals who can make it possible.
“Businesses will all but ignore Windows 7 and most uptake will come from consumers.”
--Anonymous"In other words," explains one person in USENET, "Windows 7 will be another dud and its release will NOT result in another PC upgrade cycle. Businesses will all but ignore Windows 7 and most uptake will come from consumers. This would be disastrous for Microsoft's credibility in the marketplace."
Going a little sarcastic, he adds: "I wonder what Microsoft will come up with after the failure of Windows 7, a Windows XP Second Edition? I'm pretty sure another incremental Vista update won't cut it with Wall Street so they'll have to try something radical. How about porting the Windows UI to Linux or (more likely) FreeBSD? Might work, but far from certain."
In exchange for these blows of reality, the Microsoft crowd strikes back by attacking GNU/Linux. Watch this one for example. It is the second such attack (almost identical) from the same author this week. We wrote about the first one right here. The author is collaborating with Microsoft (by his own admission) and he has a pattern of attacking Free software and GNU/Linux. Attacks on GNU/Linux are typically based on false market share statistics, whose connection to Microsoft we wrote about in:
Steve Ballmer's presentation slide
from 2009 shows GNU/Linux as bigger than Apple on the desktop
Comments
Yuhong Bao
2009-09-06 07:18:57
twitter
2009-09-07 22:59:18
Yuhong Bao
2009-09-08 00:57:58
maxstirner
2009-09-05 10:10:47
Yuhong Bao
2009-09-05 22:44:14
Roy Schestowitz
2009-09-06 07:18:57