Bonum Certa Men Certa

Best Buy Has Collusion/Racketeering History with Microsoft, Anti-GNU/Linux Training Comes to Staples Employees Too

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

--Sometimes attributed to Mahatma Gandhi



Summary: A set of rebuttals to Microsoft's hostile actions and reports on some new actions of this type

ALTHOUGH it has been a long weekend in the United States, everyone is talking about the Best Buy incident. Here is a mirror of the original Best Buy post (Photobucket did not serve the images at the most critical moments).

"This isn't the first time Microsoft and Best Buy have colluded in racketeering," remarks Slated, who reminds people of events from 2007:

Best Buy, Microsoft Accused Of Racketeering



When you think RICO you think Al Capone, or maybe Tony Soprano if you watch too much HBO. You don't really think of Best Buy and Microsoft, do you? James Odom does. He's the original plaintiff in a now 4 year old class action lawsuit that just won't go away for Best Buy and Microsoft, one that now includes racketeering charges.

Are they warranted? Maybe. If what Odom says is true, some seriously shady business was going down between MSN and Best Buy—specifically, Odom accuses the store of taking money from Microsoft to sign customers up for accounts with MSN using their credit or debit card numbers without their consent.


For those who did not follow the recent events, Daily Finance has this summary.

Microsoft (MFST) is "indoctrinating" Best Buy (BBY) workers to sell its highly anticipated Windows 7 operating system using outright lies about the performance of open-source competitor Linux, according to Linux experts and at least one Best Buy employee who has seen the alleged Microsoft training slides.


Is it all true? Microsoft is certainly not denying it.

Microsoft has been asked about the memos but has neither confirmed nor denied their legitimacy. However, the material is both consistent with Microsoft's visual style as well as its frequent attempts to discredit Linux as a threat, which in the past have involved paid-for studies that allegedly show Windows as superior to Linux for servers.


Our reader Ryan wrote a good long post on the subject.

There’s a certain demographic that will pay any price because they have lots of money to set on fire. These same people buy Hummer H2’s. The rest spend about a month’s salary every year or two on Microsoft software and partner products under the mistaken impression that they simply have to. They don’t want to, they’re not evil people, they’ve simply been led astray by the sales associate, the lowly peon making $8 an hour at the Best Buy store, the unwitting foot soldier in Microsoft’s propaganda battle. Exactly what’s in it for the sales associate if people continue maxing out their credit cards on shit they don’t need? They may be able to come back to work next Monday, or Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or whenever they’re expected to show up for their 4-8 hours shift so they can continue making the $8 an hour. It’s how retail treats people.


Rami wrote a technical rebuttal to Microsoft's points that are erroneous.

In an effort to thwart Linux sales on netbooks, Microsoft has started a training program at Best Buy to “educate” their “experts” on Linux. And true to their fashion, MS resorted to FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) and straight out LIES! However, Microsoft still maintains that Linux is not a threat to their market, they are just spending all this money to “help” people make an educated decision. Funny thing, is that they ended up promoting Linux.


Another stronger rebuttal (warning needed about language) comes from this blog:

No iPod support? Really? And the Zune doesn't work on the Mac either although there has been some progress from the Linux community. And I've never had any problems pulling pictures from cameras.

I've yet to see a printer that doesn't have a driver. You might have to download it from the products website though (gasp!).

Yeah yeah. Software. Although WINE has been vastly improving lately (we even got around that stupid Secu-ROM).

There are free alternatives to all of the Windows Live "essentials".


A UK perspective from our reader Goblin addresses the problem with similar shops in the UK (Microsoft would not get away with it all in the UK because of the law and the ASA).

“Stupid Customers” say PCworld/Currys staff? & FUD Training for retail?



[...]

The post is from a Best Buy employee who underwent Windows 7 training to sell Windows 7. The author of that post has provided commentary and it shows IMO a very good example of the sales techniques that some use to promote Windows on the net. Many lies are put about Linux on the net and my advice to any interested Linux user is simply to download a Live-CD and try it for yourself.

The danger being though, on the net its harder to tell a salesperson from an “ordinary user”.


Everyone is talking about Best Buy, but it's not just Best Buy where this type of routine is being done. Here is what Staples employees are being exposed to.

I thought I’d post these images of Microsoft’s propaganda they’ve been distributing to Staples employees.

Numerous lies like greater compatibility than GNU/Linux-when most of the older hardware won’t work with MS Windows Vista. GNU/Linux is compatible with more hardware than any operating system in history. It may not work with some of the latest and greatest-but for the most part it works better. I don’t spend 3 hours fiddling with installing my printer drivers. I plug it in- and it just appears as an option in whatever program I need to print with.


"Microsoft has gotten them thinking about all the extra sales they can make," explains Ryan, "selling you the software Windows doesn't come with and "services" like when your Windows PC gets pwned by spyware, they can charge you $75 an hour to fix it. As far as extra software sales, they failed to mention that people like me still buy video games and such with the intention of running them in Wine [...] or MP3 players, because Linux does recognize all of them, except the Zune. [...] Microsoft slipped some Zune "training modules" into the Walmart employee training system. [...] They were hosted on their corporate intranet and the kiosked copy of MSIE was all you could run."

“It looks like they've passed the "ignoring" stage...now they're just fighting...badly.”
      --Wallclimber
Will says that "The best way to handle it would be for the salespeople to be like "Linux, what's that? Never heard of it." The fact that MS is having to train sales people against Linux means that people must be talking about it."

"I agree," says Wallclimber, "they are making way too much noise about it. It makes people more curious. It looks like they've passed the "ignoring" stage...now they're just fighting...badly."

Microsoft is giving itself a reputation of a bully again, helping us all forget about the legendary "new Microsoft".

Will adds: "I'm not sure how to put this, but It still feels a bit odd that MS is simultaneously training people not to sell stuff they don't offer anyway, as well as not to sell stuff they do offer."

I've asked whether going to shops and trying to forbid sales of rivals would be illegal. Ryan raised the "Truth in Advertising" flag, arguing that "they probably word their arguments vaguely enough to get away with it." Will wrote: "Like I saw somewhere (maybe here, maybe /., can't remember), 'Does BMW send stuff to train other car dealers not to sell GM, Chrysler, what-have-you?' [...] BMW relies on its reputation to sell stuff. Apple does the cute ads, but in general they expect people to come to them. MS doesn't have that kind of reputation or rapport."

Microsoft is resorting to similar practices elsewhere, as noted by one of the regular contributors of ZDNet UK here:

MS-BS Quotient Off the top of the Charts.

Those numbers touting an 11 second boot time are from HIBERNATION files. Not from a cold start. As a result, they are total crap. I did my own "tests" on Win 7.


The reality behind Vista 7 proves that there is a lot of false advertising. On top of that, in order to suppress GNU/Linux use in sub-notebooks, as well as sub-notebooks as a whole, Microsoft pressures OEMs. It is about the sub-notebooks market. It's just too troubling to Microsoft's profitability.

With limitations on hardware and pressure on OEMs, Microsoft is able to eliminate low-end machines, which in turn harms consumer choice. Where are those $199 sub-notebooks these days? As pointed out here, gaps were blurred such that Microsoft can restore margins.

Can we all agree on something? There's no longer a difference between a netbook and a notebook. Thanks to netbooks' move to more features and larger-size screens, the distinction between the two can now be considered little more than marketing speak.


It is sad to see a software company (but also Intel) telling OEMs how to sell computers; it should be the other way around, but there is no monopoly in OEMs, so Microsoft can discriminate and 'punish' those who do not obey demands.

Related posts:

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Turns Out LLMs for Code Don't Save Time and Don't Improve Quality
Neither legal nor useful
 
Pissing Contests and Pissing Off Everyone
people who came from Microsoft are trying to vex and divide the community
Microsoft Repeats the Mistakes Made by the EPO After We Exposed a Major Microsoft/EPO Scandal 10 Years Ago
That scandal was all over the media, not just in English
The Demise of LLMs
We've just checked BetaNews again. They've dropped all the slop and went back to human authors.
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Sonpo Museum of Art and FCEUX
Links for the day
Links 13/07/2025: UnitedHealth's Censorship Campaign, Australia Wary of China
Links for the day
Firing Away With Nonsense
Or fighting fire with fire
Links 13/07/2025: Climate Crisis, GAFAM Poisoning the Water
Links for the day
The Microsofters Will Have an Obligation to Compensate Us
This story isn't just about Microsoft. It's also about corruption, there are many women victims, there is abject "abuse of process", and many more scandals to be illuminated in years to come.
Reproducing at the EPO Instead of Producing Monopolies for Foreign Monopolies With Their Price-Fixing Cartels
Does the EPO recognise the need of well-educated Europeans to bear kids?
Valnet Inc. Dominates Real (Not LLM Slop) GNU/Linux Coverage in 2025
And likely in prior years, too
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Fund Raiser Goes on
Later this month we'll expose another OSI scandal
EPO Staff Representatives Issue a Warning About Staff's Health and Inadequate Care
Even the EPO's own stakeholders (money sources) are openly protesting against what the EPO became
Links 13/07/2025: Partly Assorted News From Deutsche Welle and CBC
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Board Games and Battle Styles
Gemini Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 12, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 12, 2025
Plunder at the Second-Largest Institution in Europe
cuts, neglect, health problems, even early deaths
Links 12/07/2025: Political Developments, Attack on Opposition, Climate Actions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: Melodic Musings and Small Web July
Links for the day
Links 12/07/2025: Jail in China for Homoerotica, South Korea Discriminates Against Old Workers
Links for the day
If Only Everything Was Rewritten in Rust, We'd Have No More Security Issues?
Nope.
Links 12/07/2025: Birdwatching and Fake/Misleading Wall Street 'Valuation' Figures
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: How to Avoid Writing, Apps for Android
Links for the day
Using SLAPPs to Cover Up Sexual Abuse and Strangulation
The exact same legal team of the Serial Strangler from Microsoft and Garrett already has a history fighting against "metoo"
EPO Staff Committee on Harassment in the Workplace
slides
Adding the Voice of Writers to UK SLAPP Reform
The journey to repair antiquated (monarchy era) laws will likely be long
EPO Takes More Money From Staff for Speculation (Pensions), Actuarial Study Explains the Impact
"The key change in this year’s Actuarial Study, due to cascading the new “risk appetite” from the financial study, is a significant increase of the total pension contribution rate of 5.7 percentage points, up to a total of 37.8%. This is driven by an unprecedented decrease in the discount rate of 105 bps down to 2.2%."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 11, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 11, 2025
Microsoft - Like IBM - Does the "Relocation" Tricks (Start Over Elsewhere, Then Get Sacked by Microsoft)
It is a "low blow" or a "dick move"
After the Free Software Foundation's Campaign to Raise Money Let's See Campaigns to Finish Off Microsoft (Vista 11, GitHub etc.)
Microsoft is in effect collapsing
Your Publications Have No Major Impact Unless or Until You "Get Some Heat"
we're on the right track
Slopwatch: A Cause for Hope, the Hype is Dying
For about a month we showed that becoming a slopfarm - for several weeks - resulted in utter failure and ruin for BetaNews
Links 11/07/2025: Censorship Worsening, 3D Printing Success Stories, UK and France Unite Around Nukes
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/07/2025: Zorin OS and Scriptonite Updates
Links for the day
Links 11/07/2025: Hardware, Russia, and China
Links for the day
Links 11/07/2025: Intel Collapsing and Microsoft Resorts to Bribery to Push Slop Via Obligatory Education
Links for the day
The EFF Sided With the Team That Strangles Women and Tells Women to Kill Themselves
They say that apathy and inaction are a form of a "stance"
"Nat [Friedman] and [the Serial Strangler From Microsoft] Were Always Exceptionally Close," Says Former Housemate and Colleague
Now Alex (hiding behind another name when that suits him) not only attacks women but also people who merely report what he did to women
Exemplary List of Things That Are Not Artificial Intelligence or Even Intelligence
The "age of AI" or "era of AI" or "AI revolution" mostly boils down to rebranding, just like "the cloud"
New Letter From the European Patent Office Explains How the Office Plots to Grant Many Illegal Patents, a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of 'Growth'
Open letter to Mr Rowan (VP1) and Mr Aledo Lopez (COO)
Abuse of Process
5RB is employing people who help violent men
What Microsoft's Nat Friedman and Microsoft Lunduke Have in Common
"Get in da car; No time to explain, loser"
Microsoft and IBM Don't Have Much of a Future (They Mostly Pretend at This Point)
IBM and Microsoft are in some ways alike but in many ways different
It's Not Just Twitter (or X.com) That's Dying, Microsoft's Equivalent is Dying Also
Unable to find a business model
GitHub Copilot Can Cause the Bankruptcy of GitHub to Come Sooner and GitHub to be Shut Down Just Like Skype
Some publicly available information suggests that even for each paid subscriber for plagiarism (LLM 'coding') GitHub Copilot still loses more money than it makes
Wayland is Bad for the Planet
If you use Wayland, it'll take you longer to accomplish tasks and you will consume more energy (or battery life)
Legitimising Those Who Sabotage You
Microsoft is a very malicious company
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 10, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 10, 2025
On Microsoft Layoffs
we might be looking at about 60,000 Microsoft layoffs since 2023
EPO Management Already Breaks Its Own Promise (Lie) on "Bringing Teams Together"
This gut-punching move happened just 2 days ago
Gemini Links 11/07/2025: Occupation of 2025 and "Old Man Yells At Soundcloud"
Links for the day
Our Lawsuits Against the 'Cancel Mob' (Ringleaders) Helped Reduce Anti-Free Software Online Abuse
That's not to say that lawsuits are the best way to handle terrible people. But that can help.