Summary: Microsoft confirms the authenticity of its lies about GNU/Linux; Richard Stallman's talk in Argentina debated further

IF there really is a "new Microsoft," then it sure isn't a very nice entity. Its latest assault at the retail level (using other companies' resources to poison employees against the competition) is a subject we've covered in:

1. Microsoft's Latest Anti-GNU/Linux Moves Are Sign of Agony
2. Best Buy Has Collusion/Racketeering History with Microsoft, Anti-GNU/Linux Training Comes to Staples Employees Too
3. Best Buy Reminds Us of the “New” Microsoft, the *Real* Microsoft
4. Microsoft's Anti-GNU/Linux Training Comes to Office Depot, Not Just Best Buy and Staples

As Jason Perlow points out, Microsoft has resorted to negative marketing where the competition is ridiculed rather than products truly promoted. It is important to remember that this is not done by Windows enthusiasts; this is a decision made by people in suits who allocate budgets and write down strategies. It just comes to show how brutal they are. And finally, after a long radio silence and repeated leaks that left Microsoft without choice, Microsoft admits doing all this.

Microsoft (MSFT) has confirmed the authenticity of a controversial set of training slides that it prepared to train Best Buy (BBY) employees in what the software giant calls "the important differences between Linux computers and Windows computers."

Here is what Helios wrote about how Microsoft further destroyed trust in salespeople, just as it corrupted trust in academia using kickbacks and betrayed bloggers using bribes.

Who is willing to take a Linux laptop into one of these stores and let the salesman give his pitch then categorically prove him wrong?

Who is going to personally visit the Store Manager and tell him that millions of people are now aware of this campaign and sanctions are being prepared if they carry out this deception and FUD?

A week ago we also wrote about an incident from Argentina. If the following report from ECT (with more rigourous fact-checking) is correct, then it's true that Microsoft had something to do with the cancellation of a talk from Richard Stallman.

The news originally broke in Spanish on Matware, but an English translation -- complete with video clip -- confirmed the incredible news.

The speech did apparently end up taking place at another location, but bloggers didn't take the news lying down.

'Devious Means'

"The saddest thing here is that this is a tax-supported public University we are talking about," wrote jkohen, for example, in a lengthy conversation on LWN that quickly turned into an analysis of free speech.

"One has to wonder, how many other speeches (not just by rms) have been quietly not-approved in other universities at MS's behest?" added coriordan.

Similarly: "I think Argentina just embarrassed itself as a country," Montreal consultant and Slashdot blogger Gerhard Mack told LinuxInsider.

Look at what Microsoft does to people's trust in their own government. We wrote a lot about this when Microsoft was corrupting governments worldwide for the sake of OOXML. Microsoft leads people to revolting against their own national establishments. ⬆

"[A]mazing that corruption is excepted by the entire developed world. stunning that it has met with resistance only with some developing nations and maybe the european union. what should have been an overwhelming anger by all nations . the notion that developed nation are immune to corruption is bogus. microsoft did it in full view, without any hesitation. microsoft should be nailed for this."

--Ashok Pai