Summary: People who are familiar with GNU/Linux and want to destroy it might have a job opening waiting for them at Microsoft

MICROSOFT recently fired a shill named Don Dodge [1, 2, 3, 4]. These people are formally called "evangelists", but judging by their duties, they are de facto AstroTurfers, though they always find ways to spin their role to justify (for themselves) what they do [1, 2, 3, 4] (they also smear Boycott Novell and still link to it with disdain).

According to this article, Microsoft is looking for another shill, probably to replace Dodge.

The Startup Developer Evangelist needs to understand the Startup partner business dynamics and be keen on how Microsoft can help increase platform share and increase the utilization of Microsoft tools and technologies while improving Startup partner satisfaction with Microsoft.

Based on the job description, they need another anti-Linux person for converting clients from GNU/Linux to Microsoft.

Ramji the turncoat recently left and so did Roberts, whose departure got a lot of coverage in the New Zealand press. Well, guess whose gain it is?

Open source making its mark in NZ

Kiwi firms are finally latching on to open source software, early survey results show.

The survey is part of the Public Sector Remix project to investigate the use of free open source software on public sector desktops, and seeks to identify the number and capability of New Zealand companies providing and supporting the software.

Fourteen central and local government agencies are on board, including NZ Post and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

John Rankin, director of project management firm Affinity, which is running the survey along with Victoria University's school of information management, says the results may dispel some myths.

Microsoft is very much focused on hiring people to counter Microsoft's #1 threat, which is GNU/Linux (by Microsoft's very own admission). ⬆