Eye on Competition: Microsoft 'Religion', Apple 'Cult'
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2009-12-23 10:38:21 UTC
- Modified: 2009-12-23 10:38:21 UTC
Summary: A couple of offbeat items from yesterday
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Give me that Microsoft Religion - NOT!
Because the Microsoft religion, or cult if you will, isn't rational. It can't be rational. When you worship something, it has to have a value to you. Microsoft has no value to the end user, in part because the company has no ethics.
I feel sorry for the Microsoft worshipers, worshiping at the feet of a false idol, worshipers of a false religion.
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Apple tries to fix broken Imacs
Apple fanboys who bought Imacs have been plagued with display problems. Some machines arrived with cracked screens, and apparently Apple has been replacing those, while other Imac punters have suffered flickering displays.
The company initially denied that there were any problems with its Imacs and still won't admit that there is anything wrong with the machines. However, it has released a firmware update.
[..]
Apple delayed shipping the 27-inch Imacs earlier this month, claiming that it was having supply problems. However, some people suspected that delay was really announced because it did not want more bad press.
It still won't say that the 638K update will solve everyone's Imac display problems. Its notice says, "If your screen remains black after applying the updater or if you continue to experience image corruption or display flickering after successfully completing this update, contact AppleCare or an Apple Authorized Service Provider."
So far some users have said that the firmware update still has not resolved their problems. Some of them have seen screen flickers again within a few minutes of restarting after the update. Others claim that their problems have been fixed.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Gemini Links 09/08/2026: Meatballs (1979), Gopher, RSS Experiment
- Links for the day
- IBM's "Next Step" Program
- Apparently close to 1,000 people being laid off by IBM wasn't worth reporting
- If GNU/Linux Rising is Just "Bots" (It's Not, Many Surveys Show the Same), Why Does Microsoft Rush to Lie About System Requirements of Vista 11?
- The real reason is, GNU/Linux is rising
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- Links 09/08/2026: US Blackouts (Energy Wasted), Slop to Evade Accountability, and Software Patents Framed as "Hey Hi"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 09/08/2026: Parakeets in Britain and Rant About 'Modern' Washing Machines
- Links for the day
- Links 09/08/2026: Social Control Media Weaponises Immigration, Europe Suffers Severe Drought, and "Internet of Stuff" Explained
- Links for the day
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 144 Out of 200: The "Hired Guns" ("Media" at BW) Shrank Almost Three-Fold Since They Sued Us in 2024
- No wonder they're so visibly outnumbered
- 10 Days Ago Red Hat Formally Terminated Employment of About 500 Technical Workers (the Media Didn't Mention This)
- IBM has nothing left to do except fire people (in secret) whilst attacking sites that give these people a voice
- Freenode Continues to Shed Off Servers and Users, Good Thing We Abandoned It
- you cannot sell communities. It leads to chaos
- Daniel Pocock in the Sunday Times (Today)
- Expect the attacks (from Pocock's haters, motivated by envy) to intensify
- Controlling One's Platform
- We need to strive for or actively pursue a Web where everyone has their own platform/s and where censors ("moderators") have no direct control over these platforms
- Improving the Static Site Generator (SSG), Fixing Bugs
- Next month the site's SSG turns 3
- 2026: The Year Richard Stallman Came Back to American Campuses
- There's more on the way
- XBox is Rotting Away, Technical Issues for Second Time in Two Weeks
- XBox is dying
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 08, 2026
- IRC logs for Saturday, August 08, 2026
- Red Hat is in Need of a 'Jolla', as an IBM-Controlled Red Hat is Becoming Like the Microsoft-Infiltrated Nokia
- Dying fast, partly by design
- Gemini Links 08/08/2026: Gigs, Poems, SREs, and Shared Passion
- Links for the day
- Kompromat Tactics in GNU and Linux
- Kompromat as a concept was covered here in the past in relation to Microsoft
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 143 Out of 200: After Nearly 10 Attempts to Settle With Us and Over a Million Pounds Spent on Lawyers and Barristers
- We are in no particular hurry
- 20 Years and 43 Years
- GNU/Linux is not just code, it's a philosophy, licence (copyleft), and community
- GNU/Linux Turns 43 Next Month, Many Distros Actively Maintained
- A lot of Debian-based distros are still actively maintained (we talk about this in IRC this evening), so the stability of the Debian Project is important
- Links 08/08/2026: GAFAM Colonialism "Paved Over Protected Wetlands", Slop Companies Hoard Software Patents as Debt Soars to Trillions
- Links for the day
- Links 08/08/2026: "Palantir Paid No Federal Income Tax" and "Who's Responsible for This Mess?"
- Links for the day
- Retained: The Time IBM's Red Hat Tried to Hijack or Take Offline Site of Critics, Failed on All Grounds (Meritless Action Intended to Harass Critics)
- Replicated from adrforum.com
- IBM's 'Final Solution': Censor Sites Not Controlled by IBM, Sites Where Dissent is Expressed
- IBM has no culture of free speech
- More Mass Layoffs Coming IBM's Way (Ones IBM Cannot Hide, Cannot Convince Enough People to Leave or Unjustifiably PIP Them When They Say No)
- The company that was like a "father of modern computing" is now stingy when it comes to travel. Not a good sign.
- What Will it Take for Mainstream Media to Report Silent or Secret Layoffs at IBM?
- "Silent" or "secret" sometimes because the media won't cover them
- Is the Future of IBM Red Hat Temporary Staff, Contractors?
- They want cheap, obedient lemmings
- Gemini Links 08/08/2026: Tribute to Lloyd Center, Radio Amateurism, Homeworlds
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 07, 2026
- IRC logs for Friday, August 07, 2026
- Microsoft Uses Slop to Find Defects and Then Uses Slop to Replace Code, What Could Go Wrong?
- Botspam is the problem, it's not a constructive approach in any shape or form
- analytics.usa.gov: GNU/Linux Up Some More This Week
- Days ago it said 6.4%, now it's up to 6.8%
- RA-pocalypse: IBM Tells Workers "Taking a Hike" is Their "Next Step" ('Voluntary' Layoffs), Now It Prepares to Sack Lots of Contractors
- There definitely is something going on
- Legal Attacks on Techrights Have Made Techrights More Popular and More Widely Read
- The misogynists will have plenty of work to do this summer
- Kai Stephens (Barkley Walsh) & British Democrats in Clacton by-election hustings
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Daniel Pocock 'Punching' Nazis in the UK
- The so-called "cult" of so-called "Debianism" was left with nothing but massive legal bills
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 142 Out of 200: GemText is Not a Webpage, Gemini Protocol is Not the Web, and Capsules Are Not Websites
- our intention to appeal (escalate to the Court of Appeal)
- Microsoft: Our August 2026 Layoffs Are Not Layoffs Because... Reasons
- That's like IBM making "spin-offs", then pretending that no layoffs are happening
- Links 07/08/2026: UMG and Anthropic in Trouble Over Copyright Infringements Sold as "Training" (Slop)
- Links for the day
- Links 07/08/2026: "BMW Is Showing Commercials On Their Car's Dash Screens And They Want You To Think It's A Treat", Software Patents on Drones
- Links for the day
- What We Said About Red Hat's Fate Under IBM Turned Out to be Right on the Money (That IBM Lacks)
- There are no layoffs at IBM
- IRC Networks Show No Signs of Going Away, IRC Enters Its 39th Year
- That IRC daemons are still actively developed and patched in summer of 2026 (over 38 years after IRC was born) says a lot about IRC's importance
- Social [Control] Media Needs to Die
- I am a bit shocked to recall that I wasted a lot of time on it
- Some Malware is Legal Because It's Made and Distributed by Politically-Connected GAFAM
- In reality, the security non-experts 'championed' (and salaried) by GAFAM are anti-security people who advocate back doors
- The GNU/Linux Anniversary is Next Month, Not This Month
- It'll turn 43
- At Clacton by-election Hustings Event Daniel Pocock Says "Social [Control] Media Has Contributed to Some of the Anti Social Behaviour."
- No doubt many problems in society are caused or at least amplified/accentuated by this horrible phenomenon
- IBM Insiders Explain Why IBM is in Very Serious Trouble
- Will IBM last long enough for any "quantum" deliverables to become a reality?
- The Register MS Took Money From Broadcom to Publish Fake 'News' With "AI" Mentioned 35 Times
- not legitimate or authentic journalism.
- GNU/Linux Approaching 20% in Georgia (the Country)
- Usage of GNU/Linux was near 0%, as measured by statCounter, several years ago
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 06, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, August 06, 2026
- Gemini Links 07/08/2026: Radio Amateurism, Summer Updates, and Programming "Taste"
- Links for the day
Comments
satipera
2009-12-23 11:34:32
Roy Schestowitz
2009-12-23 12:17:42
Robotron 2084
2009-12-23 15:05:14
The author of that blog? He mentions OpenBytes (Goblin), Groklaw, and Lefty. So we pretty much know he's a member of the inner hate circle who are also fans of this website. In other words, lots of backs getting scratched.
Needs Sunlight
2009-12-23 22:02:24
Their own words for their work are 'evangelism' and 'jihad' and they call themselves 'evangelists' and 'true believers' All that predates any reference to other systems.
satipera
2009-12-24 11:53:55
You are preaching to a convert here and also teaching granny to suck eggs, I am a lot more aware of dodgy MS practices than I used to be. The pseudo religious language you quote is the result of marketing practices. First; marketing companies brainwash their staff then they brainwash the public. It is a systematic process. I have seen it being done (briefly). Otherwise sane and rational people can start to behave very strangely when sucked into the bizarre world of marketing and sales.
Knowing the practices that you refer to are going on is one thing. Labeling the users of that terrible OS as worshipers and cultists is entirely another. The only result will be further entrenchment and silly flame wars.
I want to see MS made accountable for it's actions as much as anyone, and I want to read about them when they come to light. Like anything else in life there is a right way and a wrong way to go about things. I support much of what BN is doing but I reserve the right to speak up when I see something that is counter productive. Remember we are trying to win people around not insult them.
Roy Schestowitz
2009-12-24 12:03:25
Trust me, I thought about the very same point that you speak about before publishing this. I thought it would be amusing nonetheless.