Bonum Certa Men Certa

The History of 'Paul Murphy' Defaming Linux

ZDNet



Summary: A look back (8 years ago) at what "Paul Murphy" was doing to GNU/Linux, leading to the thread "Rudy de Haas' Defamation"

Our previous post dealt with pseudonym "Paul Murphy", whose fake nickname must have indicated an escape from some past or some shame (sincere people needn't hide their identity), even predating the SCO case. A reader has sent us a pointer to this old message which refers to IDG (LinuxWorld):







-----Original Message----- From: John Alvord [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2002 5:17 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Rudy de Haas' Defamation

On Mon, 27 May 2002 19:33:01 -0400, "Post, Mark K" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>I thought quite a while before deciding to write this note. I finally >decided that it was worth the trouble and risk of being ignored. > >Rudy de Haas' (aka Paul Murphy) latest and final article in his series on >Linux/390 was really too much to have to deal with in what should be a >reputable publication such as LinuxWorld. Inferring that the subscribers of >the Linux-390 mailing list are the same as gullible members of a religious >cult is crossing the line of responsible journalism into territory that I >don't even know how to categorize. > >In his zeal to criticize IBM and the Linux/390 platform, he seems to be >unaware of one possible explanation for all the things he can't understand >about the platform and its supporters: they might be right and he might be >wrong. In his last column he makes the comment "The list members know >what's going on, most of them have daily access to Linux on the mainframe >and can see its costs and limitations far more clearly than outsiders can." >Which is true. In his mind, though, that just makes them deluded cult >members, as opposed to intelligent professionals who know a good thing when >they see it. > >If Mr. de Haas had actually listened to the responses he got, instead of >taking them as further evidence of a collective delusion, he might have >avoided libeling thousands of honest, hardworking IT professionals. >Instead, he chose to drape himself in the mantel of self-righteousness and >proceed in his own delusion. > >To use a British turn of phrase, bad show, both on his part, and yours as >well. > >Mark Post

Maybe some people here should author a rebuttal and see if LinuxWorld would publish it.

john





The SCO case is practically over, but the usual suspects -- Rud^H^H^H^Hrphy included -- keep flogging a dead horse. It's important that people don't pay attention to them.

"Maureen O'Gara said she was going to call them so it looks better coming from her."

Microsoft's "smoking guns"

Recent Techrights' Posts

Greener Pastures for Free Software Users
This coming week we'll publish many articles about GNU/Linux and technical means of/for user empowerment
Google News, Which We Call Gulag Noise, is Following the New York Times Into the Digital Graveyard
It merely gives an illusion of volume and instead of giving readers more stuff to read it wastes people's time
Over at Tux Machines...
yesterday's posts
Software Freedom is the Future and Microsoft is the Biggest Obstacle
GNU/Linux, at its roots, was all about Software Freedom
 
"Modern" Computing Sucks and Harms Computer Users
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Red Windows
Red Hat is not into Free software
Richard Stallman Giving Talks in the Czech Republic and Germany This Week (Tomorrow's Talk is "Artificial Intelligence vs Language Models")
This past weekend he gave two talks in the Czech Republic
Companies Faking the True Number of Layoffs With Return-to-Office Mandates and Forced Relocation
we estimate that Microsoft cut about 30,000 so far this year, having cut many more jobs last year
Links 03/10/2023: Cellphones (Mobile Phones) Banned in Classrooms in England
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 02, 2023
IRC logs for Monday, October 02, 2023
Daily Bulletins Coming Soon (Hopefully as Early as Next Week)
Today we finish testing IRC logs and their upload to Gemini, not just to IPFS
Links 02/10/2023: NUC, GTK Themes, and More
Links for the day
New Union Syndicale Articles About the European Patent Office
We'll probably get back to regularly writing about the EPO in the near future
If WordPress Knows Well Enough to Self-Host Its Podcast, Why Can't GNU/Linux Shows Do the Same?
For those who want videos and podcasts, here are today's latest additions from other sites
Richard Stallman Can Outlive Many of His Prominent Haters
M.J.G. tried hard to take our Web site offline, based on lies and repeated threats
The GNU/Linux Revolution Ain't Here. Look at Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) Instead.
The revolution won't be televised
Chaffbot Effect: Microsoft Bing Falls to Lowest Share in Two Years (Amid Loads of Bing Layoffs This Year)
Press outlets mostly failed to report that Bing is collapsing
Forget VSCode (Microsoft's Proprietary Spyware), Use KATE Instead
KATE is great
Sometimes It's Time to Reboot
No, not Android. KDE.
GNU/Linux Distributions as "Appliances" and DRM Platforms (the Case of ChromeOS and SteamOS)
Is this what we envisioned in the 1980s and 90s?
Fulfilling the Site's Full Potential
We remain devoted to the aforementioned goal of posting more original material
Over at Tux Machines...
2 days' worth
Upcoming Talk by Dr. Richard Stallman: Large Language Models Are Not Artificial Intelligence
LLMs aren't truly intelligent and cannot quite grasp what they spew out
GulagTube is a Burning Platform (Exit YouTube, Invidious Won't Save Us From Google/Alphabet in the Long Run)
Alphabet Agency (Google) sees the future of video as a "skinnerbox" (running Android) that indoctrinates you like TikTok does
Microsoft's Demise in the Global News Cycle is Rather Telling
It should be noted that Microsoft is, in general, no longer prominent or dominant in news headlines
Gemini Migration and Backup Capsule (Archive)
At the end we'll end up with something a lot better than before and latency should be massively reduced
Links 01/10/2023: Science, Education, and pro-Russia Slovakia Leadership
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 01, 2023
IRC logs for Sunday, October 01, 2023
Links 01/10/2023: Climate, Patents, Programming, and More
Links for the day
Apple and Microsoft Problems
half a dozen links
Malware in the Ubuntu Snap Store, Thanks to Canonical Bloatware Mindset
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Gemini Rising
There are 3523 capsules
Richard Stallman Gave a Talk Yesterday, Will Give Another Talk Today, and Will Give Two More Talks in Germany Later This Week
Those cover at least 2 different topics
Beware the Microsoft Sharks
We won't forgive and forget
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 30, 2023
IRC logs for Saturday, September 30, 2023
Don't be Afraid of the Command Line, It Might Even be a Friend
There's a tendency to think that only graphical interfaces were made to simplify usage, and any declarative interface is by design raw, inherently unfit for usage
One Positive Note About GNU/Linux Coverage in 2023 (Less Microsoft)
GNU/Linux users do not want this, with very rare exceptions
Snaps Were Never Good at Security, But the Media Coverage is Just Appalling
The media should focus on culling Windows, not making a huge fuss over minor things wrongly attributed to "Linux"