Summary: Why Web sites which are critical of Microsoft should not be considered the problem; rather, they help counter the problem in a reactionary fashion

THERE is a point that must be addressed as it seems to be a recurrent subject that is used to bemoan and belittle the efforts of sites like Groklaw. Enemies of the site have been suggesting that since the SCO saga had pretty much ended with the ruling and the bankruptcy in SCO case, Groklaw then moved on to dismissing another so-called 'boogeyman' or 'scapegoat', such as Microsoft. Now, if these disruptors of FOSS had paid attention, they would understand the relationship between SCO and Microsoft. In the eyes of the sceptic, Groklaw was using a tactics similar to the Nazis', which is outright ridiculous and we ought to explain why. To paint Groklaw as the intolerant side is like calling the cop who nails a thug down to the ground "violent".

"When reality is a commodity, spin and lobbying is all they need to invest in for daemonisation of good people."To claim that Groklaw gained power from Microsoft disdain is to completely ignore what Groklaw showed about Microsoft. It is Microsoft -- not sites like Groklaw -- that sought to increase its own power by dividing the free and open source software communities, further signing divisive patent deals starting in 2006 with Novell. It was Microsoft which did this, not its critics who merely highlighted it. To suggest that reactionary writings are somehow worse than Microsoft using patent litigation to fracture the community is like putting the whistelblower in prison rather than the criminal this whistelblower helped expose (and this too we know tends to happen, especially when the whistelblower is small and the crook is a too-big-to-fail entity in a suit). One bit of disinformation that I sometimes see is that I "hate Linus" and "hate open source". That's a bald faced lie and a complete reversal of reality, probably intended to incite people against me. This is the type of reversal Microsoft spinners use to call FOSS people "zealots" (stereotypical) when in fact the biggest zealot out there is Microsoft. When reality is a commodity, spin and lobbying is all they need to invest in for daemonisation of good people.

So please, to all those who somehow suggest that Groklaw feeds on hatred, do a sanity check. The side spreading hatred is not the one reporting about it.

In a later post we will show how Microsoft is 'owning' Linux, using backroom deals which are probably illegal and distort what markets actually mean, using software patents, bribes (like Novell's), retaliatory lawsuits (sometimes via proxies), and collusion. We are going to deal with that in a separate post. In the mean time, see Groklaw's latest update on SCO bankruptcy and debt:

SCO's Chapter 11 Trustee, Edward Cahn of Blank Rome, finally has filed SCO's monthly operating reports for February. Yes. February. Didn't they do that already? No. In February, they filed for November of 2010.

And what do you know? He finally shows us his handiwork as trustee. The company has basically no money. In fact, it's deeply in debt. So SCO, which was solvent when it filed for bankruptcy protection in September of 2007, has managed to not only lose everything it had back then -- it is in debt. What oversight! What skills! It's precisely all the professional advice SCO has been favored with that put it into this debt.

Also recall this old research from Groklaw:

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates' father's law firm, known as the firm that represents Microsoft, has just filed a Notice of Entry of Appearance and Demand for Notices and Papers [PDF] in the SCO bankruptcy on behalf of MSLI

Microsoft is not a scapegoat and Gates is not benevolent. It's all just part of the PR. And remember this: Groklaw as not divisive; it unifies people against a common threat which is actively attacking them, usually planning these attacks behind closed doors. Do not allow spin to portray as "villains" people who sacrificed their time and career. ⬆

"In the fall of 1982, Pam Edstrom [of Waggener Edstrom], a diminutive woman with piercing blue eyes, was recruited by Microsoft. [...] In modern-day business, flacks were responsible not only for avoiding bad press, but for spinning the good. [...] Hanson and Edstrom would spin a whole new image for Gates himself. They would tap the best and worst of Chairman Bill, changing his clothes, his voice, and his allegiances, driving him to become not just the boss, but, essentially, the company mascot—a sort of high-technology Colonel Sanders." --Pam Edstrom's daughter