Call Out Windows

"Call Out Windows" is a small campaign that politely asks journalists to report Windows-specific issues for what they really are: Windows issues. Posts touching on the subject include the following:

2009

05/06 - Maggie Shills does not know that zombies are a windows problem.

06/19 - MSNBC does not mention Windows in an article about a Windows flaw responsible for the 2008 Spanair crash and the death of 215 people. Microsoft astroturfers try to blame IBM.

12/23 - In 2006, Cerf and Geer say that hundreds of millions of Windows PCs are part of a botnet. In 2008 a security says 40% of all Windows computers are like that, Microsoft says 30%. In 2009, Trend Micro claims 50%. Most of the trade press pretends this is an unavoidable "computer problem" not a Windows problem but Beth Lynn Eicher predicts the end of Microsoft dominance by June of 2011. Android an iPhone satisfy her bet a year early but most of the tech press continues to shield Microsoft.

2010

03/02 - Google dumps their 20,000 Windows licenses and bans Windows use internally because of security flaws that were responsible for attacks in China. Now that's how to Call out Windows.

03/08 - BBC fails to call out Windows and ArsTechnica blames another company

03/16 - Call Out Windows

03/19 - Elinor Mills Finally Calls Out Windows

04/21 - Journalists to Other Journalists: Call Out Windows

04/23 - IDG and The Register Don’t Call Out Windows; McAfee Whitewash

04/30 - BBC comes to Microsoft's rescue after EWeek reports fake AV software scamming Windows users, including Windows 7. BBC pretends that this is a computer problem by saying that other OS are also targeted, something that makes no sense and is without evidence of any kind.

05/06 - Despite publishing articles about the defacement of thousands of Windows 2003 server pages and a massive Sharepoint 2007 flaw, PCWorld fails to call out Windows in a third article about a Texas botnet. Techrights suspects the older software was shamed to encourage people to purchase newer versions under the false assumption that the newer software is more secure.

05/06 - Security experts Kaspersky and Rutkowska both call out Windows as inherently flawed. EWeek names Windows for LoveBug worm of year 2000.

06/19 - MSNBC is caught manipulating an article to hide Windows flaws. Techrights gives many examples of Microsoft press manipulation including The New York Times and Wall Street Journal

07/21 - Reuters names Windows as the culprit in a Siemens industrial control system flaw that puts many plants at risk.

07/21 - Almost everyone fails to blame Windows for the BSoD problem that doomed eleven men on the Deepwater Horizon.

07/31 - Yahoo fails to call out Windows when reporting about a giant Windows botnet

08/10 - Network World, The Register and IDG fail to call out Windows in Zeus botnet attacks

10/03 - BBC Cannot Call out Windows

2015

Back Doors/Bug Doors in All Versions of Microsoft Windows Need a Name, a Logo, and Branding Too

Also see Stuxnet