05.01.09

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Another Pillar of the Microsoft Press Falls Over

Posted in Deception, GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft at 4:50 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

“I’m a huge fan of guerrilla marketing.”

–Joe Wilcox, Microsoft Fan

Summary: Microsoft Watch may be dead; Google carries on rising

MICROSOFT’S ability influence minds will diminish even further. Now it’s Joe Wilcox who feels the anguish. He’s leaving Microsoft Watch, which dumped Microsoft for Red Hat (GNU/Linux) a few years ago.

With that, there is nothing left to say but goodbye—and thank you.

Microsoft Watch is a Ziff Davis publication and we happen to have evidence to show that it sold out to Microsoft [1, 2]. Could this be the end of Microsoft Watch, which used to be Mary Jo Foley’s public space? She escaped to ZDNet, but that too may be at risk of not surviving. Since they are all GNU/Linux-hostile, this is not a bad thing.

Microsoft recently cut its PR budget and together with the demise of The Seattle P-I, it all adds up to decreasing Microsoft influence (although it still owns many news networks).

Another “Microsoft Joe” (not Wilcox), who has been covering Microsoft exclusively at the Seattle P-I, no longer covers just Microsoft and right now he writes about this:

Most-Searched Term on Microsoft’s Live Search Is … ‘Google’

Microsoft’s Live Search revamp apparently cannot come soon enough. Hitwise data shows that the most commonly searched term on Live Search over the last four weeks has been “Google,” accounting for one percent of all queries. Number two? “Yahoo.”

Google’s brand has become very strong, according to this new report from the UK.

The phrase ‘I’ll just Google it’ has helped make the Internet search giant the world’s first $100billion dollar brand.

Beating out other household names, from Microsoft to Coca Cola and McDonald’s, the company’ value of £68.5billion puts it 25 per cent more valuable than computer software king Microsoft.

If more people rely on the broader Web which offers a decentralised diversity of sources (e.g. using Google), then Microsoft’s ability to police its image will degrade. Sadly, it can still censor blogs while the old press is dying (Newspaper Association has just gone Web-only and it’s likely that everyone will, except those who fail online like Microsoft Watch). █

“Mind Control: To control mental output you have to control mental input. Take control of the channels by which developers receive information, then they can only think about the things you tell them. Thus, you control mindshare!”

–Microsoft, internal document [PDF]

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2 Comments

Chips B Malroy said,

May 2, 2009 at 12:27 pm

I do believe that M$ advertising did pull the plug at Eweek’s M$ Watch. When M$ and their shills, finally figured out that they could not control the comments at M$ Watch, after spending time, many resources, and many different strategies, they decided to abandon the site and effectively close it down. This is not a lost for the Linux community.

What it shows, is that M$ has only a very small real fan base. It shows that people with knowledge were able to use that knowledge to spread the Freedom of GNU/Linux and open source, on a site that was dedicated to the study of M$ products. But I would say, that M$ Watch being shut down, if truly this is so, is the tip of the iceberg for M$. If M$ Watch could be turned into a PR disaster for M$, and a promoter of GNU/Linux, then what of CNET and ZDNET? The same applies, long term. M$ Watch only had dedicated GNU/Linux posters who worked at it for many 2 years.

Now some of you may think it “trolling” to post about GNU/Linux on a site about M$ Watch. But I disagree. M$ Watch was about M$, but also about its competitors, of which GNU/Linux is forefront. Also, if you really are an advocate of GNU/Linux, where better to find the converts, that from Windows? Preaching to the choir here (mostly) will not prehaps have the same sort of impact. Still Boycott Novell is perhaps the single greatest source of information to link to, when posting on sites like M$ Watch.

Roy Schestowitz Reply:
May 2nd, 2009 at 1:34 pm
I correspond with some renowned Microsoft watchers who read BN to learn about the other site of the story (not the spin)

I suggest we keep an eye on Joe and see if Microsoft hires him like it usually does with his type.