08.04.09
Gemini version available ♊︎
Posted in FUD, GNU/Linux, Microsoft at 5:07 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Another supposedly anonymous commenter is exposed
SOME time ago we wrote about the suspicion that “Mr Dee”, who is prolifically posting sympathetic comments about Microsoft and hostile towards its competition, is in fact a pseudonym of Andre Da Costa, whom Microsoft gave a very expensive laptop for his comprehensive 'services' (in CNET alone, it’s 1260 comments and counting). The laptop is highly valuable where he lives and this is important to those who wish to expose Microsoft AstroTurfing. Perhaps under increased pressure and after overwhelming evidence supplied by Goblin, it is now confirmed by Andre Da Costa himself that he is also “Mr Dee”. As Goblin put it a few hours ago, “So Andre Da Costa has (finally) admitted to posting under another handle on Cnet (Mr Dee)…I wonder why? [...] You can see his confession on his Twitter. Question is, why have two Cnet commenting accounts? [...] At least this latest confession was made by him an not an alleged “friend” (remember the laptop “gift” incident) [...] I think this can be another example I can include in my submissions to the FTC.“
“We are always getting closer to a complete presentation of how Microsoft tames conversations on the Web.”There is another important exposé coming because AstroTurf marketing is against the law in Europe (and more recently the United states). There is a lot more where that came from.
Meanwhile we also learn that Microsoft carries on with its usual behaviour at Twitter [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Here is a FOSS company being ‘befriended’ by yet another Microsoft account. Sometimes it’s just Microsoft TEs who aggressively promote Microsoft to them.
We are always getting closer to a complete presentation of how Microsoft tames conversations on the Web. Here is “Mr Dee” enjoying the expensive gift Microsoft shipped him (pictures of his Acer Ferrari 5000). █
Related:
- LawMedia Group May be Another Confirmed Microsoft AstroTurfing Agency
- The Microsoft Connection with Dewey Square Group and DCI/New Media
- Microsoft ‘Bribes’ Mac Bloggers to Slam Apple, Gartner Hosts Google FUD
- Microsoft, TCS, DCI, Edelman, and Those Fake Letters About IP/SCO/Monopoly
- James Plamondon: Microsoft Guerrilla
- FullSIX and Mr. Youth LLC May Be Ruining the Web (AstroTurfing) on Microsoft’s Behalf
- Microsoft: 800 lb. Guerrilla
- Astroturfing Examples: Learning How Microsoft Tames the Internet
- Waggener Edstrom, Maureen O’Gara and Other Microsoft Shills
- Partial Index: Summary of Bribed Sites, Journalists, and Bloggers (Vista 7)
- Waggener-Edstrom Behind the 2008 Laptop Bribes, Edelman Behind 2006′s
- Manipulation, Astroturfing, and What Governments Can Do
- Beware the OOXML AstroTurfer: “The Wraith”, “multivac1”, “hAl”, Among Other Nyms
- Microsoft May Have Bribed India for OOXML Pressure
- Microsoft Has Been Rigging Votes/Polls for Ages
- Gary M. Stewart (aka “Flatfish”) About Microsoft AstroTurfing: “It’s made me A LOT of money….”
- Former Microsoft Shill Openly Confesses, Alleges Microsoft Still Does This
- Respecting AstroTurfers?
- Some New (But Very Old) Microsoft AstroTurfing Examples
- Joe Barr, Linux.com Editor – My Obituary
- Joe Barr Knew Microsoft’s Tactics All Too Well
- 66 Pages of Microsoft Evilness
- Another AstroTurf Scam Exposed?
- Quick Mention: Sony is AstroTurfing, Just Like Microsoft
- Memo to Novell: Leave YouTube Alone
- Microsoft Blast from the Past: Ads Banned for Spurring Violence
- Is YouTube’s “NovellVideo” a Novell AstroTurfer?
- Microsoft/Munchkin ‘Breaks’ the Web to Break Open Document Standards (Again)
- Rob Enderle Guarantees “Amazing Numbers”, Show E-mails to Microsoft
- Microsoft Agents from Waggener Edstrom Airbrush Wikipedia, Glorify Paymaster
- Microsoft Unleashes Proxies at Journalists to Defend Vulnerable Vista
- Microsoft’s OOXML Viral Marketing Reaches YouTube
Share in other sites/networks:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Permalink
Send this to a friend
ᶃ Gemini Space
Below is a Web proxy. We recommend getting a Gemini client/browser.
This post is also available in Gemini over at this address (requires a Gemini client/browser to open).
✐ Cross-references
Pages that cross-reference this one, if any exist, are listed below or will be listed below over time.
- When Microsoft MVPs Throw in the Towel and Bash Microsoft
- Signs of Defeat: Microsoft Speaks About Invisible Windows, Not Existing Products
- Benchmark Reviews is Plagiarism, Exposed, Resorts to DMCA Abuse (to Censor Critics)
- More Microsoft Incentives, Bribes, or Giveaways
- “Yes, Microsoft Basically Bribed the Press” – Newspaper Journalist
- Bribosoft
- Apple Lies About “Open Source” (and More on Apple/Microsoft AstroTurfing)
- Microsoft MVPs Nymshifting, Pretending to be Other Gender, Accepting Bribes, and Libeling GNU/Linux Users
- Ina Fried Receives Microsoft Payback as Gates’ Reputation Laundering Tour Kicks Off in US Colleges
- Microsoft PR Presented as ‘News’
- Aggressive Marketing for Vista 7
- Vista 7 Does Have Battery Issues (Microsoft Lied) and Microsoft Gives “MVP” to Man Who Loves “to Argue Against Linux Fanatics”
- AstroTurfing for Vista 7 Still Alive
- Michael Arrington a Hypocrite: Bribed by Microsoft Yet Fires Bribed Bloggers
- Apple Sent iPads to ‘Important’ Writers Weeks Before Launch
- Microsoft Hypocrites Denounce Google Over Books While Taking Away Books from the British Public
- Microsoft ‘Innovates’ Microblogging, Buys User Accounts, Followers Spoil Google Wave
- Google’s (Staff) Index Poisoned by Microsoft
- The Microsoft Schwag Club
- Fake Reporters, Microsoft, Apple, and the FTC
▢ Respond and Discuss
If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.
What Else is New
Links 30/01/2023: Coreboot 4.19 and Budgie 10.7
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, January 29, 2023
IRC logs for Sunday, January 29, 2023
[Meme] With Superheroes Like These...
Ever since the new managers arrived the talent has fled the company that falsely credits itself with "Open Source"
Not Tolerating Proprietary 'Bossware' in the Workplace (or at Home in Case of Work-From-Home)
The company known as Sirius ‘Open Source’ generally rejected… Open Source. Today’s focus was the migration to Slack.
The ISO Delusion: A Stack of Proprietary Junk (Slack) Failing Miserably
When the company where I worked for nearly 12 years spoke of pragmatism it was merely making excuses to adopt proprietary software at the expense of already-working and functional Free software
Debian 11 on My Main Rig: So Far Mostly OK, But Missing Some Software From Debian 10
Distributions of GNU/Linux keep urging us to move to the latest, but is the latest always the greatest? On Friday my Debian 10 drive died, so I started moving to Debian 11 on a new drive and here's what that did to my life.
Stigmatising GNU/Linux for Not Withstanding Hardware Failures
Nowadays "the news" is polluted with a lot of GNU/Linux-hostile nonsense; like with patents, the signal-to-noise ratio is appalling and here we deal with a poor 'report' about "Linux servers" failing to work
Microsofters Inside Sirius 'Open Source'
Sirius ‘Open Source’ has been employing incompetent managers for years — a sentiment shared among colleagues by the way; today we examine some glaring examples with redacted communications to prove it
Links 29/01/2023: GNOME 43.3 Fixes and Lots About Games
Links for the day
The Hey Hype Machine
"Hey Hype" or "Hey Hi" (AI) has been dominating the press lately and a lot of that seems to boil down to paid-for marketing; we need to understand what's truly going on and not be distracted by the substance-less hype
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, January 28, 2023
IRC logs for Saturday, January 28, 2023
Unmasking AI
A guest article by Andy Farnell
The ISO Delusion/Sirius Corporation: A 'Tech' Company Run by Non-Technical People
Sirius ‘Open Source’ was hiring people who brought to the company a culture of redundant tasks and unwanted, even hostile technology; today we continue to tell the story of a company run by the CEO whose friends and acquaintances did severe damage
Links 28/01/2023: Lots of Catching Up (Had Hardware Crash)
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, January 27, 2023
IRC logs for Friday, January 27, 2023
Microsoft DuckDuckGo Falls to Lowest Share in 2 Years After Being Widely Exposed as Microsoft Proxy, Fake 'Privacy'
DuckDuckGo, according to this latest data from Statcounter, fell from about 0.71% to just 0.58%; all the gains have been lost amid scandals, such as widespread realisation that DuckDuckGo is a Microsoft informant, curated by Microsoft and hosted by Microsoft (Bing is meanwhile laying off many people, but the media isn’t covering that or barely bothers)
This is What the Microsoft-Sponsored Media Has Been Hyping Up for Weeks (Ahead of Microsoft Layoffs)
Reprinted with permission from Ryan
[Meme] António Campinos Wants to Be F***ing President Until 2028
António Campinos insists he will be EPO President for 10 years, i.e. even longer than Benoît Battistelli (despite having appalling approval rates from staff)
European Patent Office Staff Losing Hope
The EPO’s management with its shallow campaign of obfuscation (pretending to protect children or some other nonsense) is not fooling patent examiners, who have grown tired and whose representatives say “the administration shows no intention of involving the staff representation in the drafting of the consultant’s mandate” (like in Sirius ‘Open Source’ where technical staff is ignored completely for misguided proposals to pass in the dark)
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, January 26, 2023
IRC logs for Thursday, January 26, 2023
Sirius Relegated/Demoted/Destined Itself to Technical Hell by Refusing to Listen to the Technical Staff (Which Wanted to Stay With Asterisk/Free Software)
In my final year at Sirius ‘Open Source’ communication systems had already become chaotic; there were too many dysfunctional tools, a lack of instructions, a lack of coordination and the proposed ‘solution’ (this past October) was just more complexity and red tape
Geminispace Approaching Another Growth Milestone (2,300 Active Capsules)
The expansion of Geminispace is worth noting again because another milestone is approached, flirted with, or will be surpassed this coming weekend
[Meme] Cannot Get a Phone to Work... in 2022
Sirius ‘Open Source’ wasted hours of workers’ time just testing the phone after it had moved to a defective system of Google (proprietary); instead of a rollback (back to Asterisk) the company doubled down on the faulty system and the phones still didn’t work properly, resulting in missing calls and angst (the company just blamed the workers who all along rejected this new system)
[Meme] Modern Phones
Sirius ‘Open Source’ is mistaking “modern” for better; insecurity and a lack of tech savvy typically leads to that
The ISO Delusion: Sirius Corporation Demonstrates a Lack of Understanding of Security and Privacy
Sirius ‘Open Source’, emboldened by ISO ‘paperwork’ (certification), lost sight of what it truly takes to run a business securely, mistaking worthless gadgets for “advancement” while compelling staff to sign a new contract in a hurry (prior contract-signing scandals notwithstanding)
Links 26/01/2023: LibreOffice 7.4.5 and Ubuntu Pro Offers
Links for the day
Links 26/01/2023: GNU poke 3.0 and PipeWire 0.3.65
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, January 25, 2023
IRC logs for Wednesday, January 25, 2023
Companies Would Collapse Upon Abandoning Their Original Goals (That Attracted All the Productive Staff)
Staff with technical skills won't stick around in companies that reject technical arguments and moreover move to proprietary software in a company that brands itself "Open Source"
[Meme] Listen to Your Workers, Avert Disaster
Companies that refuse to take input from staff are doomed to fail
Chips B. Malroy said,
August 4, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Actually Andre Da Costa has been cited and used as a source in Cnet articles, while also posting as user “Mr. Dee” in some articles. He has also been used as a source in articles on the Seattle PI Microsoft reporting site as well. While some may see him as only a 3rd world person trying to get a few “freebies,” from MS and MS and HP, he is most likely, much more than that.
A quick search of Google for his name reveals the depth of his posting, he is either Andre Da Costa, adacosta, or Mr. Dee on so many MS related sites. The 1400 comments on Cnet are just a drop in the bucket from this M$ Shill. If he uses these nym’s, or sockpuppets, for a better word, there are most likely other names that he uses that are not known yet. But clearly, someone who most likely has 50K of comments on the internet, related to MS or its competitors, is not your normal garden variety M$ Fanboy. Most likely, but hard to prove, is he is paid to post.
Dragging the truth out of people like this is like pulling Nails, or rather spikes from hardwood. When you got the truth, and he admitted it, he became very combative, and used namecalling. Not that much difference between him and flatfish on that score. Its one reason to use a sock puppet, is that the Shill can be a whole lot more nasty in his attacks. As in the case of Mr. Dee if you read some of his comments.
The problem I find with Andre, is he aspires to be a MS reporter, like those on CNET, MS Watch, ZDNET, etc. Is it ethical, for someone like Andre who is most likely a M$ Mole, to get one of these jobs? Its seems that is what he is being groomed for.
This is just my opinion, and my opinion alone.