Hypocritical Novell Lacks a Sense of Humour

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2009-04-03 10:06:51 UTC
Modified: 2009-04-03 10:06:51 UTC

Press jumps the gun

Movell and Nicrosoft

Summary: Novell does not want people to think that Microsoft has already acquired it; littering of YouTube resumes

THIS year's April Fool's Day was filled with pranks and Red Hat too was a victim. IDG insinuated that it was going proprietary. When it comes to Novell, however, the suggestion that Microsoft was buying it upset the company because the prank was 'too' believable. Here is the short story:

The idea that Microsoft would buy Novell isn't exactly that far-fetched. Events on April 1 have proved this.

A spoof run by iTWire, written by Linux expert David M. Williams, and headlined "Linux beware: Microsoft acquires Novell, become UNIX copyright owner", was sufficient to cause a few people to call Novell in the US and inquire if there was some truth to the story.

Novell PR chief Ian Bruce phoned iTWire and asked that the story be retracted. iTWire editor Stan Beer had to add a paragraph to the story to state emphatically that it was an April Fool's joke.

[...]

He replied: "I wasn't angry. Unfortunately, your story was so well done as a spoof it got picked up in the US and we actually had a couple of calls. Amazing, I know. The headline did it, I think. Sorry for the alarm."

That people took such a story seriously tells us more about Novell, Microsoft and the public impression that the infamous patent contract has created, than any of the articles that have been written analysing, criticising or praising the deal.

So, here are Novell's marketing people trying to remove 'bad' publicity despite the fact that it's obviously a joke and almost every large company is a victim of such jokes.

It ought to be added that, based on what we found yesterday, Novell keeps flooding YouTube with corporate brainwash, so there's a tinge of hypocrisy in its acts regrading publicity. Yesterday alone we found someone called "Phil" shoving an extraordinary amount of Novell advertisements into YouTube. "Phil" apparently describes himself based on his employer, saying that "PJA creates marketing as innovative and inspirational as your technology and science." It also says "Interests and Hobbies: BtoB Advertising and Marketing." Has Novell hired these people to do this? Why can't Novell leave YouTube alone? As evidence of this latest mass insertion of marketing material, here are the videos which "Phil" added yesterday:

Novell Code 11 Baggage Banner

Novell Code 11 Bolts Banner

Novell Ubiquity

Novell Code 11 SIXTY

Novell Mission Critical

Novell Interop Lobby

Novell Interop Retail

Novell Interop WindTunnel

Also worth adding is the fact that the Microsoft press (Redmond Developer) has just added webcasts that promote the Microsoft-taxed SLES. There are two of them. ⬆

Comments

David Gerard

2009-04-03 10:12:23

Y'know, I really can't see anything intrinsically evil in companies (Novell, Microsoft, RIAA, Monsanto) putting their ads up on YouTube. It's not like anyone's forced to look at them.

Ian

2009-04-03 12:23:02

I agree. I use some of their products and I don't even watch anything they put up there. If they posted some technical content, that would be a different story.

Roy Schestowitz

2009-04-03 13:02:08

Technical content I've no problem with and they put some up yesterday (account NovellSupport).

What is your opinion about advancing a format riddled with corruption by polluting YouTube?

David Gerard

2009-04-03 13:06:17

That I'd rather their propaganda was where it could be seen than where it couldn't.

I still don't see how companies putting their ads up on YouTube is intrinsically objectionable.
Dan O'Brian

2009-04-03 13:43:45

I think he's just upset because it's Novell. He's ok with Red Hat, Canonical and Sun doing it, for example.
Dan O'Brian

2009-04-03 13:49:32

An example of Canonical advertising on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6L51uZjaZU

Another example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkMlCeDu-0c

Oh, and have you noticed that these 2 examples are not "obviously" by a Canonical marketer? Yet the only videos he's posted are commercials for Canonical. Hmmm.

At least Novell submits their videos under accounts with Novell in the name.

The following example, at least, was submitted by an account obviously tied to Canonical: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgeS8WinWz4
Ian

2009-04-03 19:23:34

What is your opinion about advancing a format riddled with corruption by polluting YouTube?

I look at it this way, anyone who is bored enough of watching dragon ball z scenes put to linkin park songs to watch a youtube video about a file format probably has a good idea what OOXML is about and what ODF is about and isn't going to be swayed one way or the other.
David Gerard

2009-04-03 19:25:52

I concur with Ian :-)

Besides, think of the classics Microsoft has put out.
Roy Schestowitz

2009-04-03 19:44:40

Oh no. Who left the zoo's doors open?
David Gerard

2009-04-03 19:47:17

Ballmer is a fratboy at heart, but he's not a stupid man, and he does take the piss out of himself very effectively :-)
Roy Schestowitz

2009-04-03 19:48:22

Well, yeah... but it's not good for business.
David Gerard

2009-04-03 19:53:23

Oh, I dunno. That video was an internal promo for the team's amusement. Ballmer's a salesman but has a sense of humour about the role. Similarly, his "developers developers developers" dance - he was being self-consciously silly, but he was, after all, *entirely right*. It is about getting the developers. He's a salesman, and not a bad one. He might be out of his depth as CEO (looking at the stock price), but he's not a complete incompetent, far from it. Never underestimate your opponent.
David Gerard

2009-04-03 20:10:14

Indeed. Steve Ballmer is just one job out of his depth right now.
Roy Schestowitz

2009-04-03 20:14:49

"We’ll give you a sneak peek of the third post in the series, a candid interview with an outspoken shareholder who likens Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates to fraudster Bernard Madoff."

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/38350

Roy Schestowitz

2009-04-03 20:02:41

We shall see what's *really* in the coffers one day.

The Rumour Said That a Second Wave of Microsoft Layoffs Would Come This Week (Ahead of Fake 'Results'), Maybe Tomorrow: Let's wait and see how "MSM" unfold
Karen Melchior Fought the Good Fight: stay tuned for Part 29
Touch Grass: Happiness involves what humans have evolved to appreciate, not what humans create to sedate the mind (like skinnerboxes)
The Cyber Show on Technology Having Become a Tool of Mass Psychosis, Not Enablement or Emancipation: Technology as mass psychosis
To Wikipedia, "Notability" is Just an Excuse to Hail People Who Serve Billionaires While Marginalising or Defaming the Rest: Wikipedia is an advertising space
Our Series About Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and SLAPPs Will Resume Soon: Originally, in 2025, we gave ourselves 6 years (until 2031) to cover these issues, but we've seen since extended that to 10 years (until 2036) because of the amount of material we have
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The EPO Transparency Gap: Despite the "European" tag in the organisation's name, the European Union has no jurisdiction over the European Patent Organisation
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 20, 2026: IRC logs for Monday, July 20, 2026
Links 20/07/2026: Lashes for Songs in Iran, Kurdish Language at Risk: Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/07/2026: The Boss Baby (2017) and 2026 Old Computer Challenge Epilogue: Links for the day
Canonical Staff Acting Like They Aim to Receive Job Offers From Microsoft: There are moreover allegations that Debian will do the same, in the same way Mono boosters infected both distros in tandem or in turn.
Worsening Staff Affairs at Microsoft: Microsoft is managing to piss off many of its own workers
Czech Mate for GNU/Linux on the Way: Czechoslovakia is having none of that "peace for our time" with Microsoft
Nobody Will be Left Who Trusts IBM Anymore: The common theme is, the management must be completely replaced as soon as possible and truth needs to come out
Wall Street is a Bubble and No Company is Worth 5 Trillion Dollars: It's not hard to see which stocks will crash the hardest (or fastest)
The Corrupt Have Historically Tried to Paint Their Exposers as the Real Problem: As usual, there are efforts to shoot or muzzle the messenger
Search Engine Market Share in Italy: Microsoft Falls to Third in Many Countries Including Italy: Expect more layoffs in Bing
Links 20/07/2026: Spotify Drowning in Slop, Expiry of Software Patents in MPEG-4: Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/07/2026: Another Step Towards Owning Personal Data and Gemtext2 Envisioned: Links for the day
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Public Missions and Private Ambitions: Despite the French government's strong formal pushback, the lobbying momentum generated by Campinos and Negrão proved unstoppable
"DOOM" and "Bloodbath": the State of Microsoft and XBox: Way to piss off fans
Links 20/07/2026: Notes on E-mail Encryption, Torvalds and His Employer Paid a Lot to Promote Slop (Pyramid Scheme): Links for the day
What a Difference Six Years Make...: We are also beta-testing a new feature for the site; we plan to announce it some time soon
When It Comes to Slop, Richard Stallman is Opposite of Linus Torvalds: When it comes to computing, Dr. Stallman has long been a voice of reason
Daniel Pocock is in Mainstream Media This Week: Pocock's haters will absolutely hate this
In His Departure Post, Poul-Henning Kamp (phk) Explains Why Linus Torvalds is Full of "Hot Air" and Slop Bubbles: Having lived through previous bubbles as a UNIX geek, phk cannot be ignored
Whistleblowers Keep Flowing: Later today a police investigator should phone us regarding death threats we've received
We Need Less Gadgets, More Humanity: If people are being honest with themselves, many of the gadgets they claim they "cannot live without" are just excesses and distractions they could definitely leave behind
Technology and Gadgets Got Obese, Just Like Their Users: They now sell us so-called 'phones' for slop
Daniel Pocock in The Guardian This Morning: There is an opportunity here to spread a message, even if Pocock won't win a seat
"Samsung Recently Projected a 19-fold Surge in Second-Quarter Operating Profit", Now There Are Mass Layoffs: In a 9-month period Samsung's debt rose by about 80%
Gemini Links 20/07/2026: Dungeon Meshi/Undertale Crossover, "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Dark Web and Beyond": Links for the day
IBM's Control of the Media "Just Showed What Taking Accountability Does Not Look Like": It is no secret that IBM pays the media
Microsoft Loses XBox Lawsuit, But There Are More: The collapse of studios continues
GNU/Linux Approaching International Average in Djibouti: One can envisage further gains for GNU/Linux, seeing Microsoft is in such a bad shape
Daniel Pocock "[t]he Australian Taking on Nigel Farage — from Down Under": This can help raise awareness of some issues
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 19, 2026: IRC logs for Sunday, July 19, 2026
Misleading Coverage in Slashdot Promotes and Openwashes Slop: Piggybacking RMS for the headline seems like a PR stunt of sorts
As Envisioned, a Rebellion and Many Whistleblowers at Microsoft: Whistleblowers ensure Microsoft has totally lost control of the "narrative" (face-saving PR)
Microsoft is a Right-Wing Company: Just remember that when people call Microsoft "woke"
GNU/Linux "Market Share" Rises to About a Quarter in Sudan: Can anyone explain to us why?
Gemini Links 19/07/2026: Visiting Ethiopia, Two Dreams, and Price of Skinnerboxes: Links for the day
Tears in IBM, Company Falls Apart While Management Fakes "Performance" to Take Bonuses: Wall Street is a naked emperor
Telling Our Story: In the coming years we'll have some high-impact stories to share and generally tell without fear of reprisal
Microsoft XBox Studio Leaders Upset at What the New CEO Did: From what we can gather, in 2024 XBox was already entering what's known as a "death spiral". Now it's literally moving down the drain/pipe.
IRC Started in Finland, GNU/Linux Did Not: History is like that
GNU/Linux Rises to 8% in Bhutan, Same as the International Average: Taking note of estimated GNU/Linux share in that country, we see it hovering around the international median/average this month
Links 19/07/2026: "The Voice of Google" and "Chinese Surveillance Tech a Threat to Privacy": Links for the day
Keep Both Eyes on the Ball: At the moment we have six series running in parallel; two of them concern the EPO
'Journalists' Who Help IBM Cover Up Fraud: Journalistic malpractice
The "Modern Linux" Song: Join us now, make the kernel
XBox Layoffs Vastly Bigger Than Microsoft Told the Press, Microsoft Keeps Trying to Change the Subject: Many so-called "XBox fans" are no more
Microsoft Lost 1,200 Billion Dollars in "Market Value", Take a Look at What Happened to Windows: while Windows continues to fall unstoppably GNU/Linux is surging
Links 19/07/2026: People in China Are Buying Feelings and 404 Media Has Third Anniversary: Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/07/2026: Camping, Health, and Hardware: Links for the day
The State of Slopfarms: Slopfarms or LLM slopfarms are a menace and a problem on the Web
GNU/Linux Rising to 6% in Brunei: seventh in the world for GDP (PPP) per capita
Free Software is Like an 'Activist Movement': People who argue strongly in favour of something (even very good things) will attract the wrath of those whom they oppose
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 18, 2026: IRC logs for Saturday, July 18, 2026

Hypocritical Novell Lacks a Sense of Humour

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts