Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft's Anti-GNU/Linux Training Comes to Office Depot, Not Just Best Buy and Staples

Anti-Linux shot



Summary: Anti-GNU/Linux indoctrination said to have reached many more stores and Macs ridiculed too

A REASONABLE QUESTION has begun to arise: "just how many large retailers have had their staff pushed/forced to dislike GNU/Linux?" Does this encompass only US-based retailers? We already know that Microsoft has done this in multiple large chains of stores [1, 2, 3] and OStatic covers this too. How about Wal-Mart [1, 2]? According to this report from The Register, Office Depot is also among those who train staff on behalf of Microsoft.



One booklet shared with our Office Depot salesman includes a page that looks like this...


Look carefully at those images. They paint Linux is red (as in fire, blood, red lights, a red card, and communism) and Vista 7 always appears surrounded by green background, which implies approval. It would have looked and be perceived differently had Linux been embedded within green-coloured backgrounds, but they are busy playing psychological marketing games. The arguments too are false. SJVN writes:

Microsoft's latest Linux lies



[...]

"If you can't beat 'em, cheat" has long been Microsoft's philosophy, which has lead to the Department of Justice and the European Union swatting them with restrictions and hundreds of millions of dollars in fines over the years. But that hasn't stopped them. In our latest example, an anonymous blogger who goes by GodofGrunts at OverClock.net, a site for people who want the fastest possible PCs, reports on his Microsoft ExpertZone training at Best Buy. What he 'learned' from Microsoft isn't 'exactly' true.

[...]

Microsoft also claims you can't use video chat on desktop Linux. Yet I use Ekiga and Skype for video chat on Linux all the time.

Then there are the "Get the FUD" — er, "Get the Facts Straight" slides, which serve as a reminder that Microsoft's Get the Facts anti-Linux campaign (2004-2007) actually lives on.


More on factual mistakes:

It goes on to list tables with "Camera, iPod, and MP3 compatibility" and "Printers and scanners compatibility" being described as "many" for Windows and "few" for Linux. It also lists an ambiguous "Authorized Support" which it claims Linux is lacking, ignoring the fact that many Linux distributions do have support teams. It also mentions that Linux users can't play games like "World of Warcraft", which Windows users can. Ironically, Linux users can in fact use WoW within the free WINE.


It turns out that Microsoft not only targets GNU/Linux but Macs too. See for example:

  1. Microsoft bribes Best Buy staff to slam Mac and Linux


  2. Microsoft Targets Linux (and Macs) with Latest Chart-Based Propaganda


"What next," asks Tony Manco, "FreeBSD or Amiga?"

Ars Technica first published the following: "Microsoft teaches Best Buy employees how to troll Linux users"

Microsoft training material for Best Buy employees—which not only makes Linux look bad, but is also full of inaccuracies—has leaked to the Web. Screenshots and commentary inside.


It was anti-Macs too, as Ars Technica added slightly later: "Microsoft helps Best Buy employees troll Mac users, too"

We've got our hands on Microsoft training material for Best Buy employees. It not only makes Macs look bad, but is also full of inaccuracies. Screenshots and commentary inside.


That immediately drew Mac proponents into this debate. Roughly Drafted Magazine wrote about this too and the Microsoft crowd at Neowin sees nothing wrong with Microsoft's behaviour, unlike Dave Rosenberg for instance. He calls it mis-education.

Regarding security, Harish Pillay writes:

MSFT's analysis of security



[...]

If we are to look at any software product's development methodology (open source or closed source), every study (see David Wheeler's page), shows that by being open, you are assured that if there are vulnerabilities and defects, IT WILL BE FOUND AND FIXED. Earlier last month, an eight-year-old vulnerability in the Linux kernel was discovered and fixed. Try that for ANY MSFT product. I am not begrudging their business model. What I am begrudging is the smooth "lies" that they constantly put out - including the cleverly crafted report referenced above.

Nevermind the past. Let's move forward and look at what is looming on the horizon. Vista will be dead soon when MSFT releases their Windows 7 sometime this year. And how do they intend to bring it to the market? How about with blatant lies? I did pose the question earlier today and hoping that someone from MSFT will respond. It is HIGHLY unlikely anyone will (right @osrin and @tonynewling?). Now I read that the same lies are done with Mac as well.

Why can't MSFT do an honest job in selling their product? Why do they have to resort to outright lies and misrepresentations? The whole MSFT business is an intellectual vacuum and morally corrupt.


Microsoft would say nothing in these reports about its "secret" patches. The reality behind one year of Vista reveals many "critical" flaws and accompanying lies. Now there is a serious flaw that permits remote BSoDs. It turns out to be an "ancient flaw" which Vista 7 is somehow susceptible to.

SOFTWARE ALCHEMIST Microsoft has admitted that its Vista operating systems is shipping with a bug that was first discovered in Windows machines in 1999.


More here regarding the severity:

A security researcher has said there is a zero-day vulnerability affecting Windows 7 and Vista.


And... there is another brand-new vulnerability:

Microsoft, Cisco issue patches for newfangled DoS exploit



[...]

On Tuesday, Microsoft responded with MS09-048, a security advisory that fixes a variety of networking vulnerabilities in Windows operating systems, including those discovered by Louis and Lee. The update implements a new feature called memory pressure protection, which automatically drops existing TCP connections and SYN requests when attacks are detected.


Remote BSoD flaws open a window of possibilities.

The BSoD at the Olympics is making a sort of a comeback this week: (see photo)

It's not the first time this kind of embarrassing stuff has happened; Microsoft had another glitch at the Beijing Olympics last year. But hey, it could happen to anybody, right?


The Microsoft/Seattle blogs covered this as well. Who is Microsoft kidding?

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Google News
We've also just noticed more slop from UbuntuPIT
Microsoft Windows is No Longer an Operating System, It's Surveillance Project
Why is this even legal to preload on PCs outside the US?
 
The Slop Song
The train wreck marches on
LLM Slop/Advanced Plagiarism Flooding the Zone With Capital That Does Not Exist
Many publishers out there still participate in this bubble instead of calling it what it is
Links 09/10/2025: Sacked Microsoft Workers Make "Sackbird", IBM Taps CockroachDB for PostgreSQL
Links for the day
"Happy Hacking Day" Richard Stallman Talk This Afternoon (From 14:00 to 16:00) at Haaga-Helia University in Pasila
Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 08, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 08, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Impact of Microsoft Layoffs, More Data Breaches
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Autumn Blues and C IRC Bot
Links for the day
Slopwatch Appreciated by Real Authors of GNU/Linux Articles
We do try to keep on top of those things
Upgraded R.R.R.R.R.R. Today
The Web of 2025 is full of garbage, not limited to slopfarms
Freedom From Proprietary Prisons
Forking always an option
IBM's Watson Died in 1956, Now Watson Dies Again
IBM is becoming just a reseller of GAFAM and other stuff
Microsoft Says That Constant Mass Layoffs Are Success, the Media Isn't Buying This Microsoft Narrative Anymore
If people in the media feel an obligation to repeat whatever lies Microsoft tells, what point will there be to the media?
Links 08/10/2025: "Mali Puts Free Speech on Trial" And Apple Enforces Dictatorship
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: ‘Death to Spotify’ and Law to Ban Loud Commercials on Streaming (Dis)Services
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Real Innovation and Nina.chat is Dead
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Y2K38 Bug is a Vulnerability, Chat Control in Europe a Threat
Links for the day
How and Why Once-Legitimate Sites Turn Into Slopfarms
Many sites will go offline and many social control networks will shut down once they realise or even openly admit they spend money and time gardening a bunch of bots and slop
UbuntuPIT Became a Slopfarm and Gnoppix Tarnishes Its Own Brand With Slop
It fits all the characteristics of mildly-edited (if at all) slop
Slopwatch: Linux Journal and Other Slopfarms
GAFAM needs to go the way of the dodo
Gemini Links 08/10/2025: "Seek Seek Revolution" and Gradient Backgrounds
Links for the day
Qualcomm Arduino Takes Aim at Raspberry Pi
Qualcomm is a Microsoft partner
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 07, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 07, 2025
Stagnation of the Economy and What Free Software Can (or Could) Do For It
If your economic model is based on a pyramid of lies, it won't last very long
Social Control Media is Sinking
it would rightly seem like the era of centralised "social" sites (they're not social, they're about controlling the users) is ending, not overnight but gradually
Participation in Cancel Culture Detrimental to One's Career
A cautionary tale
Passion Wins
we've increased the number of birds we feed to 100+
How Solderpunk and Sean Conner Started Gemini Protocol (and, Collectively, Geminispace) Back in 2019
Based on the "official" history
Arduino is Now a Patent Bully (Qualcomm)
Qualcomm has just bought Arduino
Many Years of Microsoft Cancellations and Faked (Acquired) Revenue "Growth"
XBox is basically the "next Skype"
The Comment TheLayoff.com Has Just Censored for Criticising a Ridiculous Puff Piece of IBM Management
If comments get censored for their "style" rather than their substance, then society will be worse off
The Power of Writing Down Facts
The more we write and publish, the more people will know what happened
Microsoft's Non-Denying Denial About XBox's Death is Already Being Shattered to Pieces
Like Microsoft's 'open' 'hey hi', heralding meaningless non-committing agreements with AMD is little more than vapourware
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT Joins the Slopfarms Club
Slopfarms gonna slop
Links 07/10/2025: Privacy at Risk, GAFAM Remains Off the Hook
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/10/2025: Modern Retro Console Idea and Batch vs Bash
Links for the day
Links 07/10/2025: International Criminal Court (ICC) Convicts Ali Kushayb; Moroccan Imprisoned for 'Offensive' Shirt
Links for the day
Links 07/10/2025: EU' Chat Control is Back, US Cracks Down on Democracy
Links for the day
Techrights Pursues Justice and Truth Because, Without Those, Society Descends Into Chaos
most people reject dogma and pseudoscience
Upcoming Talks by Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Göteborg, and Rome
Join with him and share the software
Something Bad is Happening in the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
The latest OSI blog post is from a Microsoft operative and a few weeks ago the Executive Director left
TLS 1.3 Dominates Geminispace (99% of Known Capsules)
it's nowadays safe to assume almost every capsule can handle TLS 1.3
Why soylentnews.org Has Been Having Technical Difficulties Lately
The network has been going up and down quite a lot this past week
A Statement Against Violence
The facts are on our side
They've Run Out of Things to Rebrand or Label as "AI"
The next few years will be interesting because if Microsoft lays off tens of thousands of workers each year, there won't be much left except mountains of debt and dying brands
The Register MS is Still Being Paid to Participate in the "AI" Ponzi Scheme Which Will Crash the Economy
The Register MS is hoping to get lucky by tricking people into a scam
Richard Stallman Confirms His Talk in Göteborg This Coming Friday
"The hosts say that the list will not be given to the state"
Most of the "Linux" Results This Morning in Google News Are LLM Slop From the Same Slopfarm, Plagiarising Phoronix
The main question is, does Google even care at this point?
Gemini Links 07/10/2025: Civil War and "Goodbye Web"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 06, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 06, 2025