01.14.10
Former Microsoft Intern Gives Thumbs-up to Ubuntu GNU/Linux
Summary: Former Microsoft guy switches to Ubuntu “cold turkey” and reports back
THIS post is not a rant about the fact that ZDNet is filling itself up with current, former and future employees of Microsoft (Bott, Foley, Ou, Carrol, now Zack Whittaker). We wrote about that subject before and offered evidence. Whittaker did post some disclosure in which he wrote:
I worked at Microsoft as an intern a few years ago but have since cut my ties with them. I’m very grateful for their support over the years and the acquaintances I’ve made and the positive impact they’ve had on my future career. In spite of this, I remain impartial and unbiased to my views.
OK, so Whittaker decided to take the GNU/Linux test and one of our readers worried, saying: “I just stumbled upon him in a google search, saw the summary in the results and said to myself, “this smells like a Microsofter writing, let’s see if it is”. Turn over that rock with two clicks and, shazam!”
To be fair to Mr. Whittaker, his post about the outcome has been mostly positive (the few issues are likely caused by his reliance on a VM). He ranks Ubuntu much higher than Mac OS X from the Hype Company (but not Vista 7). This is probably good news for GNU/Linux as a whole, especially considering the source. █
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your_friend said,
January 14, 2010 at 11:06 am
Former Microsoft Employee at ZDNet declares Windows 7, Best OS. What a shocker after ten years of such ignorant nonsense from the Wintel press. A few positive things are said but the end result is always to validate the entire Windows ecosystem. “hardware manufacturers who seem to have, almost rightfully, seconded drivers’ priority to Windows,” oh please. The funniest thing is that he declares Vista better than OSX, which is sort of like saying a broken Yugo is better than a working VW because you are more familiar with the Yugo. The virtual machine trick is a new low in FUD, because it implies that free software will somehow damage your computer. This kind of pretend exploration is more harmful than Mr Bott’s over the top stupidity and both voices are guided by the same purposeful master. A future criminologist should know better than to play along. If it were not for the fact that naive people are actually deceived by ZDNet, the ignorance would be comical.
In opposite land, ZDNet will hire someone who uses and knows free software to write about free software. You know, a subject matter expert who provides people with helpful tips instead of a 48 hour stunt man who begs the astroturfers to feed him in ZDNet’s lame comments and rejects half of the reasonable advice he gets. Thanks for the update, nothing has changed. ZDNet is still transparently idiotic.
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
January 14th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
That’s why I gave affiliations upfront. And yes, I remember the Bott ‘experiment’ as well; they set it up for failure, opposing the doctrine of double-blind trials.
I have already received some E-mails about this post, criticising me for being too “soft” on Whittaker.