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Posted in Deception, Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Windows at 9:23 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Mission “imprison OSS inside Windows”
Lookng out for the gullible ones, Microsoft is trying to sell a familiar storyline. To a degree, Microsoft succeeds now that it sends another hawk, just it did some months ago in order to threaten GNU/Linux with patents. They seem to be pushing out their new people who soon tell a story, a fairy tale. It’s another one of those legends about Microsoft loving and serenading to open source developers, much like that tune about children in Africa, which we wrote about yesterday.
=> some months ago in order to threaten GNU/Linux with patents | wrote about yesterday
“They seem to be pushing out their new people who soon tell a story, a fairy tale.”Regarding that story, told us one reader, “I’ve read a few Swedish novels in translation of the West and how it relates to Africa. A couple of them are from Henning Mankell: “Eye of the Leopard” and “Kennedy’s Brain”. They both provide good synopses of living conditions in Africa. The first is more in-depth about conditions in Africa, but the latter focuses on AIDS and speculates that some of these private foundations allegedly set up to find a cure for AIDS are not so good as they appear. The other is “Black Path” by Åsa Larsson. Only a small part of it is in Africa, but the main suspect in the story reminds me of Bill Gates. He doesn’t care so much about what effect his actions have on the world, because the only thing that matters to him is to prove his superiority.”
In the latest pursuit for affection, Microsoft seems to approaching journalists with a sob story about the economy and how Microsoft can help the poor with proprietary software (as in, “they’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade,” said Bill Gates). This is covered not only by InfoWorld (they cite Boycott Novell) but also by eWeek, which plays along with the same old storyline that almost deliberately confuses “open-source” (the dash is intentional) with “cheap”. There is of course not even a morsel of freedom in Microsoft’s pitch because it’s scared of this notion.
=> ↺ a sob story about the economy | ↺ said Bill Gates
Anyway, here is how the eWeek story goes:
So not much will change in the way of messaging regarding Microsoft’s outlook on open source. It didn’t change much when Jason Matusow handed some of the handling of the Microsoft open source strategy to Bill Hilf, or when Hilf handed it off to Ramji.
[...]
Microsoft has appointed a new point man to put a face on its interaction with the open source community. That man, Robert Duffner, takes on a big task as senior director of Platform and Open Source Software strategy at Microsoft. His IBM and BEA roots will help him place his mark on the Microsoft strategy, but the core message remains the same.
This mentions Bill Hilf. Yes, the same guy who threatened GNU/Linux with patents before quitting his role. With people like these in change, it’s clear that they hate GNU/Linux and Free software. They try to modify existing terms and ideologies like “open source” [1, 2]. People like Sam Ramji put a happy face on [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11] whilst doing work of malice. They might actually manage to convince themselves (lie to themselves) that they do something good in exchange for generous wages from a law-breaking company.
=> threatened GNU/Linux with patents | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | ↺ a law-breaking company
Going back to that eWeek article, the song Duffner is on about is not necessarily for journalists, some of them won’t even buy it. It’s for them to publish it and for few readers to be deceived, misguided or confused as a consequence.
I met with Duffner and my former eWEEK colleague Peter Galli for lunch here in New York.
Peter Galli is now working for Microsoft. He was doing his Free software damage from inside eWeek before he 'vanished' and then got hired (to unleash his damage directly from Microsoft [1, 2, 3, 4]). The eWeek-Microsoft link appears to be tightening and eWeek is known to many as Ziff|Gates, which reflects on the same bias one finds in ZDNet (Microsoft sends its employees to participate there). It’s an issue of ownership and sponsorship.
=> was doing his Free software damage from inside eWeek | 'vanished' | got hired | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | sends its employees to participate there
Here is part of the article which was probably most telling:
Duffner also pointed out that today there are more than 80,000 open source applications that run on Windows, 30,000 of which were built specifically and only to run on Windows.
That’s their goal. It’s an anti-GNU/Linux strategy, turning "open source" developers into just another bunch of Windows ISVs. █
=> turning "open source" developers into just another bunch of Windows ISVs
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