Following Bill Gates' Linux Attack Money 530
UnderScan writes "After researching this material for about three years, Tom Adelstein tracks Microsoft's anti-Linux lobbying money: "Microsoft has unparalleled influence throughout the Federal government. On the cover of a recent edition of VarBusiness Magazine dated June 26, 2005 the editors presented a large headline which read: 'It's A Microsoft World. Five years after running afoul of the Feds, Microsoft is as powerful as ever. Pushing a platform instead of products could make it stronger still. Why nothing seems to stop it.'""
In other news... (Score:3, Funny)
Microsoft may not be the problem. (Score:4, Insightful)
Give the local company gives them a free copy of Office and they are sold that OSS is the devil.
Re:Microsoft may not be the problem. (Score:3, Insightful)
Because the field of information technology and technology as a whole is so fast-moving, people like to have some consistency. Sadly, Microsoft gives this to them with not only widely-compatible products (as most people use MS) but mediocrity. Why keep to this trend, we in the technological "know" ask. Why change, everyone else asks - what they have works fine.
If only
Re:Microsoft may not be the problem. (Score:4, Interesting)
Most people want the lowest common denominator. The average person has unprecidented access to information and low priced technology. They don't care that the reason this is true because there were people who wanted more than the mediocrity they saw around them. These people are sheep. We call them sheeple.
Businesses are built by stepping on sheeple and taking their money. If you want to be successful in business, you just have to lose your conscience. Geeks seem to have a hard time grasping that most of the world doesn't care about technology.
From the geek perspective, there is technology that is 10 times better than the stuff MS puts out. The average person has never seen the alternatives and never will. As far as they're concerned, MS is the most amazing thing ever.
There is something that we can do, but it's scary. It involves going outside and interacting with people.
Re:Microsoft may not be the problem. (Score:3, Insightful)
Perhaps you should rephrase that to include the caveat that this applies to the *technological* domain. Many people care about battling the status quo, but the average person doesn't understand the nuances of how M$ maintains its monopoly through government lobbying and embrace-and-extend philosophy... they just want the computer to accomplish the task at hand and carry on with their lives.
Just like you don't ask what
Re:Microsoft may not be the problem. (Score:3, Interesting)
Survival of the fittest...but there's a part you left off. It's survival of the fittest of an organism to their environment. That means you can't take an organism that is fit in one environment and automatically declare it fit in all others.
So the 'sheeple' are so numerous because that's what their environment encourages; they would not fit well into your
Re:Microsoft may not be the problem. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Microsoft may not be the problem. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Microsoft may not be the problem. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Microsoft may not be the problem. (Score:5, Insightful)
And to all people who claim I have never been outside USA, I can only say I'm not an American, but come from a Scandinavian country. I have lived in USA since 1999. I've lived in several countries around the wolrd and travelled extensively in East-Europe too, both before and after the fall of communism. Nowhere have I seen politicans so blatantly ignoring the common peoples interest as here in the US while beeing in the pockets of corporations. You can mod me troll as much as you like, but it doesn't change the facts.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
The Golden Rule. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The Golden Rule. (Score:5, Funny)
Funny you should mention that (Score:3, Interesting)
That force is the information age. Both monitary policy and Microsoft are about controlling and manipulating information that people are allowed to have or apply.
Monitory policy manipulates information by lying to people about the value of their money, Microsoft controlls info
Re:Funny you should mention that (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:The Golden Rule. (Score:4, Insightful)
Hmmmm (Score:5, Funny)
monkey! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:monkey! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:monkey! (Score:3, Funny)
Hi! It looks like you want to use your attack monkey! What would like to do?
You are such babes in the woods (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't tell me you actually believed that the "GNU/Linux revolution" would somehow change the rules of the game and that future business would be conducted on the basis of competence/performance alone instead of politics and money?
The fact is that competence and performance can never compete with politics, lock-in and big money. IBM, Sun and a few other corporations like Red Hat are adapting Free/Open Software in the way that actually matters. Cash in on that success, stop whining about the "Microsoft World", play the backstab/lobbying-game to the end and you just might win.
Re:You are such babes in the woods (Score:5, Insightful)
But having won that way would it be any different from losing ?
Make mine +6 Insightful (Score:5, Insightful)
"Better yet, you idealists should all just die now. The world has no room for people who strive to make it a better place."
No thanks. At the end of my life, I'd like to not be remembered as a back-stabbing cheat, but as someone who strove to make the world better. And today you're in luck: I can take your ridicule. My heart is full of love.
Re:You are such babes in the woods (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, the GNU/Linux revolution is a revolution. That means it didn't change the rules of the game, it created a whole new game and dared anyone else to play on their turf. Microsoft is deeply entrenched in the wallets of the corporate and political world. But FOSS has taken off despite that, and now has a great mindshare, far more than you would expect. But hey, they give you freedom, and never underestimate the power of freedom.
So yes, the old powers can play the old games of power and money. And dinosaurs are remarkably successful despite the gnawing of little mammals. Until one day they aren't. And a new era begins.
So where does that money come from? (Score:4, Insightful)
Of course not.
But where do you think all that money Microsoft has comes from? It comes from companies, from consumers.
And when companies wake up and realize they can take they money they have been giving Microsoft, and keep more of it themselves... that is the revolution, based entirey on the same rules of politics and money.
The rules that say if you keep stealing long enough from someone someday they will notice.
The rules that say if your competition has a lower operating cost they are probably going to eat you up. So it only takes a few companies going with open source solutions along with significant savings and therefore reduced pricing to tilt the whole industry that way.
In the end even a very rich company like Microsoft cannot propel itself on money alone as they simply have to take more in then they spend out.
Microsoft (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Microsoft (Score:2)
Re:Microsoft (Score:2)
Re:Microsoft (Score:5, Informative)
See Jeffrey Vernon Merkey's court complaint [merkeylaw.com] against, well... everyone.
An excerpt from the "FACTS COMMON TO ALL CAUSES OF ACTION" section:
Re:Microsoft (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Microsoft (Score:5, Interesting)
46. The beheading and murder of United States Citizens in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and other countries have been videotaped, converted to MPEG and other images for viewing on the public Internet through the use of OSS and Linux software and computer technology developed and purloined by Linux and OSS members and illegally exported from the United States.
47. Companies which sponsor, endorse, and support OSS and Linux, and those acting in concert as their advocates have been unwitting participants in wholesale technology theft of United States developed technology and sponsors of domestic and international terrorism.
48. Companies which sponsor, endorse, and support OSS and Linux, and those acting in concert as their advocates have been unwitting participants in wholesale technology theft of United States developed technology and sponsors of efforts to undermine the Government of the United States and the economic stability of computer technology development and industry within the United States.
49. Companies which sponsor, endorse, and support OSS and Linux, and those acting in concert as their advocates have been unwitting participants in wholesale technology theft of United States developed technology and sponsors of the creation of weapons of mass murder and mass destruction by the enemies of the United States.
49. Companies who attempt to protect their rights to their intellectual property by filing lawsuits against members of Linux and OSS are attacked publicly on the public Internet through a variety of means, including identity theft, defamation, interference in their business and cultural relationships, violation of their rights of expressive association and freedom of speech, threats to murder them, intentional infliction of emotional distress to the extent they take their own lives, and Internet postings advocating they commit suicide.
50. Many of these methods employed by OSS and Linux Community members to oppress and suppress public viewpoints they do not agree with, do not differ in any way and in many cases resemble the same methods employed by international terrorists to promote their causes, in that they advocate through the posting of messages, emails, and public statements to Internet websites: murder, violence, death, oppression, mob mentality, intentional infliction of emotional distress, terror, defamation, identify theft, character assassination, threats to murder or firebomb the homes of individuals, and threats to overthrow governmental systems.
51. Although OSS and Linux both state goals and ideals which are attractive, such as freedom to innovate, freedom to develop new technology, and free access to software and computer technology, efforts by competing open source efforts to develop or create new development communities are routinely attacked publicly by OSS and Linux members through a variety of oppressive means over the public Internet, such as threats of: murder, violence, death, oppression, mob mentality, intentional infliction of emotional distress, terror, defamation, identify theft, character assassination, threats to murder or firebomb the homes of individuals, and threats to overthrow governmental systems.
52. Many of these activities fall within the definitions under the Patriot Act and other Federal Legislation designed to protect the American People as acts of domestic terrorism.
Is this come kind of joke?
Bizarro universe... (Score:3, Funny)
It must be:
32. Defendant slashdot.org is an far-right wing Internet news website [...]
Re:Microsoft (Score:2)
About as brilliant as naming a sanitary napkin "StayFree"
Microsoft wins on so many fronts (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Microsoft wins on so many fronts (Score:2)
One may not like how he got there, but one does need to give credit where credit is due.
And personally, if I had been responsible in the early days for promoting my products and making my company successful, I'm not sure how many things I would have done differently...
Counterattack Plan... (Score:3, Funny)
No kidding! (Score:5, Interesting)
In the end, more money goes to hire dozens of different software houses just to duct'tape the system to hell so that it half-assed works.
And I'm not even talking about the USA, where the market holds potentially more money for MS than here.
I know this was not exactly on-topic, and I've RTFA, but I had to say it.
Federal access (Score:5, Interesting)
If by unparalleled they mean, 'a lot, but not so much as oil and pharmaceuticals', then I might agree.
Anyway...
Re:Federal access (Score:3, Interesting)
If by unparalleled they mean, 'a lot, but not so much as oil and pharmaceuticals', then I might agree."
Spot on target!
[Ahhh!
Do not forget that it was a change of "venue" (ie. the incoming Dubya regime) that allowed MSFT to "write their own" punishment af
Re:Federal access (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, there's a lot of data about this available online. One of the big changes at Microsoft in 2004 was a huge increase in campaign contributions. They went from being an insignificant source of campaign funds to one of the largest contributors.
While they contributed to a lot of campaigns, most of their contributions are fairly well documented as having gone to the Bush/Cheney campaign funds, either directly o
Good! (Score:2)
visual scanning error upon first read (Score:2)
Conspiracy Theories (Score:4, Interesting)
It certainly shows Microsoft repenting of its earlier mistake for not paying off politicians like all the other major corporations did so they didn't get investigated for violating laws. I'm sure all these wonderful contributions will keep it safe from further litigation and give it more power to manage the law making process as time goes on.
Democracy is a joke (Score:4, Interesting)
The system is indeed for sale
Re:Democracy is a joke (Score:3, Interesting)
sure (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh puh-lease. There are plenty of companies with that kind of clout; there are plenty with a hell of a lot more. Compared to Halliburton or McDonnell-Douglas or Boeing, Microsoft is strictly amateur hour.
Re:sure (Score:2)
not sure what that says though. it would seem that capital hill is behind the curve as far as payola is concerned. it implies a corrupt government that is resistant to changing its own corrupt policies. *shudders*
getting away with it. (Score:3, Insightful)
Please yourself.
It's not "clout" it's ability to break the law and get away with it through bribes and fast talking. Oil and defense companies may have their influence but they have not been flaunting anti-trust law and getting away with it after conviction. That other corruption may exist is no reason to look the other way, especially with something as important as software is to your rights to free speech, privacy and financial securi
Amount of contributions (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Amount of contributions (Score:5, Insightful)
There are golf trips, and trips to las vegas, or other places this senator needs to check out for him to be able to properly understand Microsoft and the plight of the industry regarding the federal government.
There are the neices and nephews with a different last name, that need a job out of college, that Microsoft hires.
There are the flights on corporate jets. The introductions to other powerful industry people, that both junior and senior senators need.
There's the promise of a cushy job if and when they do retire out of Congress.
The promise of indirect contributions come next election.
And once you consider that the $5000 is more like roughly $100,000 all things considered, and that it only required an hour here, and hour there throughout the year, never interfering with others giving him more or less the same benefits... would you pass over one more free grab at $100,000, when you're already selling out 5 times a day, and #6 won't be all that more difficult?
Re:Amount of contributions (Score:4, Interesting)
Oh, those are the easy ones to track. The more interesting ones involve "layovers" in places like the Caribbean. A layover doesn't technically count as a destination and frequently isn't reported.
Nice thing about stopping there...the laws governing certain activities...the kind involving really hot women from foreign countries...are lot less restrictive down there.
Kinda gives the term "layover" a whole new meaning if you catch my drift. You're on the right track, though.
In short... (Score:2, Flamebait)
2) That same firm does some lobbying for the BSA and has some Microsoft connections.
Pretty thin stuff for three years work, I'd say, especially since if the Tom DeLay stuff hadn't just fallen out it would be even thinner. The biggest thing I can see here is a bit of nepotism on how the BSA chooses its lobbyists; maybe some of you will lose sleep over that.
Anyway, conn
If "using the right tool for the job" (Score:5, Insightful)
Are you using Windows every day? Did you set up a Windows computer for your parents, grandparents, or other friends because FreeBSD/Linux/NetBSD/MacOS is "too complicated"? Then you are the problem...
and you know what? (Score:2, Funny)
OMFG!!1! (Score:2, Insightful)
And Melinda gates is in the beard of directors of a newspaper?? Holy shit, and is she in the board of directors of all the other news media outlets in this country? Inquiring minds
I was sure that said... (Score:2)
"Attack Monkey?? LOL" (Score:2, Funny)
What about the terrorist money? (Score:4, Funny)
Follow Gates' OTHER money. (Score:3, Interesting)
It appears the only monopoly more profitable than Microsoft is Pharmaceuticals.
Re:Follow Gates' OTHER money. (Score:3, Insightful)
What are you going to say next, that bill gates is trying to get the 3rd world countries hooked on food while funneling money into agricultural market?
Re:Follow Gates' OTHER money. (Score:3, Interesting)
By hooked, he means hooked on foreign produced drugs. All of the money that Gates gives for drugs (drug money?) is spent on purchasing foreign produced drugs, often at 100x the price of identical locally produced drugs.
So instead of using his money as a negotiating club to bring Big Pharma's pricing into line with local market conditions, he's just
Breaking News..... (Score:4, Insightful)
Breaking news, a major scandal has been unearthed, a big corpooration pays lobbiests with connections to influence politicians.
Geez, EVERY big company does EXACTLY the same thing, look at all the companies on the list in the article that gave more money than Microsoft did, like AOL Time Warner. The only amazing thing about Microsoft is they didn't do it much until the antitrust suite and Congress became active in drafting legislation that directrly impacts their business.
The only plus I can see in their
This whole submission is a case of taking a somewhat interesting article on politics and business as usual(a.k.a sleezy) and bending it so its certain to make it to the Slashdot front page using certain to succeed hot button catch phrases.
Its mildly interesting that there may be a link between Microsoft, Preston Gates and Abramoff but I assure you there are a LOT of politicians and firms that are going to have sleeze splattered on them thanks to Abramoff now that he's been publicly tagged as a sleeze and a crook, something most insiders have known for a long time.
Its interesting Melinda Gates is on the board of the Washington post but ALL boards are incestuous dens of influence peddaling between the rich and powerful.
But really, nothing to see here....move along.
Re:Breaking News..... (Score:3, Insightful)
Predictable (Score:3, Insightful)
They bought up a bunch of politicians. It was a matter of survival. But now they have all this political clout they can apply in other ways. I don't see any benefit to all that lawyering worth remaking Microsoft into a political force.
I'm not saying they never did anything illegal. The problem is the government was trying to put them out of business. DOJ should have slapped them with a large fine for exclusionary business deals and called it a day. Microsoft simply couldn't tolerate a situation where a judge has to sign off on every new feature they want to add to Windows.
Re:Hmm... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Hmm... (Score:2)
Re:Hmm... (Score:4, Insightful)
Still haven't unkinked it all, even with O'Reilly's WinXP Hacks book, 2th Edition [oreilly.com].
And my other partition is a source-based GNU/Linux distro, so, while I may be an idiot, I lay claim to being a clever idiot.
Back on topic, the problem is the amount of MSFT in the portfolios of decision makers.
The stock market is a vast, perfectly legal, source of conflict-of-interest.
Sorry, no realistic remedy.
[1] common, non-MS hardware
Re:Hmm... (Score:2)
By simply pouring in billions of lobbying dollars, they are able to convince legislators with limited technological knowledge that they have the only viable platform and are able to successfully obfuscate the myriad of problems that their platform brings with it.
Re:I don't get it (Score:2, Interesting)
I totally know what you mean (without trolling). My father accepted it well enough (hell, he even told me it was sometimes nicer than Windows) but for the rest of the family it was a no-no. I was keen to learn but the RPM hunt and the randomness of program functioning is what bought me back to Windows.
windows users don't have bugs, viruses, spywares:) (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:windows users don't have bugs, viruses, spyware (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:windows users don't have bugs, viruses, spyware (Score:3, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I don't get it (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I don't get it (Score:4, Insightful)
Your problem was two-fold. First, you are not proficient enough yourself to resolve problems as they arise. This can be frustrating especially if you are under pressure to "make it work!" from others. What you need to do is get another machine (it doesn't have to be top-of-the-line) solely to experiment on. This machine is called in CompSci circles a "testbed". When testing is done and you are sure everything works (and are confident that it will stay that way) then, and only then, install that program on the computers in use. You will be amazed as the levels of frustration drops with the family off your back.
Second, never, never, never try to force someone to use something they don't want to use. There are other ways to make them want to make the switch. For example, I don't clean up my family's computers after they get them infested with spyware, adware, and virii. I let them do it. I may provide pointers from time to time but that is about it. After a few times they will eventually see that you are not doing that constant fight in Linux and may want to try again. The point is, they have to want to do it not you forcing the issue.
B.
Re:I don't get it (Score:3, Insightful)
I agree. Linux is not yet ready for the low PC skilled home user. It still takes someone in the home with some Linux abilty to do the initital set up of the boxes.. but Linux as a desktop OS has grown by leaps and bounds. If you are someone who doesn't understand that then I can't help you.
Linux doesn't do everything right.. But it's not as evil or crappy as you make it sound.
Re:I don't get it (Score:2, Insightful)
Btw, GP is a blatantly obvious troll, i don't get how moderators can't see that. The "nothing works on linux" and "i returned to windows $someversion after $while" are dead giveaways.
Personal Exp switching fam from win 2 lin (Score:5, Interesting)
But why does she use Linux? Simple newbie like reason. It comes with more preinstanned simple little games then Windows. In XP she had the abilty to play, mine sweeper, pineball, and solitare...
Now she and my mother are constantly playing gnome same game, any of the multiple flavors of tetris, and majong. (oh god if I could spell)
Oh the internet (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I don't get it (Score:2, Interesting)
Computers that are produced by the mass market are designed to run Windows, you need to take a moment and make sure that they can run Linux. And With Distros like Ubuntu there should be no reason they should not. Or what about Gentoo. Everything will work in Gentoo
Re:I don't get it (Score:4, Insightful)
Linux/BSD variants have come a LONG way considering most of the functionality/drivers has been either creatively engineered by the community or obtained by lobbying vendors (resulting in drivers that only provide the most basic functionality).
Boost the installed base and provide demand for functionality in your OS, and vendors will respond.
Unfortunately these problems are difficult to solve because they are both a cause and a symptom of themselves. Not to mention the very active efforts of Microsoft to thwart any meaningful attempts at the adoption of alternate systems.
Just my 0.02$
Re:I don't get it (Score:5, Interesting)
If your DSL connection is running into your router, there's no reason for your provider to have stated that 'linux is not supported'.
And I hate to break this to you also, but I've owned a couple machines (with nothing wierd in them) that only Linux would install and boot up. My parents' last computer wouldn't run Win95, 98, or NT. But Mandrake 6.1 installed onto it fine, found all the hardware (including the unusual printer they have), and ran fine. (It was a 400Mhz K6-II with 256M RAM.)
I've set up Linux for a bunch of 'real average Jane' students, and they don't even notice a difference. After getting one set up with Mandrake, Firefox, and GAIM, her roommate came in and asked "oh, is that a new version of AIM?" not "what happened to windows?".
My roommate MS work centered around using Linux machines with video capture cards, so I don't know what you were trying to do that you couldn't. the All In Wonder cards from ATI are pretty popular, and have extensive driver support.
So, I'm calling complete bull on you. I'm not an ultra fanatical linux geek, either. I just use it, and it works. It takes no longer to boot than XP, and has far more useful application to me (lack of viruses, ease of ssh access to other machines, higher granular control over individual resources) than Windows ever has.
Troll or not? (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, I don't think it matters. Even if this is a troll it reflects many people's experience of Linux. I'm sceptical of the claim that konqueror couldn't display the router web page because I'm sure most routers use pretty basic HTML. And I'm sceptical about mp3s skipping unless this was a very old PC. But I've had plenty of problems with playing video (though mplayer is my player of choice even on MacOS X), printers, DSL configuration, and video cards. And to add one to the
Re:I don't get it (Score:3, Insightful)
A lot of hardware doesn't work well for Linux (or takes an enormous amount of tweaking) because a lot of hardware vendors don't open source their drivers and so the community must be users and semi-hardware developers to help eachother to get things working. Although my nVidia 6800 GT actually gets better
Re:I don't get it (Score:2)
call it the benefits of being at a major institution.
Newbies shouldn't choose Fedora.. (Score:3, Interesting)
.. it's Redhat's little experiment to see if the community can sustain development of a distribution whose parts or whose sum may become useful in their enterprise editions later. it has no primary project of maintaining an easy to use desktop platform. their own site makes this quite clear. [redhat.com]
and so i wasn't suprised that all my encounters with Fedora prove it's far more suited to very interested enthusiasts than new users. this seems due to the Redhat association; as though being tagged with such a name br
OK let me get this straight... (Score:2)
Well that decision was worthy of a.... Windows user (pun intended)
Re:I don't get it (Score:4, Funny)
vacation and the wails of terror, utter anxiety, and lack of any flight training whatsoever was enough to crash the jets straight into the ground.
So why all the troubles?
Afterall JSF pilots love to tell stories of how the JSF is so
much better than a donkey cart with a broken wheel and they would never try to fly across the ocean in one.
My conclusion after seeing real people in a real average Jane setting
crash and burn after being dropped in the pilot's seat midair is that the JSF advocates are just plain lying
because the JSF is really a step backwards for people used to using
technology several centuries behind what it should be.
To make this short and simple, virtually NOTHING worked properly in the JSF.
Telling the JSF to turn left and swatting it with your hand did nothing, it would not listen.
Stuffing oats and barley into the fuel tank did not refuel it. In fact, the jet technician said I caused 100s of 1000s of $$$ worth of damage!
I tried to nail a proper shoe onto the jet turbine, but the jet-grade aluminum just gouged.
I applied salve to where we attached the harness, but the weird metallic lesions would not heal.
We then took the JSF to a vetrinarian, but he said he did not treat JSFs.
I was unable to tie the reins up to the hitching post.
And it goes on and on for pages,but the bottom line is that the JSF lasted about 3 days in my house before I ditched it and went back to
my donkey cart with a broken wheel.
Conclusion is that the JSF is a birds nest of confusion. The JSF seems
like it might be good until you actually try and fly it and then it
shows it's ugliness, slowness and instability.
Why on earth ANYONE would use the JSF for personal transportation is beyond me.
Must be a Troll but I'll bite (Score:2)
Its obvious this person didn't do research into which hardware was supported. And thus they had a horrible experience. Getting hardward supported on linux that doesn't work 100% out of the box is a total F*cking PITA. That's why you make sure you stuff is supported before you even reach for the install CD.
As far as mp3's ski
Re:I don't get it (Score:2)
Re:I don't get it (Score:2)
First, it is (more or less) generally admitted that Linux is technically better than Windows. For parts, this is something you can experience as a "general public" user: less system crashes, no need to reboot all the time,
Now, the problems you men
Re:I don't get it (Score:5, Informative)
Burn.
I call bullshit! (Score:3, Interesting)
Call me a ricer, but my Gentoo box is ten times more stable and faster than that bloated crapware Windows EVER was.
Also, most software available through the Gentoo catalog (emerge system) is higher quality than virtually everything Microsoft provides "for free".
The only problem I've had is that my TV tuner card is not supported; I wish I had known about Linux before I bought it.
So,
Re:I don't get it (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't know what these people put in their computers that make them work so poorly. (But i presume they're Dell or Gateway boxes, with lots of sketchy child-labour manufactured components).
Re:I don't get it (Score:3, Insightful)
That's because it's not real. These posts are troll/astroturf red herrings designed to deflect discussion from the topic. Take a look at TFA. It's about Microsoft, politics and corruption. Now look at the 400+ postings and you'll see most of them are "My OS is better than yours".
Props to the dude that put this one together. It's successfully stifled what could have been a very interesting discussion about the w
Re:I don't get it (Score:2)
Very well put... I've only been using Linux for a year now and constantly find reasons for frustration, but I keep trying and learning how to use it. Why? Simple...it's open, it's free (as in freedom). I can jump in Windows and do just about anything, much more easily...but I'd rather not
Not a troll ? Yes it is ! (Score:4, Insightful)
I was wondering. But I'm now convinced it is actually a troll (and won't therefore answer him) : how would an AC have written so much in about two minutes ?
Either he had access to the news before, which implies a suscriber account, then posting as AC, or he just copy-pasted a pre-written text. In both cases, I can't see how it couldn't be a troll.
Re:Not a troll ? Yes it is ! (Score:2)
Do a search in Google Groups using the first line of the troll as text. You'll see that this is a simple copy/paste. In other words, a troll.
Re:MOD PARENT UP. Not a troll. (Score:2)
No, the BIG damn shock is... (Score:3, Interesting)