07.15.07
DisinformationWeek Gets the FSFE’s Attention
Earlier today we mentioned what appears to be a hidden agenda that InformationWeek seems to have adopted. Ciarán O’Riordan from the FSFE strikes back.
LINUS CALLS GPLv3 “A FINE CHOICE” - is a title that InformationWeek could have used for their article. It would have been very selective quoting, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem for InformationWeek.
Nor does pretending that old emails are new emails, or misrepresenting people.
InformationWeek is not making any friends in the Free software world. Some suspect it is being paid generously by a particular ‘generous’ company. Let’s keep an eye InformationWeek and let them know that we know what’s going on.
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.
Ciaran O'Riordan said,
July 16, 2007 at 10:40 am
InformationWeek have posted a response to the criticism of their article. I’ve written a piece about that now too:
“InformationWeek opens it’s mouth to change feet”
http://fsfe.org/en/fellows/ciaran/ciaran_s_free_software_notes/informationweek_opens_it_s_mouth_to_change_feet_gplv3
(Oh, and s/FSF/FSFE/ for the original title - our sister organisation in Boston have their own interesting blogs at http://www.fsf.org/blogs )
Roy Schestowitz said,
July 16, 2007 at 6:08 pm
Thanks, Ciaran. Fixed that.
I knew you were with the FSFE, but thought these two were interchangeable, at least in one direction (by affiliation, one being a subset of another).
Gall said,
July 20, 2007 at 2:51 am
Yet another anti-Linux rant >:(
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/07/too_many_linux.html
Roy Schestowitz said,
July 20, 2007 at 4:49 am
Yes, I’ve noticed that. I rebutted this in various forums and discredited the author about a dozen times already. He certainly has an agenda and he submits his stories like a motor to various fora and Web sites.
It seems like a Rob Enderle wannabe.