08.04.08
“I Have Spoken with Maureen O’Gara (Based on go Ahead from BrianV) and Planted the Story”
“As discussed in our PR meeting this morning. David & I have spoken with Maureen O’Gara (based on go ahead from BrianV) and planted the story. She has agreed to not attribute the story to us….
“[…] Inform Maureen O’ Gara (Senior Editor Client Server News/LinuxGram) or John Markoff (NYT) of announcement on Aug 28, 2000. Owner dougmil (Approval received from BrianV to proceed)
“Contact Eric Raymond, Tim O’Reilly or Bruce Perrins to solicit support for this going against the objectives of the Open Source movement. Owner: dougmil [Doug Miller]. Note that I will not be doing this. Maureen O’Gara said she was going to call them so it looks better coming from her.”
(From Microsoft’s smoking guns)
Yesterday we gave some examples of ‘journalists’ who are serving Microsoft using what they refer to as “plants”. It is no secret that Microsoft realises the power of influencing or poisoning the press. A good example of this would be the lack of critical reporting about SCO and Novell. People still need to rely on comments such as this new one to understand the issues better.
“Can Melvin be trusted after receiving gifts from Microsoft and spending time with them?”Some months ago we also spotted Melvin Calimag, who took a free trip to Microsoft. Look at the article he has just published. The headline is “Microsoft gains ground as school dumps Linux OS” and it’s very one-sided. It contains a very typical old chorus. Can it be trusted? Can Melvin be trusted after receiving gifts from Microsoft and spending time with them? It’s part of a pattern.
Also just spotted in Redmond’s own press: “Addressing Microsoft Interoperability.” It’s claimed to be sponsored by IONA. Well, IONA has always been a little weird (proprietary-leaning while pretending to be FOSS and making deals with Microsoft) and now there’s this new ’study’ on “interoperability” (possibly sponsored by Microsoft where it’s available).
Follow the money, always. The Fortify debacle (it’s in alliance with Microsoft) is still being discussed, so it harms Free software adoption. These deceptive things must end. █
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.