04.27.09
The Revisionist Gates/Microsoft PR Campaign Hits the Press, Maybe Literature Too
‘Cooking’ the books
“If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good.”
–Bill Gates, Microsoft
MICROSOFT’S revisionist agenda is a subject that we covered before [1, 2, 3], so there is no point doing it again. What we currently see, however, is a little more of the same now that The Huffington Post has published an article written by Bill Gates Senior. For those who know nothing about the man’s secret role in Microsoft, here are his BSA connections, here he is advancing Microsoft politically (including with his former colleague/employee Jack Abramoff), and here he is scooping up the money Microsoft paid SCO after it had sued Linux (vendors).
“…here are his BSA connections, here he is advancing Microsoft politically (including with his former colleague/employee Jack Abramoff), and here he is scooping up the money Microsoft paid SCO after it had sued Linux (vendors).”Regarding that latest Gates Sr. piece/placement from The Huffington Post, we’ve already received some feedback in the IRC channel. “He thinks Bill Gates Jr. is a good kid. I think he’s mad,” writes the Mad Hatter.
“More of the same, ‘we’re ordinary people‘ propaganda Microsoft is famous for. Bill Gates was giving parenting advice before he was married,” writes Twitter. “The Gates [family] have spent a life time of ruthless self interest. Nothing much has changed, including their self congratulations.”
This is part of a pattern that we point out occasionally, e.g. use of the husband of the Gates Foundation’s head (Patty Stonesifer) to plant Times articles which glorify the largest feeder of the ruthless pharmaceutical cartel (among other dubious businesses that kill people, including children). As Stonesifer once said, “The danger isn’t in what people do tell you — it’s in what they don’t.” She quit the Gates Foundation just over a year ago.
As a second item of interest, there’s this new book. It has not been formally published yet and its title is “The Cost of Bad Behavior: How Incivility Is Damaging Your Business and What to Do About It”
“The laugh is that one of the five companies they used as a resource for “most improved companies” is Microsoft,” says a reader to us, who quotes from the topic paragraphs of the relevant section:
For eleven consecutive years, Microsoft has been on Fortune’s list of the top hundred companies to work for. As a long-term employee stated proudly, “If you want to impact the world with software, there is no better place to be.” Microsoft boasts smart people and a rich, challenging work environment. The software king is extraordinarily generous to its employees and to society, offering an exceptional health insurance plan (zero premiums, no deductibles), extraordinary employee perks, and world-class philanthropy (highlighted, of course, through the personal generosity of the Gates family). In 2007, the Harris Interactive poll ranked Microsoft number one in corporate reputation, with additional enviable marks for leadership and financial results.
It’s unusual for a highly successful company to take a critical look at itself, but that’s just what Microsoft did in 2003. Leaders recognized a perception problem: Microsoft had become a company that people loved to hate. Customer data pointed toward arrogance. Microsoft was seen as uncivil. …
“Now, I don’t need to tell you what bunk lies in every single one of these phrases, clauses, and dependent clauses,” says this reader of ours. He continues:
“I find the idea that “it’s unusual for a highly successful company to take a critical look at itself” highly risable: highly successful companies (and sports teams and individual performers) do that every day. I also find it particularly telling that Microsoft’s incivility is positioned as a “perception problem”. Needless to say, the conclusion of the section is nothing short of glowing, delighted that subordinate employees can finish a sentence without fear that some executive will cut their tongue out. But what about being civil in free market competition? What’s the cost of that bad behavior? It’s uncountably large, though Microsoft do get dinged for the odd billion here and there.” █
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Gentoo User said,
April 27, 2009 at 11:22 am
Wasn’t your friend twitter who once remarked that it was “sickening” that someone who lived in Seattle had to ride on the same train as some Microsoft employees?
Lots of previously established credibility on the topic from this club, as usual.
Interesting how so many of your blog posts are made up of hearsay and opinionated exaggerations from your chat room. Then if something goes wrong, you can just claim you don’t even know these people. I think you’re on record also saying that you “have no friend called twitter” or something like that. I have to look that up.
Jose_X Reply:
April 27th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Gentoo User, you’ve made the point numerous times that you don’t like this website and a number of its regulars.
It would be more useful if you address the content of the story. It’s a blog posting giving opinions on opinions others gave. Where do you stand on the Gates’ Foundation, Microsoft, etc?
Boycottnovell is big on defining the messengers ahead of time. I like to know about messengers (as a backup), but always prefer to analyze the message and would definitely rather avoid focusing on the messenger.
Are you agreeing with BN’s focus on defining the messenger because you also like to focus on the messenger, or are you, eg, frustrated and decided to fire back same?
Boycottnovell, while painting messengers, spends most of the time covering messages. There is support for just about everything stated above (IMO). [The Mad Hatter comment was meant as an exaggeration for humor effect I think.]
Gentoo User Reply:
April 28th, 2009 at 11:58 am
If that had ever been of any use whatsoever for anyone, I would be doing it.
Perhaps you would like to offer that bit of advise to your friend?
No, merely pointing out that someone who says it’s “sickening” to ride in the same train as some Microsoft employees is probably not a good source of opinion about anything.
There is? I must admit I didn’t actually read any of it, if it’s anything like most of the other references, they’re probably filled with the same factual inaccuracies and flat out lies as everything else that is written as opinion but later used as fact, because the author knows no one is going to bother looking up 40 previous posts, which in turn reference another 400 with the same problems. It’s called proof by verbosity, a lame rhetorical trick.
In a couple of days this post is going to be used as fact, so I guess that’s just too bad, isn’t it?
Jose_X said,
April 27, 2009 at 4:28 pm
>> frustrated and decided to fire back same?
frustrated and decided to fire back in kind?