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Re: [News] Microsoft UK: Buying from Microsoft for Patriotism?

__/ [ Mark Kent ] on Thursday 07 December 2006 08:54 \__

> begin  oe_protect.scr
> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>> __/ [ B Gruff ] on Tuesday 05 December 2006 18:40 \__
>> 
>>> On Tuesday 05 December 2006 17:22 Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Buy Microsoft, it's your patriotic duty
>>>> 
>>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>>> | That seemed to be the message at the London launch of Microsoft Vista,
>>>> | Office 2007 and Exchange 2007 on 30 November 2006. Gordon Frazer,
>>>> | Microsoft's UK managing director, devoted most his opening speech to
>>>> | a gallimaufry of statistics and quotations intended to show that
>>>> | buying these new offerings would somehow make Britain more
>>>> | competitive.
>>>> `----
>>>> 
>>>>
>>>
>>
http://www.it-director.com/enterprise/other/content.php?cid=9038&amp;ref=fd_itd
>>> 
>>> "Samuel Johnson?s dictum??patriotism is the last refuge of a
>>> scoundrel??came to mind while I sat through this bombardment of dodgy
>>> stats and implausible insinuations. I doubt that Gordon Frazer is a
>>> scoundrel, or any of his colleagues there that day, but I did think they
>>> were desperate"
>>                                                                  
^^^^^^^^^
>> Apropos patriotism.
>> 
>> "Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense
>> that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!"
>> 
>>                         -- Albert Einstein
>> 
> 
> Patriotism is a wonderful social pressure mechanism, typically used to
> justify and glorify the maltreatment of others.
> 
> Anyone daft enough to think that pouring money into a foreign company
> is good for the UK probably deserves what they get.  Anyone desperate
> enough to claim it probably needs another job.

Yes, indeed. And the brainwash is reaching new peaks. I am still trying to
digest this little piece that I saw this morning.

MSN Is Spamming The Blogosphere

,----[ Quote ]
| Mr. Youth LLC is a marketing firm and lists MSN as a customer.  Their
| website is here: http://www.mryouth.com/  Their phone number is
| (212) 779-8700.
| 
| I've talked to a couple of other bloggers who said they are receiving
| similar comments on their blogs.  This pisses me off because MSN/Mr.
| Youth should 1) be more upfront about their true identity, and 2)
| provide a real e-mail address so that I can request they take my
| blog off their marketing campaign.
`----

http://www.scott-o-rama.com/2006/12/06/msn-is-spamming-the-blogosphere/

For completeness, I will add some relevant links:


Microsoft Traps and Hunts for Bloggers in India !!

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft has announced the "Microsoft BlogStars" contest, to Hunts
| for Developer Bloggers in India. After feeling the power and increase of
| the Bloggers community in India, Microsoft tries to trap and hunt Bloggers
| in India to buildup the blogging community, for writing blog posts
| supporting towards Microsoft Technologies.
`----

http://i5bala.blogspot.com/2006/10/microsoft-traps-and-hunts-for-bloggers.html



,----[ Quote ]
|     "Some years back, Microsoft practiced a lot of dirty tricks using
| online mavens to go into forums and create Web sites extolling the virtues
| of Windows over OS/2. They were dubbed the Microsoft Munchkins, and it
| was obvious who they were and what they were up to. But their numbers
| and energy (and they way they joined forces with nonaligned dummies who
| liked to pile on) proved too much for IBM marketers, and Windows wont
| he operating-system war through fifth-column tactics"
|
|     Mr Dvorak wonders if Microsoft is today using reverse-dirty-tricks
| to promote the Xbox 360: pay people to create Web sites that slam the
| gaming computer in order to provoke a barrage of defenders.
`----


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing


,----[ Quote ]
| Long before it employed bloggers to do the job for it, Microsoft hired
| sympathetic members of the public to make its case in online forums,
| posing as disinterested citizens. Things got much more professional as
| the antitrust trial unfurled. After hiring DCI in the late 1990s,
| Microsoft created two new trade groups, the Association for Competitive
| Technology (ACT), and the Americans for Technology Leadership (ALT),
| and marshaled campaigns such as "Freedom to Innovate" - encouraging
| Windows users the chance to make spontaneous gestures of support for
| Chairman Bill.
| 
| These weren't always too successful. A campaign in 2001 to petition 17
| state's Attorney Generals - who had pooled resources to bring their
| own antitrust action against Microsoft - resulted in supportive letters
| being written by dead people.
| 
| And the astroturf taint continues today.
| 
| Most recently, a spoof video portraying Al Gore as a Penguin was reported
| to have originated from a computer registered to the DCI Group, although
| the lobby group said it did not fund or approve the video.
`----

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/14/google_lobby/


I truly hope that the time and effort we all spend in COLA will, in the long
long, build an archive which not only shows how GNU/Linux and Free OS
software took over, but also reveals how Microsoft broke the law endlessly.

I am very encouraged to discover that many people use newsgroups and
accompanying WWW archives (mirrors) for research**. Kudos to Google as well
for this. Microsoft understands this, which is why it tried to undermine
Google, as well as sends shills/astroturfers to contaminate objective views
and information.

With kind regards,

Roy

**This includes diplomats, whom PJ claims read Groklaw and collect clues from
what's made available by the openness and democratic nature of the Web.

-- 
For governments that eavesdrop, here is a quick list of tags: Communism,
Hawaiian shirts, China, Suitcase, Martha Stewart, Encryption, Prison,
Stalin. Thanks for tuning in.

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