Microsoft is legally in the clear, and they must face their consumers (who I still don't remember them blaming for hacker attacks) in the free enterprise market, something they seem to be dominating with reports of record profits this week.Oh, I don't know. I hear constant refrains from the 'it's never microsoft's fault crowd that it's the consumer's fault for not patching their computer every day.
And now for our regularly scheduled anti-astroturfer post...
FreeRepublic is a conservative news and commentary forum that covers many topics every single hour of the day. If it's topical, and in the news, you'll find it here. One of the things I've noticed is, that if you look at the posting history of individual users, you'll notice that many tend to congregate around several different subjects. Sure there are always a few Johnny-one-notes, but even the ones who seem to post mostly about abortion because the subject is of intense importance to them, will occasionally find topics that diverge from this interest to comment upon.
Below, you will find the posting history of one FreeRepublic user distilled into an easily readable bulleted list. It begins at 11/18/2003, and ends today (1/26/2004). If you look closely, you will see a common thread that suffuses every single post - the position of the professional microsoft astroturfer. Never deviating from this theme, I give you golden Eagle
- New virus infects PCs, whacks SCO
- 22 comments - SCO to Congress: Linux hurts the U.S.
- 1 comment - SCO sues Novell
- 1 comment - HP Sets Record With $2.5B in Linux-Based Revenue (and other BREAKING TECHNOLOGY NEWS)
- 17 comments - SCO ready to hit Australian Linux users
- 9 comment - Munich Linux Setback
- 7 comments - SCO asks for at least another three months to meet court order
- 3 comments - MS Would Like You to Consider an Alternative to Linux for Your Server Needs
- 1 comment - Linux sales soar in Japan, Windows sales slump
- 3 comments - Did SCO actually buy what it thought it bought?
- NEW FLORIDA WOES FOR BOIES
- NASA Web Sites Hacked (Iraqi Sympathizers)
- 11 comments - RealNetworks Sues Microsoft Over Antitrust
- 7 comments - Revenge of the Nerds
- 14 comments - IBM to Export Highly Paid Jobs to India, China
- 4 comments - SCO Hit By Another DDoS Attack
- 20 comments - GPL is no hippie dream
- 56 comments - Ditching windows and using Linux on personal computer for secure financial transactions
- 5 comments - Half of small firms want to ditch Windows for Linux
- 2 comments - Linus's Top Ten SCO Barbs
- 3 comments - IBM Wins motions in SCO case
- 2 comments - Linux Reality Doesn't Match Hype
- 13 comments - Flaw in Linux kernel allows attack
- 31 comments - .name registry site hacked
- 2 comments - Deutsche Bank: SCO May Sue Corporate End Users Soon After All --Decatur Jones: So?
- 4 comments - SCO: Without Fear and Without Research
- 3 comments - SCO Seeks to Block Novell-SUSE Deal(Sco may go after Apple OS X)
- 3 comments - SCO To Expand Its Lawsuit Beyond Linux
- 9 comment - BSD developers speak out on SCO campaign
- 3 comments - SCO's Legal Fees Could Jeopardize Its Software Business
- SCO: Winners and Losers
- SCO hires bodyguards for execs
- 9 comments - SCO Targets Torvalds, Stallman
- 13 comments - Sun's McNealy announces Linux deal with Chinese government
There you have it, 34 threads, and about 250 separate post, never deviating from the official microsoft propaganda sheets in even a single post for over 2 months.Also note: that there was not a single post on any other topic in those 250 posts. Astroturfing at it's finest.
You're still afraid to link those titles like I've asked because you know if you do people will see me defending Sun and Apple just as vigorously as Microsoft.
I support ALL US software companies in the face of foreign freeware. And I'm proud to say this last week I've personally converted someone who was running Red Hat Linux to reload that system with Sun Solaris Unix for Intel, a truly American product although it is currently having to be given away for free with the onslaught of Linux upon America's shores. Yes some of you will say free is better, but it's not, not for America's tech economy and not for us working in the industry.
Ziing! I'd say you have Brass Buzzard's number, alright. Good work!