[kwlug-disc] Stock ticker

[john at netdirect.ca]

kwlug-disc-bounces at kwlug.org wrote on 10/21/2009 01:42:04 AM:

> From: unsolicited <unsolicited at swiz.ca>
> ... can anyone tell me, will there come a day when such pointless MS 
> <stuff> will cease or tone down in this list? Regardless of what you 
> think of them, and nobody in their right mind could call me a fan, 
> it's just useless and pointless interference and noise to your 
> communication.

We are constantly being persuaded by Microsoft marketing pressure. We all 
can, to some degree, push back on the obvious forms of persuasion, like 
ads, but what about all the sub-rosa marketing that MS does? There is 
clear evidence that they manipulate analysts (e.g. pay them), "fix" 
discussion panels, pay writers to craft fake opinion pieces, "fix" 
benchmark tests, spin information, lobby governments and pressure retail 
clerks. I wonder what else they do that we haven't found out about yet. In 
short they have marketing campaigns that attempt to persuade consumers and 
business at all levels.

There is all this pressure, constant pressure. I think there needs to be 
more balance. If it was truly balanced Microsoft wouldn't be nearly as 
powerful today as they are and open source would have more adopters.

Is everyone on this list truly committed to Open Source? I am but I don't 
think others are. And when someone asks why Open Source is better, or why 
Microsoft is bad, wouldn't it be nice to have clear, current examples?