Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Microsoft Putting Out Misinformation About Linux

By Andy Checow

Seems that Microsoft has been handing Best Buy employees so called "training" memos that pretty much warps and attacks the Linux Operating system, according to an anonymous Best Buy employee. The material sent from Microsoft show very obvious and sometimes lucid statements about the lack of support and people wanting a easy usage experience but also makes very controversial statements about other features and security. Many of them are contradictory claims such as Linux doesn't get regular updates like windows and we all know thats not true, Then in another memo they state Linux is a problem to maintain with accuracy because it gets "hundreds of updates" per month.

The claims also further exaggerated incompatibility and support on Linux, suggesting that "few" devices are supported, that things like video chat won't work, and that there is no official help solutions for it. Linux does have support and supports common devices, including apps that can recognize iPods. Third-party apps like Pidgin provide support for video and other chat features, and Linux distributions like Ubuntu or Red Hat often provide official support. Ubuntu is also 100% free By the way.

For Windows-only apps, Linux has had access to WINE and Wine-Doors for free virtualization of some titles, including 3D games and works very well.

Microsoft has been asked about the materials but has neither confirmed nor denied their legitimacy. However, the memo is both consistent with Microsoft's visual style as well as its frequent attempts to discredit Linux as a threat.

Microsoft is also known to have used wild claims to attack Apple through "Laptop Hunters" ads and other promotions that have often picked products to either create apparent gaps in value or to make them seem wider than they really are. One study paid for by Microsoft deliberately chose Apple's Mac Pro workstation and the pre-price reduction MacBook Pro as home systems but chose Windows systems in significantly more modest product categories.

For those of us using Ubuntu or any other flavor of Linux its pretty apparent what the better operating system is or we would not have stuck with it. It would seem as Linux has evolved. Microsoft has become very defensive about their position since they have a lot to lose. I'm a very happy Ubuntu User I have no crashes my screens don't freeze and I haven't seen the Blue screen of death for well over a year my laptop runs as its supposed to and I'm just plain Happy with all the free software that is out there that does all the things windows can do and more.

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