Subject: Re: [SLUG] Take 1.5 hrs to learn why linux sucks. To: Neast Pty Ltd <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
Neast Pty Ltd wrote:
> Seems to me it may be a course on FUD techniques, launched against an
> intelligent audience these are unlikely to be successful, take for
> instance the Peruvian situation, I wonder if the originator of this
> subject is cognisant of it, or if he understands this email.
>
> Nicholas Tomlin.
>
Now you've got us intrigued! The Peruvian situation was ...?
Laurie
Last year Peru were considering a bill requiring the use of open source software in all government systems (I dont know what happened with the bill itself). Microsoft Peru's president and the American ambasador sent letters to the head of the Peruvian Congress to try and thwart the bill. Unfortunately for them, the congressman who presented the bill was able to see through the arguments presented, and sent back a reply that leaves them in no doubt what he thought about their arguments.
You can read more about it in Wired's article here: http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,54141,00.html this article also has links to the letters from Microsoft and the reply (both in Spanish).
Translation of the Peru bill: http://www.opensource.org/docs/bill-EngTrans.php
Translation of the Microsoft letter: http://www.opensource.org/docs/msFUD_to_peru.php
Translation of the reply: http://www.opensource.org/docs/peru_and_ms.php
--
Back on to the topic of "Take 1.5 hours...", I thought the first presentation was not too bad, FUD wise. A lot of the presentation was about what not to bring up in conversation (although any salesman who intentionally starts a conversation about what the oposition can do should not be a salesman IMHO), and how to stear conversations towards Microsoft's perceived benefits. It even included the tip that the salesman should not try to be negative about Linux (although it didnt explain why) - this is something that Linux evangilists realised a long time: trashing Microsoft just makes Linux enthusiasts look bad. The second presentation though had a lot more FUD in it.
Regards, Andrew -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group - http://slug.org.au/ More Info: http://lists.slug.org.au/listinfo/slug
