[Fsf-friends] Microsoft Ads Called Bogus

[Soundara Rajan N.S]

Microsoft Ads Called Bogus  


By Amit Asaravala  

09:03 AM Jan. 07, 2004 PT

Open-source advocates are crying foul over a new ad campaign from Microsoft that claims that Windows-based systems cost less in the long run than Linux-based systems.

Ads for the campaign, which were unveiled Monday and will appear in online and print publications, refer potential customers to a section of the Microsoft website where they can "get the facts" on Windows and Linux. There, visitors can view what Microsoft calls "independent analyses" of the two operating systems.

Critics, however, say that the facts provided on the site are misleading. And they claim that the analyses are anything but independent, given that Microsoft paid analysts to produce most of them.

"The point they're trying to make is really quite specious," said open-source activist Bruce Perens. "If anything, this lowers Microsoft's credibility and shows that they're losing ground to Linux."

More at http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,61819,00.html/wn_ascii

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N.S. Soundara Rajan, Freelance IT journalist, Columnist "Deccan Herald" - leading English Newsdaily published from Bangalore, India, and Knowledge networker

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