[oclug] e-smith response to Microsoft... :-)

[Dan York]

Dave,

I actually completely agree that we need to reach out to a much larger
audience, but I would only comment that...

> It is  a good response.  But the I think that the forum in which it
> appeared underscores my point about the need for a wider-reaching effort
> to repudiate M$BS.  Linux Today is a publication for Linux users.  The
> people who read it already know the truth--it's preaching to the
> converted.  

... while you read it on LinuxToday, and that was where I pointed people,
the news release in fact went out on the wire (BusinessWire) from where it
can be picked up by a zillion other news outlets (if they so choose).
So we were trying to reach the larger audience (and have some fun in the
process).

> How do we reach the public-at-large now that that's more
> necessary than ever?  Laughing amongst ourselves may be comforting, but it
> doesn't help.  When M$ fuds, they aim over the heads of all
> technology-specific forums.  I think that word-of-mouth no longer suffices
> for our response; we have to make a noise as loud as they do.

Yes... BUT... while I think we must respond to outright lies and 
supreme FUD, we must not allow doing so to distract us from our larger
goal of improving Linux and developing better software.  Every minute
or every hour that we spend *responding* to MS is one minute or hour
less that we are not working on better software or other things that
help advance our efforts. IMHO, if we let *MS* frame the issues and we
are constantly responding to them, we lose.  If, on the other hand,
we continue to develop better and better software, then we force MS
to respond... as they did with this Allchin interview.

I don't think we can or should *ignore* MS, but I also don't think we
should let it distract us from the larger picture of building software
that doesn't suck.

My 2 cents,
Dan

-- 
Dan York, Director of Training        dyork at e-smith.com
Ph: +1-613-751-4401  Mobile: +1-613-263-4312 Fax: +1-613-564-7739 
e-smith, inc. 150 Metcalfe St., Suite 1500, Ottawa,ON K2P 1P1 Canada
http://www.e-smith.com/            open source, open mind