The Clueless Empire? zdnet.com
Then we have esteemed ilk sister Mary Jo Foley weighing in, she remembers Steve Bartko anyway.
But Microsoft's debacles, such as the Edelman PR campaign exposed in a story by the LA Times last week, whether clueless or evil, aren't helping the company any. Sure, every vendor tries to spin news its way and uses as many tools as it can muster to do so. But some of the tactics for which the Edelman plan reportedly called, such as the use of individuals posing as Microsoft customers and partners to present supposedly "unbiased" views to the public and reporters, is a disgrace. Microsoft says employing people to lie was not part of the proposal, but I have no way of knowing this, as I have yet to scare up a copy myself.
Either way, the damage has been done. The sprouting seeds of paranoia are now in full bloom. The Edelman plan is causing some industry historians to drag up the infamous "Barkto" incident that occurred a few years back on Compuserve newsgroup forums. Remember that one? A Microsoft official named Rick Segal posed as ordinary geek Steve Barkto and passed off lots of pro-Microsoft/anti-IBM rhetoric in the process. Folks in this industry, at least the vocal ones, don't forget or forgive.
Paranoia strikes deep, into your heart it will creep. . . Or, more contemporarily, only the paranoid survive. Evil? I'd say clueless is even a little strong. Just a little too transparent to do any good. The rapid propagation and persistence of stuff like "the government writing the OS" is a tiny bit obvious. Antitrust only applies to monopolists, I don't see many around in this area.
Cheers, Dan. |
