Microsoft kills its ‘Get the Facts’ anti-Linux site
Submitted by srlinuxx on Thu, 08/23/2007 - 18:28.
It was a long time in coming. But Microsoft has finally acknowledged that its anti-Linux site had gone past the point of usefulness.
On August 23, Microsoft pulled plug on the “Get the Facts” site, replacing it with a new Windows Server “Compare” site.
The goal of the site is to offer more in-depth information and customer-to-customer opinions about many of the issues IT administrators face,” a company spokeswoman said. “It turns out people wanted 3rd party validation in addition to people’s experiences making OS purchasing decisions so in addition to customer case studies, research reports that compare platforms the site will also offer guidance around best practices, web casts, etc.”
Get the Facts had a long and controversial role in Microsoft’s battle against open-source software vendors.
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New tactics of a changed world?
Personally I always thought the 'get the facts' campaign did more hard to Microsoft than good (I know someone who now uses linux on and off after hearing about it through these ads) so I never saw the point of them.
This seems to signal a slow gradual change in the way that Microsoft deals with OSS in the public light I think, I think they want to appear to be more friendly to competitors whilst at the same time not actually doing anything to help anyone.
It makes me laugh when they compare Windows vs L(U)inux on TCO, Oh it may cost more to have a Unix expert on call day and night for your needs than a windows one, but the fact remains that these guys charge more because they can do more imo.
If you have a decent IT staff you don't even need the support that is offered by the likes of RedHat, Novell or any other company, I would argue if the IT admin were competent enough then they could probably do most of the work themselves on a Unix system as all the tools are often there. Unlike windows which has a habit of hiding behind wizards and an attractive GUI.
But of course it depends what you want to do I guess, there's no need to recite rhetoric and all of the, well my platform is better because...
Still nice to see M$ at least playing a little bit nicer, even if they are still patent saber rattling. The only patent that need worry the OSS community is if M$ inherited the rights to the GUI from Xerox or the computer from IBM or such nonsense.
A kinder, gentler Microsoft?
Consider this the kinder, gentler version of getting the "facts." Unless, of course, you're Red Hat. The site doesn't talk about Novell or other Linux distributions. But it spares no criticism of Red Hat, the one vendor that hasn't bowed down to savor its toejam.
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