Linux newsletter author answers questions over editorial influences

Linuxtoday.com seems to have quietly changed its policy and there is not an MS ad in sight. I've decided that the damage has already been done and I like LXer too much now to switch back. But all you other LT refugees might want to email a pat on the back to Brian. I notice he did not write up his usual Friday editorial and am concerned that his position with Jupiter Media might somehow be jeopardized. I have no more information. It's just an idle worry. But if there is some problem, I think we should stand behind him.

Correction: He did write his Friday editorial. On Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving holiday. (Doh!) I tend to forget it since I don't really celebrate it.

I've had email contact with Brian, and it seems that the offending MS FUDmercial, masquerading as real LT content, was simply scheduled to end on Nov 30 and there are apparently signs that it will be back. There has been no policy change. I appologize to those of you who couldn't care less about LT, and would prefer not to be bothered by it. Please ignore this thread. But I know that there are more than a few "LT refugees" here, who probably do care.

It occurrs to me, that one mistake that I made was to simply make my views known in the talkbacks, fire off an email to Brian, and leave the site. The PTB will likely never even be aware of my views. What is needed is for people to make their views known to the people who actually control the ads, not the editor in chief, who has no control over advertising policies.

MS Ads are there...

Yes, they're back. I guess Jupiter Media was just waiting for the December rent check to arrive. :-(

When VA Linux, originally a hardware assembler of high quality Linux machines, went public Linux was implicitly part of the company. As the company evolved, e.g. dropping hardware and later moving away from Linux into other software, they were honest enough to drop the name Linux from their corporate identity. They have become: VA Software or the Open Source Technology Group [I seem to remember another set of letters indicating an intermediate naming] or both, I lost track.

Since Linux Today long ago ceased to be focused upon Linux, it is not unreasonable to expect that they should drop the adjective and become something like: "Shared (MS tm) Source Today". It certainly would be a more accurate description.

Would anyone care to start a petition making that recommendation and then periodically offering it for publication on other Linux centric and general computer news sites?

Look: advertising is the art of getting as close to the untruth about a commercial product as you can, without getting called on it.

MSFT is almost certainly targetting ads toward linux-related sites, and linux-related stories. MSFT ads just come up far too often for this to be sheer coincidence.

MSFT has a $40 billion (BILLION) dollar cash reserve. It's not out of the question that they're devoting some of this to anti-linux advertising all over the place.

It's rather disingenuous of any editor to plead that advertising has no effect on editorial policy. We all know it does. Don't try to shine us on. It's also disingenuous to plead that the marketers make the decisions about what ads to take and what to run. Experience of people like AdBusters (or, indeed, anyone with a non-mass-market viewpoint) who have tried to run sarcastic parodies show us otherwise.

If you take MSFT money, for advertising or for "sponsored" studies, you have to be prepared to take the consequences, which are derisive laughter, protest emails, and loss of credibility. That's the way it is - too many "grass roots" letter writing campaigns, too many studies that turn out to be sponsored by 3 layers of MSFT proxies, too many shrill, pro-Windows advocates have turned out to be Wag-Edd funded.