Microsoft Fanbois Challenge Linux Tux500 Project

The article 404's. The correct link should be: http://blog.lobby4linux.com/index.php?/archives/150-Microsof...

The link 'Even outside the Gates of Castle Redmond' within the above lobby4linux page, is http://vista500.ifastnet.com/ Not to overly increase traffic to this link at all(!), however a telling excerpt from this is as follows

Quoting:April 17, 2007 Welcome, race fans! As you may know, the Linux guys over at tux500.com think they can actually raise enough money to sponsor an entire car in the Indianapolis 500. I don't think their "community" can do it. But I think the Windows using community can pull together and get Microsoft to do something similar: put a Microsoft Vista sponsored car in the race!

What follows this is a petition "requesting Microsoft [to] sponsor a car in the Indy 500 -- to race head to head against the Linux car (and win, of course)" The Microsoft "fanbois" then give themselves a target date of May 15th to win this sponsorship by their mother company; pre-empting the tux500 project's fundraising deadline by just under a week.

As it stands now, the tux500 donation-tracking thermometer is currently just under $8K of the desired $350K for the first 13 days of the campaign. At this rate, at the end of the full 41 days of the campaign, the projected total would be under $35K of the $350K fundraising goal (i.e., just shy of 10 percent). Of course, this would *not* include any badly needed larger donations by corporate sponsors ..............................................................................................................

Also noteworth: In the first 5 days of vista500, their forum shows a total of 5 posts and 2 people other than the admin voicing support.

Yeah, it's off to a running start </sarcasm>

What a bunch of weiners! Between PeePete, the poor oppressed billionaires being threatened by OLPC, and these schmucks, I am so wishing I could sprinkle itchy vile poxes upon them.

There's no such thing as a "Windows using Community". Just a bunch of Microsoft customers. They must be referring to a group of customers, I guess.

How about the Delta Faucet using community petitioning for a car? How about the Nike shoe wearing community petitioning for a car?

It makes no sense at all. There's a difference between a group of customers and a community.

M$ has no interest in putting a car in the race. To do so would only lend credence to the idea that Linux is a threatening alternative.

Of course, in my opinion the two are not alternatives. M$ isn't even in the same league. Software that tells you what you may or may not do vs. software written by the community BECAUSE they wanted it to do something! No competition.

I hope they succeed in getting M$ to sponsor a car.

Why?

The whole idea is to expose Linux to people who otherwise will never hear of it. Can you imagine the exposure if the Linux and Windows cars are running neck-and-neck?

>There's no such thing as a "Windows using Community"

Don't kid yourself. There are many communities of Windows users and the network effect they create is one of the impediments to desktop Linux.

I first became aware of the Windows user communities' power when working a gig at Lucent. It was the first time I had done a job that relied primarily on Windows software, surrounded by people who relied primarily on Windows. Turns out you can't really do that unless you've got access to people who have already tripped over many of the bugs and just plain badly implemented "features".

> Don't kid yourself. There are many communities of Windows users

Well, bigg does have a point though. Technically, they're more like consumer activist groups.

There's no such thing as a "Windows using Community"

I would agree if the point came down to an argument in semantics. However, there seems to be a fairly cohesive bunch over at Scot Finnie's website and forums. Actually a pretty nice chap...even though he threw off MS and went to MAC. Website must be paying off, LOL

h