So somebody sends me this: http://quaoar.ww7.be/ms_fud_of_the_year/569458-microsoft-attack-linux-retail-level-probably.html

Words cannot describe the rage I feel as a result, but read on for a pretty decent attempt.

Get The Facts V2

So Microsoft has been both sued and accused of falsifying the “facts” in their “Get The Facts” campaigns. Their response seems to be to up the ante even more and begin attacking sales personnel in the process.

And the sales personnel they are targeting happen to be at Best Buy, no less, and as XKCD best put it:

“Security”, Maintainability, and Drivers

I’m not going to sit here and become the Billy Graham of Linux (don’t you hate those guys?) but I will point some things out:

• There are still more viruses and more rapidly-spreading viruses for Windows than Linux
• Linux’s compatibility with Windows via WINE is at its best
• The amount of drivers available for peripherals and common devices rivals that of Windows (although some newer devices will always have trouble being supported if the manufacturer doesn’t provide a Linux driver)
• The Unix-style of permissions and system security architecture still trumps that of Windows, although UAC attempts to replicate sudo/gksu.
• There is no “Linux Genuine Advantage” (A.K.A. “send my personal information to Microsoft on a daily basis so I can retrieve crucial security updates”)

Microsoft’s Strategy

You have to give them credit, though: Microsoft is going right for the heart of Linux here, utilizing training for even Best Buy personnel in their new aggressive campaign against what they now must consider a threat to their new OS.

Combine this with their “I’m a PC” and laptop hunting expeditions (both slashing the Mac platform) and you have covered both major threats to Microsoft’s OS monopoly.

I may be a little (read: very) biased against Microsoft for their strategy and product quality versus the Mac and Linux platforms, but even though Microsoft is simply playing Apple’s game with the “I’m a PC” commercials, going so far as to blatantly spread misinformation about Windows 7 versus Linux is a little too far.

Novell, Red Hat and IBM have all created ads promoting Linux, but without going so far as to completely distort facts about the opposition, as Microsoft seems to have done here.

Given the proper amount of research and citing of reputable sources, this could be grounds for yet another lawsuit against Microsoft, as in the past with legal confrontation over the “Get The Facts” and some “I’m a PC” commercials.

Sometimes, people just feel like they have to play dirty to advocate their product against a threat…