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Re: [PLUG] Microsoft in Linux Mag
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On Sun, Aug 19, 2001 at 10:04:27PM -0400, Beldon Dominello wrote:
> I'm not sure how many on this list read Linux Magazine (as opposed to LJ),
> but starting in August, Microsoft has taken out two-page ads touting their
> "Web Hoster Program" (http://www.microsoft.com/isp).
>
> I'm wondering what people think about this-- regardless of what you think of
> Linux Mag.
I'm quite happy with the explanation that Adam Goodman offered in
his editorial. Microsoft is actively interested in people who are
using Linux as a platform for deploying web based content. It's
also interesting that they are offering specific services and
programs to the Linux community because they feel some webfolk have
been put off by Microsoft in the past.
> [...] Is it imporoper for a magazine which touts itself as "The
> Chronicle of the Revolution" to provide advertising space for a company that
> doesn't offer support for Linux and by all accounts would like to see us
> disappear or suffocate like so many of its former competitors?
No, because it's important to chronicle that Microsoft realizes that
their actions/lack of action in the past may have helped to create
such a sizable community interested in Linux in the first place.
It's a free market place now. There are those who want simple solutions,
those who want good cost/benefit ratios, and those who want stability.
Perhaps some readers of Linux Magazine will be swayed by the Microsoft
ads; they probably aren't interested in the revolution, but are more
pragmatic about the solutions they choose. And that is a very important
aspect of the Linux community that many of us forget - pragmatism trumps
moralistic ideals and revolutionary zeal.
> [...] I made the comment that Linux Mag running the ad was like a
> vegetarian magazine running a "Beef: Real food for real people" ad.
No, because vegetarians almost certainly have a different outlook on
their diet than J. Random Linuxuser does. Pragmatism is not a significant
issue to a vegetarian while moral values and health are.
Z.
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