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Anti-Linux Propaganda du Jour: Windows Owns 96% Of NetbooksThe anti-Linux propaganda du jour, being dutifully parroted by "news" publications everywhere, is that Windows now owns 96% of the netbook market, and that Linux netbooks are returned four times more than windows netbooks. Both are untrue and have been debunked repeatedly. Yet they persist-- why? I think Microsoft is growing increasingly desperate, and in hard economic times is finding equally desperate publications who will say anything for a few bucks. Which may be a harsh judgment, but I would rather believe that than believe they simply don't care to do even the simplest, most basic fact-checking, or are such hard-core Microsoft fanboys that they are only pretending to be journalists when they are really stringers for Microsoft's marketing department. How else can we explain the same nonsense repeated endlessly, their allergies to saying "Windows" and "malware" in the same sentence, the short shrift given to non-Windows software, the mind-boggling assumption that Windows is computing? As it is not part of Microsoft's business plan to participate in a genuinely competitive marketplace, expect to see this sort of thing become even more prevalent. If that is possible; I thought the FUD and anti-Linux propaganda had already reached the saturation point, but it looks like I was wrong. This is decent article from Computerworld that dismisses the the bogus 4x higher return rate, which was claimed by MSI and has been proven wrong many times already: Are Linux netbooks really returned more often than Windows models?
Microsoft owns the retail chain and exerts tremendous pressure to keep competing offerings off the shelves. The big vendors like Lenovo, HP, and Dell either have no idea how to market Linux, or are vulnerable to pressure from Microsoft, or maybe a bit of both. Individual Actions Count BigAs I wrote about yesterday, Linux and FOSS are all about individual computer users having power. We can make a difference. Here are some ideas for what we can do:
I know that buying a Windows machine is often the least-expensive way to get a new computer. But please consider the long-term view; it might save you a few dollars now, but it reinforces Microsoft's lock on the marketplace, which will cost plenty more over the long-term. Not only in prices, but in variety and quality. Microsoft depends on lock-in to survive; a genuinely competitive tech marketplace is what is best for us, and it is Kryptonite to Redmond. Nobody is going to fix this for us-- not the US Department of Justice, not the European Union, not Linus or Richard or Mark or any of the other movers and shakers in Linux and FOSS. It's up to us.
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