The bad guys are worried – did we win?

“Recently two pieces of first class anti-free software diatribe
hit the headlines. The first is Microsoft’s “please don’t use
OpenOffice.org” video and the second is Steve Jobs’ anti-Android
rant. Both are pretty shallow attempts at deflection and have been
rightly called out as actually endorsing the subject of the attack
as a valid opponent. In both cases it does seem to say that
Microsoft and Jobs are concerned enough about OpenOffice.org and
Android respectively that they need to tell the rest of us how bad
they are. This is good news for those of us who like openness and
freedom in our computers.

“First class FUD

“I’ve said this before but if you feel the best way to promote
your product is to attack the opposition you have already lost.
Fear uncertainty and doubt (FUD) is a well known tactic and exists
not only in the software world. Free software supporters have been
quoting Ghandi’s “ignore, ridicule, fight, win” quote for a long
time. By launching these attacks both Microsoft and Jobs appear to
have belied their fear of the rival product and aligned themselves
with step 3 of that process.”

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