“Set the hype machine to Warp Factor 10, we’re battling in
hype-r-space. Today’s Wall Street Journal is the battlefield for
Microsoft Corp. and its allies vs. Sun Microsystems Inc. and the
Linux crowd. Microsoft, along with Adobe, Cisco Systems Inc.,
Compaq Computer Corp., Dell Computer Corp. and others took out a
complete section of full-page, alphabetically-arranged ads in
today’s WSJ touting their commitment to the Windows 2000 operating
system unveiled during today’s launch. For the most part, the ads,
targeting end-users, were the same tame fare that appear in the WSJ
every day.”
“By far the winner in the ad page eyeball battle is newcomer
TurboLinux. In a half-page ad, the company offers a
competitive upgrade offer to disappointed purchasers of Windows
2000 to its own product, TurboLinux Workstation 6.0, plus the
StarOffice product suite.”
“The ad’s kicker is that the offer is good until the end of
March or until the user’s Windows system crashes, ‘whichever comes
first.’ “