NewsForge | The facts behind the “Get the Facts” ad campaign

Joe Barr sounds off in NewsForge about the Get the Facts campaign run by Microsoft to replace their Linux Facts ads that ran earlier.

“Like many readers, I find Microsoft’s Get the Facts (GtF) ads repugnant, especially when they appear on sites dedicated to Linux and open source software. I understand that such organizations’ editorial and ad sales staffs operate independently, meaning neither side tells the other what content it is or isn’t allowed to carry, but I still don’t like it. Happily, however, the bogus GtF ads may not be around much longer.

The ads are part of an evolving strategy for Microsoft. Its reputation became so tainted during the ’90s that it became impossible for the company’s own spokespeople — from Chairman Bill Gates on down — to speak with any credibility. That’s why they began to disguise their identity and to outsource their marketing to paid shills in the press and elsewhere to deliver their lies. Finding folks with more credibility than they have has never been a problem for Microsoft.”

Comparing apples to oranges

Microsoft loves false comparisons, but occasionally finds itself in hot water for using them. One “independent” TCO study featured in the GtF campaign claimed Linux was 10 times more costly than Windows. As reported by the BBC, Microsoft was ordered to pull misleading ads purported to compare the cost of the software while not revealing that it was actually comparing the cost of running Linux on two IBM mainframes against the cost of running Windows on a PC with two Intel CPUs.

If it’s so obvious, why bother?

You might be wondering why I am reciting all these well-known embarrassments to the rats in Redmond. You’ve known all along that the Microsoft ads aimed at Linux are misleading and deceptive, whether they are part of the GtF campaign or not. The answer is two-fold: the lies keep coming, and people believe them. Besides, I’ve discovered a new wrinkle in Microsoft’s bag of deceits I want to share with you.

Not long ago, “a story and subsequent discussion on Slashdot revealed that one of the latest additions to the GtF — a biased “study” which supposedly shows disinterest in Linux in the enterprise — was being taken at face value, exactly as Microsoft intended it to be. Never mind that study’s author had twisted the facts and inserted his pro-Redmond bias at every opportunity, as was revealed in a story right here on NewsForge several weeks earlier. The study — which in fact shows Linux is continuing to penetrate deeper into the heart of Microsoft turf — was cited on Slashdot as evidence that the GtF campaign was working, and that Linux was losing.

What I didn’t know at the time that story was written was that the Info-Tech report was paid for by Microsoft — just not up front, as in the “funded” reports Microsoft has used before. I guess they’ve learned that it’s a dead giveaway that when they fund a report or a benchmark it is bound to show Microsoft’s message, regardless of reality. They were sneakier this time. They paid for it after the fact.

Good news/bad news

If Microsoft holds to the original time line for the campaign, which kicked off in January 2004 and signaled Microsoft’s recognition of the fact that Linux was a serious threat to its empire, this may be the last month you’ll have to suffer the ads.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that just as Microsoft replaced the failed “Linux Myths” campaign with GtF, it won’t be long until it starts churning out the same tired propaganda under a new banner, and many IT buyers will treat such things as fact instead of fantasy.

Microsoft did not abandon honesty when GtF was launched, and it won’t return to it when GtF’s tour of duplicity is complete. Scorpions, nature, and all that.