According to the anonymous source, Microsoft has been sending Best Buy retail staff training material that deliberately attacks and distorts Linux. And from the screenshots below (originally posted on Overclock.net forum) it’s clear Microsoft is threatened by Linux–if for the wrong reasons.
Microsoft didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment on the screenshots. Similarly, Electronista wrote that Microsoft has neither confirmed or denied the legitimacy of the materials.
Presumably this campaign is related to Netbooks and laptops, a space in which Linux has feature parity, if a lack of interest from consumers. It would be interesting to see how Microsoft will evolve its anti-Apple message. The laptop hunters ad series focused on the expense of Apple products, but it certainly can’t beat iTunes and other Apple software for compatibility and ease of use.
Anti-Linux rhetoric
Just when it seemed like Microsoft was content to bag on Google and Apple, screenshots of anti-Linux training materials hit the Internet a few days ago. If these are fakes, someone certainly spent a lot of time making them look and sound a lot like previous Microsoft training materials.
(Credit: Screenshot-Dave Rosenberg)
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Anti-Linux rhetoric
(Credit: Screenshot-Dave Rosenberg)