Microsoft wants you to "Get the Facts Straight"

[Conrad Knauer]

Perhaps you saw this on /. but if not, have a look at
http://quaoar.ww7.be/ms_fud_of_the_year/569458-microsoft-attack-linux-retail-level-probably.html
(a mirror of http://www.overclock.net/windows/569458-microsoft-attack-linux-retail-level-probably.html
with working images)

Note the slide specifically mentioning Ubuntu:

---
Get the Facts Straight

Linux updates and upgrades are easy.

[Myth]

The Real Facts

* Linux can require a lot of time to maintain.  For example, Ubuntu (a
version of Linux) may have hundreds of updates a month.
* It can be unclear to users whether or not software updates need to
be applied immediately or are optional.
---

I checked out the Microsoft ExpertZone website that this came from; I
liked how Microsoft implied that a lack of IE8 on Linux netbooks was
somehow a bad thing ;)

What I take from this is that we should actually emphasize that Ubuntu
is not a cheap Windows (as SABDFL has mentioned;
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Linux-and-Open-Source/Ubuntu-Founder-No-Emulation-Software-for-Dell-Systems/
) and that it is different (but better ;)... and that we love Firefox
O:)

Also, I don't get why they are discussing netbooks but at the same
time trying to push the point that Linux doesn't run World of Warcraft
(by default; apparently it works quite well in Wine) since gamers
wouldn't really want to run graphic-intensive games like that on an
Atom processor I would think! ;)  But even something as simple as
'Flash runs on Linux' or 'Watch YouTube videos' would be a good
counter argument...

Oh and did Microsoft conveniently forget to mention how much more
expensive their software makes a computer? (funny how they were
claiming that Macs are so much more costly! ;)  You could easily come
up with some savings estimate for Linux like 'save hundreds of $ over
the life of this computer!' by adding in the price for Office, plus
the Microsoft 'anytime upgrade' plus anti-virus, etc. etc.

Really, all of this really boils down to marketing; we need to come up
with some good advertising to counter this FUD :)

CK