Boycott Novell: Defenders of Freedom, or Offenders of Freedom?

Ladies and gentlemen, sit down. You have all been taken advantage of in the worst manipulative mental carnival imagineable.

FUD. We all know the term. Wikipedia states it as: "Fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) is a tactic of rhetoric used in sales, marketing, public relations, and illiberal democracies. FUD is generally a strategic attempt to influence public perception by disseminating negative (and vague) information."

For the longest time, this tactic has been largely connected with Microsoft. Free Software advocates have lashed out against these unfair statements, in an attempt to maintain a fair playing field.
There is one site, however, that tries to "play dirty" with Microsoft, and Novell. Enter the era of double-standards and bullshit. Boycott Novell is the unsatisfied FUD-mongerer's answer to corporations.

First and foremost, there are many differences in ideologies in the Linux universe. In many areas, projects such as Ubuntu and Debian mix proprietary software with Free Software. Some teams, such as gNewSense, strive harder for utter freedom. And finally, there is the polar opposite: distributions that try to expand into a corporate/business environment. Some of these distros, such as SuSE, have made prospective deals with Microsoft to ensure interoperabilty in the corporate medium. Is there anything really wrong with this? Ordinarily, people would shrug and not worry too much about it. However, Boycott Novell treats it as an "Unholy Marriage between Freedom and Shackles"

Anti-Microsoft FUD has been nothing new. It has circulated for years in Free Software communities, and everything's been hunky-dory. However, many of the said Anti-Microsoft FUD has degraded into brainless forum posts by users who otherwise do not know any better. A good example is Microsoft Office. While there's nothing really wrong with OpenOffice, many people are disgusted with MS Office not supporting ODF, an ISO Standard. Finally, after Microsoft publicly stated that it "Will be supporting ODF in the near future.", a FUDstorm from Boycott Novell states that "Microsoft is playing us, to HAMPER Free Software"

Well, Microsoft is a COMPANY. They've been making Office software before Linux was even around. Of course they're going to be skeptical of adopting a new format standard, the ones they've been using have worked just fine. As a COMPANY, Microsoft has to make decisions that are the most sound, not just radical, dangerous ideas. Besides which, is it really anyone's business on how they run things, if we're all running a non-Microsoft Operating System? How is that going to affect the price of rice tomorrow? It WON'T.

Nevertheless, Boycott Novell spreads FUD like a plague. It has misled hundreds of thousands of Free Software advocates, and it constantly works on staining the reputations of companies that have done nothing wrong. What's worse, they often have little proof of anything. Ever read a Boycott Novell article? Funny how they cite themselves 10 or more times in every article, rather than actually pointing to any relevent news. Give us facts grounded in reality, for Christ's sake!

The articles themselves are playing on a single card: fear. Their so-called "news" is nothing more than overblown forum posts and speculations that were stretched out to be crap-filled articles. They play the mentality of everyone's least favorite forum trolls, stating "OH MICRO$HAFT IS EVIL, USE LINUX ITS BETTER! LOLOLOLOLOL!". Some people are just fine with using Windows/Mac/BSD/etc. An OS does NOT make a person, actions and words do.

And, as stated before, they use themselves as sources of information. A real journalist would know to link to real information sites, or at least speculation sites. They could say "Well, it's completely possible that..." instead of "NO! THIS IS FACT! BELIEVE LIKE US! THINK LIKE US! CONFORM! BE AN INDIVIDUAL!", it's a worse case than the rampant Mac-fanboyism.

There is a way to reverse this problem: knowledge. Real tech journalists should stop buying into the bullshit. Instead, they should start doing real research and facts, rather than the "Yellow Journalism" that has left Hearst and Pullitzer to roll in their graves. As a group, Free Software supporters need to end the hate and anger against faceless companies. It's counter-productive. Furthermore, it's just damn silly.