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| The Windows Community Explodes - a Parody |
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Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 12:34 PM EDT
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The Windows Community Explodes - A Parody*
Here's a new twist on spam. Extremist elements in the Windows community have sent out right-wing political propaganda by means of evil malware that only affects Windows computers, specifically Windows computers previously infected by a variant of the Sober mass-mailing worm. The terrifying details: The worm targets computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, making them send out barrages of spam emails.
In the latest attack, German-language messages containing links to news articles on right-wing German websites were sent.
Experts described the amount of spam generated as "staggering".
During the past week, TelstraClear had processed 15 million emails and trashed 79 per cent of them as spam, said TelstraClear's internet service provider, Clear.net. Linux, Unix and Mac users are unaffected and uninvolved. The political propaganda messages were sent by Windows computers infected with a new variant of the Sober worm, which turns the computers into zombies which can then be used to do whatever the extremists in the Windows community wish them to do: The worm's author is likely a neo-Nazi sympathizer motivated by ideology, rather than a mercenary who would send out messages for any paying customer, experts said. Some are calling on the Windows community to rein in their extremists, saying such illegal behavior is giving the Windows operating system a very bad name. More responsible elements of the Windows community need to speak out immediately and condemn such thuggish behavior.
It's illegal to do this, last I looked. Pushing neo-Nazi propaganda on innocent victims -- enough is enough. The Windows community has lost it. Frankly, if I have to choose between such extremism in an operating system's users like this and Linux, I'd have to say, Linux wins, hands down. At least their behavior is rational. No normal person would like to do business with loonies like this. Could that be why Microsoft is losing against Linux in the server space, and the desktop is eating away at them, forcing them to offer lower prices overseas? If anything can bring Microsoft down, it's these certifiable lunatics in the Windows community. Every month it seems we hear about another virus, a worm, a trojan, spyware, all in the Windows-using population. It's costing businesses billions every year. The Windows community is slowly turning into a state of chaos, and now it boasts paranoid crackpots yearning for the Third Reich. Where does the madness end? It's not safe for the rest of us to go on the Internet any more. Really, people, such fanaticism in your ranks can't be condoned.
* Think this sounds stupid? Unfair? I agree. Cf. CRN and John Dvorak. I hope you don't reward them with clicks. CRN staff, whoever they are, anonymously wrote: Some have said (anonymously, because they're not nuts) that one of the biggest obstacles to Linux adoption is the over-the-top passion of the Linux faithful.
Really, when it comes to getting software from a monopolist or a mob, I'd pick the monopolist nearly every time. At least its motivations are rational. I gather from this the beneficiary of O'Gara's slime piece is Microsoft. Go figure. The FUD definitely has the Microsoft touch, I'd say. As for Dvorak, who put his name on the very thought CRN claims no one dares to speak out loud except anonymously, a man who thinks medals should be given to reporters who post innocent old ladies' addresses on the Internet, what can I say? I'd have to be a Meathead to want to argue with Archie Bunker. Maybe I could tell him that the 89-year-old woman this happened to was just hospitalized. Would such a man care? It seems when there is a lot of money involved in a story, some see only ka-ching. But we are talking here about real people. Real human beings, with blood in their veins, just like you, and families, and troubles, and needs and wants just like yours. Who is going to make it right for that poor old woman? For her family, if they lose her? Can they give her back her health? Her former life? What kind of people are they, if they don't care about something so basic? Journalism doesn't include the right to behave so irresponsibly you send people to their graves. *If* Microsoft is behind this FUDsicle, shame on you. You need to cease and desist. If SCO is, the message is the same. O'Gara too. I certainly do not condone any illegal behavior. I'm a paralegal, after all. And my website holds high the banner of love for the law, and respect for the legal process. But something worse than a DOS happened here -- and, by the way, it turns out it may not even have been an attack, or a lame one if it even was one, according to this audio interview with two of the 10-12 editors of LinuxWorld, the entire editorial staff, who quit in protest over O'Gara's article and Sys-Con's response to it. I understand there has been an apology from Fuat, but he hasn't sent it to me. And as for the "death threats", I noted that observers who were watching closely say they never saw any such comments at all. I wasn't watching, because I don't read O'Gara, unless someone tells me something she's written. But I think it's time for some proof, with the logs, please, if this allegation remains on the table. Even if there were some over the top comments, it seems the only life in actual jeopardy is on the other side, tragically. So, don't ever talk to me again about Linux "extremists". Ever. PS: They can investigate me until the heat death of the universe, and they'll never find a connection to IBM, because there isn't one. There never has been. They have harmed innocent people's lives for absolutely nothing.
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| Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 01:20 PM EDT |
| Thank you, thank you, thank you. This a perfect response to Dvorak's idiocy. [ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: overshoot on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 01:47 PM EDT |
As always, post links as <a
href="http://www.example.com/">clickable HTML</a>. It's also
a good idea to preview before you post.[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: Ben Hildred on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 01:48 PM EDT |
to keep things neat
---
It's not chicken soup for the soul; it's more like peanut butter for the mind.
-- The Famous Brett Watson[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: walberg on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 01:51 PM EDT |
Maybe it's just me, but I'm not sure I see the "parody" bit...
Sounds like "bizness as usual" to me. About the only reasons
I can believe it's fiction (for now anyway) is that I haven't
heard of it elsewhere, and I haven't seen the Windows techhies
here get spun up over it (yet)...
Sad....[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 01:59 PM EDT |
Really, when it comes to getting software from a monopolist or a
mob, I'd pick the monopolist nearly every time. At least its motivations are
rational.
Brought to you by John
"What-I-Can't-Understand-Is-Irrational" Dworak.[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: Stumbles on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 02:01 PM EDT |
Lol, a monopoly is more rational than the Mob? Seems to me both
use the same business tactics and strategies. It's just with a
monopoly, physical harm is a lot less likely. Other than that, I do
not see much difference between the two.
Both use strongarm techniques in their distribution channels to
minimize or prohibit alternatives. Both use advertising to
manipulate weak minded people. Though the Mobs methods here
are more covert. But then again so is "the monopolies". How many
"analysis" have they bought now? How many different think tanks
and other types of media do they own or have a big fat finger in?
Those are just a couple of quick thoughts of the top.
---
You can tune a piano but you can't tune a fish.[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: kberrien on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 02:01 PM EDT |
1. Linux isn't good enough for business.
2. Linux has Unix code.
3. Linux has no idemification.
4. Linux has patent problems.
Todays Beef:
Linux is backed by radical techno-socialists who can't control themselves.
I know my list is missing some things, anyone care to improve my FUD timeline.
[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: RealProgrammer on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 02:07 PM EDT |
this at all.
---
(I'm not a lawyer, but I know right from wrong)[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: svyerkgeniiy on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 02:13 PM EDT |
| Dvorak seems to think that, because he has some ken with Windows technology,
that somehow this extends to the whole PC world, including linux. This is the
guy who wrote that Microsoft could extend and embrace linux by writing a driver
layer for it, and that each variant from different vendors is a bad,
incompatible thing. He also makes statements like Microsoft must be an
innovative company because it really has bad
marketing, and the death of the computer
gaming industry is near (apparently there's nothing new, so we as gamers
must certainly be ready to abandon them).
He knows enough to say some things
that make sense, but he says a lot of maybe-things, or gets them just plain
wrong. It sounds like most of his stuff is just off the top of his head. I've
learned mostly to just not trust his "predictions", though they are sometimes
right. I'll find another oracle to hear prophecy from.
---
I left my
signature on my other billboard. [ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: KBellve on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 02:18 PM EDT |
Who cares about him. He is part of the old media and isn't relevant anymore.
The only reason I stumble onto his diatribe was because he was linked by the new
media, like here and slashdot.
Ignore him and he will fade away..again...
[ Reply to This | # ]
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- Who is Dvorak? - Authored by: PJ on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 02:37 PM EDT
- Who is Dvorak? - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 03:57 PM EDT
- Mm?? - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, May 19 2005 @ 12:28 AM EDT
- Who is Dvorak? - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, May 19 2005 @ 03:59 PM EDT
- Dvorak - may have a patent on troll - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 03:58 PM EDT
- Who is Dvorak? - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 04:15 PM EDT
- Who is Dvorak? - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 04:38 PM EDT
- Who is Dvorak? - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 06:27 PM EDT
- Who is Dvorak? - Authored by: Zarkov on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 09:12 PM EDT
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| Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 02:22 PM EDT |
Nazi propaganda by Microsoft extremists through Windows worms?
You lost, PJ.
Big time.[ Reply to This | # ]
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- PJ, go see a doctor. - Authored by: prhodes on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 02:27 PM EDT
- what is your point? - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 02:28 PM EDT
- You need to click on the links - Authored by: PJ on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 02:30 PM EDT
- PJ, go see a doctor. - Authored by: jstormes on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 02:33 PM EDT
- Is that you MOG? - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 02:54 PM EDT
- "A Parody" - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 03:52 PM EDT
- PJ, go see a doctor. Hey BIFF! - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 04:04 PM EDT
- PJ, go see a doctor. - Authored by: darthaggie on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 07:35 PM EDT
- Go see a therapy - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, May 19 2005 @ 05:14 AM EDT
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| Authored by: Nick_UK on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 02:29 PM EDT |
I have said for a few years that Microsoft _should_ be
held liable and
accountable for all these problems with
its operating system.
At work, fortunately, systems are tied down on the main
WAN with all the
appropiate firewalls and security, but
the amount of users I get asking me
'how to remove this',
how to remove that' trojan/worm/virus on their home
machines is staggering.
Some of these things are almost
IMPOSSIBLE to remove once
a machine gets infected... the most recent
question I was
asked was about this the 'about: blank' trojan.
Here is a page that explains what happens and how to try
and remove
it:
sr_cwsremoval.html
How on earth this is allowed to happen, I don't know.
Microsoft just shrug and don't do anything about it.
Thanks to their
'registry' (which I think was designed
from the beginning to obscure user
intervention of the
OS), Microsoft are 100% to blame.
Nick [ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: brain1 on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 02:32 PM EDT |
Excellent article, PJ. Darn straight.
I hope the innocent bystander harmed by this fracas recovers her health. This
is innocent blood on the hands of O'Gara, and IMHO, she needs the book thrown at
here in a court of law.
BTW, if digging for the truth and telling the world of it makes you an
extremist, then we need a lot more of those.
Your determination is exemplary!
-dh[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: l0ne on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 02:33 PM EDT |
In the name of whatever you want, do not. Ever. Link. To. Articles. Like. Those.
Up. There. Without. Marking. Them. As. Nofollow.
Or Google and the other automated spiders out there will think you (brrrr)
endorse them.
Add rel="nofollow" to your <a>'s to prevent this.[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: Rob M on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 02:41 PM EDT |
Oh, it does, most definitely. Unfortunately, we're stuck using the same mail
infrastructure as Windows. If the mail server I use is DDOSed by this or my
download bandwidth is taken up by thousands of copies of the spam, it doesn't
matter what I'm running.
[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: Hydra on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 02:47 PM EDT |
Okay, let me see if I can get this straight...
Mr Dvorak writes an
Opinion Column titled "Linux Community Implodes". PJ responds to parody
this with the completely over-the-top "The Windows Community Explodes - a
Parody".
The problem however, is that it is really not clear what
part of PJ's writing is the parody, and what part the comment on the Dvorak
opinion piece. The way I originally read it was not in [Parody reading
mode], because there is at the moment no clear distinction between PJ's
parody and her other comments.
By reading the comments from others, it
becomes clear that I wasn't the only one who had difficulties with the line
between the serious writing and the parody. Some still do not get it that the
whole "The Windows Community Explodes - a Parody" includes the bit of
those neo-nazi's being representative of the windows community. A bit of editing
to emphasise this line could help out.
On a more personal note, I think
PJ's parody is out of bounds. If you want to keep the moral high ground, which I
assume PJ intends to do, you have to keep from antics like these. A parody is
fine. But that doesn't mean you can push boundaries out past their braking
point. This one went too far, it was a very crude blunt-axe attempt which didn't
even remotely make me see the humor of it. Along a similar vein that the
comparison of relentless not-letting-up pass-the-whip nazi methods was really a
No Go in my eyes, a later correction/edit to clearify notwithstanding... [ Reply to This | # ]
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- Structure of this item - Authored by: tbear on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 03:10 PM EDT
- CHL - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 03:40 PM EDT
- OOps - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 03:42 PM EDT
- Structure of this item - Authored by: Hydra on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 03:54 PM EDT
- Parody - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 04:09 PM EDT
- Structure of this item - Authored by: PJ on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 09:31 PM EDT
- would it help - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, May 19 2005 @ 01:17 AM EDT
- Structure of this item - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 03:14 PM EDT
- The horizontal line is the dividing line. - Authored by: mscibing on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 03:16 PM EDT
- Structure of this item - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 04:00 PM EDT
- Structure of this item - Authored by: rweiler on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 04:04 PM EDT
- Something you are forgetting...... - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 07:32 PM EDT
- So a line is difficult for you to comprehend. - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, May 19 2005 @ 12:43 AM EDT
- How to make a point and make people think. - Authored by: cricketjeff on Thursday, May 19 2005 @ 05:24 AM EDT
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| Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 02:56 PM EDT |
Funny.
"Windows Community", ha ha ha.
Oh, now gotta read the rest of the
article.[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: blacklight on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 03:05 PM EDT |
On John Dvorak's assertion that the "Linux zealots" will be after him:
John Dvorak is one of these idiots who pours gasoline on a fire and then
complains that he's got third-degree burns. In addition, John Dvorak's article
clearly shows that he has at most a superficial grasp of the facts and no grasp
at all of journalistic ethics: the guy is a fifth-rate columnist.[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: Prototrm on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 03:17 PM EDT |
I regularly read Dvorak, but from a "John, you forgot to take your
medication again" point of view. I don't know anyone who has taken the man
seriously for years, and that's a sad thing to say about anyone. His article is
more of a distracting noise than anything to be concerned about.
Any on line community will have its fair share of zealots, and frankly they all
sound alike. Whether it's Amiga, Macintosh, OS/2, Windows, or Linux, only the
operating systems have been changed. The important thing is to keep your cool,
and focus on the facts. Don't let the noise distract you from what you're
doing.
PJ, I thought it was a good idea for you to mention what has happened to the
woman involved in this. Not that she would have agreed, but I think a more
hard-hitting article would have been an interview with her and her family. Maybe
that would give a few journalists a good smack in the head with a clue stick.
Or maybe not.[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: ssavitzky on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 03:19 PM EDT |
As an occasional writer of parodies myself, I can appreciate the subtlety
involved in trying to poke fun at something that starts out so over-the-top that
it almost parodies itself.
Aside to the puzzled: sometimes a parody is so good that, if you don't know the
original, it's hard to tell that it's a parody. Matching the tone and structure
well enough to pull it off takes real talent.
---
Never anger a bard, for your name sounds funny and scans to Greensleeves.[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 03:19 PM EDT |
PJ, much as we all sympathize with what you (and your mother) have gone through
over this O'Gara stuff, it's time to drop the whole thing. Groklaw is supposed
to be about the law, the SCO case, etc, not Linuxworld, columnists, and an
unending flame war.
I know that it's very hard to keep from being distracted with this all, but in
the end the credibility of Groklaw depends on it. I am a big fan of yours, and
I feel it's best that Groklaw move on.
[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 03:30 PM EDT |
PJ, if that woman really is your mother, you have my deepest sympathies. (As
far as I have seen, you have carefully refrained from saying, and whether she is
or isn't, I think I agree with your silence.) And if she isn't your mother, her
family has my deepest sympathies.
MSS[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 04:54 PM EDT |
Well, I read Dvorak's article, and I read your article, and either one could be
a parody of the other.
-Wang-Lo.
[ Reply to This | # ]
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- Enough!!! - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 05:56 PM EDT
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| Authored by: cricketjeff on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 06:17 PM EDT |
Given the standards of fact checking that seem to have been in place at Newsweek, who
one would hope employ moderately professional journalists is it any wonder that
people working for FUDfront organisations think it is acceptable to do whatever
the heck they like, after all us Linux user may all be extremists in their eyes
but we rarely riot badly enough to kill people.
In both our countries (UK
and USA) and I have no doubt in most others there seems to be a complete
abandonment of professional standards, can anyone remember a politician who lied
or cheated and was caught who resigned without being forced? at least there are
still a few honest lawyers and journalists but give it a few more years and they
will be as bad.
We need to reclaim our civilisation from these people.
Lawyers who break the rules need to be disbarred, journalists who knowlingly
publish lies and private material with no possible public interest need to be
banned from all publication and any politician caught with his hand in the till
or "being economical with the actuality" needs a life ban on holding any public
office.
Once upon a time people were proud to be members of a profession,
now it is close to being a badge of shame.[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 06:45 PM EDT |
it appears to have been shifted or changed or deleted.
Perhaps Dvorak's host site got singed by the heat he generated when he lit is
little match.
Doug M[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: micheal on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 08:16 PM EDT |
The only parody I see is referring to Windows as an operating system :)
(I almost posted the above earlier in the day, but, after reading all the
trolls, I am glad I held off. I understand what PJ said and agree with her
100%.)
---
LeRoy
If I have anything to give, made of this life I live, it is this song, which I
have made. Now in your keeping it is laid.
Anon[ Reply to This | # ]
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- that scarcasm - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, May 19 2005 @ 01:25 AM EDT
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| Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 11:30 PM EDT |
| Can we conclude then that you are not a Jehovah's Witness, and not the
woman described in O'Gara's article? [ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, May 19 2005 @ 12:44 AM EDT |
I think it is wonderfully ironic. Calling it parody may have the virtue of
avoiding a slander charge, but it also absolves MicroSoft of their
responsibility to provide secure software. The sad part is that the parody is a
greater danger than the original scenario, yet public awarness has not picked up
on this.
[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, May 19 2005 @ 03:23 AM EDT |
Hitler's motivations were rational!
And, erm... *what* Windows 'Community'?[ Reply to This | # ]
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| Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, May 19 2005 @ 05:17 AM EDT |
| What is this doing here? When did Groklaw become windowssucks.com? [ Reply to This | # ]
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- Uh... what? - Authored by: PJ on Thursday, May 19 2005 @ 01:16 PM EDT
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| Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, May 19 2005 @ 03:02 PM EDT |
One I remember is from the idiot ballmer
linux is communists
I guess he thought because if you have a company named redhat distributing a
version it must be communists.[ Reply to This | # ]
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