Search Engine Marketing Blog // SEM SEO and Internet Marketing

Threat Marketing 101

Posted on May 23rd, 2007 in Marketing Linux, Marketing, Microsoft, Ubuntu

Recent comments by Microsoft’s executive management have opened up a real can of worms and this time offended rather than entertained the open source community. It seems that a certain really big software company somewhere in the Pacific Northwest is being accused of using “Threat Marketing” not only to ensure their control of the desktop, but also to suppress public interest in the open source movement. The claim is that building bridges with other big companies like Novell, Dell and Samsung, will be good. The question is, how many bridges can you build and how far can you build them before they become trade restraining monopolies and pathological deceptions?

Alleging 235 documented instances of patent infringement, the giant software company in Redmond, Washington is being accused of using scare tactics to wrench control of Linux and other publicly licensed software from those who continue to work diligently to ensure it’s usefulness and success. Comments inviting Bill Gates to, “Sue me first”, are echoing throughout cyberspace and continue to attract media attention. One can only wonder what the outcome will be this time as proponents of both the open source community and the closed source community choose weapons to battle yet another round over free-use licensing versus paid-use licensing.

In an article by IT Week a Microsoft spokesperson was quoted as saying, “Our focus is on continuing to build bridges. Microsoft and Novell have already developed a solution that meets the needs of customers, furthers interoperability, and advances the interests of the industry as a whole.” The spokesperson went on to say, “Any customer that is concerned about Linux intellectual property issues needs only to obtain their open source subscriptions from Novell.” Great! One merely needs to obtain (buy?) from Microsoft’s approved source Novell, in order to run a non-patent infringing, untainted or legal Linux operating system that is already free for anyone to use under the terms of GNU General Public License. Huh? Where does this leave all of the other popular and free flavors of Linux?

While the folks over at Ubuntu are obviously delighted over the recent announcement of Dell’s intention to install Ubuntu Linux on their new computers, other news resources indicate that Michael Dell has already signed one of Microsoft’s bridge agreements. However, that agreement indicates Microsoft will sell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server certificates to Dell under an alliance between Microsoft and Novell. Preposterous as it sounds, does this mean that Novell subscriptions will be required by Microsoft for Dell to provide the Ubuntu Linux operating system pre-installed on their new computers? Michael Dell is running Ubuntu Linux 7.04 on his personal laptop and has been doing so since April. It is not clear at this point who’s permission, subscription or certificate he obtained in order to do this without being sued for patent infringement. Perhaps he is not, “concerned about Linux intellectual property issues.” Or, maybe he is siding with other-high visibility individuals who take exception to Microsoft’s position.

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu recently shared his opinion by providing timely comments regarding software patent issues and blogged, “In short, Microsoft will lose a patent trench war if they start one, and I’m sure that cooler heads in Redmond know that.”

© 2007 DM Jackson - All rights reserved

How to Succeed on the Internet

Posted on March 16th, 2007 in Search Marketing Internet, Marketing

Over the years, biographers, journalists, contemporary “big thinkers” and writers like me have commented on the incredible genius of the renowned theoretical physicist Albert Einstein. How did he do it? What made him tick? Was he from another planet or from another time?

In addition to the “Theory of Relativity”, he left the rest of us a wonderful legacy of thought provoking and memorable statements. You can find books, t-shirts and even web sites full of his sayings. I have a t-shirt that has a picture of Einstein sticking his tongue out with the saying, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” While this is one of my favorite Einstein quotes, there are others.

Einstein has been quoted as saying, “Genius is ninety percent sweat.” Like everything else about relativity, this applies to everything else, even the Internet! It’s important to remember because for the most part, those halcyon days of seemingly genius ideas leading to nearly instant on-line success are mostly over. Sweat is what you must do in order to become an Internet genius nowadays. That is of course, if you really want to succeed.