Overdue correspondence

Sometimes blogs from long ago attract further reader comment - and I usually don't take the time to respond to or even read these because, well, it's a moving window and what's past is past, right?

Unfortunately that's wrong at both extremes - there are some serious comments there that I really do want to respond to and some, well, not so serious ones I thought might make suitable Thanksgiving fare for American readers.

Consider, for example, this rather stunning response by DarrenR114 to my review of a Microsoft anti-Linux case study in which Linux doesn't get mentioned:

The World Has Gone Topsy-turvy

Paul,

This article is surprising. I'd stopped reading any articles you wrote years ago - as they seemed to me to be blindy pro-Microsoft.

But this article just turned my whole worldview inside-out.

I'm not sure if you've been overcome with fever or what, but I won't dismiss your articles so readily , for the time being.

On the other hand, not everybody loves me: here's a bit that's been quoted approvingly on a number of different sites - I believe originally by the same John Welch I'd quoted positively the day before:

Paul Murphy, Jackass

ZDNet 'blogger' Paul Murphy has decided to compare Linux to Mac OS X Server, and he starts with:

Please note that I have not had a chance to see and use the new MacOS [sic] X 'Leopard' server release. Comments specific to Leopard Server here are, therefore, based on third party reports.

Please note that I have not bothered to read the rest of your 'review'. My calling you a jackass, therefore, is based solely on the fact that you've published a comparison of software you admittedly haven't even seen.

Umm, I think quondam reader "yogeee"'s response to my piece on "What Ozzie knows" says it all:

maybe not, but...

Ozzie can bite the head offa bat!

I don't know of a term like "onomatopoeia" (moronomatopoeia?) refering to a condemnation that illustrates its own subject - but here's a favorite example, posted by rock06r:

interesting opinion piece....

which is basically an opinion about another (article) opinion. However, neither follows the trail of facts. Unix has had known exploit issues that at times were not resolved for YEARS. Additionally, many of the "exploits" that MS now patches are patched before there is actual exploit code. So, again, another opinion, unfortunately not based on any real facts but rather on negativity against MS, plain old FUD, and misinformation. Like we need more of that on the net.

The fact that he's both off-topic and wrong on the facts makes this even more neatly moronicursive (something you don't want to do under your breath in some countries), but also something I've been repeatedly guilty of when confronted with articles in which the "journalist" pauses his good work in reguritating someone's press release only long enough to add his own mistakes.

And, of course, the last word on self-deprecation in a title has to come come from ZDnet's favorite commentator: Mike Cox:

Yes there are people who walk around and still think knowing Windows makes them uber-cool. But the business driver for remaining on Windows is the PERCEIVED desktop management features. Companies believe they need products like Group Policy and SMS to manage their workstations. Until Linux can come out with a comprehensive desktop (and server) management strategy, its role in corporate IT departments will be limited to back office duties. There needs to be a way of managing settings and locking down Linux from a central console. Windows is a pig for sure, but the management tools essentially allow Microsoft to put makeup on this pig.

He's right too, he's not exactly correct, but - SHSE (Sighs heavily, scratches ear) - maybe next week we'll get a contribution from Anton recognizing Sun's institutional commitment to making great products instead of money as an invaluable service to the world community.