Even Microsoft's anti-Linux message isn't this bad

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This anti-Linux Microsoft "ad" hit the Web a few weeks ago, but I just came across it last night and thought it was funny.

It's not funny because of its content but rather because some people actually think that it's a real ad put out by Microsoft to discredit Linux, one originally placed on a page describing how to multiboot operating systems.

I laughed out loud when I saw it, as it's clearly a fake. Whatever you may think of Microsoft, its marketing is classier than this. Well, some of its marketing, at least. ;-)

For those that remain unconvinced ("Al Qaeda IT Professionals"? Please, people!!), consider:

• The message is unacceptable to anyone with any sense of decorum and, whatever one may think of Microsoft, it is a grown-up company. This sort of advertising would never be approved by a global, responsible company like Microsoft.
• The "Get the Facts" campaign ended in July 2007. Microsoft isn't recycling old campaigns to beat Linux;
• Windows Server System is a brand/campaign that was terminated in 2006;
• The use of Microsoft's logo with a U.S. flag is blatant misuse of trademark policies;
• It's not linked to a Microsoft landing page or any landing page of any kind - when was the last time that you saw marketing that left you stranded with the image and no up-sell?

It's fine to despise Microsoft. It's wrong to invent gauche marketing and represent it as Microsoft's. This one was funny, but it stops being funny when nimwits actually believe it's real.

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