Microsoft Ads on Pro-Linux Sites

A one-shot blog was linked to on digg today that expressed puzzlement and outrage over the presence of Microsoft's Get the FUD (here's the 'actual' page for those of you that will ask: Microsoft: Get the Facts).

It's interesting to note that The last link in the previous paragraph is also the first google search result for Get the FUD (and no, Google, I don't want 'Get the Food'....).

You can find those ads not only on linux.com, but also on Sourceforge, Slashdot.org and several other sites that are either pro-open source or have a readership which is largely so. It's really shameful, but there's little that can be done.

That bright example is the biggest reason that I've resisted even the thoughts of putting advertising that I can't control on this site. With most advertising networks, you have no control over whether you're providing links to MS' astroturfing and shilling, or to 'Free Anonymous Legal Downloads' (pfft....), or worse.

But MS ads on Linux sites is not new news. It's 'not news'. Linux-watch has at least one article that mentions them (and also calls attention to the self-referential hypocrisy):

Why do you think Linux sites, like this one, Linux Today, and many others have Microsoft ads running on them? Because, Microsoft buys the ad space, and the Linux companies almost never do. It's that simple.

But yes, that's the reason. Advertising goes where the dollars are. And that's what you need to remember. Perhaps I'm too idealistic, but if I'm going to promote an agenda I don't want to look like a hypocrite when I do so.