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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!news.unimelb.EDU.AU!inferno.mpx.com.au!news.mel.aone.net.au!imci4!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.mathworks.com!news.duke.edu!news-server.ncren.net!taco.cc.ncsu.edu!crazytrain.eos.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu (Kevin P. Neal) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.advocacy Subject: Re: Historic Opportunity facing Free Unix (was Re: The Lai/Baker paper, benchmarks, and the world of free UNIX) Followup-To: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.advocacy Date: 21 Apr 1996 22:29:01 GMT Organization: The House of RetroComputing Lines: 68 Message-ID: <4lecrd$155@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4ki055$60l@Radon.Stanford.EDU> <4l5k51$3fg@dyson.iquest.net> <4l663t$1ajq@news.missouri.edu> <tporczykDq3C55.4zE@netcom.com> <4l96pm$mrt@nnrp1.news.primenet.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: crazytrain.eos.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.system:22032 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:773 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:3422 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:3271 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:17903 comp.os.linux.advocacy:46701 Josh Stern (jstern@primenet.com) wrote: : : Anecdote: There is a free online news service, NandoNet : (http://www.nando.net) that has a section called : InfoTech which publishes daily 'news' regarding : doings in the information technology sectors, including : computers, telecom, electronics, etc. So far as : I know, this service has no direct connection to : MS, though naturally, Microsoft is frequently a topic. NandoNet was started by the local newspaper here in Raleigh, NC. The paper is the "News and Observer" (also known as the "Nuisance and Disturber" because it's run by a bunch of liberals (IMHO) and also has this nasty habit of making articles that are very very one sided). They divorced themselves from the paper, thankfully, and are standalone. If NandoNet has a MS connection, they are being terribly quiet about it. Meaning, I doubt there is one. : Anyway, one day I counted that out of 34 stories : in this section, 12 (i.e. over 1/3) were specifically : about Microsoft activities. Most of these stories : were not anything that could be right categorized : as news - they were things like MS plans such : and such multi-media initiative for somewhere : down the road, MS hopes to turn out some great : internet products doing something or other, : etc. In short, they were mainly just marketing propaganda : that MS had sent to the authors of these collumns. You also have to deal with people like my parents, who believe that if it appears in the paper, it MUST be true. : btw - I am not an MS-basher; I am simply appalled : by the putrid state and direction of 'journalism' : in the U.S. (and probably elsewhere). I don't : find that there is anything particularly unusual : about the NandoNet in this context. PC Magazine : and the like are much worse, but in their case, : it's not even clear that they pretend to print : news. Hear Hear! Glad somebody else noticed this. : and even backdated technologies. If the : business consumer cannot turn to PC Magazine, : Byte, or even the Wall Street Journal or : the New York Times for unbiased coverage : of technology directions, it's likely : that their perception of the extant realities : will be quite biased as well. Bill Gates : is a shrewd man - he understands these things Unbiased journalism is a crock. It does not exist (as far as I can tell). The most unbiased source of info that I have found is usenet, because you get everybody's bias (which is more honest than "Really, we're not biased! Trust us and buy our paper!"). -- XCOMM Kevin P. Neal, Sophomore, Comp. Sci. \ kpneal@interpath.com XCOMM Frue, Secret Agent of Smerp (shh!) \ kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu XCOMM Visit the House of RetroComputing at / Perm. Email: XCOMM http://www4.ncsu.edu/~kpneal/www/ / kevinneal@bix.com