One of my favorite movies of all time.The Untouchables with Kevin Costner and Sean Connery. And yes...The Malone/Sean Connery character utters the most profound line in the movie...one that carries over into real life.
'What are you prepared to do?'
No...now I am asking it...it's not a rhetorical question.
A recent Blog of helios reported, as well as many other blogs, that Microsoft is sending literature, and sometimes salespeople, to train and educate employees from Staples, Best Buy and now Office Depot, in the art of Linux FUD.
The outcry from our community has been impressive....as have the actual
materials that have been handed out.Wanna take a guess at which one will have an impact?
Anyone can sit behind a keyboard and express outrage and point out the obvious falsehoods and outright lies.
You can also apply online to take a space shuttle ride.
Both will have the same outcome.
Nothing.
What are you prepared to do?
Who is going to go to the city or county and get a permit to stand on the public entrance and hold well-made signs warning these various customers?
Who is willing to take a Linux laptop into one of these stores and let the salesman give his pitch then categorically prove him wrong?
Who is going to personally visit the Store Manager and tell him that millions of people are now aware of this campaign and sanctions are being prepared if they carry out this deception and FUD?
If only three people in each major city reading this would take just one of these actions...it could have a big impact. Of course, it has to be done professionally and with no outward sense of rancor.
Please remember...you may be dealing with a sales person who is only doing what he was told to do...if he's an MS fanboy, then he will give himself up immediately. YOU are the one that has to stay calm. They have families to feed just like we do. It's not their fault that their management are largely MS quislings...or at the very best, completely uninformed.
And no, I am not going to organize it...I've had too many disappointments in my life recently and I won't pile another one on the heap.
So what ARE you prepared to do?
Right now, I have a roster of people in Austin who are willing to do one or all of these things. There are a lot of stores to cover...and as of now, I am counting the number of people on that roster. As it stands now...the number is:
One.
All-Righty Then
