Note: the MacOS part is false

  • Leon@pawb.social
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    1 day ago

    I’d not heard about this before. Admittedly I only knew him from his cute anecdotes about early Windows development. Did a cursory search and I found this thread on Reddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/rb2xzk/dave_plummer_aka_daves_garage_former_microsoft/

    There’s a pretty interesting comment by a user called Kefim_Wod, I’ll quote it here so you don’t have to visit that shitty site unless you want to.

    TL;DR I don’t trust what that guy says anyway.

    I really enjoyed his youtube channel until I found out about the business practices of his earlier company SoftwareOnline.com, Inc.

    His company was sued by the Washington State Attorney General’s office in 2006.

    https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/attorney-general-s-office-sues-settles-washington-based-softwareonlinecom

    Here is an excerpt:

    The defendants agreed to pay $400,000 in civil penalties, with $250,000 suspended on condition of compliance with all terms in the settlement. They must also refund consumers who have filed complaints and pay $40,000 in attorneys’ costs and fees. The settlement terms prohibit the defendants from engaging in the following practices:

    • Inducing computer users to install software by misrepresenting that the user’s computer is at risk for crashes or privacy and security invasions.
    • Marketing its InternetShield software by means of a “free scan.”
    • Using “buttons” in its advertisements that do not function as the user would expect them. For example, the X found in the corner of a window is normally associated with closing the window and should not open another ad.
    • Installing software on a user’s computer that causes multiple pop-up advertisements when the user tries to close out of advertisements.
    • Failing to provide a functional uninstall option for removing all software files.
    • Failing to obtain a consumer’s explicit consent to purchase a product or a service.

    Direct links to associated court documents: SoftwareOnline.com Complaint

    SoftwareOnline.com Stipulated Judgment & Order

    You can also find them at the bottom of the webpage I linked earlier.

    Here is an article from 2009 that mentions it.

    He greatly downplayed these events in his book but I’m taking his word with a grain of salt.

    I freely admit that I developed a bias towards him after realizing he is a multimillionaire. Learning about that in combination with the information I detailed above really soured my perception of David.

    I have the belief that more often than not very wealthy people are wealthy because they have taken advantage of other people to obtain that wealth.

    I wanted to give David the benefit of the doubt because I really enjoyed watching his youtube channel but one google rabbit hole later and I felt like my belief was reaffirmed.


    Also, the post includes this image, which… I mean it’s certainly a take.

    He seems like a M$ grifter. Big shocker.

    • ΞVΞ🌸@evecodes.com
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      1 day ago

      The audacity. Saying that Windows is loved by millions is like saying a victim is in love with their rapist. Windows is forced upon millions, not loved by them. Everyone would choose something else if there was serious marketing for other options

    • Auth@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      the X found in the corner of a window is normally associated with closing the window and should not open another ad

      God dammit Dave, this is sick and twisted.

    • Agent641@lemmy.world
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      21 hours ago

      What’s the deal with the Linus blob? Is that based in any truth?

      I know very little about Linux kernal or its politics, I just use it sometimes.

      • Leon@pawb.social
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        14 hours ago

        No one seems to have any idea. In the thread some people are talking about him perhaps referring to propriety drivers or firmware, but you don’t need to compile the kernel with them.

      • ΞVΞ🌸@evecodes.com
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        19 hours ago

        He’s full of shit. There is no “secret” binary code blob that only Linus wields so I have no idea why he’d blatantly lie like that over information that’s publicly available. Linux’s kernel is all open source so no idea what he’s talking about. He probably read some random shit on the internet and ran with it. Linus couldn’t claim the Linux kernel as his own legally anyway because thousands of developers have contributed to it. The lawsuits would be out the ass if he tried. The only thing Linus owns is literally just the word “Linux”