Bitter message

An anonymous person(Is it you Charles ?) send me this note from Charles Carroll. I know that he is still upset by the lost of his community but there he show he don't forget easily.
Not sure I will like to use the same word hijacking.

From:  "Charles M. Carroll" <darthcarroll@l...>
Date:  Thu Dec 18, 2003  1:56 am
Subject:  Happens Again! A Hijacked Community

http://www.dotnetweblogs.com
used to be a place where I went and read a lot of non MS employees blogging
about .net

And like most people I went there and rarely visited
http://www.gotdotnet.com blog section

No problem. Microsoft moved all their bloggers from GotDotNet.com over to
DotNetWebLogs.com - new 6 times a day when I stop by that page 75% of the
main page entries are MS employees. I can hardely find my favorite non MS
bloggers for all the noise.

Every attempt the community has made to complain about it is greeted with
"please don't feel that way its all good" in so many words.

Now not only is no longer ever going to be perceived as a independent site
(which it was before) good bloggers are going to have their entries
competing with MS employees who are also good bloggers but can offer
goodies (betas, the ear of the company, etc.).

Well Scott W. and the others who created that site to help MS and be
win-win. Well you build up an audience and out competed GetDotNet.com
weblogs, and now the MS employees grab your audience by just taking over
the site instead of trying to work hard and get their blogs to be more
noticed and popular. And you handed a company with $49 billion in cash a
FREE blogging system.

If it was a porno movie we would be calling you "fluffers" -- of course
they usually get paid - and you guys did not.


From:  "Charles M. Carroll" <darthcarroll@l...>
Date:  Tue Dec 23, 2003  5:58 am
Subject:  Re: [MicrosoftCommunityComments] Re: Happens Again! A Hijacked Community

http://weblogs.asp.net/sitenews/archive/2003/12/22.aspx
shows how they have improved the situation a little.

I now bookmark
http://weblogs.asp.net/sitenews/archive/2003/12/22.aspx?GroupID=2
and
http://weblogs.asp.net/sitenews/archive/2003/12/22.aspx?GroupID=4
separately.

However that only addresses the noise issue not the credibility issue.
DotNetWebLogs.com used to be a bunch of independents - now it will be
viewed as a MS home with a few non MS people there. Their opinion that MS
solutions are better will be diluted as they are confused as MS employees.

MSWebLogs.com mapping to
http://weblogs.asp.net/sitenews/archive/2003/12/22.aspx?GroupID=4

and
DotNetWebLogs.com mapping to
http://weblogs.asp.net/sitenews/archive/2003/12/22.aspx?GroupID=2
with Radically different Skins so they did not look like same site.

would be a much better solution to credibility issue.

I do however think it is hysterical how Scott W and Gang have developed
.text for FREE for company with 49 billion in cash. I got sick of them
asking me to "enhance" and do extra work/programming on my AspFriend's
installation to help their customer base as if the hours and $$$ spent came
out of thin air. If others are so gullible - hey its a free world. MS has
embraced and extended Open Source - and while Ballmer claims FREE software
is worth than commercial offerings - his corporate branches actions show
that FREE OS models in some cases produce better solutions than MS does.

I of course think if they really love .text they should buy it and turn it
into a real product. Oh I forgot. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk
for FREE.....???? Then slaughter it later. They will no doubt eventually
release a Blog solution commercially that blows away .text yet has it's
roots in it. Free R&D being given to a company with 49 billion in cash.

 

6 Comments

  • Fabrice can you develop more your thoughts ;-)


  • If you're going to use an OSS at least donate something for that person's hard work.



    The last two paragraphs of Charles' message seem to explain well enough.

  • Charles is way off on this. Scott created .Text to create a community for .NET bloggers and gain some recognition in the process. I am extremely grateful for all he has done, as I am sure that many are. Microsoft is providing the hosting whereas it used to be coming out of his own pocket. Seems to me a mutually beneficial partnership. Not surprising that a bitter message comes from what seems to me a bitter person.

  • Let's not merge the two problems. If Scott didn't want his .Text system to be used commercially he could have used another OSS license. It's his stuff, other people can disagree but that's just their opinion.



    The other thing is the separation of community and MS-employees which is now gone. I think this site should do enough to make sure the non-MS bloggers can be recognized as being non-MS. I'm not on MS payrol nor do I want to take any mud thrown towards MS, nor do I want to take credit for MS' achievements.

  • There are lots of people for whom Microsoft will never do any wrong. IMHO, those people are a little naive.



    Sure Charles is bitter, he feels he got jacked and jerked around. Rule #1 about dealing with any corporation; You never assume they will do what's in your best interest. There are always 3 sides to any story in todays world. His side, their side, and the truth.



    Personally, I think it's AWFULLY CHARITABLE of Scott W to GIVE .Text and a large pre-built community site to a corporation as large as Microsoft. But that's one of the side effects of free software, you don't get to pick and choose who uses it. It's his choice to take that action.



  • Charles is one of the most bitter people i've ever had the displeasure of working with. He feels he is owed something, i've heard horror storied of him bashing WROX, a training company i have great respect for, and other developers out there. Sure, he was at the right place at the right time 8 YEARS AGO with activeserverpages.com, and he helped a lot of people for a lot of years.



    But after his plug-pulling, name-calling, and overall general bitching about the developmental world, i have to ask the question -



    why does he continue to do it if he hates it so badly?

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