During the Microsoft antitrust battle in 1998,
Microsoft's PR dept realised that
Linux and, well, anything that wasn't made by
Billy Boy, had
grassroots supporters (i.e, actual supporters who truly believe in the cause). These supporters, by their nature, are often very
cynical.
So what did MS
PR, in their
infinite wisdom, do?
They sent fake letters to computer magazines
demoting (defending and promoting, ahem) Microsoft, spammed
USENET with MS-biased ravings and created a band of fake grassroots supporters who travelled the country.
Remember when I said that many of these non-MS supporters were cynical?
Ever noticed how very few people praise MS overtly on
the Internet?
When taking those two things into
account, it was obvious that this would not just
backfire, this would
immediately detonate a nuclear device of severe megatonnage under Bill's feet and then burn the ashes. When
USENET logs were checked, it was found that all of the people who praised MS were (not coincidentally) within the
microsoft.com domain
and were being paid. Nowadays, this is called "
astroturfing", due to it involving artificial grassroots,
geddit?
Needless to say, this act of
idiocy pissed off many people and
incited many states to join the
Antitrust battle against Microsoft.
See also
So you've decided to become a public relations officer...