Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2000 09:18:13 -0600 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: "G. Adam Stanislav" <adam@whizkidtech.net>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Anti-BSD FUD Message-ID: <4.3.2.7.2.20000607091003.04b11100@localhost> In-Reply-To: <3.0.6.32.20000607093152.008b4910@mail85.pair.com> References: <4.3.2.7.2.20000606184736.04b0f2f0@localhost>
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At 08:31 AM 6/7/2000, G. Adam Stanislav wrote: >At 18:47 06-06-2000 -0600, Brett Glass wrote: >>See >> >>http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/comment/0,5859,2582875,00.html > >Strange thing... I wanted to make sure to know what exactly "fud" means, so >I checked Merriam-Webster's online dictionary (http://www.m-w.com/). > >According to the dictionary, "fud" is synonymous with "fuddy-duddy", which >is a (circa) 1904 word meaning "one that is old-fashioned, unimaginative, >or conservative." Obviously, Merriam-Webster is out of date. FUD is an acronym for "Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt" -- a strategy of sliming a rival product via misinformation. It was first applied to IBM's marketing tactics in the 50s, and then later to Microsoft's in the 80s and 90s. The Hackers' Dictionary/Jargon File says: FUD /fuhd/ /n./ Defined by Gene Amdahl after he left IBM to found his own company: "FUD is the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that IBM sales people instill in the minds of potential customers who might be considering [Amdahl] products." The idea, of course, was to persuade them to go with safe IBM gear rather than with competitors' equipment. This implicit coercion was traditionally accomplished by promising that Good Things would happen to people who stuck with IBM, but Dark Shadows loomed over the future of competitors' equipment or software. See IBM. --Brett To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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