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Simon Phipps's personal commentary

Is there a word for it? When, for example, MSFT spots that everyone hates it because it is the antithesis of 'open source' and so creates an initiative pretty much orthogonal to open source and gives it a name like 'shared source'? Or when a lobby group seeking to protect the threatened previous-century attitudes of the established software industry where consumers have no choices (epitomised by licensing that asks you to sign away your money and your right to choose for three years sight unseen, called 'Assurance' without a blush of irony) calls itself a name that makes it sound like it's promoting 'software choice'? There has to be a name for this behaviour where instead of changing your worst faults you seek to redefine language and practice so people call "bad" "good"? It's so 'Brave New World', so NewSpeak and doubletalk. And it keeps happening. Maybe that's the word for it - is there another?

posted at 9:20 PM (UK) | |