Why I won’t read InfoWorld anymore as a professional publication

Earlier this week I saw an article in my Google News listings called Why Ubuntu (Still) Sucks, and as someone who helped test Ubuntu Gutsy I had to see why the author hated it. After reading a few installments in the series I thought it was simply the most unprofessional, under researched piece of Microsoft shilling that I had ever seen in a professional publication. Then I got to the final article in the series and realized it was worse than that. It was all a big joke on Ubuntu users.

It turns out that Randall Kennedy had written an article earlier this year about the departure of a respected member from the Linux kernel development “scene” in hopes of sparking a discussion, only to be shocked to hear from all the “fan bois” who make up the uglier side the train tracks in the Linux community.

After the dust settled, I realized that I had totally misjudged the Linux community. When I started out, I honestly bought into all the hype about “sharing knowledge” and “working together.” I was certain that my concerns about Mr. Kolivas’ departure would be met with intelligent discourse and perhaps even a well conceived rebuttal or two. Instead, I got a glimpse of the *real* face of the Linux community, the immature, mom’s basement-dwelling, pimple-faced geek side that the Red Hats, Novells and Canonicals of this world don’t want you to see.

So I decided to do what any good journalist would do: Expose the lie. …

Yes, he decided to throw professionalism out of the window to start little more than a spitball contest in a major tech publication. And he succeeded. Comment after comment reveals Linux users as being childish, foul mouthed brats who hardly know how to form a complete sentence, let alone a civil one. (I won’t even mention things like grammar and using a spell checker.) Yes, some of us were actually able to post a comment that showed that some of us not only have a brain, we’ve been raised with instructions on how to behave in polite society, but the majority of commenters were from that very vocal minority who never seem to get that you’re supposed to engage your brain before opening your mouth. But that’s not the worst part.

The worst part is that Mr. Kennedy, who is old enough to have put in over 20 years in the tech industry, has editors who not only approved the series but probably waited with glee and, shivering in anticipation, for the next article. I’m not sure how old their editors are, but InfoWorld is part of a publishing conglomerate who I would have expected higher standards from. Even if they weren’t part of the IDG Network I expected to see something better than one of their authors so blatantly trying to pick a fight just to see some blood.

Shame on you Mr. Kennedy. Shame on your InfoWorld. And shame on the editors for allowing their reputation to be trashed by someone’s clearly personal agenda. And yes, shame on all of the Linux users who have to resort to flaming someone who disagrees with them rather than rationally pointing out why you think they are so wrong as to be an idiot who can’t be bothered to use a product before writing about it. (Yes, I did accuse him of writing without proper research, although I think I was successful in respectfully asking him to withhold further articles in the series until he did the journalistically responsible thing and actually spend time with the OS before slamming it, and to get all of his facts straight before he published his misinformation for all the world to see.)

The bottom line here is that I have not only lost all respect for Mr. Kennedy for the way he pursued his agenda, I’ve lost respect for InfoWorld as a whole for not just allowing such a blatant hatchet job go for how long, but to let such a bad joke be hidden as such a blatant hatchet job. You’ll notice that I haven’t given you a link to the series. I’m not going to, either. This is one of those rare times when I think it’s better to refer to the idiocy without linking to it, as if it were a YouTube video that’s so absolutely stupid that every one and their brother have to see what an idiot someone is.

(Yes, Nanci, I know you just posted a YouTube video this week, but that was art, not idiocy. I love that one, too. )