Want the whole truth on Linux vs. Windows 7? Don't ask a Best Buy employee.
As part of a training program that rewards employees with a $10 copy of Windows 7, Microsoft is allegedly teaching Best Buy staff to recite why Windows 7 is a superior operating system.
The Microsoft ExpertZone program teaches retailers about various aspects of Microsoft products. The idea is to boost sales so that everyone profits. But when one Best Buy employee ran into the Linux smear campaign, he or she cried foul and posted screenshots of the training module to Overclocked.net.
The images are no longer available at the original site, but you can see them in full at Ars Technica. Early in the training module, the gist is that Windows 7 is far more compatible than Linux with media players, cameras, printers, scanners and common computer applications. Microsoft calls Windows 7 the "comfortable choice" that "meets customers' expectations."
Things get nasty when Microsoft starts calling out "myths" associated with Linux. The trainer says Linux can be difficult to maintain, and that updates and upgrades aren't easy. It gets worse: the trainer flat-out says it's not true that Linux is safer than Windows, because Linux users are "on their own" when it comes to security vulnerabilities and there's no ability to set parental restrictions.
Indeed, it's problematic that this training program is studded with misinformation. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who really thinks Windows is just as safe as Linux, and updates for the open-source OS are, in fact, easy to install. But these half-truths allegedly propegated by Best Buy staff allude to a bigger problem: Best Buy appears to value its vendors over its customers.
Of course, Microsoft and Best Buy are within their rights to work together, but this leak, if accurate, makes me wonder how much advice from Best Buy employees is tainted.
