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Yahoo is 'Book Burning' Linux/BSD/Open Source

slated.org — But what does that say about Yahoo's ability to deliver accurate search results? Are they going to start censoring the entire Web, removing any negative references to Microsoft or Windows, and any positive references to Linux or Open Source?

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  • Dankoozy, on 10/11/2007, -5/+24interesting.. this is only about their 'answers' service though. google should have kept that service open. big mistake, now yahoo are the only ones left doing it
  • BigBadger, on 10/11/2007, -4/+13I only use yahoo to grab my porn, and even that I have all forwarded to Gmail.
    • shrewduser, on 10/11/2007, -2/+35i only use yahoo to search for "google".
    • celkin, on 10/11/2007, -2/+0I use Yahoo to search for Google, which I use to search for Microsoft Live, which I use to search for Ask.com, which I use to search for Yahoo, but somehow I found my way to digg.
  • baalzebub, on 10/11/2007, -7/+46fsck yahoo, that place is nothing but a spamming ghetto anyway, and suggesting any user friendly Linux distro is a good answer considering the circumstances the person with computer problems was in...
  • DickBreath, on 10/11/2007, -7/+34So let's see.

    Google. Likes Linux. Motto: "Don't be evil."

    Yahoo. Likes Microsoft. Motto?

    • BigBadger, on 10/11/2007, -2/+47> Yahoo. Likes Microsoft. Motto?

      "We can't sell our souls twice, so we're selling yours instead!"
    • MeneerR, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Its not about liking Microsoft or Linux. LIKING is FINE.

      Its about censoring and pretending it does not exist.
      Interestingly, not even Microsoft does this.

      If you search live.com for Ubuntu you get quite good results.
      Its just Yahoo that, once again, shows they are completely incompetent dealing with a community.
      Off course they cater for the slavish, dumb, un-emancipated user. But still, these users are not good for your profit. They have zero loyalty. Unlike the typical Google fanboys.

      So the people that should be upset, with this type of policy and strategy, would be Yahoo Shareholders.
      No sane person is using Yahoo anyway. And all though dumb users are more easy money-extractors, they no long term loyalty. Hence, bad long-term strategy.
    • vroom171, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1If you search Yahoo, you get results for Unbuntu Linux as well...I don't exactly understand your point.
  • drjekelmrhyde, on 10/11/2007, -8/+5Bullshyt I dont how many times I answered a questions for people to use Linux in fact I even told people and provided links to get software to BURN COPYRIGHTED DVDs
  • Stonedonkey, on 10/11/2007, -19/+20This is hardly indicative of "censoring open source." For *****'s sake, man, Yahoo *runs* on FreeBSD, and has been for a dozen years: http://searchdns.netcraft.com/?host=yahoo.com

    She got caught looking like she was hawking another operating system, instead of resolving the problem within its own environment. Seriously, let's not hyperventilate.
    • Illidan, on 10/11/2007, -3/+9What about the fellows who suggested using a liveCD OS to recover data? I'm sure they'd have been perfectly happy to suggest a Windows liveCD, assuming Microsoft would provide one. For free. .. or at all.
    • r2pro, on 10/11/2007, -6/+5Thanks for calling a spade a spade Stonedonkey. The only thing worse than Mac fanboys are Linux fanboys. The slightest hint of someone not gushing all over *nix is enough for them to come out of their holes crying like someone pissed in their Cheerios.
      • mcmlxxii, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2I love Linux but your dug your comment for sheer humour
  • nubnub, on 10/11/2007, -5/+33Google > Yahoo
  • MrFrankly, on 10/11/2007, -20/+9That's not censorship. That's just a harsh way of maintaining the quality of their answer service. When I ask for help about Windows I would want to get help for my Windows problem. Maybe I made a conscious choice to run Windows and I need it for a particular application. Linux might well be better for the person providing the answer but it might not be the case for the person asking the question. I like Linux, I run it myself, and Windows and Mac OS X.

    Suggesting to run Linux just isn't very useful. I think it's a bit too much to delete the comment, but it's also too much to call it censorship in favour of Microsoft products.
    • Illidan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7I commonly use a Kubuntu 7.04 livecd anytime I have a problem with any OS (including Windows) that won't boot. It can be used kind of like a high-quality of assortment of professional-grade tools that can be set up anywhere.
    • Phssthpok, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6[[That's not censorship. That's just a harsh way of maintaining the quality of their answer service. When I ask for help about Windows I would want to get help for my Windows problem.]]

      >>>>> unsolvable Windows problems, since that user did not have a Windows install disc.

      What magic is available if you have no windows disc? *Any* tech worth their experience would say to download Bart's or Linux. Since Bart's is technically copyright violation, Linux is a fantastic choice.

      {{Suggesting to run Linux just isn't very useful.]]
      In your opinion.
      Facts are facts. If you use Microsoft you need to go to a store and buy a disc. With Linux you can download and burn to a disc in a much shorter time.
    • MrFrankly, on 10/11/2007, -4/+3I'm not disputing that Linux can be very useful in providing a toolbox to solve problems with Windows. I'm not even disputing that Linux would be a good desktop for a lot of people that have only considered Windows. But simply telling someone to replace Windows by Linux as an answer for someone that clearly needs help with Windows is not very helpful.

      But well, making comments on Digg that try to look at issues regaring Linux and Windows in a balanced way never last long.
    • author20, on 10/11/2007, -3/+3That is exactly what it is -- censorship. i don't understand your answer, your point of view, or your point. 1. When you censor a specific area, such as Open Source, Yahoo is censoring subjectively. Yahoo is targeting an area that competes with their partner, Microsoft, and that is a text-book case of conflict of interest. 2. When you do this, you are NOT adding quality at all, you are actually removing quality and destroying the integrity of Yahoo Answers (which I will never use now that I know it is censored). Whew -- what a convoluted, confused statement. It sounds like something Bill Gates would say. Have y you seen Gates lately? He sounds like he's not even involved with the company anymore. He sounds like he's rehearsed a script but doesn't really grasp his company's own technology. And have you tried to use the new Office 2007? Microsoft is a corpse, a zombie that doesn't even know they are dead. I am divesting everything connected or related to the dead beast. I won't even support their game division with purchases. If IT directors worldwide would boycott Microsoft entirely for 1 year, the company would be transformed into a pro-Open Source software developer. Their arrogance is completely self destructive, and their refusal to acknowledge and support PHP in their products is the worse mistake they have ever made. Imagine them not supporting the most popular programming language in use. i want Microsoft to succeed, but they won't as long as the "Yes men" and fan boys continue to kiss the feet (or other body part) of the evil doers. Na-Yoo. That's my new name for the loosers at Yahoo. What a joke. Tried to send email from Yahoo lately? You'll be saying "Nahooo" also. Yahoo email, just like AOL and Netzero -- is not reliable boycott this email and clean up the Internet.
      • MrFrankly, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1I will try to explain myself again.

        Yahoo wants answers that are helpful. If you have a problem with Windows then an answer suggesting to install Linux isn't very helpful. No matter how well meant by the person answering.

        I don't believe Yahoo is censoring Open Source. They just removed the answer because they didn't consider it relevant or reading from the blog it seems they thought it was illegal to download Linux. Which would just be stupid by Yahoo.

        I admit though. It's much more fun to speculate about Yahoo censoring Open Source than to look at it in a rational fashion.
  • IphtashuFitz, on 10/11/2007, -2/+38@Stonedonkey

    Did you bother to read Amandas account at http://amandakerik.wordpress.com/2007/04/23/yahoo-answers-is-rejecting-open-source-options-in-answers/ ? Her response to the question included the following:

    "If you buy the XP disks you just get that - XP. No MS office, no other programs other than the very basics.

    If you’re starting over anyways, grab a blank CD and use imgburn ( http://imgburn.com/ ) to burn an Ubuntu ( http://ubuntu.com/ ) or Kubuntu ( http://kubuntu.com/ ) .iso on there. "

    After getting spanked by Yahoo for supposedly violating their ToS she searched the posted ToS and the only thing she said she could have violated was something having to do with “trading programs”. If suggesting the use of freely downloadable software is "trading programs" then Yahoo deserves to be smacked upside the head as hard as they possibly can be. She suggested both Windows AND Ubuntu, so how can you accuse her of hawking another OS?
  • nephilimx, on 10/11/2007, -9/+1Well they do have spammers, much like firefox users
    relevant system are better for users and it answers the question, instead of "haha windows suckorz, use linux", "ie suckorz, use firefox" on every reply
  • brendangenius, on 10/11/2007, -9/+1Got to love Yahoo for trying...
  • HMTKSteve, on 10/11/2007, -1/+16Let's get this party started: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070622031218AAgTONd&pa=FYd1D2bwHTHwLLhjFO06QrC.kNl60.wHQLAJd6GJIgatwg--&paid=asked&msgr_status=

    That Yahoo Answers question is about choosing between BSD, Windows and Linux for a web server. Keep it clean people, keep it clean!
  • ButterBuddha, on 10/11/2007, -4/+18Its time for Diggers to clog Yahoo Answers with questions about how Microsoft sucks.....
    • daftman, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7That means I have to get a yahoo account. No thanks!
    • returnofajedi, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Done.
    • tobdubois, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Because the best way for Digg to establish influence is to be online vandals and spammers...
    • drzeus, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Please no. I think Digg has done enough whiney spamming.
  • Septimus, on 10/11/2007, -7/+7Mmm, now where did I put my tin-foil hat?
  • Garfunkel, on 10/11/2007, -2/+19hahah oh how much i hate yahoo...

    They and microsoft are loosing to google at every turn simply because google does not involve itself in this junk, never has and hopefully never will. Yahoo and microsoft's crappy "live" service will never be considered on google's level and it's making it even worse when they aggravate their users like this.

    More people should file class actions or things against companies that do this, it is clearly anti-competitive and unwarranted.

    Well, that's made me despise yahoo more! I think i will go give some more ad revenue to google for allowing me to discuss what ever darn freaking bit of software i freaking choose to discuss.
  • Sudha, on 10/11/2007, -10/+3Hang on diggers, there is not person called as 'Amanda' inside Yahoo!
    I think the story is made up.. why we always end up comparing yahoo with google for no fault of yahoo?
  • Sudha, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5seach for linux inside http://answers.yahoo.com/search/search_result;_ylt=AhqLvkJfA2IfxSy5hIkNcY3py6IX?p=linux
  • flipouk, on 10/11/2007, -4/+7With Google, we can reasonably be sure that they will never go to bed with Microsoft. With Yahoo, well... you don't know. I am a Yahoo user, but now, I will definitely switch. I won't wait to be trapped. Yahoo doesn't like the Mac or Linux (e.g. Yahoo Radio doesn't work with them). They barely stand Firefox etc. Google at least supports diversity and AFAIK, Google apps are really multiplatform.
    • tshawkins, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3Hmmm

      1) Person on answers asks a question on how to do something on windows.
      2) Troll responds with rah rah "dump windows, load Linux comment"
      3) Answers team removes comment because it is off-topic and does not answer the question asked
      4) Troll runs to digg full of indignation and conspiracy theories.
      5) Digg community laps it up



      • cynicist, on 10/11/2007, -0/+36) Diggers who haven't read the story reply with their worthless opinions
      • sacherjj, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2If you actually read the comment, it wasn't a baited troll comment. It was a suggestion that might save the person the $100+ XP personal tax to repurchase software that was probably already purchased for the system.
  • notantspants, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2right, that's it .......... am gonna ditch my personal yahoo email account. I'll keep my yahoo account that all my mailing lists use as all my subscriptions are for open source s/w and linux. That should piss them off ;)
    • dtribe, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Yeah, that'll show 'em! ... :rolleyes:
  • echeese, on 10/11/2007, -8/+3If people wanted to use Linux, they would. Installing Linux over Windows will destroy all their data, and is just an easy cop-out for any problems with Windows.
    • Wakizaki, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1You don't need to install Linux over Windows, you can sink the Windows partition (assuming you got enough free space on that partition), make at least a swap and root partition for Linux, using a partition editor (GParted, for example). Heck, you don't need to install Linux anyway, heard about a Linux Live CD / Live DVD?
    • freedomknight, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2WOW, you know lot of Linux, you can install Linux safely on windows operating system & most of the Linux distributions allow you to do that with out even touching a byte on your windows partitions, and they will setup a boot loader so that you can safely reboot between windows and Linux.

      But if you install windows after installing Linux, windows will remove Linux boot loader and it will install its monopoly boot loader which won't allow you to boot into Linux again (and you solve this problem with Linux installation cd's just by reinstalling a bootloader which won't hardly even take 10 seconds).

      Please please do you homework before blatent comments, and this is not MS "Get the facts" campaign.

      Bye.
      • Wakizaki, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1"But if you install windows after installing Linux, windows will remove Linux boot loader and it will install its monopoly boot loader which won't allow you to boot into Linux again (and you solve this problem with Linux installation CDs just by reinstalling a boot loader which won't hardly even take 10 seconds)."

        I have gone that millions of times already. Well, Windows really does that, it doesn't surprise me. If you can't take my comment/s, well, I don't give a darn...
  • raptordrew, on 10/11/2007, -6/+1Every time I see the word "BSD", I think BSOD.... it's sad.
  • SignorDildo, on 10/11/2007, -2/+12I still remember all the "Can't view me Yahoo! Webmail with Firefox" questions a while back when Yahoo! were really touting IE7. Then folk finally got Firefox (and one or two other browsers) working by changing the client string - with absolutely NO adverse side effects.

    Stinks of rot.
  • airjaw, on 10/11/2007, -4/+10yahoo sucks.. I stopped using it when they helped China throw that journalist into prison.
  • ghall, on 10/11/2007, -4/+7Yahoo sucks anyway. If they want to be (more) retarded, fine by me. That's why we have Google.
  • straps, on 10/11/2007, -4/+12TODO Next:
    - Create a Yahoo Account
    - GoTo Yahoo Answers
    - Ask: "I'm using Windows (not true); How can I switch to Linux? Thanks"
    - Wait for a response
    - Delete Yahoo Account
  • Yage2006, on 10/11/2007, -5/+9People use yahoo ?
    • Garfunkel, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4yah, i was surprised too, it's a strange world we live in.

      I would even use live search over yahoo, i mean live!? That just proves how shonky it is!
    • williamdyer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4No, bots use Yahoo. There aren't any people left in the chatrooms.
  • xmrkkr, on 10/11/2007, -4/+3***** Yahoo, I think i don't even remember my yahoo password. I google most of the time anyway and more over it's better to search for anything on http://del.icio.us/ coz the results are bulls eye as the links are chosen by users, not by bots, crawlers...
    • bitwiseplatypus, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2del.icio.us is owned by Yahoo!.
    • xmrkkr, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Hmm..., that is true. I guess ignorance is not blissful all the time. Damm Cipher (Matrix). :)
  • bjshively, on 10/11/2007, -4/+7The problem with this whole argument is that no one is considering the user's perspective.

    Let's ignore the Windows V. Linux grudgematch and consider what would happen if you took a relatively novice user of Windows XP and dumped them onto a Linux distro. Even an extremely user-friendly one.

    I understand why her comment was mod'ed out. She didn't answer the question. And the odds are, the person she was replying to was uninformed enough that she may have tried to listen and done more 'damage' (albeit reversible with even a small level of computer skill) to her system.

    This story is stupid. It wasn't modded out because OMG YAHOO h8Z LinUx. It was modded out because it didn't answer the question, it put dangerous information in the hands of someone that likely had no idea how to use it appropriately, and it was completely off topic.

    This is akin to me asking how to change the oil in my car and someone recommending that I go purchase a new one instead. Will it fix the problem? Sure. But... Thats not the point, is it?
    • Spr0k3t, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2This post has been brought to you by another user of Microsoft.
  • Soriven, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6My guess is some low-paid comment moderator who doesn't really know much about technology got confused and thought the answer was promoting pirating software or something illegal.

    While anything is possible, I sincerely doubt Yahoo! has an internal policy of seeking out and killing answers that reference open source software, if only for the fact that it would generate a huge amount of negative publicity.
  • heresy_fnord, on 10/11/2007, -10/+1Who cares? Linux sucks anyways.
    • Wakizaki, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Why? have you tried it?! I use Linux as a desktop and I'm enjoying it.
  • brundlefly76, on 10/11/2007, -2/+15I worked at Yahoo as an engineer, and the entire infrastructure is built on Open Source (FreeBSD, PHP, Apache, MySQL, Perl...), and engineers such as Jeff Freidl ("Mastering Regular Expressions"), Derek Balling and Jeremy Zawodny ("High Performance MySQL") are the top dogs in their area.

    Whats more, Yahoo! has donated *very* generous gifts to certain key open source programmers in the past as nothing more then a 'thank you' for their work.

    So, to start developing evil conspiracy theories based on the actions of one editor on one of the hundreds of Yahoo! properties is to pretty much ignore the history of Yahoo!
    • 3li0, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I agree with this pretty much one hundred percent although I think it would be key to make sure editors are properly editing content. If an answer such as this one slips through just because they either disagreed with the content or because they simply overlooked the obvious, then their review process needs some serious looking into.
    • drzeus, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3In addition, PHP is the language of choice at Yahoo! and Rasmus Lerdorf, the creator of PHP, works for the company. Open source is strong at Yahoo, and I'm guessing that this incident is just an honest mistake by the moderators. Unfortunately, the Digg community like to latch onto these things and scream "EEEEEEEVVVVVVIIIIIIILLLLL! LET'S GET 'EM!" at every opportunity because it's make them feel powerful.
      • brundlefly76, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1You are so right.
        I consider myself a liberal, but on digg I feel like a conservative because the crowd is paranoid schizophrenic conspiratorial libertarian.

  • skippyatuw, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6Wait, people use Yahoo????

    DRTA
  • author20, on 10/11/2007, -3/+8There is no hope for Yahoo. Their corrupt and pathological culture seems to have gripped the company's heart, dooming them to a certain failure in the future. I met with Yahoo management, and I talked to the manager of one of their now-discontinued products and I found their culture to be very unprofessional, arrogant, ignorant and anti-business. And -- also -- anti consumer. The Yahoo Paydirect product manager had no experience in marketing, didn't know anything about paypal, and the service was killed in less than 14 months. Yahoo spams AT&T customers in a very bad way, and Yahoo abuses their users with spam and email service disruptions. Yahoo is just as rotten as AOL and if they purchase MySpace, it will save everybody time when both go out of business at the same time. Divest, boycott and spread the word to everybody that Yahoo is rogue.
  • perlfu, on 10/11/2007, -3/+7Yeah, seems sort of hypocritical for a company who depends on FreeBSD for their commercial/serving infrastructure to bash open source alternatives.
  • pr0k, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2Spam yahoo answers with "install linux problem solved" for a while, I mean, what the *****, why not?

    • gordonm, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Why not? Because it's ***** childish and stupid. Any more questions I can help you with?
  • rpgmaker, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4Is not that bad that yahoo support microsoft but censoring answers is too far. Sorry yahoo, you aren't an alternative to google anymore.
  • Wakizaki, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2Why then Yahoo Answers has very incompetent moderators? They should be booted out...
  • Slated, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1@HMTKSteve

    LOL! Yes - let's see how long those "Apache" suggestions last on Yahoo! Answers, before they're brutally censored.

    Not long, I bet.
  • tobdubois, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3So many people just jump to the extreme argument/conspiracy. The answer didn't actually answer the question directly. I got the same kind of answer when I asked how to set up something with telnet and linux: "You should be using SSH". Well, yes, that may be the case, but it didn't answer my question.
  • gordonm, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3Linux fanatics are the Muslims of the OS holy wars.

    Go ahead. Digg me down to prove the point.
    • tobdubois, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Insult 2 birds with 1 stone, nice one! Another productive day for the gordonm, gratz.
  • coolbru, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Um, I have to say that Yahoo only did extremely good and generous stuff at Hackday London last weekend. Things don't get much more open - the guys that came off looking bad on the day were BT OpenZone and Cisco. http://hackday.org/
  • dstz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Wait wait wait, two days ago Google sucked and, anyway, Yahoo was just as good? oh my.
  • cantormath, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2This is why the FOSS community does what it does......>>SCREW YAHOO!!!!!
  • yahootester, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Uh, I work at Yahoo! This is the most ridiculous argument I've ever heard. Yahoo! is built on open source. As an engineer here, we live and breath BSD, PHP, Apache, etc. This is by far one of the silliest and uninformed anti-Yahoo! conspiracy theories I've ever seen. I have no idea why the post got moderated, but it certainly wasn't because Yahoo! doesn't support open source.
  • archimerged, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2This might be the original question:

    http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmYG5FIWMu7xYAr8XE3dlxQjzKIX?qid=20070512210835AAMQL7z
    Restoring Windows XP home with a pro disc?

    I recently got a computer from a friend but it needs to be restored. The problem is he has none of the discs that came with it. It’s a Dell with XP Home edition loaded in it. I was gonna buy a friends Windows XP Pro edition disc for really cheap but i was wondering if i would be able to restore it’s system files with a XP pro disc?
    ----
    See also:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo_answers#Complaint_system
    http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/answers/abuse/wrongful_violations.html
    http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/answers/abuse/abuse-76594.html
  • Ratteler, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Really, who the hell has used Yahoo since Google proved they were better.
    Come to think of it, back in my dial up days I still used Alta Vista rather than Yahoo.

    Let them get in bed with the empire.
    "The more you tighten your fist, the more systems will slip through your fingures." -Liea

    and as for Yahoo...

    Lando: "That wasn't part of our arangment."
    Vader: "I have altered our arangment. Prey I dont alter it further."
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