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Throw out anticompetitive practices - the computer industry long ago came up with a monopolistic term all its own: FUD, for "fear, uncertainty, doubt." Pioneered by IBM and later embraced by Microsoft, FUD is the catchphrase for a strategy used to sow anxiety in the minds of potential customers by insinuating that rival technologies are untrustworthy and undersupported.
Linux enthusiast Eric Lee Green recently plumbed the concept in a paper called "FUD 101" (www.linux-hw.com/~eric/fud101.html). His most original theme: counter-FUD. Redmond's antitrust woes and bloated upgrades, for example, provide bountiful opportunities for scaring potential Windows purchasers and giving Microsoft, the master of FUD, the big FUD-you.
But be careful, warns Green: "Counter-FUD must be employed rarely, if at all. Remember, you must appear calm, impartial, and factual at all times when battling FUD, and a lot of counter-FUD makes you appear, well, partial."
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