Microsoft need to set up a rapid rebuttal force. They would need to monitor the news sites and forums and simply get a real, genuine response - ideally from people that work on the project - out there as quickly as possible. None of this 'we don't comment on unreleased products' - the perception that users form _now_ *will* have an impact on their eventual buying decision.

No-one from MS has yet officially rebutted that 'you need a new monitor for Vista' crap.

There are reasons I don't bother with Slashdot.

I'm continuously amazed at the lack of reading ability there. It's so.. selective.

You're planning was incompetent, you didn't plan for the dupe.

I submitted this, with delibarate logic errors, just because you were arrogant enough to do this.

Enjoy the storm.

Mike: I agree. I was discussing this with someone from MSN Search, about how their team blog had become the place people looked for responses and it allowed them to get a story out quickly. I'll bring this up in the Monad team. It would probably be better to have an official team blog instead of a couple of random bloggrs who happen to work on the product.

hggs: Sheesh, everyone's a comedian.

- adam

It would have been funny if it wasn't true. Zonk did it again:
http://it.slashdot.org/it/05/08/05/2233207.shtml?tid=109&tid=172&tid=218

Now I think you should try to make an triple.

The fact that Monad is not in Vista, is now a net plus positive? My my what an interesting game of twister. First news to hit the mainstream wires in months about Monad itself, and it deals with virii, from ole skueel #vxers no less. You guys just can't catch a break, eh? F-Secure sure hammed it up needlessly however. But DIY PR? Perhaps to the tech crowd, but the mainstream will just hear another drumbeat of 'Windows' and 'virus'. And part of the reason for the bad PR, was that you guys never really said Monad was out of Vista, so all the hemming and hawing on that front, led to the perception that Monad was actually still in Vista. And now Monad not being in the next OS is a plus? Double ouch, as that will create the perception that its not in the OS, because it's unsecure buggy junk.

Gatorisms and MSFT Anti-Spyware turning Pro (and the total news blackout on that), Virtual 'Time Machine' Earth, IE7 and the Paul boycott call, lackluster Beta 1 and the 'HDCP and DRM row', Google lawsuit drama, Student 2006 dud landing, Office 12 anyone caring?, Nope, and not even Sinofsky; just talking about interns and college kiddos, window.g_sDisableWGACheck, the Vista name itself (ugh) and all the fun trademark spats, the concrete-jubbled Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Presentation Foundation names (rolls right off tongue, eh?), and speaking of foundations, the Gates Foundation "model schools" a trainwreck disaster. And now Monad not in Vista and a 'virus warning' to boot. And much much more. DIY is right. Sounds like the regular team has its hands full. ;) Joyce McClure coming to clean up the messes?

I'm just about to stop reading Slashdot. There's no reason to even start reading the comments for 90% of the postings. I think it's starting to outlive its usefulness with the growth of RSS.

I was kind of skeptical of Monad when I first heard of it, my background is much richer in Unix variants, but the more I hear about it(primarily from here) the more excited I get about it.

Hey, what do you expect? Take a look at infamous tech sites like Neowin, for the pro-MS, or Slashdot, for the anti-MS. See? That's the userbase you've to deal with, and both sides are annoying. And that community is fueled by sensationalist news, because writers are more concerned with making coffee and attracting viewers, than researching and writing good articles.

If all it takes is too write well articulated FUD, I should consider a career in the tech press.

Way late to the game, but I've got to say: I think it was a big mistake to make the fact that Monad will not ship with Vista your first argument. If there is no new virus threat from Monad, and if the known threat is equivalent to running any executable, then that should be your story. When you lead off by saying that it doesn't matter because it won't be included, that sounds just like an admission that the software is buggy and virus-prone. I'd really like to see Monad be succesful as it is such a powerful tool, but I fear that the way this story was handled will leave many people on the fringes of the Windows-tech-awareness world with a very bad impression.