FUD correction

[Gareth Branwyn]

>I was wrong about "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" mentioning FUD...  Eric
>Raymond does not appear to use the term there.  FUD is used in the
>infamous (and related) Microsoft "Halloween Documents," internal
>Microsoft memos which Eric annotated and posted at
>http://www.opensource.org/halloween.html
>
>The essay "What is FUD?" by Roger Irwin at
>http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Hills/9267/fuddef.html
>
>suggests that the term has a history in the computer industry that
>predates the Open Source movement, although recent events have increased
>awareness of the term in the minds of the public.
>
>Brian

FUD definitely predates open source. From the Jargon File:

FUD /fuhd/ /n./
Defined by Gene Amdahl after he left IBM to found his own company: "FUD
is the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that IBM sales people instill in the
minds of potential customers who might be considering [Amdahl] products."
The idea, of course, was to persuade them to go with safe IBM gear rather
than with competitors' equipment. This implicit coercion was
traditionally accomplished by promising that Good Things would happen to
people who stuck with IBM, but Dark Shadows loomed over the future of
competitors' equipment or software. See IBM.

FUD wars /fuhd worz/ /n./
[from FUD] Political posturing engaged in by hardware and software
vendors ostensibly committed to standardization but actually willing to
fragment the market to protect their own shares. The Unix International
vs. OSF conflict is but one outstanding example.


Unfortuantely, no date is given, but my guess is that we're talking early
'80s.