It seems to me there is an alarming trend in information technology Web sites publishing work without basic fact checks. And, I'm not talking about your average bear blogs, either, but rather, very reputable publishing concerns.

This morning, an article entitled Microsoft Sweet-er than open source was published by IT World Canada. In this article, author Briony Smith of ComputerWorld Canada, shares an interview with Scott Snowden, described as a Trioro partner, a company further described in this article to be a Microsoft partner.

The article is focused on Snowden's description of how he was asked to step in and salvage a Web site project for SweetSpot.ca that started as a Joomla! implementation. He explained that Joomla! did not meet customer needs, provided specific examples of what Joomla! supposedly could not do, and indicated he rebuilt the entire site in .NET technologies because of weaknesses with open source solutions.

There is only one problem with this article. If I understand Scott correctly, none of the weaknesses he pointed out are real. He simply did not know how to do these very simple tasks with Joomla!. I wanted to share this video to specifically demonstrate how use Joomla! to address these perceived weaknesses.

I also want to issue a call to the media and technology community to please call on free software communities to help fact check or rebute claims people make. Free software communities do not have the deep pockets of a Microsoft Corporation to hire staff to publish articles or issue rebuttals, or pay attorneys to protect the community against false statements. But, we have one thing that most companies don't have. And that is thousands of engaged, passionate, knowledgeable people who take great pride in offering high quality free software to the world. Do not hesitate to contact someone you know is involved with free software to ask questions.