UK's Biggest Supermarket Challenges Microsoft. An anonymous reader writes "The UK's equivalent of Walmart is taking on Microsoft in the software game. Tesco is famous for it's cheap 'value' food, but it's now offering 'value' alternatives to Microsoft's biggest products. From the article: 'Now, when you traverse the aisles in search of baked beans, sanitary towels and two-for-one packs of raw mince (hamburger), you can grab yourself a copy of Tesco Office (£20) — an alternative to the almost de-facto standard that is Microsoft Office — or Tesco Antivirus (£10), which is designed to keep your PC free of malware.' Tesco apparently 'takes one in every eight pounds spent in the UK'." [via Slashdot]
I first saw this story on the front page of the Sunday Telegraph (1st October 2006). On Monday I saw the same story on the BBC web site (and tragically, an almost word for word copy of the Telegraph story, so this is off a press release) and over the following days has appeared on various news sites like CNet and ZDNet. Most were basically the same copy with little editing - I think it was the Register who actually put some thought behind it and challenged the headline that consumer sales of Office clones would really challenge Microsoft's bottom line. Finally, the story reaches Slashdot (well not quite finally because now it has legged it to here).
So, where did this story actually start, how did it flow, what were the longest tributaries - in other words, where is the best place to get your story reproduced to get the longest tail? Does a long tale give your story credibility even though it is rubbish?