Re: Uncle Sam Wants YOU!

[Ben Ford <ben@kalifornia.com>]

Paul Mundt wrote:

>On Sun, Jul 01, 2001 at 04:50:44PM -0700, Ben Ford wrote:
>
>>Name a single tech company anywhere in the world that doesn't have to 
>>deal with microsoftisms.
>>
>This depends on your definition of dealing with MSisms. If you mean having a
>copy of an MS product physically present at a business location, that's
>pretty much unavoidable.
>
>If you mean working at a place where you yourself don't have to deal with it,
>it all depends what line of work you're in. If you're some form of management
>person, you might choose to work with Word because everyone else does, but
>that goes back to it being your decision.
>
>I can think of a lot of companies, such as WindRiver, QSSL, etc. where there
>may be some level of involvement, but not everyone working in the company is
>forced into things.
>

I almost guarantee you that they get word docs in email.  And I bet you 
that most of them have been hit by the microsoft scripting viruses. 
 Even if they don't use outlook, they still get hit by the mails of 
those who do.

>>It makes perfect sense to me.  Take my family as an example.  My wife 
>>used Windows because she didn't know anything else existed.  She crashed 
>>and rebooted quite frequently and never knew there was an alternative. 
>> Then she met me and was rather astounded that I hadn't rebooted my 
>>machine in months.  Now she hates Microsoft because she realizes what 
>>bullshit she went through.
>>
>What a petty thing to hate a corporation over. If you're using a company's
>product of your own free will, any issues that might arise out of using
>the product is something you accepted when you purchased the product.
>
>Not knowing ones options is also not the fault of MS. If you don't do your
>research before getting into something, and you get screwed as a result, it's
>your own fault for not looking into things before making a decision.
>

It kind of is the fault of MS.  That is why they have so many marketing 
people.  Remember the DR-DOS thing where you'd get misinforming errors 
if you didn't run MS-DOS, inmplying that anything but was inferior and 
was gonna cause you all kinds of hell?

Of course, if you knew anything about it, you knew that it was bullshit. 
 But you expect the entire world of non-computer people to know this??? 
 What kind of crack are you smoking?

It also isn't "your own free will".  Remember the licensing agreements 
where the royalties paid to Microsoft were based on the number of 
computer systems sold whether or not they had windows on them?  So if 
you bought a computer system (95% of the end users out there buy them 
pre-built) you paid for windows whether you used it or not.  And if you 
wanted something else you paid for TWO operating systems.  Even now, it 
is quite a challenge to purchase a computer system without buying a copy 
of windows.

>>Well, when you realize that Bill Gates (not MS, just Bill Gates 
>>personally) has enough money to give every person in the world $10 out 
>>of his pocket, then you see this argument in a different light.
>>
>What does that have to do with anything? Someone makes some many, and they're
>suddenly the cause of world hunger because they could donate all their money
>but don't? This is also a moronic statement, as I seem to recall Gates
>starting up a foundation for such things, and donating money to charity.
>
>While I may not like alot of the things that MS does, or care for how Gates
>does business, I'm still not going to try and blame the worlds problems on
>him simply because he does some things I don't like.
>

The point is,  . . . that money came from somewhere . . . . .

-b

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