[Ham-Computers] Frustration with MS

Tue Jun 1 03:28:16 EDT 2004

mcobb wrote:
> I rarely respond to alias wars since it generally continues the flames.
> However, once in a blue moon a message
> comes across that deserves, or shall I say mandates a response and this is
> one.
> 
> Let me preface the following prose with some qualitative professional
> history. I have been a design engineer
> for MAJOR computer companies for 20 years. I have directly designed,
> analyzed, studied, and taught products that
> compete with and some the even Microsoft uses today. So, lets take a walk in
> the park with Duane's prose about
> Microsoft being an upstanding citizen. Let's walk backward from today to
> their inception.
> 
> 1. Microsoft has been found GUILTY of the Sherman Anti-trust act for
> monopolizing third market. For you non legal
> types, being the "leader" in a market, such as what Microsoft supposedly is,
> does not make you a monopolist. Using
> you dominate market position to price fix, or kill the competition does. So
> save the BS about politics, MS is and
> continues to be a mop list. The remedy phase was a joke. The original judge
> was removed from the case and a new
> judge oversaw the remedy phase basically resulted in a slap on the wrist.
> Some of you are probably saying hey, who
> cares, MS builds a product that is acceptable to me and why all the fuss. I
> ask those of you who say that the following
> questions, if your heart surgeon failed 1 of out 2 times would that be
> acceptable? If your house was broken into
> WHILE the police were sitting in the front yard would you be happy? If your
> car needed a new engine every year
> would you be ok with that? Probably not!
> 
> 2. Sun  invented a language called JAVA. It would allow you to write a piece
> of code that could run on any OS. What
> a concept. Can you imagine going to a gas station with your Ford to refill
> and when you open the gas cap you see a
> sticker hat says SORRY, you can only refill Fords and Shell. Would you be
> pissed? Would you take the car back? I bet
> your would but that is exactly what MS has done. They don't want standards,
> they don't want to compete. Why? It takes
> a lot of patents and smart engineers to that and, well, C students need
> job's too and they al go to MS. So, why was
> MS so mad at JAVA? Why did they pay Sun 1.75B to fend off Sun's lawsuit?
> 
> 3. A gent hired from DEC was hauling ass across the US and decided to stop
> by CMU to check on some friends. He found
> a kewel OS called MACH being developed at CMU. So Dave Cutler took the code
> and hacked it and badday bing badda bo
> NT was born. Oops, sorry CMU.
> 
> 4. You all like the ability to stuff excel spreadsheets into a word doc.
> Sorry folks, IBM invented OLE or object link
> embedding.
> 
> 5. You all ember DOS. Remember disk compression? Oops, MS was found guilty
> of stealing that stuff from STAC electronics.
> 
> 6. Microsoft is always equated with the design of the GUI. In 1988, a suit
> brought by Apple was thrown out of court
> because the judge said neither Apple or MS had rights to the GUI. It was
> invented by Xerox's Palo Alto research center
> (PARC) and they did not patent it, therefore, no one owns the GUI. BTW, PARC
> invented the mouse and many other features
> that Windoze users think MS invented.
> 
> 7. Years ago, a gent who ran Digital Research, "Gary Kildall" inventor of
> CP/M would have provided the OS for IBM's
> PC had it not been for his concern with dealing with IBM and an I'll advised
> plane flight that resulted in IBM
> heading north to Seattle to ink a deal with a Seattle computing company
> Digital Research would have been the provider of
> the OS for IBM's PC's.
> 
> I could go on and on but why? Many of you have consumed Microsoft's
> Kool-Aid. You think it's the only games in town. Home
> computers existed before Bill Gates. Hell I made a Zenith Z80 based box in
> the early 80's and it ran CP/M. The notion that
> Gates and Microsoft has made this plant a better place is like saying
> Hussein made Iraq a better place. The only reason
> you use their crap is A: It's pervasive and B: It's embedded in every damn
> PC from all the clown's you buy PC's from.
> 
> So, next time you see e-mail supporting Microsoft, try cheating on your wife
> and then tell her hey babe, all the guys
> do it, whets the problem! Lets see how far you get with that.
> 
> And for all you fence sitters or folks who want an alternative to the
> convicted felons, send me an e-mail, I'll build you
> a bootable personal copy of Linux with all the app's you need to read MS
> based e-mail, you can read, edit and hack ALL Office
> based docs, a web browser that isn't infected with garbage bugs and a great
> development platform.
> 
> 73's
> 
> Mike
> KF6MPI
> 

Right on!

> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ham-computers-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:ham-computers-bounc es at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Duane
> Fischer, W8DBF
> Sent: Monday, May 31, 2004 4:25 PM
> To: Preston Graham; Computers (or other) used for amateur radio,
> communications, or experimenting
> Subject: Re: [Ham-Computers] Frustration with MS
> 
> 
> One thing all of us need to remember here. I get tired of people picking on
> Mr.
> Bill Gates. Good, bad or otherwise, remember - He made it possible for us to
> have home computers in many many ways. Had he not been there, what we have
> today
> would very likely not exist.
> 
> We can no more fault him than we can the Japanese for killing us off in the
> electronics market. After all, Bell Labs invented the transistor and we let
> the
> Japanese have it! We invented the VCR and let them have it. So what should
> we
> expect? We gave them the technology and they used it better than we did! We
> have
> nobody to blame except ourselves.
> 
> Mr. Gates has done one heck of a lot of good things for the computer
> industry,
> keep that in mind. He saw a market, he filled it and he made a lot of money
> in
> doing so. Many others have done the same. Apple would have died had Bill
> Gates
> not created competition for them, which made Apple better and they survived.
> So
> whether you like Mr. Gates or not, get off his back. We have all benefited
> because of him, even if we do not want to admit it.
> 
> Duane W8DBF
> 
> 
> ----------
> From: Preston Graham <w4fda at pobox.com>
> To: Computers (or other) used for amateur radio, communications,  or
> experimenting <ham-computers at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: Re: [Ham-Computers] Frustration with MS
> Date: Monday, May 31, 2004 5:34 PM
> 
> TAKE IT EASY COWBOY!!   WE'RE ALL IN THE SAME BOAT, AND IT'S SINKING.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jim Isbell" <millenniumfalcon at cableone.net>
> To: "Mail List for Ham-Computers" <ham-computers at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Monday, May 31, 2004 3:47 PM
> Subject: [Ham-Computers] Frustration with MS
> 
> 
> 
>>I get so damned frustrated every time I try to change something in
>>Windows.  It must be because those Indians that program it do not have
>>the same logic process we use.  It is NOT intuitive to a westerner.
>>
>>I am using XP and I am trying to change the default program for viewing
> 
>  .DOC files.  It is now defaulting to "Easy Writer" and I want it to
> 
>>default to "Word For Windows" but try as I may I cannot find the screen
>>that is used to designate which program takes which extension by
>>default.  I know its there but I cant find it.
>>
>>Can anyone tell me why it isnt under "Settings", the obvious intuitive
>>place to look for settings??
>>
>>Can anyone tell me where those indians hid it????
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>Ham-Computers mailing list
>>Ham-Computers at mailman.qth.net
>>http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/ham-computers
>>
> 
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-- 
Leo (Bing) Whiteway in Kelowna, BC, Canada: Ham calls: VE7UW and VE7OKV
A computer without Microsoft is like a chocolate cake without mustard.
Everyone should have a chance to try Linux. It's great.
http://linux-bc.com/      < running Slackware 9.1 >