Re: MS targets Linux


Subject: Re: MS targets Linux
From: Greg Madden (pabi@gci.net)
Date: Fri Jan 11 2002 - 13:03:40 AKST


civileme wrote:
>
> On Friday 11 January 2002 10:23 am, arthur@corlissfamily.org wrote:
> > On Fri, 11 Jan 2002, Greg Jetter wrote:
> > > I am still wondering , with this kind of information avaible why the
> > > DOJ and the courts look the other way ? It must be nice to be richer
> > > than God and buy off everyone that gets in your way.
> >
> > The DoJ looks the other way because our government just swung to the
> > opposite extreme last year. We went from a socialist, anti-capitalist
> > regime to a ultra-business-friendly capitalist regime. The little guy
> > isn't going to catch a break under either. :-P I say we all start
> > gene-splicing in our backyards, and clone some of our founding fathers.
> > Maybe they can stop the madness. . .
> >
> > > MS will never suceed , when the last time you heard of an MS Windows
> > > Install fest ? or active user group ? , they have lost the grass roots
> > > population , it the DOJ could break all of those marketing agrrements
> > > with OEM's , MS would be history....
> >
> > I don't think it's that simple. I know all too many MS cheerleaders --
> > people who have been hoodwinked into thinking that being hacked and
> > rebooting daily is *normal*, and hence, not MS' fault. I swear, the
> > marketing dept. at MS must be half-staffed with vampires. They're always
> > working on some new angle.
> >
> > --Arthur Corliss
> > Bolverk's Lair -- http://arthur.corlissfamily.org/
> > Digital Mages -- http://www.digitalmages.com/
> > "Live Free or Die, the Only Way to Live" -- NH State Motto
>
> Clone our founding fathers?
>
> Like Jefferson to take over the Patent Office? Or Franklin to develop the
> NMP generator and place one near Redmond? I think you would definitely get
> more fun than you can imagine... The founding fathers are revolutionaries
> who want to see the little guy with a chance....
>
> Or maybe Sam Adams to rob the banking system of a chunk of its wealth--now
> THAT would be far-reaching in its implications, particularly if records were
> corrupted in the process.....
>
> Remember that many of our founding fathers are inventors and scientists
> turned politician. A single angry scientist these days with the correct
> approach to our weaknesses could destroy civilization as we know it. A few
> banded together might manage to turn things upside down without a resulting
> collapse.
>
> But I don't think we need to worry overly much. If this news article is
> true, it means we need to get out of the shadow of a falling giant. .NET is
> there to shore up failing revenues from the "Microsoft Tax". And no matter
> how asset-rich Microsoft is--when any company starts to shove money at
> problems instead of inventiveness, that is the beginning of the end.
>
> And MS does not have the worlds best engineers, only the greediest. If it
> becomes clear that things aren't going so well, a massive cash-out of stock
> options could occur, leaving Microsoft without enough cash to prop open its
> doors.
>
> But look at it this way,,, Microsoft has expenses of x dollars a month, and
> has never needed to acquire the management skills to reduce them. It's
> revenues have been x+y dollars a month until the slowdown last year in new
> computer sales, when they were reduced by about 20%. If y<.2(x+y), we are
> observing the frantic activities of a falling giant, the IBM syndrome
> repeated. After all, no one stays top dog forever, and we came close to
> losing IBM altogether.
>
> I can't think of a dumber move than upsetting a whole bunch of linux
> enthusiasts, by trying to crush linux as if it is a commercial competition.
> True, they might get my employer, and RH and SuSE and Caldera, but they would
> play a different game trying to eliminate Connectiva (in use in Brazil's
> schools and businesses) or Debian (no obvious financial leverage).
>
> Plus the chances of being able to hire the quality engineers they used to be
> able to command falls significantly as they make enemies in Universities
> around the world.
>
> No one seems to have good numbers on the market penetration in Korea, China,
> Indonesia, India, Malaya, and so on, but I suspect linux has more than parity
> with pirated copies of Microsoft. I base this on the number from that
> country on IRC running linux clients versus the number on IRC and AOL Instant
> messenger running Windows. Microsoft's "strategies" mean nothing to people
> who cannot afford to pay for them.
>
> And now Visual Basic programmers frustrated with its limitations can use a
> _really_ powerful BASIC (so much so that its compiler is written in the
> language) on windows and move seamlessly with the same widgets and
> drag'N'drop coding to linux -- (XBasic--the ugly language. Visual Basic
> skills will translate) The enterprise version of the (GPL) Xbasic package
> plus the source code is available on better terms than VB, and the LGPL
> license on the libraries allows proprietary software to be written using it.
>
> Crush linux? Reminds me of a mouse running up an elephant's leg with
> murderous intent.
>
> Civileme

I admit to not getting out much but the last 'stranger' I met and
mentioned Linux to had never heard of it. This person is also running
for public office, state senator or some similar waste of space :) So
while free*nix sounds & plays well to us users, in D.C., where the
monpolists hang out, it don't mean diddly. The current admin may be
backpeddling from Enron but this doesn't mean they are for the little
guy. MS has the ear of President Shrub, et al.

A more paranoid viewmight be MS goes after the internet, not with .net
but the backbone, the hardware/infrastructure. This will be the only way
to erradicate the free*nix cockroaches.

The rant brought to you by 'caffiene' any semblance to reality is purely
coincidence.

-- 
Greg Madden
Precision Air Balance, Inc.
email:pabi@gci.net
Phone:(907)276-0461 Fax:(907)258-0461



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