Microsoft should spank em'

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Big V

The validity of Radar's "solution" expired in about third or fourth grade, in every place that Microsoft does business. Probably still works in the jungle, though.

Your "enlightened", politically correct attitude is exactly why and how this country is screwing itself. Keep telling yourself it's not a jungle out there, until you get hit with a poison dart.

Why do you think the EU was formed in the first place, so they could all hold hands and buy the World a coke? No, so they could gather the clout to screw the rest of the World in general and the US in particular.

If you think there's ANY country out there that's concerned with our welfare you're sadly naive.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

We would have missed out on exactly nothing if he hadn't been the dog in the manger.

Your telling me that we would have a single dominant operating system from someone else?

I doubt it, I think we would have a dozen competing systems that all did the job, but acting differently. Then if I had a problem, or just a question, I'd have to find somebody that was familiar with the OS I was using.

I, and I suspect the rest of the great unwashed, don't want that.
Those of you that understand how all this stuff works can mix and match various programs from here and there. You can be smug in your superior skills and curse Bill Gates for allowing the barbarians access to your cyber world.

But, we're here now and I thank him.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by TW

That's correct. Most people don't want to advance mankind. Most people are happy to maintain status quo. Only the 1% advance mankind. Tinkers, doubters, questioners, the few who push out an envelope and therefore advance mankind are not found among myopic workers who use a PC and therefore call themselves 'computer literate'. We are not talking about those in love with a status quo mentality.

It's a tool, the PC/Work Station is a tool, people use, to complete a task, either for pay or there own purposes.

I doubt your employer wants you to spend your day tinkering with it, instead of what he's paying you for. I also doubt, at the end of the week, he'd be happy with you telling him you didn't do that work because you're tinker, doubter, questioner.......patriot.

I'll leave the tinkering to the 1% that understand this stuff, and use the PC to do things that.... Hey look at what's on Boing-Boing!

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Your telling me that we would have a single dominant operating system from someone else?

I doubt it, I think we would have a dozen competing systems that all did the job, but acting differently. Then if I had a problem, or just a question, I'd have to find somebody that was familiar with the OS I was using.

Well, you still do. But if your problem is with Windows, you'd better hope it's with a part that MSFT has chosen to reveal and is willing to let you continue to use, or you're screwed, and in addition you have no other options.

But I've seen technology convergence (yes, in operating systems too) before and I beleive we would have seen it again. In fact there's a not inconsiderable amount of convergence today amongst non-Windows OSs: OSX, Linuxes, BSDs, AIX, etc. Most of them have package managers today that are *easier* to use than a typical Windows product install not all that long ago. In fact the features you like best about Windows are all copied from such and their predecessors.

Not sure I buy into your claimed to represent the mind of "the great unwashed"...I think most of them will be happy with whatever they find as long as it works for them most of the time. That would be as true with, say, Ubuntu, as it is with the copy of XP that by contract between MSFT and the vendor is already loaded and involuntarily paid for on 99.9% of branded PCs.

But as it is they have no choice...and we'll see how happy they are about that state of affairs when we get to that MSFT nirvana where you get a software bill every month that left unpaid will cause your machine to stop working. Don't kid yourself: the phone-home-or-die infrastructure for that is being (quite visibly) laid as we speak.

In any event...the state you see today is not some magical thing billg did out of kindness for us all to make computing easy, something that no one else could have concieved of or done. That's MSFT spin, PR and propiganda, concieved after the fact.