Re: [MLUG] News Alert from NYTimes.com

["Dev Null" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

"Davis, Ryan Wiley (UMC-Student)" <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:

> F*ck...
> From: The New York Times Direct [mailto:EMAIL:PROTECTED]
> Justice Department Says It Will Not Seek Microsoft Breakup

Tie me to the post, fetch the kindling, and grab a firing squad just in
case, but I don't see why this is a problem.  Before you attack me like a
horde of drunken weasels, let me explain:

1. Breaking up MS would create an economy wherein SEVERAL VERY MONEYED AND
ALREADY RESPECTED COMPANIES IN VIRTUALLY EVERY FIELD WOULD/COULD DOMINATE.
Say goodbye to a lot of alternatives.  As it stands, there's one BIG company
with fingers in a lot of pies.  Breaking up MS essentially hands each dept.
a pie.

2. My mother could never use *NIX.  Most people can't.  Why?  Regardless of
the progress made by the Gnome and KDE projects, I have yet to find a
distro. that I can reasonably expect family members, 60 year old realtors,
and 6 year olds to manage.  Linux is NOT mature, and it's not ready to
replace Windows on the desktop.  In practice, people aren't ready for it,
and it's not really ready for people either.  It might be ready sooner of
the Open Source/*NIX community would get their heads out of their colons and
actually seriously compete instead of wasting their time and energy
complaing about MS (and then using a Win XP laptop for a presentation).
Hell, most of US spend a great deal of time wrangling OUR boxen.  Making
computing inaccessible to Joe Sixpack damages the PC market.  Damaging the
overall market hurts the Open Source community.

3. Try managing 400+ computers for several clients/organizations.  There is
something to be said for a modicum of compatibility where business is
concerned.

4. The anti-trust hearings were, almost entirely, about Microsoft bundling
software with their OS.  Initially Internet Explorer, and later things like
Office, Media Player, and MSN IM.  How is this different from your garden
variety *NIX distro.?  Honestly now.  You're ADVOCATING a legal action that
would make KDE illegal.  I LIKE being able to type /stand/sysinstall as root
and pulling software off of my FreeBSD install CD.  Prosecuting/breaking up
MS under the pretense that they bundle a web browser slits our own throats.
There is nothing to keep companies from buying and installing 3rd party
software.  There is nothing keeping Windows users from using ICQ, Winamp,
WordPerfect, Eudora, and Netscape instead of MSN IM, Windows Media Player,
Word, Outlook Express, and Internet Explorer.  There's nothing keeping
people from playing EverQuest or Ultima Online instead of Acheron's call.
Windows doesn't come with a guy who stands next to you with a gun at your
head just in case you want to try somebody else's stuff.

Telling the Feds to make someone stop doing something that you yourself do
is pretty damn stupid.

I'm not saying that MS are the good guys.  They're a big corporation.  Their
goals include dominance and high profit margins, just like every other
corporation.  They have their vision of the future, just like every other
corporation.  They do things I don't like, just like every corporation.
Oracle, Red Hat, and whoever owns WordPerfect this week do it too.

On the other hand, it frustrates me to see an entire company's products
stigmatized because, and I quote, "they suck."  Last night I saw a group of
otherwise intelligent people go off on MS Access without ever having used it
(or knowing what it is, or what it is capable of) because it was _MS_
Access.  That's not responsible computer science, people.  That's religious
zealotry, and it negatively impacts the Open Source community's
effectiveness.  That's one of the reasons I prefer the FreeBSD community --
they couldn't give a rats rump so long as the tool does the job well.  In
fact, the BSDers have enjoyed a relatively friendly relationship with
Microsoft that has benefitted both parties.

That said, I'm switching boxes and playing with Python. Enjoy.  8)

T3/Dev
--
"All you need is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure."
-- Mark Twain
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