Home Messages Index
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Author IndexDate IndexThread Index

Re: Java Faster on Linux Than on Windows

In comp.os.linux.advocacy, nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
 wrote
on 15 Aug 2006 11:26:18 -0700
<1155666378.709437.66110@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>
> Aunty Diluvian wrote:
>> On 14 Aug 2006 07:30:53 -0700, "nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
>> <nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> >Don't get me wrong, probably half the conspiracy theories involving
>> >Microsoft are right.
>>
>> #1. MS used coercion, political clout and proprietary vendor contracts
>> to cause the demise of the Netscape browser.   TRUE

Plus a lot of development spending on IE which was then
given away for free.  IE2 was terrible, IE3 was bad,
IE4 was vaguely usable.

>>
>> #2. MS used coercion, political clout and proprietary vendor contracts
>> to force the exclusion of Linux from the public view.  TRUE

Clarify.  Who's doing the exclusion?

>>
>> #3. MS used coercion, political clout and proprietary vendor contracts
>> to quash a DOJ investigation into it's monopolistic practices.  TRUE

Oversimplification, methinks.  After the switching
of administrations the DoJ largely lost The Big Mo'.
Bush has been *very* business-friendly -- if one's in the
right business.

>>
>> #4. MS used/uses FUD to malign any/every software vendor that
>> doesn't do the MS/Balmer monkey-boy dance.  TRUE

Another oversimplification.  The allegation was that MS's
contract sold Windows at a lower cost provided that a
license was bundled with every unit sold.  I don't know if
this was proven true or not.

>>
>> #5. MS innovated the NTFS to move the computing public away
>> from the FAT32 filesystem not because it was/is more secure
>> but because they couldn't control it's use.  TRUE

I wouldn't call *this* a conspiracy.  FAT16 dir entry
records had no ownership at all.  I doubt FAT32 entries
do either but would have to look.  By contrast, NTFS has
a reasonably complete ACL/ownership system.

>>
>> #6. The MS WGA is not an attempt to thwart piracy but another
>> means to control all computer use and direction.  TRUE

Debatable, but interesting.  Of course "piracy" in this context
is simply an undercut of the vendor's set price (as opposed to,
say, Somalian boats plying their, erm, trade, hijacking other
ships).  Looked at it one way it's downright theft; looked at
another, it's an innovative if unauthorized information/media
distribution method, taking advantage of existing low-cost
infrastructure.

A CD contains about 700 MB of data, audio, software,
or maybe video (DVDs contain more but I'd have to look).
It can be downloaded through a 1.5M DSL line in about an
hour and a half, costing about $0.07 in raw bandwidth,
if that.  To require that the purchase price be $14.99 is
a tad inflated given that context -- and it's only going
to get cheaper as copper is replaced with fiber-optic in
new houses.

>>
>> #7. Bill Gates did not retire from active every day involvement
>> in Microsoft in order to devote more time to his
>> philanthropic endeavors.  This was/is a means to get out while
>> he could before the downfall of his debacle that is sure to come.
>> The "War of the Worlds" is coming to Microsoft and the resident
>> rats are getting scared for their jobs and pensions.  TRUE

We won't know until it collapses, but could be.

>>
>> #8. Open source is the devil and those advocating free software
>> are just a bunch of whiney babies wanting something for nothing.
>> --------------------------MAYBE-------------------------

The devil's *always* in the details, isn't he? :-)

>>
>> What are the other conspiracy theories that abound?
>> The JFK assination?

A classic.

>> The Israeli attack on the USS Cole?

An interesting one that I've not seen personally, but seems
logical enough in the slightly wacked-out conspiracy sphere.

>> The "walk on the moon" was actually filmed in Hollywood?

A favorite.

>> An AIDS vaccine has already been discovered but the
>>     US "gubmint" and the pharmaceutical companies
>>     are withholding it for future diversions away from
>>     "gubmint" attrocities.

Another one I've not seen.

>> There is no "Area 51".  Just a military hospital used to
>>     do illegal experiments on kidnapped "street people".

Ditto.  This doesn't explain "Freedom Ridge", though.

>> President Bush was in business with Osama Bin Laden
>>     along with his father, George "GIMP" Bush, Sr., and
>>     the WTC bombing was Bin Ladens retaliation against
>>     America because the Bush's tried to cheat him and
>>     his family out of several billion dollars in foreign oil trade.

This one's a little messy.

>> The "Lindbergh baby" was not kidnapped by Bruno Hauptmann
>>     but by the US "gubmint" as a warning to Colonel Lindbergh
>>     to keep quiet about what he knew about a "gubmint"
>>     cover-up.

Another one I've not seen.  Here's some additional ones.

- The Philadelphia Experiment, in which a ship is wired up
  with a gigantic coil of some sort, and vanishes.
- The Bermuda Triangle.  We now know methane hydrate
  deposits are down there; this could explain in part some
  of the mystery.
- Various allegations against "Zionist" plots.
- Various "left-wing" or "right-wing" media conspiracies.
- Clinton's 50 assassinations/Vince Foster "suicide".

>
> The example I was thinking of was when the US bombed the Chinese
> embassy in Belgrade, killing several people.  The Chinese,
> understandibly upset, maintained for some time that it was deliberate.

It *was* deliberate, although in a sense it was because of bad
intelligence (they identified the wrong building or some such,
IIRC) and therefore a colossal goof-up.  But they dropped the
bombs anyway, probably before finding out about the error.

And of course the Chinese were hopping mad at the time.

> Personally, I always felt that this was within the scope of what
> incompetence could accomplish.
>
> But not to get too off-topic---I ran into the expression "post diluvian
> internet" recently---I think it means, after the internet explosion ca
> 1995.
>

That's so last era, isn't it? :-)

-- 
#191, ewill3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Windows Vista.  Because it's time to refresh your hardware.  Trust us.

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Author IndexDate IndexThread Index