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Re: Mmhhh.... Something Evil From Redmond Comes

On Oct 22, 5:13 pm, Au79 <a...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> DFS wrote:
> > Au79 wrote:
> >> Wintroll activity seems unusually high.
>
> >> With the retarded raylopez99, big.mamma.thornton, DFS, Dan D. Lyons
> >> and other morrons spewing their MS venom, I wonder if Bile Gates is
> >> getting ready to release some new mediocre product.
>
> > Whatever it is, no matter how great or mediocre it is - more people will
> > use it than will use the corresponding Linux/OSS crapola.

I loved the Brief editor, but when Microsoft added Notepad as
shovelware - my boss told me I couldn't use Brief anymore.

I liked WordPerfect - but when Microsoft bundled Word with Windows -
my boss told me I couldn't use WordPerfect anymore.

I liked Lotus 1-2-3 - but when Microsoft bundled Excel with Windows -
my boss told me I couldn't use Lotus anymore.

I liked Corel Draw - but when Microsoft bundled PowerPoint with
Windows - my boss told me I couldn't use Corel Draw anymore.

I liked DBase IV - but when Microsoft bundled Access - my boss
wouldn't let me use DBase any more.

I liked SideKick, but when Windows 3.0 came out - my boss wouldn't let
me use Sidekick anymore.

I liked DesqView - but when Windows 3.0 came out - my boss decided I
had to use that instead.

I liked Chameleon TCP/IP and Trumpet Winsock, but when Microsoft came
out with buggy Winsock for Windows 3.1, that's what I had to use.

Windows 3.0 crashed 2-3 times per hour, and I quickly learned to save
every 5 minutes, or risked losing an hour of work and having to work
unpaid overtime to make it up.

Windows 3.1 crashed 3-4 times per day, and I quickly learned to save
everything every few minutes, and use only one application at a time -
because if I tried to do something else while I was waiting for a long
running task to complete (like downloading a file) the machine would
"deadlock" when I was done.

Windows NT 3.1 looked kinda nice, but when it wouldn't run most of the
applications I had to have to do my job, I told my boss to give me 3.1
instead.

Windows 95 (A) was "cute", but when I tried to connect to the
Internet, I suddenly found that everyone on the block was "sharing" my
hard drive.  I could even look at the boss's hard drive, and read the
reviews.  I didn't, but I could.

Windows 95 B was ALMOST as stable as Slackware Linux 1.0, and the
"plug-and-play" ALMOST worked.  It was nice to be able to back up the
entire hard drive to a QIC cartridge.

Windows NT 4.0 came out and everybody told me that we should use it as
a server.  I based my estimates on how long it would take to do it on
Linux or Unix, then doubled them.  We started the project and before
long it was obvious that I should have gone up to the next unit of
time - estimated 7 staff-years instead of 7 staff-months.  I could set
up a Linux server in an hour.  Setting up an NT server took a full day
of reboots.  But my boss told us we had to use it, so we worked 12
hour days, 6 days a week, and on sunday we could come in late - after
2 PM.  We eventually got it done, it took 3 times longer cost 5 times
more, and this included 80 hour weeks billed as 40 hour weeks.

Windows 2000 was actually very nice.  Microsoft should never have
upgraded it.  It was efficient, fast, and reliable.  Unfortunately, it
also got attacked by viruses like Melissa, NIMDA, and about 100,000
others.  Microsoft promised to "fix" the problem in XP - some "fix".
Now the number of successfull attackers is up to 250,000, and Windows
still needs to be "re-engineered" - costing weeks of lost productivity
2-3 times per year.

Now Microsoft has introduced Longhorn that turned into a steer, so
they called it Vista, which turned out to be a Mirage.  The TV ads
show really cute looking 3-D effects, but when I go to the store, most
of the computers can't do the 3-D stuff.

Meanwhile, when MS-DOS was blowing itself up over TSRs, Mac was doing
a really nice Window based graphical user interface - MacProject
wasn't perfect, but it was pretty nice to be able to draw a project or
network and be able to make notes on each item and generate a diagram
and schedule.

When Windows 3.0 was crashing every 20 minutes, SunOS was letting me
use FrameMaker and Applix for hours without even a hiccup.  In fact,
it wasn't even POSSIBLE to reboot the machine, since I didn't have
root previledges initially.  Of course, I never really needed to
either.  I got the console, but I had two subordinates who shared the
machine using X11 Terminals from WYSE.

When Windows 3.1 was blowing up every 2-3 hours, Linux was allowing me
to share both the Sun Sparc20 and the HP-9000 workstations.  When my
boss first saw me running Linux he thought I had embezzled the funds
to buy a Sun SparcStation  when he realized that I was using Linux on
an 80386/16 we fished out of the dumpster an hour before the truck
arrived, he wanted one too.

When Windows NT 3.1 was refusing to run my favorite applications, I
was trying to decide which of the 5 distrubutions on my Walnut Creek
CD package I wanted to use on my 80486.  I had Caldera, SuSE, FreeBSD,
and Red Hat.  I chose Red Hat because it was the easiest to install.
Of course, I also used it as an internal Web Server (now they call it
Intranet), and provided a VPN connection to customers who wanted to
test their Marketscope interfaces over SLIP or PPP connections while
they waited for their Frame Relay or ATM lines.  Linux cut months off
the development schedule.

When Windows NT 4.0 was hangning and BSOD from race conditions and
deadlocks, my Linux box was running 1000 concurrent users in a royalty
free server.  We used it for prototyping - unfortunately, they kept
insisting that we deploy the "production version" on NT 4.0.
Eventually, they deployed it on Solaris - and it worked great after
about 2 hours of work.

They gave me 3 days to do a rival with the same functionality
implemented on an NT system that had been developed over 8 staff-
years.  I gave them that, and added a BBS, chat, and stock-quotes.
When the NT box started acting up, they decided they needed to have
someone babysitting it every second.  When they moved my Linux box to
a different router, I have my boss, who was on location, instructions
on how to get the IP address, remote accessed into the machine, and
had it running in 15 minutes.

> From Redmond, its usually, 99% mediocre. If more people will use "it",
> whatever that is, it will be because it is shoved down their throats just
> like Vista was.

Microsoft has had a few "Bombs", including Windows NT 3.1, Windows NT
3.5, Windows ME, and now Vista.  Microsoft knew that there were too
many companies who were prepared for any attempt at a "Force Feed" of
Vista, and were prepared to switch to Linux if Microsoft tried it.
Microsoft has even had to cave into to OEM demand for the ability to
continue to sell XP.  Based on Browser signatures, it looks like Mac
and Vista are about even in terms of market growth.  That would me
that about 4 million of the 16 million PCs sold last quarter - were
actually NOT sold with Vista - but with XP, Linux, or OS/X instead.

> Vista will undoubtedly be more pervasive than Linux of Apple, but has anyone
> said anything good about it yet? Even the diehard wintards are all fuming
> about Vista trash. Bile Gates says "Bend over winini".

Most of the reviewers are saying "I'd rather have a Mac".  Most of
these reviewers have never been able to walk into a retail store and
test drive a Linux machine for a few hours.  The bulk of the Linux
reviewers, working on a tight deadline, seem to spend most of that
time downloading the software from an unreliable mirror, install it
without asking anybody for help, and never actually review the actual
Linux system itself.  Again, they only have a limited amount of time,
usually a week or two, and since they don't ask for help, do their
homework, or even deliberately use "Linux Hostile" machines, they
don't make an "apples to apples" (actually OS/X to Linux) comparison.

If I tried to install OS/X on a Windows 2000 machine, I would probably
have problems.  If I tried to install Vista on that machine, I'd have
problems.  If I tried to install Windows 2000 on a Vista machine, I
might get a functional machine, but it wouldn't be a great experience.


> ....................http://www.vanwensveen.nl/rants/microsoft/IhateMS.html

Rex
http://www.open4success.org


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