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From: rdd@access1.digex.net (R. D. Davis)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.bill-gates,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.misc,comp.os.ms-windows.win95.misc,comp.os.os2.advocacy,comp.sys.mac.advocacy,alt.org.team-os2,alt.destroy.microsoft,comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Is Microsoft's Internet plan more about its love of power than about users?
Date: 20 May 1996 10:04:13 -0400
Organization: Society for the Obsolescence of Obsolescence
Lines: 66
Message-ID: <4npu4t$c7j@access1.digex.net>
References: <4mlpnf$d4p@sidhe.memra.com> <4mqq8o$6js@news.aros.net> <4mrg49$pok@dfw-ixnews5.ix.netcom.com> <4muhf9$giv@phobos.Candle.Com>
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Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au alt.fan.bill-gates:22364 comp.os.ms-windows.nt.misc:106730 comp.os.ms-windows.win95.misc:139889 comp.os.os2.advocacy:203673 comp.sys.mac.advocacy:107529 comp.os.linux.advocacy:49738 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:19718
In article <4muhf9$giv@phobos.Candle.Com>,
Ralph Goers <rgoer@rgoer.candle.com> wrote:
>Dumb is perhaps not the right word. Ignorant seems to fit better. Part
>of this ignorance is simply based on cost. It costs "real" money to
>learn something new so many simply choose to stick with whatever seems
I fail to underatand why you say that one must spend money to learn
anything new. Why can't people just read manuals, etc. and ask other
people questions after reading the manuals, etc.? What is so
expensive about doing this? Are so many people so stupid that they
must always be told what to do by others, unable to figure anything
out on their own? (the answer is yes, unfortunately).
>familiar. The problem with this mentality is that this also has a cost,
>but it is in "hidden" dollars. Many IS departments insist on
>standardizing on software because it makes it easier for THEM, not their
>users.
Oh fiddle-faddle. The numbskulls in many MIS departments are like
blind sheep on mind-mumbing medication - from what I can tell, they
often choose products which make some random company executives happy,
who know little about computers, other than reading in some random
business publication how great, and how popular, Microsoft [or whaver
is said to be the "in" thing at the moment] type products, and IBM
type PCs, are., etc. This is senseless and foolish.
How else can one explain companies switching over to bletcherous
networks of IBM type PCs running Novell Netware from their trusty
VAXen running VMS, or hordes of IBM type PCs running MS-Windows being
used instead of terminals (text or X) attached to UNIX boxes, etc. On
the other hand, there are many Microsoft brainwashed MIS types out
there who are good at doing nasty deeds like convincing gullible
executives to spend lots of money to decommision the company's
minicomputers or mainframes and install IBM type PCish type whatevers
that run MS-DOS operating systems.
>or better yet, get an OS with a REAL batch language built in (BTW - when
>IS Microsoft going to ship an OS with a real batch language built in?).
>These people probably spent a couple of hours figuring out how to do
>this stuff. Most of these things can be done in 5 minutes with REXX.
...and probably in less time on a UNIX system with shell scripts.
>So gee, do we spend real $ getting the tool that will get the job done,
>or do we let our employees waste hours trying to figure out how to make
>the inadequate tool do the job that must be done?
Well, there are better alternatives, such as FreeBSD, NetBSD or even
Linux, which don't cost anything, and, from what I can tell, often
work better than many commercial alternatives, as they were written by
people who are more interested in software that works properly than
software which is produced to meet marketing deadlines and has all of
the bugs concealed by the marketers.
This isn't to say that free software is bug free, but at least the
bugs which exist aren't hidden by fancy marketing and lied about.
--
R. D. Davis * http://www.access.digex.net/~rdd * Computer Preservationist
PERQ Logic Systems & Unconventional Computer Consulting
divisions of Transpower Industries, Inc. +1 410 744-4900