MESSAGE
| DATE | 2006-06-17 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] OP-ED - GNU/Windows
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Posted by grouch on Jun 9, 2006 9:00 AM LXer.com; By Carla Schroder
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LXer Feature - 9-June-06
Every time someone boots up Windows, god kills a kitten. Bill Gates
is the devil. Steve Ballmer is a sweaty gorilla. Linux is better than
Windows, cures bad breath, and improves your love life. Linux advocates
are foaming religious zealots who want to control everyone's lives.
Here we go again. More headlines: MORE WINDOWS WEB SERVERS THAN LINUX,
HAHA! More sensationalism, more absence of facts, more junk reporting,
more wailing and gnashing of teeth and indignant rebuttals from the FOSS
crowd. THERE ARE NOT NEITHER GAINS BY WINDUHS, AND HERE IS LONGWINDED
EXPLANATION WHY. Then all the analysts chiming in, WINDOWS WINNING! NO,
FIREFOX IS GAINING! NO, IT'S NOT! Until I just want to slap them all
into silence.
Incidentally, FLOSS is stupid. It's FOSS, Free and Open Source
Software. This is computing, not dentistry. And if you want people to take
you seriously, for god's sake learn to spell, where to put apostrophes,
and the difference between "loose" and "lose."
I suggest that everyone take a deep breath, relax, and get a grip
on the important issue, which is a very simple one. Yes, Microsoft
software sucks. Yes, it is true that removing all Windows PCs from the
Internet will instantly eliminate 95% of spam and malware. It's buggy,
inefficient and insecure, and no amount of propaganda, fake studies,
or fakier analysts will change that. Microsoft's business tactics set
all-time records for corruption and bullying. Their new Live OneCare
is the ultimate in both cynicism and contempt for customers, because
the schmucks will pay up, and continue to pay and pay and pay for the
privilege of using one of the most defective consumer products on Earth.
But none of those are the important simple issue. The most important
issue is this:
Choice.
That's all. I shouldn't have to care what computing platform other
people elect to use, what type of hardware they buy, or what software
applications they think are teh hawt. I shouldn't have to care about
converting users to Linux, or taking market share away from Windows.
But I have to, because all those things affect me personally. Ballmergates
have devoted their lives and incredible resources to taking away my
choices. Because of their corrupt tactics, I cannot walk into a computer
store and have a wide range of pre-installed computers running different
operating systems to choose from. I have to shop very carefully to find
Linux-supported hardware because the Borg work very hard to maintain
a lock on hardware. If it weren't for tireless volunteer coders and
reverse-engineering, there wouldn't be much left for us.
Because of Ballmergate's complete lack of concern for security, the
public Internet is a cesspool. No, they didn't write and release all
that malware. They just made it incredibly easy for any maladjusted
dweeb with a smidgen of coding skills to do it. Amazing, isn't it,
when they don't even have access to the Windows source code.
And if that weren't enough, now Microsoft is leading the DRM charge,
which threatens both our consumer rights like nothing before, and our
civil rights, and that's no hyperbole. (Please see DRM - Is It Worth
Going To Jail For? and Microsoft Research DRM talk.
I didn't pick a fight with Microsoft. No FOSS advocate did. The giants of
FOSS- Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds, Maddog Hall, Alan Cox, Michael
Tieman, Patrick Volkerding, Debra and Ian Murdock, and all the many
others that I apologize for leaving out, created this great fertile
ecosystem that gave computing back to the do-it-yourselfers. Microsoft
could have left us alone. They could have even joined the party. But
they won't. They want to kill FOSS dead.
So the next time someone crabs at you for dissing poor old defenseless
Microsoft, and I shall go to my grave wondering at these losers who defend
giant corporations for no good reason, just remember two things: they
started it, and all we want are choices. -- __________________________
Brooklyn Linux Solutions
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like
Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world -
RI Safir 1998
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://fairuse.nylxs.com
"Yeah - I write Free Software...so SUE ME"
"The tremendous problem we face is that we are becoming sharecroppers
to our own cultural heritage -- we need the ability to participate in
our own society."
http://www.mrbrklyn.com - Consulting http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership
Development in Free Software http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/resources -
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