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It seems reasonable to post links to an article that shows that Microsoft customers could possibly have serious need to criticize the company, even in cases where the software works: Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.. If Spanish is your native language: Windows XP muestra la dirección que Microsoft está tomando.

Those who criticize Microsoft face a lack of sympathy from people who are not well informed, which is most people. Typically, Microsoft users attack each other, rather than examine the issues. My research shows that this is a phenomenon that is common. Human societies do not deal well with an abuser that tries many, many small abuses, and gives up any one abuse if the opposition is too strong.

Some history: Microsoft has made huge positive contribution to the world by creating an operating system that the world could adopt as a standard for small computers. Earlier there were more than 200 versions of Unix, each with small incompatibilities with the others. Versions of earlier Unix operating systems also were too powerful to run on affordable small computers. The Unix system would boot for the first time and expect that it would be attached to a network of typically hundreds or thousands of other computers. The manuals assumed that the reader was a professional Unix administrator.

The alternative to Microsoft operating systems was the OS known as CP/M. Those who designed CP/M-based personal computers used more than 68 diskette formats, making it impossible to interchange data between different systems by diskette, without using a conversion program. Digital Research, the company that made CP/M, sometimes provided manuals in which the original was printed using a dot-matrix printer with an old ribbon. To say that DR was insufficiently attentive to business is an understatement. It was crazy, and Microsoft delivered us from that craziness.

At the same time that Microsoft was making a huge positive contribution, it was making a negative one, also. The company has a history of the kind of abuse psychologists call "testing the limits".

Some facts about Microsoft's OS may be helpful here in making a comparison:

English: Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going..

Spanish: Windows XP muestra la dirección que Microsoft está tomando.

Some facts about Microsoft's OS may be helpful here in making a comparison:

English: Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going..

Spanish: Windows XP muestra la dirección que Microsoft está tomando.

It is interesting what you say. I realize I need to know more about this.

Questions: Is it true, then, that to have security we are trusting every Windows program that runs with system-level authority to check for invalid addresses? Since people are migrating from Windows 98, isn't it likely that many programs are not written with this requirement in mind? Is there any list of insecure programs? Everyone seems to agree that it is possible to elevate privileges if McAffee's old virus program is running. What other programs are commonly used that allow users to elevate from guest to administrator?

When someone writes an SUID program in Unix, or uses one, they are particularly aware that there is a problem with privilege. Is it possible that there is no real comparison with Windows programs?

Sysinternal's free utilities PMon v1.0 and Process Explorer v5.25 show a lot of system activity. I know that Windows XP opens a huge number of system-level windows. Is it possible that Microsoft has not checked all of these, so that there are some Windows XP system processes that do not check the process ID or address space? Chis Paget says in his letter to me that is quoted in my article that Microsoft violates its own guidelines. Are you saying this is not true?

There are two issues, it seems to me. What is the usual security that average installations of Windows 2000 or Windows XP owners get, considering that few people understand the vulnernabilities? Second, what is the best possible security that can be achieved by someone who does understand?

Every Windows 2000 or Windows XP program is connected to every other through a single main registry file called SOFTWARE. (The name is in all caps and has no file name extension.) On one machine, for example, this file is 25.69 megabytes; it is a huge file considering that it contains configuration information. It is possible that the vulnerability mentioned by Chris Paget could be combined with a registry access vulnerability? Do all programs that run with administrator-level check their registry entries?

My article, Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going, is particularly useful to an executive who has authority over tens or hundreds or thousands of systems. The article warns about technical issues a CEO might not otherwise understand. It is interesting to know about the problems that are likely given normal knowledge of system administrators, rather than just those that cannot be defended against and affect everyone.

I included the privilege escalation issue because Brian Livingston took it seriously, not because I checked it myself. All or almost all other problems in the article are ones I checked myself.

More about Microsoft abuses: Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going..

"The american government is quick to drop bombs on other countries..."

Since you raised that issue, here is a link to a draft of a book I wrote about the subject:

What should be the Response to Violence?

• Download the submission form in Adobe PDF format (ShowOffYourSkills.pdf, 64kb)
• Download the submission form in Word format (ShowOffYourSkills.doc, 27kb)"

Is this story suggesting that Microsoft would be dishonest? I'm shocked... Not.

More Microsoft issues: Windows XP shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.

"(and the $20,000 to patent it)"

You can patent it yourself. If you are smart enough to make a new form of encryption, you are smart enough to learn the patent law and procedures. See the book Patent It Yourself.

After a trip to the Washington, D.C. U.S. Patent and Trademark office, I found that the patent procedure was as corrupt as the people who make money from it could make it. However, you can do it yourself even though there are many people who work in the patent industry who will try to stand in your way.

The patent examiners themselves, who work for the U.S. government, are quite friendly and helpful, I found. That's a very good thing. I'm proud of the U.S. government for its personal, friendly service, which I've found is quite common.

Another idea is to prepare the patent yourself and have an honest attorney (if you can find one) look at it and make comments for improvement. It's a lot of work to prepare everything yourself, but it is a lot of work supervising an attorney, too. If my experience is any guide, patent attorneys will try to steal as much as possible, while being somewhat disinterested in the exact technology of your claims.

There is a huge, huge problem in the United States with lawyers being dishonest. Something should be done about this. I guess the dishonesty goes along with all the other corruption, such as wanting war so that the rich people that own weapons manufacturing companies can get richer: What should be the Response to Violence? . The present U.S. President George W. Bush was arrested once for drunk driving, and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was arrested twice for drunk driving. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton was the child of alcoholics. If you know the culture of alcoholics, you know that both presidents show plenty of evidence in their personalities of their involvement with alchohol. (Yes, Clinton abused sexuality, but Clinton was intellectually capable of being president.) My family has no experience with alcoholism, but in researching the (unfinished) book I've talked with many alcoholics who say that it usually requires several years of drunk driving before you get so relaxed with drunkenness that you get arrested while driving. There is a huge, huge leadership shortage in the United States. The best leaders in the U.S. are two men who have been arrested for a serious crime a total of three times? That's a shortage of leadership.

Anyhow, patenting something requires personal attention from you. It is not like buying a car; you cannot pay and walk away. You need to be very knowledgeable about the construction of claims. If you know that, and you can express yourself well in writing, it is not difficult to prepare all the documents. However, it is a lot of work.

About that, see What should be the Response to Violence? .

A quote:

"The money donated by the U.S. government to Israel is like fuel thrown on a fire. The amount is said to total about $5.25 billion per year, when all amounts are considered. This is an enormous amount of money to a prosperous country of well-educated people. The population of Israel is about 5.8 million people (1996), so Israel receives from the U.S. government an astounding $905 per year for every man, woman and child who lives there. (In the entire world, there are only about 14,000,000 Jews.)"

Mirnav: This is for real. The eye is very plastic. If the muscles did not hold the eye in a bad position, the vision would be perfect.

You said, "... entertain the thought that my myopia that started at the age of 7 was caused by an excessively tense lifestyle in elementary school!"

The problem is not elementary school. Babies need constant contact with a loving person. If they don't have it, they grow up with considerable inner conflict. Check one of my other posts in this sub-thread about genetically similar people in Brazil and the United States. In Brazil, parents typically hold their babies constantly. (They bring their babies to parties and dance with them, for example.) This is the major reason that Brazilians have far fewer physical problems than Americans. Often, Americans put their babies in a crib in another room.

It is not logical to focus just on myopia. Many Americans are physical wrecks. A very large percentage are obese; the U.S. is the most obese country in the world, with the exception of a Pacific island where the diet is heavy in coconut fat. Americans have chronic muscle tension in many of the muscle groups, not just the eye muscles.

Social problems exist in every nation of the world. However, the U.S. is the worst in the world in several ways: 1) Obesity, 2) Killing other people, 3) Spying on people, 4) Putting people in prison. What goes around comes around. The U.S. is a difficult place to live, in many ways, and American's bodies reflect that.

Using Brazil as an example again, I have been told that the last time the Brazilian government killed someone in war was 1822. I'm not sure this is true. I am sure that the U.S. government killed more than 2,000,000 people in the last 35 years in war. For more about the tendency of the U.S. culture to violence, see my article What should be the Response to Violence? .

Before the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, cleaned up the mess during the Viva Rio movement, Rio was notorious for violence. The city had a murder rate then of something like 45 murders per year per 100,000 population. The rate in Washington, D.C. is 77.

Instead of seeing the world in a friendly, socially sophisticated way, the U.S. culture tends to see things in an adversarial way. This causes inner conflict in U.S. citizens.

It's a big transition, I know, realizing that, all your life, people have been lying to each other about their inner reality. But it's true.

As I mentioned in another comment in this sub-thread, read "The Primal Scream" by Arthur Janov.

Sounds like a Microsoft sales person is influencing the University. Here are some reasons why Windows XP is less than perfect: Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.

What is interesting, and unfortunate, is that Windows XP's faults are mostly avoidable. It seems that the problems are sociological, rather than technical. Microsoft seems to have become self-destructive, like Tyco and Enron. (Okay, even more self-destructive.)

By far the best marketing for Linux and BSD is Microsoft. It doesn't have to be that way. The cost to a corporation for someone working at a desk with a computer is so high that the cost of Windows is not a deciding factor. Linux is beginning to win, not because of the price, but because people don't like to be abused, and don't like the ridiculous security risks: (from the article)

"... as of September 9, 2002, there are 19 security vulnerabilities in Microsoft Internet Explorer [pivx.com]. (On August 8, 2002, there were 22, so some progress is being made.) This is a terrible record for a company that has $40 billion in the bank. Obviously, with that kind of money, Microsoft could fix the bugs if it wanted to fix them."

For some people, this is an acceptable way to relate to other people. If you don't like other people, just kill them. Preferably from a long way away.

It's profitable, too, for a small number of people, because the weapons are secret and therefore the profits can be kept secret.

It's an adult video game. Except that you don't get to play. You, if you are an American taxpayer, only get to pay.

There are a lot of people who would like to kill other people if it is free and they don't have to go to prison. It's a kind of mental illness. For more about this, see What should be the Response to Violence?

Violence tends to cause other violence. Mostly hidden elements of the U.S. government are causing the U.S. to be a target of violence. For example, the U.S. government (taxpayers) spend more than $900 every year for every man, woman, and child in Israel so that Israelis can buy U.S.-made weapons to kill Arabs. It's a way of transferring money from the taxpayers to the weapons makers. It seems likely that this will result in another holocaust; I doubt the Arabs are kidding when they say they will never surrender.

Every day in the U.S., it is possible to see American leaders on television calmly discussing the killing of other people. Of course, they have come to believe that they will never be the target.

I accidentally posted this anonymously before, so here it is now, with my name on it.

For some people, it is an acceptable way to relate to other people. If you don't like them, just kill them. Preferably from a long way away.

It's profitable, too, because the weapons are secret and therefore the profits can be kept secret.

It's an adult video game. Except that you don't get to play. You, if you are an American taxpayer, only get to pay.

There are a lot of people who would like to kill other people if it is free and they don't have to go to prison. For more about this, see What should be the Response to Violence?

Violence tends to cause other violence. Hidden elements of the U.S. government are causing the U.S. to be a target of violence.

Every day in the U.S., it is possible to see American leaders on television calmly discussing the killing of other people. Of course, they have come to believe that they will never be the target.

At the introduction of Windows 95, there was a big discussion of this. A computer magazine columnist persuaded Microsoft to double the allocation of resources, from 64k to 128k.

So that it will seem less bothersome, I changed the wording to "Few people realize that Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows ME (all closely related to each other) were designed in such a way that it was inevitable that they would crash."

You are right, the language was bad. The facts are good.

Would you care to mention something else that should be corrected?

If you visit the article again, press Reload on your browser so that you don't see the old version: Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.

The press release says, "NTFS partitions are now supported (read-only)."

When they can supply NTFS read-write, Mandrake could be used to repair problems with Windows XP. (Windows XP cannot copy some of its own files, even if the files you are trying to copy are not on the partition from which the system was booted. No, I am not kidding.) See Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going. if you don't believe me. The third-party tools for read-write to NTFS are expensive, or have shortcomings.

In the past, Passport has been shown to have zero security. See the Wired News article, Stealing MS Passport's Wallet.

On August 8, 2002, the U.S. Government's Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ordered Microsoft to stop lying about its Passport service. The FTC's order is titled Microsoft Settles FTC Charges Alleging False Security and Privacy Promises.

From: Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.

As background material, consider Microsoft in general: Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.

Interesting.

The computer industry has a scam that they use with unsuspecting executives. It is the "security" scam. The industry ran this scam against the DVD consortium. In actuality, there was no security, but the computer industry managed to convince the DVD group that there was. The deception was, and is, immensely profitable for some hardware manufacturers. But, of course, a 16-year-old released a method of breaking the encryption (with help from more knowledgeable people.)

More recently, Microsoft tried to run the security scam against the entire world. The Passport scheme was working well in the sense that only a small percentage of people realized that it was a scam. But the U. S. government's Federal Trade Commission (FTC) told Microsoft to stop in its August 8, 2002 order: Microsoft Settles FTC Charges Alleging False Security and Privacy Promises

Microsoft has run the security scam against its corporate customers. In actuality, the (local) security of Windows 2000 and Windows XP is very limited; if corporate customers realized this, they might not invest in these operating systems. See the section "Windows XP provides no local security" in the article Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.

You and others in your comments are questioning the HDTV security scam. You are saying, "Hey, wait a minute. Isn't this, and this, and this wrong with the scheme?"

Now Microsoft and Intel and AMD are running the scam with a thing called Palladium. With Microsoft's Palladium, we will, supposedly, have security in an inherently insecure operating system. Palladium's security certificate system is like putting all the world's money in one bank. If someone, a disloyal employee perhaps, breaks into that bank, the entire security is lost, and everyone who spent millions trusting that system will both lose, and have to continue with the system, just like with DVD's.

Palladium prevents security vulnerability the way the U.S. government's "War on Drugs" prevents illegal drug use. In actuality, the real purpose of the "War on Drugs" is to prevent competition by small illegal drug manufacturers, which would lower the price. The big manufacturers are selling more drugs now than before the "War on Drugs", and at artificially high prices.

I agree with an above commenter that the discussion has been extremely sensible.

There is an issue with Oracle that affects the the choice of a database for a new system: Larry Ellison is widely reputed to be psychologically unbalanced. He is a billionaire who doesn't have to work, and that also affects everything that he does.

If you can use PostgreSQL, then you have the advantage of not dealing with factors that could cause your database system to become much less attractive in the future. Companies like Novell, WordPerfect, Corel, Powerbuilder and many others have been remarkably self-destructive. They were big players 5 years ago, much smaller now. An now, unbelievably, Microsoft seems to be getting ready for a big fall: Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.

Open Source has a BIG advantage that it is not tied to any one person's ego.

We are also crying: Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.

Slashdotting. Don't worry. It was probably just a little Slashdotting. Works fine now.

Another topic -- The U.S. government, Microsoft: Before you support the U.S. government in invading Iraq, you should know that the U.S. government has been (mostly secretly) causing violence in numerous countries. See What should be the response to violence? . (The article takes a long time to load, and is badly in need of updating.)

My research indicates that the U.S. government support for violence and Microsoft's inability to treat its customers well are related. They are both are part of a social breakdown caused by a kind of low-level mental disturbance in which people become progressively insensitive to themselves and others. See Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.

For testing the HTML itself:
Amazingly great software finds HTML errors, and edits HTML:

HTML Tidy (Win 32 version) finds HTML errors and corrects them automatically if possible. See the configuration options for HTML Tidy at HTML Tidy Quick Reference

HTML Tidy works best as a plug-in to HTML Kit. (The command-line software is used as the plugin.) HTML kit positions the editor at each line with an HTML error when you click on the error.

Truly awesome free software!

Slashdotting. Don't worry. It was probably just a little Slashdotting. Works fine now.

Another topic -- The U.S. government, Microsoft: Before you support the U.S. government in invading Iraq, you should know that the U.S. government has been (mostly secretly) causing violence in numerous countries. See What should be the response to violence? . (The article takes a long time to load, and is badly in need of updating.)

My research indicates that the U.S. government support for violence and Microsoft's inability to treat its customers well are related. They are both are part of a social breakdown caused by a kind of low-level mental disturbance in which people become progressively insensitive to themselves and others. See Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.

For testing the HTML itself:
Amazingly great software finds HTML errors, and edits HTML:

HTML Tidy (Win 32 version) finds HTML errors and corrects them automatically if possible. See the configuration options for HTML Tidy at HTML Tidy Quick Reference

HTML Tidy works best as a plug-in to HTML Kit. (The command-line software is used as the plugin.) HTML kit positions the editor at each line with an HTML error when you click on the error.

Truly awesome free software!

Read the new section, Deliberately designed to crash, in my article, Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going. The article tries to document a few of Microsoft's abuses and limitations.

I was using Windows XP when I had all those tabs open.

Be sure you are using Mozilla 1.0.1 or later. Version 1.0.1 is very different from 1.0, as the Mozilla web site says.

And, if you live in the U.S., get your government to stop secretly contributing to the causes of war: What should be the Response to Violence?

But there are at least 18 operations where XP connects to microsoft.com

The U.S. government spends more money to research more efficient ways to kill people and gain forceful control over them than any other area.

The least socially sophisticated way of resolving problems with other people is killing them. Yet there is a lot of enthusiasm for killing among U.S. citizens.

I pulled together some links and explanation about this in the article What should be the Response to Violence?. The article is needs updating, but there is a lot of support for the idea that the enthusiasm for violence is due to a social breakdown in the United States.

The U.S. government has bombed 14 countries, directly killing about 3,000,000 people in the last 33 years.

... "closed" software adds costs and creates security risks...

Exactly. If you work with Microsoft Windows XP every day, and you consider it thoroughly, you find that the situation is worse than people commonly say.

If you haven't seen this article about Windows XP problems before, it may interest you. I wrote it to try to show the aggressiveness behind Windows: Windows XP shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.

If you have seen the article before, and you view it again, reload your browser, because the article was recently updated.

It's wonderful that government agencies are beginning the realize the liability of using a closed, proprietary, software product from a company that seems to care more about control than about making money.

P.S.:

Anyone who doesn't know that Microsoft is abusive should read this article that I wrote about Windows XP problems: Windows XP shows the Direction Microsoft is Going. Click Reload if you have visited the article before, because it has recently been re-written with added material.

To see an explanation of why Passport is not needed, see the fourth paragraph of the section "What is your name and address?" means "Can we invade your privacy?" in the article that I wrote about Windows XP problems: Windows XP shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.

For older articles about Passport, see:

Stealing MS Passport's Wallet (Passport has been cracked in the past.)

MS and Its Terms of Embarrassment (Maybe this license was Microsoft's true intention.)

I made the change you suggested. You can see the new paragraphs at Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going. under the section "What is your name and address?" means "Can we invade your privacy?".

But, if you use Linux, you will miss out on all the abuse!

Here's some information I put together, and updated yesterday: Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.

Interesting comment.

See Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going for more information on the unacceptability of Microsoft's policies.

You may be interested to know that Senator Biden said on national TV that Osama bin Laden's complaints about U.S. support of violence and repressive regimes was justified. (NOTE: This does NOT say that violence is justified.) A carefully accurate transcript of Senator Biden's remarks is available under the heading Senator Biden says the Saudi government cannot continue in power without U.S. government support . (The article takes a long time to load.)

I don't think I expressed the question very well. Those files do not pose the same problem as the registry in Windows. The registry connects the configuration of the OS with the configuration of all of the software that is installed.

In the registry, if you get corruption and don't realize it, and do other installations and changes that write to the registry, it can become impossible to go back to an earlier backup without losing all of the work of upgrading.

There is nothing like this in Linux or BSD, apparently. See the section "More Details about Registry Problems" in the article, Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.

1. Application Layer Gateway Service (Requires server rights.)
2. Fax Service
3. File Signature Verification
4. Generic Host Process for Win32 Services (Requires server rights.)
5. Microsoft Application Error Reporting
6. Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer
7. Microsoft Direct Play Voice Test
8. Microsoft Help and Support Center
9. Microsoft Help Center Hosting Server (Wants server rights.)
10. Microsoft Management Console
11. Microsoft Media Player (tells Microsoft the music you like)
12. Microsoft Network Availability Test
13. Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service
14. MS DTC Console program
15. Run DLL as an app
16. Services and Controller app
17. Time Service, sets the time on your computer from Microsoft's computer.
18. Microsoft Office keeps a number in each file you create that identifies your computer. Microsoft has never said why.
19. Microsoft mouse software has reduced functionality until you let it connect to Microsoft computers.

It is OTHER governments to which this comment applies. If you are an official of the French government, what must you think about the virtual certainty that the U.S. government is spying on the French government using unpatched security holes in Microsoft Internet Explorer or, possibly, back doors put into Windows on order of the U.S. government.

Would the U.S. government use any means to spy on other countries? Well, the U.S. has killed more than 3,000,000 people in the last 33 years partly by bombing 14 countries. Does anyone believe that people who think killing is acceptable suddenly become moral when they think about spying using computers?

For documentation of U.S. government activities from some of the world's most respected news agencies, see What Should be the Response to Violence?

Microsoft deserves serious criticism:

Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.

1. Application Layer Gateway Service (Requires server rights.)
2. Fax Service
3. File Signature Verification
4. Generic Host Process for Win32 Services (Requires server rights.)
5. Microsoft Application Error Reporting
6. Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer
7. Microsoft Direct Play Voice Test
8. Microsoft Help and Support Center
9. Microsoft Help Center Hosting Server (Wants server rights.)
10. Microsoft Management Console
11. Microsoft Media Player (tells Microsoft the music you like)
12. Microsoft Network Availability Test
13. Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service
14. MS DTC Console program
15. Run DLL as an app
16. Services and Controller app
17. Time Service, sets the time on your computer from Microsoft's computer.
18. Microsoft Office keeps a number in each file you create that identifies your computer. Microsoft has never said why.
19. Microsoft mouse software has reduced functionality until you let it connect to Microsoft computers.

A tri-lateral government works, and it is a good idea. However, when secret agencies are allowed to exist, we have a quadrilateral system of government. And, when those secret agencies are allowed to break the law, we have a corrupt government. For documentation of this from some of the world's most respected news agencies, see What Should be the Response to Violence?

There are some people who like to act out their inner conflict by making trouble for others. The secret agencies attract the troublemakers, and there are no checks and balances.

"Also, Futurepower, please put your full address and phone number in your sig. Thanks."

Gee, this is really nice of you guys. Yes, I know I am an impressive person *grin*, but I can't accept the praise. You are the second person whom I have had to remind that I am not the government. You, as a citizen don't need to see the source code of my programs.

This is NOT an absolute issue. Nuclear weapons are an issue that requires improvement over time. The U.S. government is the biggest proponent and builder of nuclear weapons. The U.S. government is the only organization that has ever used a nuclear weapon in war. Remember don't say "we" when you talk about this. You aren't the government either, and no one asked you what you thought. If you look over the collection of links in What Should be the Response to Violence? you will see that the secret agencies of the U.S. government do many, many things that very few U.S. citizens would approve.

You seem very angry in the post, AC. If you read What should be the Response to Violence? you will see that it is angry people who created the terrorism, and that the U.S. government's secret agencies seem ruled by angry people. Arguably, the U.S. government's secret agencies are the world's most active, most highly-funded terrorist organizations. The U.S. government has killed more (many more) than 3,000,000 people in the 30 years. None of those people threatened the United States. Now, the sons and daughters of people the U.S. government killed are beginning to try to kill people in the United States.

If you look at stories from the best news sources that are collected at this link, I think you will agree that secrets cause more harm than good: What Should be the Response to Violence?

The stories say, basically, that if there were less secrecy, there would be far fewer reasons to have bombs.

If Bill Gates wants to be charitable, why doesn't he fix the bugs in Windows XP, and in Internet Explorer (17 and counting)?

The bugs and deliberate shortcomings in Windows XP are causing me lots of grief now, so I'm particularly aware of them. (I have to support my customers.) I haven't been able to find anyone associated with Microsoft who seems interested in fixing them.

Quite likely the bugs are not fixed because some secret agency of the U.S. government like the CIA or the FBI or the NSA wants the bugs. That may be the reason that the government is giving Microsoft such a sweet deal after the company was found guilty of breaking federal law.

The people who own computers are usually the leaders of any society. The huge number of bugs and deliberate insufficiencies slow us in our work. Making a good product would be the best charity for the whole world.

Giving free copies of Windows to people who would not otherwise buy them is cheap charity. (It's just one CD, and their group is allowed to make copies. The cost is in supervising the program.) Also, remember that they are expected to pay normally for upgrades.

Maybe the free software is donated to groups whom the U.S. government wants to watch. It's possible that the U.S. taxpayer supports what the Gates Foundations are doing, not Bill Gates or his father or wife. That is definitely the kind of sneaky behavior in which the U.S. government has engaged in the past. For evidence of this see What should be the response to violence? .

Anyhow, often rich people give money because they want to feel superior, and like to tinker with other people's lives. Don't look only at how much money is spent; look at the effect of the money. Many times a charitable project is, effectively, merely a method of advancing a rich person's hidden agenda.

Do you think that, in some other area of his life, Bill Gates is a nice guy? I don't think it ever works that way. I'm sympathetic to the troubles he has had in his life, but not accepting of his abuse.

Great post!

The Supreme Court is now part of the corruption of the U.S. government. See Supreme Injustice: How the High Court Hijacked Election 2000 by Alan M. Dershowitz and The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President by Vincent Bugliosi, Molly Ivins (Foreword), Gerry Spence

I wrote a (free) book that collects links from the world's most respected news sources to show corruption of the U.S. government by the secret agencies of the U.S. government: What should be the response to violence?

I wrote a (free) book about how corruption in U.S. government agencies contributes to violence: What should be the Response to Violence?

Note that the FBI is now a world-wide police agency, operating in numerous countries.

Second to last line of the parent of the parent to this comment: "The FBI of today is itself a danger to this nation."

Parent to this comment: I am thinking the FBI is about to start a file on you.

Exactly. No one should think that the FBI's actions always make sense. Probably no organization with a lot of money and a lot of secrecy is able to keep things in control. It is extremely difficult to keep everyone in an open organization contributing sensibly. It is impossible to manage an organization in which secrecy is part of the organizing philosophy.

I wrote a book about the hidden violent activities of the U.S. government. It is entirely free. Most of the explanation comes from links to articles at some of the most respected news agencies in the world: What should be the Response to Violence?

The United States government uses its most advanced technology to kill people. Even the beginning of the Internet was part of an effort to find more efficient ways to kill people. The Internet was begun by DARPA, the United States government's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The U.S. government, largely without complete understanding by U.S. citizens, has has killed more than 3,000,000 people in the last 30 years partly by bombing 14 countries, if I have counted correctly.

The violence on 9/11 was a direct result of U.S. government policy. Here is a book about how U.S. government policy contributed to terrorism: What should be the Response to Violence?

If the citizens of the U.S. really understood, would they support the violence?

Yes Angela, many men are adversarially minded. Yes, it is a kind of mental illness.

The next step of a true scientist is to ask why. True scientists gather facts and try to make theories that fit those facts.

One interesting fact: In the U.S. and Britain, women are responsible for slightly more than half of the serious domestic violence. So, it is not as though only men have the problem of anger.

Another fact: Women in the U.S. culture are far more likely to hide their adversarial behavior. They are far more likely to adopt some rationalization to excuse their adversarial behavior.

Women in the U.S. are likely to feel superior to men. They use this idea to justify a lot of their own adversarial behavior.

I've written a book about a particular kind of adversarial behavior. My book is about how secret government agencies corrupt governments: What should be the Response to Violence?

Governments have a duty to do the right thing. They don't always do it. That doesn't mean it is not worth saying, however.

You said, "I don't suppose you're aware that the bin-Laden family provided the financial backing for George W. Bush's first oil company, did you?"

I'm aware. I wrote a book about these kinds of things. Including the links, it is about 660 pages: What should be the response to violence?

What I want to know is, how did my earlier post about Microsoft abuses get moderated "Redundant"? I looked, and I didn't see another post remotely like it. Bill, was that you? Did you moderate my comment down?