Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft: The Gatekeeper of the Internet
jeffy124 writes "C|net News.com is embarking on a seven day comprehensive report on how Microsoft is moving themselves into position to be The Gatekeeper Of The Internet through Windows XP. The first installment explains the basics of how this is going to happen: Reminders that last for days encouraging users to sign up for Passport, and how Windows will evenutally resemble services like AOL."
I think that Microsoft's future, once they have their whole .NET and Passport thing set up, will ride on whether they can provide the security that they claim to be able to provide. It's possible that people will sign up and use the service, but I think that the very second that they have a security breach, and information leaks out, people will stop taking them seriously, and they will be doomed.
excuse me, but how does this apply to those of us who don't use windows? are we going to be pushed off of the 'net? that will never happen.. ok. M$ might control the sheep but the smarter people will think for themselves and not sign up for passport..
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
The more I hear stuff like this,
the more I believe Microsoft is the brain child of
Satan. Bill Gates has far to much power, and is taking far to many liberties.
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
I've always had a computer configured with Linux and 98SE for games. Recently I saw how pretty XP was and heard it had compatability modes for playing old DOS games. So I think I might switch to XP and Linux. However for every good piece of news about XP there is a bad piece of news. First o all I avoid passport every step of the way. There was even a contest to win a Porsche, but it required me making a passport, so I didn't enter. If windows becomes a service like AOL, however, that would just be absolutely horrible. AOL is the most poorly written memory hog of a program ever. All AOL does is pull a shade over the internet so you are kept inside its little webby world. Still might get XP after I test its gaming performance on some other machines.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
You are kidding. They`ve had loads of breaches in the past - the whole world heard about the various LookOut problems - but nothing changed then. What makes you think the inevitable problems in this system will be any different. If anything they`ll have more chance to wriggle out of it. OutLook is their software - this is `the internet`!
I don't understand Slashdot. Not everything Microsoft does is evil. Hell, I want them to be the gatekeepers of the internet. I find that worrying about things like personal freedom, privacy, and security tax my little mind too much. So I'd rather have a corporation deal with that for me.
Also, my mother still picks out my clothing for me. Decisions like this worry me so much.
Why does this come as a suprise to anyone? Microsoft's modus operandi is to embrace, extend, extinguish every technology that could make them money. It's just that the Internet is so huge is why it hasn't happened already with that.
Of course, their failures are spectacular too, such as Acti-mates, and the one that's so obvious, I'm not even going to mention it.
ACHTUNG! Das computermachine ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mittengrabben. Ist nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen.
"Damn straight, today a Mad Scientist can't get a doomsday device, tomorrow its the Mad Grad-Student, where will it end?"
What, me worry?
Software is becoming more and more of a commodity industry, so it makes sense to try to move more in a services type direction.
DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
Wouldn't it have made more sense for Slashdot to wait for the entire 7 day series to be written and link to it all than to link to the first two articles? What's going to happen now, is Slashdot going to provide a link to each installment daily or revisit the story in a week when all 7 articles have been printed?
BEST QUOTE FROM THE ARTICLE "If successful, Microsoft could challenge AOL Time Warner and other media giants for control of the Internet and entirely new industries"
Basically, C|Net is admitting that AOL already practically owns the Internet and Micro$oft is trying to give them a run for their money. I usually don't support Micro$oft but I'd rather there was some competition to AOL's increasingly massive control of how, where and when most people access the 'net and what they see.
Who said they could do that?????
Microsoft is in a funny position. Many of the things they do (not all) have a solid basis in user needs or wants. Honestly, I would be/is a lot simpler to have the internet and all its related services (web, mail, chat, identification etc.) integrated seamlessly into the OS so that any application can easily access those services. That's the tech side of Microsoft: they are doing some good. BUT As most people here would agree, their business practices range from sucking to disasterous. Basically, this dichotomy boils down to the issue of "does the end justify the means?" Most people do not think so, and our legal code is set up that way. In fact, if you really get down to it, most of our society is based on the idea that the means justify the end. (That is a whole other discussion...) Microsoft being a gatekeeper to the internet is both a business decision and a technical decision. For many people, it is a way to provide useful services for their operating system and applications. Therefore people will buy it, corporations will buy it (not all of course). But as time goes on, there will be more and more pressure on Microsoft from a legal perspective... because undoubtably, they will not clean up their act on the "means" side of things.
Helping with organizational effectiveness is our job.
Some of these can get passed around.
Seriously there is nothing wrong with having a good system running things, as long as you can trust the gatekeepers.
The problem is that you cannot trust these gatekeepers.
Like Ceasars's wife, they should be blameless.
They need to prove they are pure as they driven snow, and this would probably require completely open books, and completely open records of all significant meetings, not just the symbolic ones.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
By ensuring a Windows-only "internet" they are granting freedom to Linux users and people saavy enough not to play along...
I was happy enough with the BBS culture of 10 - 15 years ago - I will be happy to see all of those morons gone. If you can't figure out that you don't need Windows, I'm not sure that I want to know you...
Good riddance to them - For a while, it was as if the football team had joined the A/V club and now they're being shepherded out of the room - let them go... Maybe I'll get less spam and fewer Code Red attacks...
Obviously Somewhat Embittered,
Jim in Tokyo
-- My Weblog.
Of course they're implying by the use of the word "gatekeeper" that Bill Gates has a backdoor he can use to get in and out of all their systems, only to be foiled by Sandra Bullock's skillfull pressing of the escape key.
I'm sticking with Windows 2000 for now! I don't trust this XP crap. Especially if I can't disable it.
It's a fairly appropriate title for Microsoft.
From the article:
"In regards to Windows XP prompting me to sign up for Passport, to be frank, I don't like that at all," said Darnell McGavock, a database administrator from Suwanee, Ga. "I don't need Microsoft prodding me to sign up."
No one likes to be constantly reminded to do something. It's almost like the preponderance of X10 ads on the internet.
It also seems to be an attempt to limit choice; more bundling that they have done with IE.
Also from the CNET article:
"What they want is to build direct relationships. Everybody's got Windows, but Microsoft doesn't enjoy that direct billing relationship AOL has with its customers,"
In the future, with this sort of bundling, could Microsoft do what AOL does now? Offer the software for free, then finance the whole operation with subscriptions? That definitely would make it somewhat more palatable with consumers.
I'd much rather have Microsoft be the GateKeeper than AOL and let's face it, someone is going to take charge for real progress to happen. Microsoft has never rested on its laurels when it came to development and innovation. They've had a lot of problems with security and stability, but they keep moving forward. When security is the major issue, they have the money to go after it and fix stuff and they will once the pressure mounts enough. AOL on the other hand is just a media company gone mad. One look at AOL and you can see they care very little about advancing the Internet and only about getting as many paying customers as they can. At least Microsoft thinks the way to make more money is to make things BETTER.
Where are the Ghostbusters when you need them?
[snort]
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
That word, right there, scares the bejeebies out of me.
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
Sandra Bullock when you need her?!
Maybe I just don't know enough about Passport (I signed up for a Hotmail account 2 years ago and check it quarterly, never anything in it) but can't you just sign up with a bogus e-mail address and not worry about it? Maybe not a bogus address, but sign up for a Yahoo account or Hotmail and just don't use it. Sign up just to make them happy. I mean, if you're never going to check it, what's the difference?
"Microsoft and AOL are considered to be among the few online leaders capable of providing the security and technology necessary to handle payment systems on an Internet-wide scale"
Joe Wilcox
You have got to be kidding me!
~ fact is not dependant upon your belief therein. ~ ~ Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?
have you ever tried asking your mum why she uses Windows? Until Linux gets a bit more user friendly and people like Red Hat,etc make their names more household brands then people are going to keep buying Windows. i doubt a lot of people have even heard of Linux, let alone know what it is.
it's good that a lot of smaller businesses are considering putting Linux on their workstations rather than NT/2K but there is still a long way to go before most people will be convinced
the good news though is that all these latest plans by Bill Gates and M$ are definately going to push people away and start thinking about alternatives to the dreaded Windows. People aren't stupid and sooner or later they'll get sick of this, it's just up to Linux developers to make sure there is something there that is user friendly to fall back on.
Remember how Commodore 64s and Tandy's once ruled the home computer market and you could play all kinds of games. Well, here comes along the 286 and somehow everyone wants to start using spreadsheets and do wordprocessing instead of having fun.
The point is that people's taste for what they want out of a computer and how the computer works changes over time. Microsoft is probably on the right track to change their OS to be something more like AOL. Perhaps that's what everybody will eventually want and then when they look upon us with no different eyes than those old folgies that still think that 8-bits is enough.
OSS needs to lead. Now damnit!
Of course Bill & Co. are trying to take over the Internet - they get paid to make as much money as possible for thier shareholders, and the best way to do that for them at this point is to commandeer as much of the Internet as possible. I certainly don't like it either, but it's the reality of a company being too sucessful in a Capitalist economy. Bill Gates is not Satan, he's just a really successful player in the Business Game - he's a symptom, not a disease.
Until we can convince the unwashed masses that the Internet can be a force for world change of the benevolent kind and is not just for businesses and pr0n, crap like this will continue. If it's not Gates, look out for Elliston and/or McNealy - any one of them would co-opt the Internet in a second, given the chance.
Soko
"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
...is directly related to how open the gate is that you came through. It's true in religon, it's true in immigration.
AOL lead the way, soon it will be true on the internet as well.
Well so far, win XP looks like somthing you give a 5 year old. but the easy solution is to just not use XP. I am running linux / win 2000 on my systems. Why would I move when it will make my life not so fun
my 2 cents plus 2 more
I've been running XP for a couple of months now, and ages ago a mate of mine checked his hotmail from my computer. I now have his msn messenger on my computer and can't find a way to make it piss off and forget his settings, and I've done some looking....
They've got some cool ideas (some, not all) but they need some help implementing them methinks.
Send lawyers, guns, and money!
Someone mentioned ghostbusters.
Anyone recall this little ditty about the DOSfish? Talk about prophetic.
Especially now that MS is so agressively going after AOL's lunch, I hope AOL would get the clue that having their signup logo as an icon on the Windows desktop is of little help if they are reliant upon IE (which MS will always use to their advantage)
AOL needs to bundle the Netscape browser (which they own) with AOL 7.0.
The point is not that the technically adept will possibly somehow be denied access to the Internet (which wouldn't happen for a whole slew of technical reasons), but that Micrsoft will get an unfair headstart on those who aren't technically minded. Your 'average user' may not know that you don't need Passport to use the Internet under Windows XP. But if he/she gets constant reminder messages for days suggesting to them that they get a Passport account, then they may start thinking "if I don't get a Passport account, I may be missing out on something (ie. may not be getting the "best" services)". Especially if, as the article suggests Microsoft might starting including "features" in XP that may only be accessed with a Passport account. Those who know enough about computers will know how to set up their systems under XP using their own software and Internet access. But it's the 'average user', who doesn't know these things, that it's going to most affect.
In this case, education will the key. If people know that they can use XP just fine without a Passport account, then they may be less likely to sign up for one in future (hey, it's yet one more password to memorise). That is, unless MS doesn't in future require users to have such accounts to use key features of the operating system. It's bad enough that it's compulsory to register your copy of Windows XP (otherwise it stops functioning). To say nothing of the fact that even in the face of an (once) impending antitrust suit by the Department of Justice, MS are continuing to "bundle" products and services to their operating systems more tightly than ever.
----------
When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is no longer our friend.
tsk tsk tsk
Or maybe some of us would like to have a discussion with other likeminded souls about the series on Slashdot instead of just reading it on C|Net. If it was simply about reading the linked articles then why would anybody post comments?
The reason Microsoft is pushing their .NET architecture so strongly, of course, is because it's their last recourse for their domination of the computer world. Yes, now it's not just the "PC" world.
.NET is a genuine, open architecture that will make all our lives easier, or it'll be just another MS sugar coating to take over the market. After these anti-trust trials, I am hoping that the former is true. But we will still need to be careful, and remain critical of .NET.
And in true Bill Gates fashion, Microsoft is always picking up these trends after some other notable people declare how things will be. First, Bill Gates didn't believe in the Internet. Now he realizes, after sitting on the wayside while Mosaic then Netscape initially dominated the browser market, that this may perhaps be the biggest opportunity of his company's life. He's already had control of the PC market by essentially requiring all PC manufacturers to bundle his operating system with their machines, but this influence pretty much stops at the x86 market (with a brief stint in the Alpha market with NT). Keeping things proprietary meant a tight control over the PC world.
Now, in a strange twist of irony, the open, non-proprietary Internet standards will perhaps offer Bill Gates a new domination over the Internet. A good portion of the market is already under Wintel domination, and the vast majority of such systems are likely connected to the Internet. What better progression than to use this as a portal into the "whole" Internet?
We're going to need to be watchful over this one. Either
(Perhaps this is just preaching to the converted and stating the obvious, but important issues like these can never be said enough.)
I wouldn't mind Microsoft resembling AOL. It's their right to try and do so. But the big difference with AOL is that with AOL i at least have a choice in signing up.
MS provides an operating system. Fine. MS provides technology for the internet. Reasonable... better than loose products like in the 3.x days. (trumpet winsock etc..). MS providing security. Bad. Given their trackrecord it would be an outright disaster. MS providing content (MSN). Evil. I want to be able to view any kind of content. Not MS controlled. Who is to say that when MS gets a big stranglehold on the Net they won't start censoring content provided by others. If MS doesn't want people to find out about bugs they just block the sites that provide such information.
Basicly MS tries to not only control the Internet on a technologie side. They can (and most likeliy will) also try to control the content. Power corrupts.. whatever kind of power it is.
And when i have almost no control on which provider or technology i want...
Joe Sixpack will probably just click on the yes button, not knowing they give away their freedom and privacy.
The .Net/Hailstorm scheme makes the CueCat look like a good idea.
I read the article and I can't understand where the consumer's advantage is in all this. Big corporate customers will have it disabled or stripped out, the technically adept will circumvent it and the rest will keep their AOL accounts.
Happily, the harder MS tries to force this, the more users will jump to Linux or Mac.
"Bill Gates is just a monacle and a persian cat away from being a James Bond vilain."
"if I don't get a Passport account, I may be missing out on something"
Try using IE, then turning off ActiveX controls for restricted sites and adding doubleclick and a few other banner-ad vendors to your restricted list. Now when you browse eBay (or many others, not on your restricted list) then you have a continual dialog box on each page stating "YOUR settings prevent ActiveX. The page MAY NOT DISPLAY CORRECTLY". The clearly implied message is, "Use ActiveX; if you turn it off you're a Bad Person and you're going to miss a party".
Microsoft could have served in such a role had they been honest. Their need to use domination of one marketplace to force products and services into other markeplaces (e.g. Office<->OS<-> browser) renders them absolutely unacceptable in the role.
Mr. Gates said "Our customers do want us to make Windows richer and more reliable".
Ironically, all my Windows-using relatives (3) and neighbors (4) only say theyy want Windows to be stable. And hey, have to reinstall itself less often! And maybe not have to reboot 3 times just to install a minor application.
And "new featuritis" seems the main thing _preventing_ stability/reliabilty-- so MS's goals are antithetical.
I have yet to find a _customer_ who demands Windows be "more richer", though I'm sure Gates et al want the "more richer" part.
A.
XP looks like it's GUI was designed by fisher-price. c'mon. why is this 'new advanced technology' microsoft makes resemble something you'd see in preschool. most of the windows even have rounded edges like they're afraid the users are gonna hurt themselves on it. i think gates has some kind of child fetish because he wants to make the computing world look like todlers.
The WinME side of my laptop has slowly been declining with every patch I install, be it from Microsoft or Acer. Having fscked the sound I decided to try and roll the config back a week, which promptly deleted the boot files for WinME. So I'm now booting into Linux primarily at last, using OpenOffice build 638, which seems to read Office2K files happily, and running NT4 in VMware 3.0 beta to use Ameol until I find time to start my Cix OLR project. I will not be going anywhere near XP and I'd like to thank Microsoft for improving my computing experience immensely.
The most popular channels wanted to get behind the digital decoder, but a lesser popular channel chose not to do so. In the end, none of the channels got behind the digital decoder, as the consumer would choose for the other gate: the free gate.
So even when Microsoft succeeds into implementing this passport into XP, the rumour will spread like fire, that there is a free alternative for their expensive habits. This rumour will spread via the internet and likely by the spoken word.
I'm not sure about the future, but I considering the option that MS is shooting themselves into their own feet with this...
Bizar technology?
M$ can be the gatekeeper and it won't affect me since I don't run M$ in my home -- at all. Nor do I use AOL. They can charge whatever they want, but they won't get any money from me. And if they decide to start forcing certain sites I use to charge money, I will switch to other sites. It's nice to have CNN.com around occasionally, but there are other ways to get news. I like ESPN, but I could switch if I had to.
If 90% of the online world eventually switches to a vast wasteland of sameness controlled through subscription services, I will just be part of the 10% going to the independent sites, the fan sites, the oddball sites. That's how the Net began, and that will always be a part of the Net. You just have to search those sites out.
________________
Private Essayist
Isn't it clear? Microsoft knows they want a subscription buisiness model, but they don't know yet what customers will pay for. I've got news for Microsoft, consumers don't pay for anything very easily. Look at all the failed dot bombs: People like free stuff, when the model switches to a payment model, most customers drop it like a bad habit. I used to work in retail, trust me when I say most people are cheap. I admit, I am.
Do you think for a minute Napster will survive as a subscription service? No way!
How about software? Forget about it!
Now factor in a recessonary world economy, and guess what.....HailStorm, XP, and all the software subscription based models are doomed to fail.
You know what really really makes me mad? The fact that the whole fucking world is talking crap about privacy, people dump shit on the government for taking their privacy, security cameras invade privacy and what else the "people" talk about. And under there noses is a company (let's call them Microsoft) that sells them an OS that they'll install, presents them with a nice dialog and asks if the user wants to create a passport.
.NET and will require your passport to get to your safely stored creditcard informatation...
.GNU something simular to .NET but with privacy in mind...
PEOPLE WILL create those things... and people WILL use them and in a short while there is a company that has your Creditcard number, expiration date, all your favorite files, knows your surfing habits, knows who your friends are, knows what you like to buy, can present you with "special offers"
I've been preacing this ever since I heard about the passport thing, and passport is pretty old now.... PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO HEAR AND DON'T WANT TO KNOW as long as they can get their daily dose of minesweeper....
And we, the geeks, have seen this coming for quite some time now, but (as always with microsoft) by the time the people know what hit them, it's too late to turn back, all e-commerse sites will be
The world makes me sick, and most of all these ignorant people that don't seem to care about this kind of privacy.
But what can we do? Well since I hope there are some more talented writers than myself here, write a column for your (local) newspaper... convince people... THIS IS IMPORTANT
and for all the techies: check out
end rant
Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity
yes, so microsoft's this big corporation, and this new marketing scheeeem is going to shoot them into interdomain dominance? No. And why? Because, it's annoying to be asked to buy products unrelentingly from a service that you already mistrust. Well, even the last half of that statement aside, it's annoying. Windows took off (and made lots of money) because it was innovative. IMHO, Macrogloss has crapped out the internet's face by providing a needlessly bulky (and buggy) GUI for mail and shopping. (I don't want to shop online! PLEASE! Make it stop!)
Anyway, when some other company comes along and provides a better solution, microsoft will go away, and then that'll be that. Kind of like IBM. And just like IBM, Microsoft will make big headline news (and lots of money for traders) by announcing all their retooling shit years after someone else has outdone their OS.
So cheers for them. I guess my next desktop will definitely be running linux.
maybe I'll get a cable modem too.
and a dvd player.
and sell my desktop for a 909.
and.... free shoes.
Nate
-- Watch the REAL Jon Katz.
Pinky: What are we going to do tonight Bill?
Bill: Same thing as every night Pinky, try to take over the Internet.
[Insert pithy quote here]
One word: Praetorians
... sometimes I fly with the white swan to my Liffey home.
I'll just attack a few of the specified issues.
.NET now for about a year, enough so that Ximian feels confident in porting it to Linux. WebServices are very strictly based on specifications at W3, including XML, SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI. Microsoft is also opening My .NET Services so that it can be hosted on any server running any server software. Microsoft is also opening Passport so that it can be authenticating through any server running any server software. These specifications are open and downloadable. Sun can't even claim that.
1. will automatically send Web surfers to an MSN search engine if a Web address cannot be located, rather than resorting to the standard "page not found" message.
Well, for starters, this applies to DNS not found or host refusing connection, not 404 errors. Internet Explorer 6.0 will go where you tell it to go, and although it defaults to MSN, you can select Yahoo, Lycos, Encarta, Goto, NorthernLight, Euroseek, AltaVista, NetGuide, LookSmart, Yack, Excite, AOL, Switchboard, InfoSpace, BigFoot, WorldPages, Expedia, MapQuest, Merriam-Webster, Dictionary.Com, Thesaurus.Com, or Corbis as search providers. You can configure Internet Explorer that if a host isn't found to search for it and provide the search page from your provider, automatically load the first page found from the search provider, or to just tell you that the host isn't found.
2. [.NET] Strategy: Blueprint shrouded in mystery
Microsoft has provided the specifications for
Let's hope Micro$oft remember to pay the good people providing the infrastructure a subscription fee for using that infrastructure. How would you feel if I suddenly started using your water pipes for transporting sewage ?
With a gun for a lover and a shot for the pain
You run for cover in the temple of love
I shine like thunder cry like rain
And the temple grows old and strong
But the wind blows longer cold and long
And the temple of love will fall before
This black wind calls my name to you no more
In the black sky thunder sweeping
Underground and over water
Sounds of crying weeping will not save
Your faith for bricks and dreams for mortar
All your prayers must seem as nothing
Ninety-six below the wave
When stone is dust and only air remains
the only haven you can trust
Yeah - but will they send me XP for free in one of those pretty tin boxes?
Since c|net started this on Oct. 17th, the 2nd installment is available also.
m l
You can read it here: http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-201-7502765-0.ht
Skiers and Riders -- http://www.snowjournal.com
Graah, darn mods don't jack about the Internet. This is definitely not "offtopic"; "death of the internet, film at 11" has been a cry amongst true IT people for years (as opposed to the wannabes who hang round here and hoard their little mod points).
Go earn some history.
Microsoft is trying to take over the Internet??? You're kidding!!!
.Net products. Consumer demand will continue to drive the evolution of the Internet, just like alarmist predictions will continue to grab media attention. Geez.
Seriously, give me a break. Home connectivity, the Web, digital music, file sharing... all the major 'net revolutions I can think of have been driven by what users want rather than what corporations give them. Let MS release their sneaky
Never approach a vast undertaking with a half-vast plan.
It seems to me that the best thing to do is make a *decentralized* version of Passport. Then get it adopted by the IETF or W3C. When I mean decentralized I mean that I could run a daemon on *my own computer* that responds to passport-like queries. Or, if my computer is not always on the Internet, I could choose who my provider should be. This could be my ISP, or my bank. It would be my choice.
I worked at a company back in mid '99 and this was it's vision. Passport before passport. It was a good vision, too bad it's not happening.
One way to compete is via cell phones. A cell phone is a very personal device. You take it everywhere. In theory you could use it to pay for stuff. For example, parking, even tickets and admittance for events. As it stands right now commerce on cell phones is heading toward keeping your data *in* the phone via a WIM module. Or you could slide in your smart credit card to pass information to the server. This is opposite of Passport. Let's push for this idea!
GPL Mono might be going in the right direction, maybe XNS.org is a better choice. Either way, we need something that keeps Microsoft from completely controlling things. We need to get these alternate solutions out there and in the press. We need to get show people that there can be options!
I keep getting disturbing images of the only OS that can access the internet being windows, after microsoft unveils their tcpXP protocol... Without internet support Linux withers and near-vanishes...
All those M$ flame posts are getting quite annoying... I might not be the only one leaving slashdot away for more 'opinion-free' news sites; just looks like CmdrTaco and you operators use your site to spread out your opinion about things.
Not that we don't care (speaking in general, not for myself), but most of us can judge by ourselves instead of having biased MS posts 10 times a week.
Point made.
mrblack
I'm sick and tired of "Where do you want to go today?" It'll be sweet when they replace that:
Bill Gates, uncombed and speaking an octave below his normal voice: "Are you the keymaster?"
The problem is not so much that Linux is more difficult to use. It's more like what people are used to rather than whether or not it's actually more difficult (though UI seems to be mostly an afterthought with Open Source appls) The problem is more that it's perceived to be more difficult to use. And of course that actually installing the stuff and getting it to run is a bit more of a hassle.
But the main reason Win* is on most of the workstations is because the employees are all running Win at home and it's what they're familiar with. This is a spiral of course, because people use Win since that's what's usually installed in the office... It doesn't help that the Office suite is actually quite a good suite. It's just too bad that it comes with such a sorry excuse of an OS (mind you, Win2K is much better than earlier versions)
I think you're a bit too optimistic about all that. As long as it doesn't get into the way of people too much, people won't be bothered to change. People are lazy. Very lazy. So they'll stick to what they know until it's no longer efficient to do so.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
This kind of action scares me to death.....Please let me elaborate!!!
With the Federal Government taking away, or suppressing for the meantime, some of our given liberties, and let me say I think it will get a hell of a lot worse due to Sept. 11, that the Feds will probably be the force behind this that makes it a very popular and possibly mandatory type of service.
I personally will never buy another Microsoft Product ever again because of the way they are positioning themselves in the market. They will soon be Big Brother. It is really not the Feds we have to worry about it is Microsoft. They are the new evil that we have to watch. They will be worse in my opinion than the Terrorist that have brought so much tragedy to our lives. We must be cautious how much power we give to one entity. They already abuse the power they have and apparently the Feds aren't really going to do anything.
Maybe I watch too many movies and am far more paranoid than the average user, but when one corporation is positioning themselves to control a very important technology, we must be cautious as to how we allow them to do that.
Microsoft cannot be trusted with this kind of power that it would give them over users. I fear that we will have to retard to a secret net away from the controls of Microsoft if this plan of theirs comes to be.
Please boycott XP and any new Technology offered by Microsoft until the get a clue. Thank you for you time
--Too many holes so little time(You sick bastard!!...I was talking about software!)
Yes, I know they are doing it by violating rules. I like the "bug them 5 times for a Passport account until they sign up". Heaven help some poor customer if they weren't given an innovative way to get their dose of Hotmail Spam. And I believe there should be consequences of their actions. But it wasn't that long ago that there were forums here on how the Net (and Java, and Linux, and whatever was supposed to be the paradigm shift at that time) was going to make them irrelevant. They're still there. Will make some great business case studies.
I'm fed up with sites that filter, summarize and otherwise decide what's best for me.
Then why are you reading Slashdot?
CNet has one great idea posting this series. Their job is keeping people informed, and even if they are lacking technical detail, these articles are worth a read.
There are millions upon millions of uninformed internet users in the world. The reality is, if local ISP's keep getting bought out either by AOL or Microsoft, people will eventually run out of alternative solutions to net access.
But the Internet is so vast. It would take Microsoft *quite* a while to accomplish their task. XP seems like it is just the first step... a new piece of software, new features, new activation features, etc etc. Everything is promising to be more secure, more friendly, easier to use, prettier to look at.
Don't forget, people, under all that pretty GUI gobbley-gook, there is CODE. A lot of M$ code.
And down the line, where is this code taking us? Is it taking us down the line of product and service excellence, and customer care? Or is it taking us down the line customer control? I think you can see the gist of XP.
org9
Windows XP tester Chris Child reflects a generation of savvy young consumers who are already wary of Microsoft's actions.
"The integration of Passport into XP seems to be pointless," said Child, a high school student from Atherton, Calif. "I don't know why Passport can't just stay in Web sites where it belongs. The only explanation is that Microsoft wants to begin to integrate Passport into applications as well."
WOW! CNET interviewed a high-school student. Weren't there any professional commentators available? Did the reporter just have a word to his son? Who the hell cares what high school students think? More to the point, what kind of high school student spends his time contemplating the future of Microsoft?
Kids, I got four words for ya: Drugs, drink, smoking and sex. If you're in high school, anything else is a complete waste of your youth.
-------
The best way to upset liberals is to tell them the truth
- Thomas Jefferson
I was thinking, why should I buy XP?
.......... I want to get an OS for productivity! not to be advertised to!
For one thing I know, there is activation. If there is a moderate change to the system, you have to reactivate--this is very bas in my case because I change hardware out almost every week.
I thought once that a laptop could be better to run XP, because the hardware doesn't really change. But then I remember a story of a guy on a plane, hooks up his spare laptop battery or something, and had to reactivate, which was impossible. Wierd.
I could buy the corporate XP version which has no activation...but why should I pay more because Microsoft cripples its products.
Then heres a look at another angle. This articles shows how Microsoft wants XP to be the gateway to their MSN service (in the future the entire internet)
Not only did you steal my line, but you didn't even spell my name right. Grrrr...
The Almighty Zuul
Check this forum where trolls rage all day long.
ok, points taken. but the one thing that people are not lazy about is their money ... and when(if)the new pricing policies suggested by MS that coincide with XP (ie. getting rid of flat-fees, etc) combined with the monopolising of all their software appear, i doubt people will be as interested in using them. most people i know moan about their software/internet bills as it is. if they realise they can significantly cut costs just by making people learn something new .... then i'm sure it will become a more viable option.
I guess MS didn't pay Cnet enough in advertising $$$ to layoff til their plan was already inacted... Maybe they need to raise their payoff... err 'marketing' budget a little higher...
we are all invisible unless we choose otherwise
But when 95% of all online purchases are made from Windows machines, then from a business point of view it doesn't make sense to worry about the other 1%.
I absolutely, totally, and completely agree with you 96%.
How in the hell do the people at M$ that come up with these ideas keep their jobs? I mean, these ideas are great in the megalomaniacal capitalist department, but absolutely horrible for PR and goodwill. Just because people are afraid of terrorism doesn't mean that they're not also afraid of a company taking over their life.
Doesn't some higher authority at MS know that anything they do is going to be highly scrutinized by the industry, especially blatantly anti-competitive practices like these? Who's in charge of coming up with crap like this? Why does upper management put up with him/her? All this is doing is smearing M$' name further.
OR...
Maybe all these things are just results of brainstorming sessions, and they're throwing them out on the wire to see how the public reacts.
I'd rather it all be sincere because that means they're shooting themselves in the foot, but they're not that dumb, I'm afraid.
I mean, like, around Slashdot everyone already knows this and has for a long time.
Moving on from that, I'm wondering how good this CNET piece comes out to be, since it will be read by more than just the Slashdot readership. It would be good if they do their research and talk to both technology and business people on the leading edges of IT, as well as those solidly in the middle, those placid people unaware of the tides that carry them.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
My Mom has had three strokes, two heart attacks, and a quintuple bypass. As a result of all of that devastation, she has no real short term memory. There is absolutely zero chance I'll be able to convert her to Linux. God know's I want to, she lives 130mi away. It'd make life MUCH simpler, not having to try and explain why the "tv" (her word for monitor) looks blue all the time. Wanna know what she does with it? Plays euchre online, virtually all day. It's actually appeared to have helped her. I've warned her about Passport though and I believe she won't sign up.
--- Think of it as evolution in action ---
Reminders that last for days?!!?! When will people wake up and take action to prevent such bullyish, strongarm tactics? Isn't this terrorism? Good god help us all!
Oi! What about Macs? We have 5% of market share, very user-friendly, and with Mac OS X, there's even a significant amount of cross-platform compatibility--file-sharing through Samba, running files under Virtual PC, which works wonderfully, sometimes even faster than on a real PC. I, personally, am waiting with bated breath for the day StarOffice/OpenOffice becomes properly functional under MacOS, so I can get rid of my copy of Office 98 (probably under an illegal license, since I haven't upgraded to XP). Then I will be totally Microsoft-free--and I intend to remain so. Never forget that there is already something user-friendly to fall back on. I really, really like Linux, but I am so fed up with Linux users dismissing MacOS as a toy or not even counting it at all, as you seem to be doing. Mac OS X is beautiful (XP's design was ripped off of it) and functional?and it sits on top of BSD, so I can do anything you can do. Thank you very much.
Dan Aris
Fun. Free. Online. RPG. BattleMaster.
So I tried using Windows XP a little a few weeks ago.. I quickly went back to, umm, er, '98 after experiencing DNS trouble with my ISP while using it..
But in the day or two of using it I had an application error spawn a process that sent system information INCLUDING personal information like REGISTRATION and whatever NAME you had in the appropriate field. I didnt even have a choice! Well -- you have a choice if you are at the machine when the error occurs. After a minute or so it sends it anyway.
It would be cool if I got a call from a tech support expert with an automatically open trouble ticket, but no.. That isnt what its for.. Its for taking personal information, matching it with your network location, and using it to whatever purpose they desire.
Pretty F***ing sneaky.
AmbientBlue
"All around me still remains, the ambient blue I thought I'd passed."
...why don't we just break through the Windows?
This space left intentionally blank.
I have a mental image of Microsoft as a huge giant, running ahead of the IT pack at top speed. It's moving faster than ever before and most people think it is still easily winning the race. "Look, it's going faster and faster!" But what they don't notice is that it is stumbling forward, waving it's arms trying to stay stable, and at any moment could fall flat on its face.
.NET strategy is complex. Technically it might be, but strategicly it's not. The strategy is simple - try to get as much customer 'lock-in' as possible as quickly as possible. To do this, they need to get everyone moving to XP as soon as they can - which I believe is one of the main reasons they've changed their licensing model. Companies that update their software only every three or four years - for instance, companies using Windows 2000 but probably won't do a complete update until 2003 or 2004 - are customers that Microsoft might loose unless they get them locked-in before then.
I predict this will happen within about three years, perhaps even sooner. Remember when IBM stumbled, in about 1993? Well, when Microsoft does it, it's gonna be a whole lot worse. The reasons are simple. The majority of its profits come from basically two product lines - its operating systems and its office suite. Both of these are under threat from free products. Sure, they're not as good as Microsoft products, yet. But they're improving at an increadible rate - anyone who has assessed Linux for desktop use a couple of years ago, and has done the same recently, will agree with that. One day soon its going to be really hard for a CTO of a small or medium sized company to justify buying Microsoft rather than using a free, similar product.
People say Microsoft's
One of the biggest mistakes that Microsoft has made recently is to make their software more expensive for exactly those businesses they need to get on board quickest - the companies that only upgrade every three to four years. It's exactly those customers that are most likely to move to Linux, and Microsoft has just given them much more motivation to do so. And when they start to move, the development momentum of Linux will increase even more, and larger enterprises won't be far behind. This process is I believe probably more noticable in 'the rest of the world' before it becomes very evident in the USA.
Microsoft is in many ways a pre-Internet company. The internet has caused changes to the way software is developed and distributed. There is nothing Microsoft can do about this. It's demise is inevitable, the only question is when.
I guess I'll have to be the first to mention this..
.. presumably must enrol onto their service to use it? - and at that point, what percentage of people will continue paying for a second service each month just for their pc, when they could instead take advantage of the xbox's service for the pc as well for no additional cost? - very few
Has anyone guessed/realized how xbox factors into all of this? Broadband-enabled out of the box?
Hey,
this is facticinating....the internet under the releam of microsoft. Wow will wonders never cease. And proably there will be a website whose entire purpose is to annoy and distrub users with silly witishims....I know we can call it cmdtaco.net
Ok, I know how everyone here hates marketing, I don't like it either. But for most of the people in this world they only listen to marketing, not factual intelligent reports or people. These people need all their information given to them, they can't go out and search for reports. How many people do you think will read this Cnet article if it's not email/icqed to them by a friend?
Most people have never heard about Linux until a few reports started popping up here and there on the news. I have had relatives email me news articles about Linux because they think it's some new and interesting thing. Usually I've already read about the topic months ago but they are just getting around to hearing about it because it was just shown to them by a local newspaper or on TV.
We need to start giving people more information about Linux and Open Source projects and their goals. We need to inform people about how their information and freedom is going to be controlled if they don't stop it. If we just sit back and keep denying that we need to announce these things to the world and keep trying to feel safe in our little groups, then MS will keep shoveling out how great it and it's products are and people will keep handing their money and freedom over to them.
Outdoor digital photography, mostly in New Engl
``dingbat'' said:
> I never had Amazon@Fidonet
No, but did you ever look up ``BookStacks UnlimitedTM''? They've since been bought out by Barnes & Noble (probably to get their nifty ``books.com'' domain name), but they were a dial-up BBS with a database directory of pretty much all books in print (at the time I bought Peter Karow's book _Font Technology_ from them, the only copy in the US library system was being catalogued by the Library of Congress)
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
-
I really hate Dan Patrick.
Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity
If it wasn't for fucking, where would we get new virgins?
--Ty
>> Are they really this stupid?
Yes!
Honestly, I would be/is a lot simpler to have the internet and all its related services (web, mail, chat, identification etc.) integrated seamlessly into the OS
Identification is The Embodiment of Pure Evil (tm). We DO NOT NEED THIS !
What we actually need is the ability to prove rights; the right to listen to streamed Metallica, the right to check a bank account balance for Fred Bloggs. Neither of these requires identification (believe me - this is what my cow-orkers at HP keep inventing).
Identification is easy though. It's the dumb, obvious, server-based architecture for M$oft drones who can't think out of the box (or similar sucky HR phrase).
What identification does in addition to proof is that not only does it make the user's requirements work, but it also allows the Nasty Evil Corporates to track when it does so. Passport is good, but it's good for M$oft, not for the users.
Sun are no better. They're riding the anti M$oft hype with a non-Passport Passport-alike that suffers all the same problems.
Unfortunately while some of us still want to determine our own business ventures and say what we want, we're constrained by the majority of the human population which wants to be controlled. You can't for instance, start a business in Silicon Valley without first having Microsoft approve it because the technology for running a business of any worth is controlled by Microsoft.
You can't broadcast material of any form without Microsoft's approval because every means of information transmission is controlled by Microsoft. Sometimes the restrictions are rediculous, like using the color red because red is a Microsoft color or saying contacts are better than glasses because Bill Gates wears glasses. I especially hate not being able to travel freely because it would disrupt Microsoft's ability to balance its monthly license revenue across the world. I'm probably going to move to China where at least you can change lanes on the freeway without written permission from MS.
I have decided that the Windows ME OS I got with my last computer purchase will be the last Windows I use. I'm going to install a dual boot Linux system with Windows ME as the secondary OS. Eventually, I'll probably just get rid of Windows all together, and for the sake of the world I hope I'm not the only one.
~ now you know
http://www.google.com/search?q=passport+and+kerber os
:)
hawk
OK, so it's not foolproof. SHe didn't think that that plaid suit & plaid shirt went together, but , really, they did!
hawk
The internet was created to be able to withstand a nuclear hit, yet some drop-out geek can take it down with his little monopoly.
This
With the price of broadband getting cheaper (or more accepted), and as M$ chokes off compatibility to the services on the Internet, why not make a shareable translation system which will keep other systems compatible.
I recommend a co-op of sorts. A group bands together to get one (1) copy of a M$ product, a server. Someone in the group w/ broadband can run the server as a proxy whose sole job is to proxy web services and translate them to/from RFC standards on the fly. All members surf through the proxy. They can use whatever browser they want. The whole system SHOULD be Lynx compatible.
I mention the M$ product because the M$ standards will most likely be already installed and useable. A custom application can be coded to leverage the new "standards" and translate them as needed. Just buying the one copy puts less money into M$ pockets than every user buying a copy of an M$ operating system.
Disclaimer: These are just thoughts. A spark of an idea if you will. I'm sure there will be AC responses describing any flaws in it.
People have been saying that for 3 years or more. Remenber when win2000 was supposed to be a disaster due to code size & complexity?
Microsoft is in many ways a pre-Internet company. The internet has caused changes to the way software is developed and distributed. There is nothing Microsoft can do about this.
Microsoft would like to be a post-internet company and they are working hard on it. That is, each time when you fire up Microsoft office, it will make a Microsoft connection to a Microsoft server so that you can sign on to Microsoft passport, get out your Microsoft wallet and make a Micropayment into Microsoft's not-exactly-micro account. (Integrating passport into applications is mentioned in the article). This is what they can do about it.
My Karma: ran over your Dogma
StrawberryFrog
Given that people are now getting conditioned to MS using these 'reminders' to get people to sign into things, not really being aware of what that entails, I'm just waiting for the XP specific virus that comes up with the 'confirmation' reminder, or similar, that asks the user to re-send their details and password as confirmation of the account.
Bingo, how to compromise the financial security of about 50% of the net in one easy sweep.
Of course, MS could head this off by educating users not to keep clicking buttons, but then, they'd start understanding just why they don't need all the Windows add on garbage, and stay with what they have...
Instead, it's easier to let the users risk their money to let MS make a buck, than let MS lose potential revenue by educating people as to what is really going on...
It's my redneck background, I guess - Back in high school, we used to get drunk, drive around in in pickup trucks and shoot at mailboxes and stopsigns and other inanimate objects. This is kind of the same thing... :-)
I know I occasionally cross the line between Linux advocate and Linux asshole, but it's a very fine line. I think of the cost of Windows (NT/2000/XP) and I can't help but think that I could spend that money buying something other than software. Sure, I could install illegally, like many people, but I get a kick out of supporting the efforts of people who actually think that writing software is *cool*. People who write software to fit the needs of themselves, not the needs of their marketing department.
If, as you say, you are trying to help me, take a moment to examine your own motives. Why do you oppose the free software movement? Do you feel inadequate because you never got the hang of 'tar -zxvf'? Did you install Slackware a few years ago and never manage to get 'X' working? Take another look.
Yes, as you said, I probably think too much about free software, but doing so has afforded me a good life - freedom to do what I want, where I want, when I want, regardless of what the MSCE drones are handed down from Redmond.
Enjoy your life, I will enjoy mine.
Cheers,
Jim
-- My Weblog.
Microsoft would like to be a post-internet company and they are working hard on it.
Of course. The question is, can they do it fast enough?
It is true that people have been predicting Microsofts demise for years. However, that doesn't mean that it is not going to happen. I personally believe that they conditions today mean that Microsoft is in a position that it is practically impossible to get out of, at least maintaining its current turnover.
This guy's had a little too much bufotenine. I suspect a frog thrown into boiling water would either be killed either immediately (if the water was hot enough) or shortly thereafter from a scalded epidermis. And I'm pretty certain frogs leave changing environments before they become deadly... most animals are fairly well evolved for that sort of thing.
On the other claw, I think this aphorism aptly demonstrates the attitude both Microsoft and these analysts have towards the computer-using public. They think we're incompetent based on their fantasies of how we behave. What a bunch of maroons.
--Charlie
PS- Who the hell would try to boil a live frog anyway?
--C
the story mentions something about ie6
automatically directing the user to msn's search
engine when they get a 404 - is this true? If so,
isn't it a bit presumptuous on their part? 404
responses can after all be used to help people
find whatever they were actually looking for on a
site, and redirecting them would prevent this.
Isn't this pretty much the same issue as the
Smart Tags thing?
-- Proud descendant of semi-nomadic cattle-herders.
No body picked up on this, oddly enough:
(granted this example has been beaten to death, but yet it is so apropos)
Gary Hein, an analyst at Burton Group, said Microsoft has never been shy to influence that evolutionary process where the consumer is concerned.
"It reminds me of the old story about how to boil a frog," he said. "If you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will immediately jump out. But if you put a frog in a pot of warm water and slowly raise the temperature until the water boils, you have frog soup.
"Consumers aren't going to be thrown into a kettle of boiling water from the get-go, but rather enticed into an inviting, lukewarm bath, and then the temperature will be slowly raised over several release cycles."
So, pardon the pun, what it boils down to is:
1)Microsoft is slowly turning up the heat to "boil its customers alive"...those bubbly bits floating at the top are just silly things like, personal freedom, consumer rights et al.
2) If #1 happens, we can no longer tell Microsoft "Sorry, NO soup for you!"
3) The scary part is reading throug the sea of info, you start to realize the people/consumers/revenue streams are (or can be used) interchangably. Neo in the cocoon, anyone?
IMO, XP has the potential to ruin "us", but, as an example, my boss, is so "enamoured" with MS products...however...XP ain't going to happen at all in the future.
(Even after asking my opinion...I said "Oh, HELL NO") Reason? Too many implications and 'Track Record' and the recent worms have hammered the point home of "Every new version of windows == bigger and badder exploits"...heh, maybe that is what MS means by XP(loitable).
And my boss agreed!.
The "pucker factor" is way too high on this one and the cow-nsumers are getting spooked, finally.
Moose.
Have you read the moderator guidelines? Well, have you, PUNK? (and I want a Karma: Gnarly option)
I have a simple solution to the microsoft problem.
Let's make microsoft an independent state. Then it could collect taxes and have its monopolies withouth anyone complaining. Everyone currently using microsoft products would become immediately citizen of that state and microsoft's new Passport(tm) technology could perform the function of population register.
Btw. This idea is copyrighted by me. If microsoft wants to use it they can send me an offer via email.
After small discussions about what they want to do with it, alternatives for Outlook, Photoshop and IE etc, and which distro they like the sound of the most we help them install it, configure and maintain it.. then bang.. we have another Linux advocate who idles in the channel ready to help out the next person wholl probably arrive next week:)
So far noone has turned round and said anything like 'Why, oh why did i do this i hate you' etc all the responses have been good so far!
Microsoft may be a monopoly, but Linux could almost be a virus, and its spreading and a simple patch to IIS isnt going to stop it, so I guess
The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
I still give too much credit to your typical slashdot reader - maybe you enjoy flipping between your WebTV and your Saturday Night Live too much to contribute intelligently to this conversation.
Go ahead, flame me - I've got Karma to burn, but all I really proposed that there is an internet that has always existed *in spite* of the commercial offerings of AOL/TW/DoJ/MS-Disney. Don't believe me? Go on IRC and talk to the developers of the latest and greatest Linux software - browse sites like this one.
Listen - You have basically two options:
1.) Contribute
2.) Be ignored
Take your pick...
Cheers,
Jim
-- My Weblog.
Gnome is the sexiest GUI bitch on the market.
This pretty XP is the 13 year old undeveloped girl of GUIs. Yeah it looks pretty but it just ain't got it where it counts.
While Gnome is the busty, sexy pot, 21 year old co-ed most of you geeks can only dream about at night.
I know this a probably a troll but I have never done it and wanted to feel the power of absurdity.
"Help me Obi-/.-Kenobi,your my only hope!" -$
Renting is easily a win-win situation, let's take apartment renting as an example. The renter wins by getting fairly constant although small profit for their investment. For insurance companies and the like this is preferable.
The rentee wins since he can invest his capital into something more productive than apartments (such as stock markets).
That's why companies don't generally own their offices - they're just more productive in concetrating to what they're good at. Same applies for leasing cars.
OTOH, MS wants to get out of the "owning" of the software (leasing, really) because they understand that in the near future they cannot make money with their closed source business model. They're simply trying to adjust their business model into one that is relevant in the open source environment.
gee, having it named passport just fits in line for the new police state! and you thought M$ isn`t EVIL? how long before the computer becomes the shackle of mankind? you can`t even watch a movie without a computer creating "special effects".
people have more loyalty to something they saw in a movie or on tv then they do for truth or reality!!! people thought the millionaire and his wife on "Gilligan`s Island" were really married! same thing for Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore!
Microsoft are .Netting everything it seems, so much so that no-one seems quite sure what .Net is. This muddies the waters for their competitors, and confuses their customers into thinking they have to have it, whatever .Net is. This kind of incoherent strategy is usually lethal to a company, but MS is so dominant that it can afford to cover every angle, sometimes even wasting resources by competing against itself. It's a framework. No, it's a server. No, it's a strategy. It's everything you want it to be. Pretty easy to say, harder to deliver thanks very much.
Ok, so Microsoft has extraordinary power in computing world. The key thing is that choice still exists. If .Net is expensive, or restrictive, or full of security holes, people will walk away. People like Gartner are starting to pay attention - running an IIS webserver will probably end up costing you money, and people don't like that. They can't just scoop into the war chest and get more money - they have bills to pay and businesses to run.
shut up man
NOT.
I can see Microsoft "charging" people to use the internet, have their websites open to other "users" and blocking sites that knock MS or their products.
Free speech on the Net would end, and only sites deemed acceptable to MS would be able to be seen through the MS Gateway. Sorry. This is not my idea of a good thing.
Seems to me that this is how MS is dealing with the bashing its taking from various sites and the entire open source question. Do you really think that there would be any open source through any MS Gateway? Of course not.
Goran
Carpe Scrotum - The only way to deal with your competition.
I agree with all your points but the last. Or at least, with regards to microsoft, I disagree.
.becuase you certainly COULD do this with some software)
Although you are technically 'purchasing' software right now.. it becomes outdated quickly as everyone moves to whatever microsoft tells them is next. This means yearly upgrades, expensive, even though you 'purchased' the previou software. Microsoft has done this to get poeple used to think this is 'normal'. Now they come along and offer to rent software instead.. which, at this moment, is cheaper than upgrading every year with outright purchases. Why buy when it's outdated every year anyway? A car or a house, you can keep for 10 years, or a lifetime, respectively.
You can't do that with Microsoft software. (I say microsoft.
According to the second article:
.NET-related projects, the bigger the chance that Microsoft will get away with it's evil plans. So drop your ideas of "competing" with Microsoft in the .NET-world, because it will just attract consumer interest to Microsoft.
Chairman Bill Gates told CNET News.com earlier this year that building demand for new products by seeding developer interest "is the Microsoft strategy. We have bet our future on that."
The more development is done on
XUL - From Ghost Busters
This is it.. the great evil is coming.. when MS and AOL join together!!!!
I'll never understand people's anti-AOL views, especially the particularly vitriolic ones on /.
AOL may purchase other companies, but they obtained their supremacy and financial advantage much more honestly than Microsoft. I think a lot of the hatred stems from dislike of their product, which I could understand. Slashdotters especially see it as a neutered version of the internet, and as a tool that lets newbies post to our precious, otherwise undefiled newsgroups.
I think attacking AOL is more of a kneejerk response to any large company, rather than a view based on actual problems with their practices. How many of us cut our teeth using AOL?
Besides, I don't see AOL's influence as being as pervasive as Microsoft's. They only control access to the internet, and there are literally hundreds of other options that many people use.
I have made purchases from LLBean using Mozilla 0.9.4 on FreeBSD without any problem whatsoever.
Microsoft does have a relationship with its millions of users. It's called the "blue screen of death" (BSOD). I see this at least once a day and it very effective at reminding me which company is responsible for my OS.
You'll just have to pay $24.00 a month.
Both Microsoft and Uncle Joe in the prison cell both have similar intentions:
... now the exact method is a little different...
Both want to f*ck you over
Do you want Microsoft to have a list of all our employees? With the right to resell it?
Do you want Microsoft to have a list of all our computers and all our software?
Clearly, many corporate firewalls are going to have to block Microsoft's registration sites, to keep XP installations from "accidentally" leaking information out.
The "boil a frog" metaphor is a _metaphor_. It may or may not literally be true, but more importantly, it describes people's tendency to ignore a worsening situation until they are well and truly f*cked. This is NOT a "fantasy about how people behave" but is pretty close to a ubiquitous behavoiur. I sure do it - I have f*cked myself this way soooooo many times :-)
I suspect that Passport becoming a paid service would turn a lot of people off using it (people are cheap, as stated in several other posts) UNLESS M$ waits until Passport is required to make almost any purchase or financial transaction on the Internet. Then people will have no choice but to shell out, or go back to mail order catalogues and "allow 4-6 weeks for delivery"...
Freedom: "I won't!"
People aren't going to be flooding the streets due to MS's new OS either. XP just isn't that important enough, in these tough times, to justify a purchase. The PC market is saturated, and the sales of new PCs alone will not make XP the dominant OS that MS wants it to be. People will stick to what works best, and that just happens to be their Win9x/2K systems.
"You're getting brutal, Sark. Brutal and needlessly sadistic."
"Thank you, Master Control"
-Sark and the MCP
I'm going to start my own internet, with blackjack, and whores.
Apple should thank Microsoft for the large influx of new customers they have been given. Microsoft's BS is the main reason I bought a nice new G4 instead of building a (cheaper, but crappier user experience) PC.
Of course, having UNIX/OS X finally run decently on it, with undoubtedly the nicest (note, I didn't say prettiest) GUI available for UNIX, had a large part to do with it.
The fact of the matter comes down to this. I tweak and code and hack with UNIX all day long at work. when I come home I want something that just works, but I'm fussy...I want the power of UNIX there when I need it, too. Sure, I could use 2000 or XP and cygwin, but I'm still locked into Microsoft's idea of what I want, not what I want.
I'm not a Microsoft hater, or an Apple evangelist at all. I love Windows 2000, it's reasonably fast and very stable, but I'm not going to support Microsoft when they pull these kinds of shenanigans, it's wrong.
This is the attitude. You'd rather have a little badge from the W3C that proves it's "not your fault", than have your users able to view half the Web. You don't care.
-- the most controversial site on the Web
OK, you made your point. It's stupid to complain about the default GUI when you can change it to "classic." I dual-boot w/W2K (mostly for games) and I'd rather avoid the SAP, Passport, and other licensing fascism.
But the fact remains that this IS the default GUI, and it DOES look very Fisher-Price. Why does M$ think computer professionals (XP Professional) need to be visually condescended to? Do they really think all consumers are idiots and buy whatever is put in front of them?
We got some
if microsoft's going to be the gatekeeper, who's the keymaster that's going to seduce him? ;-)
my blog
Once they have all the infrastructure in place to handle the pay-per-service approach, and can ensure a steady revenue stream, M$ will give away windows, just as you said. It won't be long before linux is _really_ usable, so they will need to hook users into their services, and a "free" upgrade is how they will do it. Especially if the upgrade doesn't require reformatting, new applications, or other major system changes, and can be downloaded directly from the net and installed with one simple wizard. Oh well, if you can't beat 'em... Guess I'll go buy a book on C#...
-Eldurbarn
I demand that my networked computer behave like a crude television, constantly interrupting what I want to do with crude advertisments.
I demand that any request that is ill-formed for any reason, be it typographical error or expired link, be immediately directed to a site where my OS provider will try to sell me expensive subscription services.
I demand the obligation to yield any and all observation and control of my workspace and how I use it to a for-profit third party at their convenience, and am pleased that they have no current plans to misuse that information.
I demand a work environment that is patronizing and obfuscated. I demand that worthless features be prominent and things I generally need be deeply hidden in multiple misnamed submenus.
I demand that all products be integrated into a single executable and that the principle of modularity be adventurously neglected.
I demand that obscure dependencies in that executable make it so difficult to develop for that environment that developers get locked in by their sunk cost of training.
I demand a work environment that requires professional support. I demand that the support strategies change so quickly that the vendor of the operating system maintain the only valid training facilities for such support techniques.
I demand a licensing structure of constantly increasing costs and constantly declining control of my hardware and software.
I demand the right to pay those bastards who have my nuts in a vise not to squeeze any harder.
Who is trying to prevent me from having access to these great new features? I say let the free market decide.
mt
Products that are free don't need the same type of marketing as products that you have to pay for.
Look how far Linux has gone with hardly anyone spending a cent on marketing it. It really is quite increadible when you think about it.
The other day, I was talking to a client about Linux. He said that he thought his company would never use it. I was able to tell him that he did use it already - his company web site runs on it. He didn't realise that. The point is, he's a Linux user without any Linux marketing ever getting anywhere near him.
There will be more and more products with Linux embedded - people won't know it, and that's the way it should be. I don't know who manufacturers the spark plugs in my car. Why should I care?
"If successful, Microsoft could challenge AOL Time Warner and other media giants for control of the Internet and entirely new industries"
OK. But I thought that a company with market power (in this case the market is the destop OS) was not allowed to use that market power to secure new markets (My Services/Magic Carpet/Dot GNU). At least that is what case law seems to indicate.
I am all for giving AOL/Time Warner competition but, I don't think that this will settle well with courts, and I don't think that it is right.
OT: I had a strange experience when I called MS Press and discovered that their clearinghouse was owned by Time Warner....
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
I can see the next ghostbuster movie running in my head as I read this.
God, the boys in the research labs...
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Sure, MS would like to have everyone pay for Windows by subscription. And they would like for everyone to have a Passport account, et cetera. But they will only succeed if they can make this attractive for their customers - and recent history shows that they have not been able to do so.
As long as I can get email and web services from another of the 5,000 or so ISPs operating, and I can use Yahoo, and I can use a Mac, I'm really not worried that much about this particular threat of Microsoft monopoly.
sulli
RTFJ.
...was ZDnet columnist David Coursey, and it was Office XP that was demanding insertion of its install CD so it could re-activate itself on his laptop. Unfortunately, Coursey was just starting out on a lengthy business trip (during which he would presumably need to use Word to write his articles) and had left his Office CD at home. (The link attached to his name goes to part 2 of the article, part 1 was posted in June and doesn't seem to be available in ZDNet's archives).
~Philly
The way I figure, this isn't all that unusual unless you are a non-M$ user.
:)
For instance, take "Quicken" Ever notice how it encourages you to connect to the internet, get an id at www.quicken.com, tells you all about Quicken loans, etc etc etc.
Then AOL, they send a cd to your house every month, spread crap all over your desktop if you use thier messengers etc etc etc.
Then the x10 camera popups. It goes on and on, and its a side effect of capitalism and marketing.
Credit card companies send you envelops full of ads. You get spam directed toward your emails.
And it works, because its annoying...its works, because people will sign up for passport, people will upgrade to XP.
But luckily there's plenty of people who won't, for different reasons. That's what's so great FREE as in No $$ software, it takes the marketing out...so no big need to advertise (although it isn't stomped out completely, since people always want recognition or a link to thier site, or continued recognition through all future developments (thank goodness all licensing isn't like that))
I'm not saying its a great thing---but hey paying for cable and still getting commercials isn't FAIR either---try petitioning you local big business congressman on that
I need a TiVo for my car. Pause live traffic now.
Didn't John talk about this in Revalations. OH NO, watch out the anti-christ is approaching... enter BG with his minions RUN!!!!
Suppose you want to steal someone's identity, credit card info, bank statements, ad nauseum. Passport is the IDEAL way of doing this and one does not even have to involve directly attacking the servers. For instance see the following site:
http://www.passport.com@www%2elinuxdoc%2eorg...
Because that URI is standards compliant, it will work in any browser. Furthermore, any of the letters in the hostname can also be substituted using the %hex hex notation. So call me paranoid when I see this as being a great benefit to computer criminals...
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
"In the second through sixth attempts to connect to the Net, Windows XP will implore consumers to sign up for something called Passport" This is definitely the single most frightening feature of WinXP to me: a window that is completely useless, much like all of those other annoying "reminders" but unlike those things, it cannot be prevented from appearing at least 5 (five!) times on my screen. Thats it, i knew it from the start, and i won't have to be reminded of this fact one more time: WinXP consists of (90% pure evil + 10% blue colour) and anyone who buys it must be a brainless zombie or at least a nazi of some sort. Forget it, i'm actually gonna use the money i save by NOT buying this crap OR a new PC to finally get real and buy a G4 Mac. They at least have a beautful GUI, plus its OS is mostly Linux anyways... ;-P
Oh and i like the idea of having a DVD recorder, too.
- Tim
. take off every
Remember microsoft's BOB? That is what
This technology from microsoft is laughable. It is a step backwards, not forward. Sending ascii based property files through sockets..wow!! amazing..
And what is even more revolutionary, you can discovery these services..hahaha
give me a break. wait till he tries to get soap over http using that interpreter...talk about SLOOWWWWWW...haha, It's gonna be a nightmare.
But don't worry, ya just gotta buy another pc to support the software.
It will take them 4 years to ACTUALLY put something of subtance underneath this PRETTY gui.
REMINDS you of win 3.1? hahahahaha
Anyhow, sun is wayyyy ahead in the game. Huge vendor support and guess what?
NO UNDOCUMENTED FUCTION CALLS...
remember those?
That the picture at the top of this article that counts down the days to the XP release looks like a tombstone?
Now, THAT, is foreshadowing!
We dance to all the wrong songs.
--Refused.
Oh yes, I and millions of others really want to hand over my credit card and other details to a reasonably secure system, just like I want to be running ISS and get hit with CR or Nimda. Of course Passport will store more than just CC details so expect there to be cases of identity theft, can you imagine tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of people having to cope with having their identities stolen and used in fraudulent activities? How much might this cost the economies of the world? More than the WTC bombing? Ten times more?
A system like Passport is only as secure as:
1: the users (can they be tricked into giving up their credentials?)
2: The users' computers (Can the cookies be stolen?)
But with that already in place, the fact that all the information is IN ONE PLACE means that the incentive to attack and breech it is greater than it ever has been in the past. Dot GNU resolves this problem but does not resolve the above two issues will remain unresolved.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
... is that EVERYONE wouldn't have a Windoze PC at home if BUSINESS and GOVERNMENT hadn't "standardized" (read: "Gone Whole Pig") on 'Doze ... and why did they standardize on 'Doze on Intel? Because they were fscking CHEAP, IBM handed them the keys to the kingdom, and M$ marketing would make the Nationalsozialistische deutsche Arbeiter-Partei drool in awe!
Duh
There is very little value in owning a car if it's breaking down all the time and ready for replacement.
This is where you argument falls apart. Most cars these days are good for 100,000 miles, easily. Many well-made cars (Hondas, Toyotas in particular) are, if maintained properly, good for 200,000 miles. Combining the mileage that my wife *and* I drive into one car and you get something on the order of 20,000 miles per year. A car than can reliably be driven for 200,000 miles will last 10 years. If the note was for four years, that's six years of driving without a car payment. If you're smart and make a phantom car payment to yourself, that next car costs only the sticker price because you can pay for it in cash, no interest payments or other finance hassles.
The difference between buying software and vehicles is that vehicles take decades to become incompatible. It's not uncommon for busses and heavy duty diesel trucks to be driven millions of miles and tens of years before they're retired.
Software, however, is often nearly obsolete the day its first available. Using software is like swallowing string, you really can't stop upgrading. I think renting makes good sense, provided the terms are OK. I think rented software ought to be cheaper than existing software licenses, and ought to always include whatever version I want and patches, fixes and upgrades. The downside is that with Microsoft, rentals will be more expnesive, have higher costs and and poor availability of choices.
Point your gecko to Chadwicks. It works just fine with Mozilla 0.9.5.
If you meet the wabbit on the woad...
its interesting to see two companies trying to do the same thing, but coming from different directions.
ms is an os company for the most part, and they are now trying to force their way into owning everything using their dominance in the os market, via passport and msn.
aol is an isp, and they are, albiet slowly, pusing their way into owning everything using their dominance in the isp market, via "aol everywhere"
so, which would you rather have?
The world moves for love. It kneels before it in awe.
I would like to embark on a guerrila campaign (i live in NYC) to distribute paper copies of such a manifesto throughout the city in places (starbucks, maybe?) that might attract a non-geek clientele.
-anon (for obvious, paranoid reasons)
If it really is a better OS, I'd love to have it for my games, but I don't want all the other MS bundled advertising crap. I'd like a utility that I can run right after installation or ANYTIME that would strip XP down to the bare bones, remove all the extra bundled software crap, and lemme install my stuff.
Anyone think they can do that? Shouldn't be too hard, present a list of software that was added without your consent, such as passport and MSN explorer, with a little check box asking if you want to remove. It would also get rid of all the MS flaunting backgrouds... crap like that.
Eh?
the next step for it will be that you'll have to create a passport account when you first start usingthe computer and login to the machine itself with it. The browser will pick up the rest and key every file you create with it to fingerprint every created document.
Welcome to Microsoft - would you like it long or chubby?
-shpoffo
I'm sure some others have thought of this, but I want to see if /.ers in general might agree with this theory.
Before the open, take all comers internet rose from the DARPA labs to worldwide prominence, all previous efforts at such a wide-spanning network were controlled, pay at the gate affairs that had always planned to remain strictly private. We all remember the early days of AOL, Compuserve, Prodigy, MSN, etc. The idea of a free, open network that anyone can get on & use at relatively low cost is anathema to companies like AOL is and MS wants to be, whose bread & butter consists of (or is seen to be consisting of in the future) running networks. As long as the internet remains an open system where anyone can get on & protocols are laid out for all to see, it's going to be a threat to their business. What's needed above all in their eyes is some sort of control of the exchange of information, of how business is conducted, and how money changes hands so they can create and maintain an ongoing revenue stream, making this free network profitable for them since their owned networks & software are fast meeting obsolesence. They wish to be the Visa / MC of the net, only more. They want to interject themselves as a middleman between consumer & retailer and between friends & strangers, between you and information itself, collecting micro or perhaps not so micro payments along the way. In this light, AOL & MS aren't evil as much as they're both cut-throat competitors fighting over which of them is going to eat our lunch.
The problem is, of course, that it's OUR lunch! The internet isn't an MS or AOL invention, it's OUR invention as much, if not more, than it is theirs. Our government funded companies and academics to invent this beautiful thing, and they're looking hard for a way to use software to make it their own.
How can we stop this? I'm not sure.
Perhaps we should seek laws mandating all standards & protocols for internet communication be open, so that no company may control the exchange of information. I'm not sure. But no company should have even partial control of how anyone else uses the internet.
The only tool you've got against psychosis is experience.
So if Microsoft is the Gatekeeper, who is the Keymaster?
I left AOL years ago (seems like nearly a decade ago now). I even got a letter from Steve Case (which I'm just positive was personally written :-) ) wanting to know what they could do to get me to come back. Ha ha ha. A lot of people I know left AOL when they couldn't gain access for days at a time and never went back. It wasn't worth the hassle so many switched to smaller ISPs.
Sure, Microsoft, be just like AOL and experience the feeling of having your customers leave in droves. My prediction is that your new XP release will convince a lot of people that using Microsoft products just isn't worth the hassle.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
I'm not sure how widespread this is, but I think the corperate world seems to be stuck at the level of Office 97 documents - in our company at least, Word and Excel documents are supposed to be in 97 format even if you have a newer version...
So, if Star Office and the like all read and write Word 97 documents I see no reason why they cannot interoperate well in any company.
What it comes down to is will they be able to add features that people need taht cannot be contained in a Word97 document? I know they will try, but I'm not sure they can come up with something compelling.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
"...Recently renamed .Net My Services". Wow, is that to match the My Network Places, My Computer, My Briefcase? I'd like M$ to kiss .Net My Ass and suck .Net My Cock. There's just so many ways I could rant about this, about how it's just wrong in so many ways. But what the hell good would it do?
Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
a partial lobotomy to remove your ability to percieve non-rosy colors.
Management will silently delete all postings to this list that originate from proprietary mailers not supported on GNU/Linux.
Heh - let the battle begin.
In the new Microsoft world though, software is no longer an asset but a recurring cost, just like employees - in a way it becomes an employee of a sort.
If a company has a position that can be eliminated, it just makes good fiscal sense to eliminate that position and reduce overhead. I think that's part of why the original poster is claiming Microsoft is doomed - by making thier software a constant liability instead of a one-time cost, from an accounting view MS looks much less appealing to use.
In a way that was already true as companies ended up having to upgrade every few years, but people never really thought about it like that before, Microsoft is just making that more obvious.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
oh right, and the fun "modern day" OS underpinnings: soft butterfly icons and a new task bar/start bar. Why the heck would anyone switch to this damn thing anyway. Oh right.. most people are *forced too*. forgot.
there is no device drivers yet, no MIDI (one of the main resons I use windows) no nothing, except for really frightening positional changes, privacy issues. I mean as it stands any time I get tempted to look at pictures of naked people on the internet I get scared of where my mouse clicks go.
So stop scaring me any more with this XP thing. I got enough to worry about with all the Anthrax and the humanitarian crisis going on half way around the world, I dont need to think that the next step in Ashcrofts "war on America" is to find out that Microsoft did a deal with the administration to put the Carnivore in the
damn...
Sincerely,
Bill G.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
I sound like John McLaughlin today, but: WRONG!
Renting can be a good deal, depending on your situation. If you aren't keeping it for a very long time, renting an apartment or a car is a lot better than buying it and selling it later: you have certainty of cost through the term of the lease, and you don't have to worry about routine maintenance. Your landlord or rental car agency takes care of all that.
Software is a little bit different because it's really a consumable. If the version gets old, you can't really resell it for much (forget for a moment the licensing issues) - but it's easy to extend its useful life beyond the 3 years normally planned. (I still use Office 97 for Windows, for example.) For this reason, I do think that renting desktop, OS, and so on SW is a bad idea.
But people gladly pay annual support ("rent") for other things - e.g. anti-virus software. It all depends on how much service you're getting from the vendor during the "rental" period.
sulli
RTFJ.
Actually my mum does use Linux. Built her a computer and set it up with Linux Mandrake using KDE (no root password mind you). She can do everything she needs to with no difficulties and she can't even set her VCR clock. Once you get over the initial hardware install there isn't too much to it. She can't accidently mess up any vital files or open any suspicious attachments. No worries here.
One big thing to a commoner that Microsoft wins is the configuration part. Even if you wanted to install it from scratch you just toss the CD in and wait. With Linux (as just one alternative) you will be asked for things like partions, display cards...
Now, I know Linux distributions are getting more easy to install (even if you still have to know at least a bit of what you actually want to be installed), but a commoner has absolutely NO IDEA of HOWTO INSTALL WINDOWS. Still they are using it.
On our University many people prefer Unix over Windows. Some of them have never installed Windows. They got both pre-installed or ready to use. Hardware vendors (those selling ready to use boxes) should agree to provide readyly installed and _configured_ linux on their computers in addition to Windows, and provide the same support for them (even more if possible) as they provide support to Windows.
Come on, we all know how the internet works...
.NET services yet. But when they do... LOOK OUT!
Porn and gambling sites aren't using
www.grizzlygames.com - wasting bandwidth since August, 2000
Long-distance BBSes seemd to always bite me in the ass - I'd find something interesting, and next thing I was $10 in the hole.
On the other hand, I could dial into my university library and from there get into all sorts of other libraries and ISBN databases. The 3270 to VT100 emulation was kinda funky tho.
Smack her and tell her she'll use Linux and like it, or you'll smack her around "real good". Like my dad used to do! If she bitches about it so much, tell her to get IE under wine, or piss off!
I hate those windoze hoes, jacking us men around on our territory (the computer), just to do their shopping. Get off your fat ass and go to the mall with the rest of your girlfriends!
It's misperception on your part from hanging around techie boards (where warezing is nearly universal).
A vast majority of home users NEVER upgrade their OS. They use what's on the computer until they get a new one.
Most businesses are also very conservative with upgrades. For example, Win2000 deployment is still coming along, even though the OS is almost 3 years old.
It's true that MS does ram the latest version down the OEMs throats. They could continue with older versions.
IANA1AD (I Am Not A 1337 Analyst D00d) but here is my summary of what I, a humble little developer, see coming over the next several years:
.NET. If you're a Java developer you're probably laughing it off. If you work with more robust languages like LISP or Smalltalk, .NET is probably something of a running joke to you, much like Daikatana is to the Penny Arcade guys.
.NET will win, and it will become the default programming environment for the 21st century, marginalizing everything else into niche markets.
.NET tools do all we need?" The result is near-instant domination of the network's infrastructure at the application level, on a scale so staggering as to make the browser wars seem like a limited skirmish.
It doesn't matter what you think of
But all that doesn't matter. Because
The reason why is it will be built into Windows XP, and sooner or later, everyone will have to upgrade to XP (or later) to fit into Microsoft's new licensing plan. Suits will rub their chins and think, "Hmm, why waste so many hours of development time trying to integrate our software services over the network when Microsoft's
Unfortunately, not even free software will solve this problem, as Miguel "Unix Sucks 'Cuz It Don't Work Like Windows" de Icaza has done a lot of crowing as of late about Mono. If Mono catches on it will effectively make the non-Microsoft free software world a tributary to the Microsoft-dominated infrastructure. We'll be forever chasing taillights.
The executive summary is that Microsoft has the power to force developers into using whatever they want, and it will affect programmers everywhere, even if they don't (currently) write for the Windows platform.
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
you are a steaming pile of shit
It's nice to insist that Microsoft will always win, but you also need a dose of reality. It isn't simply that Microsoft is fighting it out with fellow software developers like Sun, or that they are trying to force people into a highly proprietary version of e-business that IS NOT PROVEN TO WORK using software that has been an enormous reliability headache (Peter Principle for software?)... though this by itself would be a strong argument that they are going to fail.
The trouble is, the degree of control and influence they are seeking puts them in a dominant position to actual governments. They want to be able to shut you off if you haven't paid your bills no matter _who_ you are- and there are people out there who do not define themselves as 'consumers' or take such threats lightly. For instance, the military- if not the US military, then that of other countries. Not to mention the EU taking a very dim view of XP and .NET in general- not to mention the fact that they are consistently losing in the US courts and betting everything on the somewhat strange notion that, if only they delay and commit greater and greater crimes as fast as they possibly can, by the time they are to be punished they will be more powerful than the government and will have to be let go.
That's very childish: governments don't take challenges to their power lightly.
So: I contradict you. .NET _cannot_ win, except in a vacuum with certain set rules (that MS has infinite money, that the ground rules everywhere in the world are totally unrestricted Chicago School free-market capitalism, that there can be no reaction to their aggression except economic reactions). And _none_ of those rules even apply! Microsoft burns through horrible sums of money and there's no telling how much they _really_ have- even they might not know. They're not honest people, why would you trust them to tell you the true state of their resources? They're faced with situations all over the world that defy Chicago School capitalism, even in the USA. And they have already been targeted with anthrax mailings- clearly not everyone in the world is prepared to just 'compete in the free market' with them, after all this talk of war on Microsoft it seems at least somebody out there is identifying them (and not unreasonably) with Western Capitalism, and launching terror attacks on them specifically.
The problem here is hubris: it's better if .NET _does_ fail, and I mean better for Microsoft. It would do them enormous damage, but they'd be able to re-adjust, as IBM did when they were in Microsoft's position. Pursuing their expansion strategy to the uttermost limit only guarantees a harder fall.
In a moment of uncharacteristic candor, Microsoft officials announced today that the follow-up to Windows XP, code-named pickpocket (alias ka-ching), will be officially released under the name Windows FU.
Actually, some of that perception is quite accurate. Getting Linux to run with my winmodem, ISP, printer, not to mention the kids games, was a chore. It was a fun chore (for me), and I'm delighted with KDE, but Windows does make it real easy for the average guy to get setup and running.
In a moment of uncharacteristic candor, Microsoft officials announced today that the follow-up to Windows XP, code-named pickpocket (alias ka-ching), will be officially released under the name Windows FU.
Life mission: Control the Gates to the information superhighay and bill all the traffic for whatever price I like.
Bear in mind that _while_ they are missing estimates they are also shoveling cash into X-Box, into .NET, all these projects. Their burn rate is incalculable. I will risk a guess and say, just as a hunch, that Microsoft is probably going to go broke _before_ any of the other dooms catch up to them. By the time the DoJ comes around with an elaborate and paranoid rulebook for Microsoft to play by, it may already be too late. Had they been broken up they could have done wonderful things with their finances in the process, and continued to thrive as much as ever- but that opportunity is lost to them now, most likely.
I say government regulation - for the good of the economy, competition and citizens.
* * Always question "the National Interest" - 9 times out of 10 it is a cover for evil
Perhaps he doesn't pitch it with "Not as evil, [sic] as Intel" but something more along the lines of "More friendly to small consumers; more emphasis on performance, less on marketing" and the like. I'd fairly say that a company that uses marketing and market domination to succeed is more evil than a company that creates good products at the expense of their marketing department.
To some extent, they are. Windows 2000 is a reasonable operating system that meets most users' needs. Windows 98 is a low-end home system. Windows 95 is too old to mention. Windows ME, on the other hand, is extremely unstable; and Windows NT has required seven service packs (including 6a as a separate one) I believe. That doesn't say "reliable operating system" to me.
Assuming that you're not a fourteen year old with no idea what he's talking about, and that you're not trolling (two pretty big assumptions), could you please cite some more reliable "proof"? OSS bigots are annoying, yes, but that doesn't change the fact that the previous poster didn't sound particularly bigoted, and that in general *nix systems are better than Windows ones. If one compares Linux (the kernel, not a specific distro) and Windows, one discovers certain things:
Your assertion that Microsoft "must be better because they're more popular" is naive at best. Marketing has played a large part in Microsoft's continued dominance of the market, but more than this, their existing manopoly, built on anti-competitive business practices, is the real reason that their software is popular. From the time that DOS was engineered to deliberately cause competing software to be unstable, Microsoft has taken the market through unfair business practices, and held it by the same means, and through creating software that is "good enough". Their continued popularity is a snowball effect, enhanced by such things as license agreements that prevent oems from dual-booting other operating systems on machines that ship with Windows. I could answer your assertion more fully, but it would require an essay that would take up more than its fair share of space in this thread, and get me modded down anyway. It would be far easier if you read the article linked at the top of this thread for a very comprehensive description of exactly what I am talking about. This isn't even about which OSen are better; it's about business ethics and restricting the consumers' choice.
That's a pretty big leap of logic. I think it was IBM, actually, who played the key role in the popularity of the PC, by opening the standards on the ISA bus, and other hardware companies that either opened their standards or created clones of the standards opened. Windows played a key role in making the PC more user friendly, yes, but it would be unfair to assert that this was due to Microsoft innovation. It was due to their opportunism, and nothing more. Windows 3.x was merely a bad copy of the existing gui already created by Apple, but because it ran on the IBM-PC, and because there was no immediate competition, it was successful. I don't think you can seriously make out that if it weren't for Microsoft the PC wouldn't be popular. That's simply ridiculous, since IBM's OS/2 would have filled the gap if Windows hadn't.
Apart from wondering where you learned to speak English (since you could be foreign), I'm wondering what you mean by "support software/hardware". Operating systems don't support software; the software supports them. As for hardware, it may be true that Windows supports more than Linux, but that is beginning to change. Your idea that either of these factors has anything to do with security except very indirectly demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of how an operating system is built. In fact, for the most part, it is not Windows (speaking of Windows 2000) that is insecure specifically, but the programs that run on top of it. Running IIS on Windows 2000 is a bad idea, because it has been demonstrated repeatedly to be a security nightmare (and yes, it is Microsoft's flagship web server, which hardly says a lot about the company's priorities), but running Apache (as I do) is pretty safe, because Apache is quite simply a more secure and superior product. You forget that when people say that Microsoft produces inferior software, they are not necessarily talking about Windows. In general, they are probably talking about the software that runs on Windows just as much as the OS itself, and this software has been repeatedly demonstrated, in one way or another, to either leave something to be desired, or be simply very badly designed.
I presume by this comment you mean that people focus on the problems and not the bigger picture, or that people focus on the problems while forgetting about the good things. This is somewhat foolish considering you have already demonstrated that Microsoft is so popular, and that their "beans" are better. If their beans were better, surely there would be no problems to focus on? I can't think of any Linux problems I've seen lately. And assuming there were, wouldn't it be fair to call attention to problems with Microsoft software, since it has so much more potential for damage due to market share? I don't think you even understand what you just wrote there. Perhaps you meant generalise. If that's the case, then yes, attention is being called to the general trend displayed in most Microsoft products for either poor design, limited features or bad security.
I think I've already addressed this. The thing that people resent is that the Microsoft boat (cruiseliner? aircraft carrier?) isn't floating higher for the right reasons. I'll carry that aircraft carrier analogy: Microsoft is a stagnant company without any real innovation (see most of the features emerging in their products that have been available in others for months/years) that uses its mass and power (read: manopoly and money) to stay afloat, crushing the other wee boats if necessary.
Nonetheless, I am forced to ask, which sea are you referring to? Because Linux is floating a lot higher on the sea of freedom, choice, stability and security.
disclaimer I am a Windows user who has never even installed Linux. That doesn't mean I know nothing about open source software
A word can paint a thousand pictures
They can (and most likeliy will) also try to control the content.
They already have. Remember the Frontpage license?
-- B.
This sig does in fact not have the property it claims not to have.
Both llbean and chadwicks work just fine on my Suse box with Opera 5.0 ("Identify as" set to opera). BTW, all my kids are using Linux now and I get very little resistance from them. As a matter of fact, they are quite happy that their machines no longer crash.
.NET, fugaddaboudit, not gonna happen.
As for sites that do NOT support anything but the evil product, I politely send them an email telling them the even Linux users BUY products and services.
As for me or a family member signing up for
adj. Not credible; too extraordinary and improbable to admit of belief. .NET is not a credible platform.
I will agree that
Funny, years ago a left a few negative remarks about the launch of a new version of the M$ internet explorer on a Dutch M$ website and in response they send me a boxed set of their internet explorer with a video of The Net. Always knew that M$ wants world domination but this looks a lot like the things happening in this film. Lets hope M$ doesn't change the end of the script...
With XP's licensing making the news for a while, more and more happy MS consumers are realizing that Windows is turning into something hideous. I think if they dont change their course for the better, The News headlines will outline the fall of MS in the not-so-far-future.
:)
.02 though
being a prominent person does mean you have to be careful what you say and do, or you "get dissed by the media and fans" as someone else recently said.
wishful thinking, but we need some of that in these times...
just my
. take off every
I'm sorry, I have to regard this as insanity while fearing something worse. Half these people seem to think that a broswer is better, the fewer sites it can render properly! Surely to God the objective ought to be to make things as smooth as possible for the user, not to arbitrarily punish them for other people's coding mistakes by stopping them from viewing popular sites. These are W3C standards, for fuck's sake, not the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed.
-- the most controversial site on the Web
Imagine Bill Gates at the Router of Death, demanding "What is your favourite OS!?".
A friend of mines is distributing it to his friends...
I asked him "Why?" and he initially said because it was faster and more stable. Having pushed him further, he admitted it was probably his new machine which was faster, and it wasn't more stable, it was different bugs...
He still can't provide an answer as to why people want to upgrade to it. Apart from the fact its new...
Maybe Microsoft are very good at tapping into the global stupidity...
I think I'll stick with win98, and when the games stop working, it will be linux all the way...
Smid
(Most of the games have been crap recently anyway, still playing Unreal Tournament and that has a linux port)
What, has no one defaced this beautiful XP clock/monument/ego-monolith/ yet? C'mon, who's with me? I live close, and have a really big van...:-)
vaguely like astroturf?
Or is it just me...
.
go ahead mod me down as redundant, but Microsoft is known for astroturfing in the past. I remain skeptical. Hey they oughtta implement a (-1 Astroturfer) moderation... just a thought
.
in South Park, Longer and Uncut (the movie)
when the army's computer crashed with Win98 and
Bill appeared!
Did I laugh?
You bet!
JK
(David Bowman, EVA near HUGE Monolithic Win-PC in orbit around Jupiter) "My God - its full of Malware!"
Don't think a behaviour is universal just because you have it.
--Charlie
How in the fuck is my post off-topic? Stupid fucking assholes.
--- Think of it as evolution in action ---