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Microsoft Expert Witness Stumbles
parking_god writes "MIT prof Stuart Madnick, testifying on MS's behalf, was caught out twice when a government attorney asked him to name an OS (other than one made by Microsoft) where the browser couldn't be removed.
Madnick also faltered on several other questions." Basically he doesn't
understand what GNOME and KDE are, and since we're all
holier-than-thou know-it-alls around here, we might as well laugh at Microsoft's expense ;)
He missed an invaluable opportunity to hold his tongue.
-- Andrew Lang
Talk about perfect timing for a random draw from the fortune file...
Those who complain about affect & effect on
Is anyone actually surprised by this. I mean come on, he's probably an MCSE too ;)
Later,
Phil
asked him to name an OS (other than one made by Microsoft) where the browser couldn't be removed
msLacky: Well of course you cant remove Netscape from the Mozilla Operating system.
No sir that isnt an OS
mslacky: But its EVIL!!! Ill get That damn Dragon and his little penguin too!!!!
Thats enough sir you can step down
mslacky: Dont you see him that peguin hes making fun of me... oh Mr penguin stay right there ill get you, bad Mr penguin
"All I can tell the "lesser of two evils" folks is that if they keep voting for evil, they'll keep getting evil."-Lp.org
*Bully from Simpsons voice* HA-ha!
Lies about crimes
So lemme get this straight -- this guy is a CS prof at MIT, home of the FSF. He voluntarily agreed to testify on Microsoft's behalf, and then didn't know the difference between an operating system and a desktop environment?
Man, this guy's courses must be popular! I bet you really have to fight to get in to: "Introduction to flicking on the power switch thingy 101" and "How to click on the start menu 304"
I am not a lawyer, but what I would like to know is, how much MS pay a witness like this, to testify on their behalf? (if anything.)
smak.
--
b0rk!
*slaps head* forgot to put in HTML line breaks.
apypollylogies.
In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
"Asked to evaluate language in the proposed settlements, Madnick studied the documents, then shook his head and said, "I somehow think there's something I'm missing, but I can't spot it at the moment."
The pre-prepared script from Microsoft that they had e-mailed to him perchance?
This mail was of course lost when someone sent him a malicious VB script entitled "How to make quick easy money".
;)
This guy is clearly out of his depth. Here's his homepage at M.I.T. He seems to be more of a management expert than anything else (kinda like a graduate-level PHB).
However, he is the auther of the classic textbook "Operating Systems". So classic that it was written in 1974, and has been long out of print. What the hell was MS thinking? This guy wouldn't know a GUI if it bit him!
www.lucernesys.comHorizon: Calendar-based personal finance
You mean there are shells other than emacs??
That seems like an excuse Microsoft might use.
Sure, he is with the School of Management. But if you read the Bio part of his homepage, there are some interesting parts.
Namely: "As part of this effort, he is the recent co-inventor on the patent applications "Querying Heterogeneous Data Sources over a Network Using Context Interchange" and "Data Extraction from World Wide Web Pages.""
Also: "He has been active in industry, making significant contributions as a key designer and developer of projects such as IBM's VM/370 operating system and Lockheed's DIALOG information retrieval system"
It seems to me if the man is capable of being a key designer as said in his own Bio, then one would expect him to have knowledge of... say... things you need to know when designing? The Internet is not a Microsoft-branded product. Therefore, developing a product to run on it should work with... Non-Microsoft products and machines.
Maybe I'm just crazy then...
"PC Load Letter? What the $@#% does that mean?!"
I'm surprised they didn't find a janitor from MIT to testify.
Do you like Apple Macintosh?
*shrugs*
Well I got the highest mah-ket share. Howd'ya like dem Apples?
Which shell?
KRASH, of course....
Rick B.
How's this for a ringing endorsement of Microsoft's products?
Emphasis mine. Source: ZDNet: Microsoft's MIT prof gets grilled by states
Mind you, this was a witness for Microsoft. Amazing. Microsoft is so arrogant, it can claim gross incompetence to avoid incrimination, and still look forward to getting away with it.
This sig intentionally left blank.
Well, I'll go right out and buy a copy of just the Windows NT kernel with no MS window manager and install that other window manager for the Windows/NT OS from ... um ... Oh I guess there isn't another window manager for MS OS, and come to think of it Microsoft doesn't offer their OS without a Window Manager. Come to think of it they claim a Window Manager is an integral part of an OS. Strange that... guess all those systems with no console don't run an OS.
In this sense, Linux/KDE and Linux/GNOME both constitute OSes on which the web browser cannot be removed.
:-).
Except that someone else has already argued above that, in the case of KDE, it can. And probably by the time I post someone will say the same for Gnome.
I'm afraid I can't comment on which of you folks is actually right... since I use Linux/twm (fear my l33t "operating system"
"The Crystal Wind is the Storm, and the Storm is Data, and the Data is Life"
Co-Director, PRoductivity From Information Technology (PROFIT) Program: http://mitsloan.mit.edu/research/profit/index.html
Co-Principal Inbestigator, COntext INtercharge (COIN) project: http://context.mit.edu/~coin/
PROFIT and COIN - yep. Must be a Microsoft shill.
In Soviet Russia, hot grits put YOU down THEIR pants.
It's 100% true... less a few tiny differences.
So apart from it being completely, utterly different to anyone but an uninformed hermit, it's exactly the same.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
This is sort of like arguing Ford wasn't responsible for installing Firestone tires on the Explorer because tires aren't a car.
Yeah, didn't make sense to me either.
shouldn't that headline read: "Witness for MS caught dissembling"?
Only by pretending to be an expert when the only OS he knows is Windows...
Suitable for public office?
..which just shows that the human brain is ill-adapted for thinking and was probably designed for cooling the blood-T P
Perhaps his migration to the dark side of management has tainted the Jedi mind tricks he learned from the comp sci department.
Okay, look, just because Microsoft's witnesses have proved that they didn't read the settlement, got favors from Microsoft to testify, or generally can't tell between an operating system and an old shoe doesn't mean that Microsoft is doing poorly in the case.
I mean, you're acting like illegally abusing your monopoly to shut out competition and reduce consumer choice with hopes of cornering the market on desktop operating systems, office productivity software, media, and the Internet is a crime or something. What you're failing to take into account is I got Solitare for free. That's right, FOR FREE! Is that the sign of a heartless monopoly? No, of course not. And do I see you offering me free, cheapo quality shovelware? No, all I get from you are a bunch of "facts" and "news". Well, you can keep your "facts", Mister-- I've got a game of Klondike I must win!
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
This clueless jerk is an insult to all things MIT and should immediately be deported to Harvard.
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