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What Would The World Be Like Without Microsoft?
CanadianMikey asks: "The debate with the business side of computing rages on about the validity of Open Source. Is it good or bad? What is the future of computing? Could it have been different, and where will the 21st century take us? Is Microsoft just the big nail that always gets hammered first and will someone step in to take their place when they are finally taken down?
If Microsoft were to close up shop, who do the readers of Slashdot think would be tomorrow's Microsoft? What about the forgotten windows?"
All the wrath of the open source community could be focused right on Mr. McBride.
404
And we'd be loving it!
... we'd have no idea how bloody good Linux and Mac OSX really are.
I'm not normally an irrational zealous dickhead, but I figure "When in Rome..."
A lot less /. comments. With no microsoft to complain about, half the comments wouldn't have anything to rant about.
The Braying and Neighing of Barnyard Animals Follows.
Yikes! That is scary! But not as scary as a world without doors.
"There is no teacher but the enemy."-Mazer Rackham
AOL can't be Slashdotted
If microsoft disappears I guess ./ will be the worst hit.
,if there is only good left in the universe then wont religion be redundant!
Just like
Dont let it happen !! Save microsoft so we can have something to bitch about .
As a social service I am accepting contribution for saving MS. I promise all the money will be spent on buying licenses of MS Office and Windows XP.
What Would The World Be Like Without Microsoft?
Better.
We would have no one to blame for all of our computer problems.
--Mike Boos
We'd all be running (and enjoying) AmigaOS 8.
There'd be no war, starvation, or crime, and every child would have a pony.
If Windows were to disappear the world would be very, very dark inside.
Well Jim's been dead for more than thirty years... Robby, Ray, and John are still around though. They don't play much anymore.
Or were you talking about ports to games on old Amiga BBSes?
-JemAnd we wouldn't have the obligatory quote: "640K of memory should be enough for anybody." (Bill Gates, 1981)
That's true, but in the absence of a behemoth like Microsoft dictating what a "standard" is we would probably be working with true (ie open) standards rather than simply what Bill declares is Good For You(tm).
Nah, we'd just be running OS/2 or OSX.
But lets answer the actual question that was asked... What would the world look like if we were all running Linux. In my view, it would look a lot different since I'd probably be an auto mechanic or cabinet maker instead of a programmer.
... what would the world be like without Organized Crime?
Indeed. There would almost undoubtably be a widespread economic depression. People are stubborn. The masses would just stick with whatever the latest version of Windows was when Microsoft went down. Most people probably wouldn't buy a new computer until they had to, because like you mentioned, they don't want to have to learn how to use another one. Hell, most people barely know how to use Windows, as easy as it is. It would be years before people started buying personal computers again on a large scale. The PC gaming industry would likely never recover. But worst of all? I'd have to get a new email address.
Rufus Dark~~
In the same way fucking that crazy girl down the street reminds you its not good to fuck crazy girls... I suppose
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
...people on Slashdot would have a lot less to complain about.
Microsoft has actually show us the benefit of "standards".
If not for Microsoft's corruption of SLIP and PPP in 1994...
my very own TRIPLE Challenge Handshake Authentication
(CHA CHA CHA) would have ruled the dialup world instead!
Oh, but there was a sunny day back in 1992 when some of us affirmatively choose to use Windows. And then install it on all our colleagues' machines.
Sorry about that. Guess it was partially my fault we're stuck with Windows.
A computer without Microsoft is like ice-cream without Ketchup.
Let's see. A world without Microsoft. What would I be complaining about right now. Oh, yeah, I would be talking about the evil empire Apple and how they have a hold on the market.
What would the world be like without Microsoft?
More stable.
Learn something new.
In the same way fucking that crazy girl down the street reminds you its not good to fuck crazy girls... I suppose
... Just got a letter from an ex-girlfriend...
And God how I need that reminder now and again.
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It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
I can see the "Post Anonymously" option, but where do I find the "Post Humously" option?
I could tell you. But then I'd have to kill you.
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It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
> You think buildings would be safer if every builder was allowed to "innovate" their own designs?
...
:)
Reminds me of that quote off my giant poster on Murphy's Law about Computers
"If engineers built buildings the way programers write code,
the first time a woodpecker came along, it would destroy civilization."
And yes, I am a programmer.
Dude, this is slashdot... You have to be more specific.
What's a girl?
A world w/o MS, eh?
Perhaps I wouldn't be receiving 200 "Here is the document (.pif)" emails each day. My MTAs and webservers are getting hammered by WinDOS malware.
Sounds great, where do I sign up for this magical place?
Cheers
Stor
p.s. To all MS-Apologists: fuck off.
"Yeah well there's a lot of stuff that should be, but isn't"
well done, have a standard-conforming biscuit
"Everytime I plow through the Linux source code, I gasp!"
Tell me about it. Just reading the Kernal Traffic list lets you know how crazy things are in there.
I am always amused when a client asks me if they should move to Linux because they are worried that there are too many bugs in commercial software. The answer is...
"well, if you think betting your enterprise on hundreds of thousands of lines of code written by thousands of amateurs with almsot no oversite and no quality control is a good idea... you go right ahead".
--> Fight tyranny and repression.... read
Forget building codes. Problems like you mention are what Neighborhood Thermonuclear Weapons were made for.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
What?! And give up Solitaire? You're crazy!
When asked why he would do such a thing Mr. Gates said simply "Fuck It, I've got all the money I need."
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nothing.can.stop.me.now
I would propose to you that prostitution is a vastly more profitable enterprise.