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Just Say No to Microsoft
Ben Rothke writes "Load up a computer today with a basic set of applications software, and there will be a de facto Microsoft tax on that computer. Add roughly $100- for the Windows XP operating systems and $350- for Microsoft office, and you have a significant initial financial outlay. If one would use an open source operating system and set of office applications, the cost savings would be enormous. That is why the option of open source is so financially compelling to the both the consumer and organizations have thousands of computers. And open source is corresponding such a threat to companies such as Microsoft. The idea of saving money and never having to worry about a blue screen of death is the proverbial win/win scenario." Read on for Ben's review.
Just Say No to Microsoft: How to Ditch Microsoft and Why It's Not as Hard as You Think
author
Tony Bove
pages
243
publisher
No Starch Press
rating
7
reviewer
Ben Rothke
ISBN
159327064X
summary
Open source alternatives to Microsoft operating systems and applications
With that, Just Say No to Microsoft: How to Ditch Microsoft and Why It's Not as Hard as You Think would seemingly be a most valuable book in helping consumers and corporations rid themselves of the Microsoft tax. Unfortunately, the book spends far too much time slurring Microsoft and Bill Gates.
The books main charges are that Microsoft has been far too predatory and that Bill Gates is not the technical genius that he is made out to be. Microsoft's questionable business tactics are not without ethical lapses, but it must noted that Microsoft is simply one in a long line of companies that have used their size and deep pockets to quash the competition. Microsoft is not alone and joins companies such as American Airlines, Ford and General Motors, Wal-Mart and more that have engaged in practices that while good for their stockholders, have not been good for the competition.
Bove is correct that Microsoft's practices over the years have discouraged innovation and stunted competition. But then again, that is true of Ford, GM and other such companies. The innovations of Ford and GM for example have been mostly superficial, without any significant improvement into crucial issues such as gas mileage and more.
Two of the companies that Microsoft has been accused of destroying are Novell and WordPerfect. Yet much of the blame for the demise of these two companies goes to their management that did not know how to properly market their products nor deal with a competitor such as Microsoft. This is not meant to imply that Microsoft is blameless, rather that Novell and WordPerfect had plenty of opportunities to fend off Microsoft, yet did not rise to the challenge.
Aside from the pervasive anti-Microsoft tone and style and the book, Just Say No to Microsoft: How to Ditch Microsoft and Why It's Not as Hard as You Think provides a good starting point for those that are looking for a cheaper and safer alternative to Microsoft products.
Chapter 1 start with an overview of the history of Microsoft and how it grew to be the largest software company in the world. In chapter 2, All You Need is a Mac, Bove feels that the quickest route to Microsoft freedom is by purchasing a Macintosh. While a Mac is not necessarily cheaper than a Wintel system, the Mac OS X is considerably more resilient against attacks. In addition, the concern of malware such as viruses and spyware are much less of an issue on a Mac.
Chapter 3 deals with what worries Microsoft the most - Linux. Bove notes that large companies that deal with thousands of end-user desktops are discovering the advantage of migrating to Linux in a big way.
Chapters 4 and 5 deal with Microsoft Word and Excel. Word documents have become the de facto standard for document exchange and are what has locked many people into staying with Microsoft Word. Excel has a similar power in being the de facto spreadsheet. Most people think that the only alternative to Word is WordPerfect and simply don't know about OpenOffice Writer and Calc or other open source alternatives. The two chapters show how it is possible to effectively collaborate on documents without having to use Word.
While the book does not get into every open source alternative to a Microsoft product, Bove's web site has a comprehensive list of open source alternatives to Windows products at www.tonybove.com/getoffmicrosoft/home.html#windows
Chapter 4 concludes with a look at the technical and practical problems with PowerPoint. Bove notes that the corrupting power of PowerPoint is so strong that otherwise normally articulate speakers turn into zombies mumbling the bullet points that appear on the slides behind them. It is not clear though how Impress, the open source alternative to PowerPoint is necessarily better from a presentation perspective.
The next few chapters deal with Outlook, the application that has launched countless viruses and worms, and also detail other network-based problems with Microsoft protocols and applications. Issues such as the never enduing cycle of Microsoft patches are also discussed.
Chapter 10 provides a 10 step program (fashioned after the Alcoholics Anonymous 12 step program) to free the reader from their Microsoft addition. While the steps are brief and effective, it would have been better had there been more technical details on how to migrate out of a Microsoft environment. For the person with thousands of documents and files in various Microsoft formats, it is not as effortless as to simply copy your old files onto a USB drive and move it to the new open source based host.
The book contains four parts, and there are four cartoons at the begging of each part that Bove wrote. The cartoons are quite funny in their own right and Bove should also consider a career as a cartoonist.
Ned Ludd said that the machine was the enemy, and Tony Bove feels the same way about Microsoft. For evidence, check out his campaign to stop the spread of Word documents at www.tonybove.com/getoffmicrosoft/stopdoc.html.
The only negative to the book is that there are far too many anti-negative stories of Microsoft's predatory practices. A few stories would be adequate, but there is no point in belaboring the issue in a book that is meant to be more technical and practical, as opposed to political.
For many people who don't know better, they expect that a blue screen of death and monthly patching is part of a standard computing environment. Just Say No to Microsoft: How to Ditch Microsoft and Why It's Not as Hard as You Think is an interesting read that will open the eyes of those users to a cheaper, more secure and robust open source solution.
You can purchase Just Say No to Microsoft from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
With that, Just Say No to Microsoft: How to Ditch Microsoft and Why It's Not as Hard as You Think would seemingly be a most valuable book in helping consumers and corporations rid themselves of the Microsoft tax. Unfortunately, the book spends far too much time slurring Microsoft and Bill Gates.
The books main charges are that Microsoft has been far too predatory and that Bill Gates is not the technical genius that he is made out to be. Microsoft's questionable business tactics are not without ethical lapses, but it must noted that Microsoft is simply one in a long line of companies that have used their size and deep pockets to quash the competition. Microsoft is not alone and joins companies such as American Airlines, Ford and General Motors, Wal-Mart and more that have engaged in practices that while good for their stockholders, have not been good for the competition.
Bove is correct that Microsoft's practices over the years have discouraged innovation and stunted competition. But then again, that is true of Ford, GM and other such companies. The innovations of Ford and GM for example have been mostly superficial, without any significant improvement into crucial issues such as gas mileage and more.
Two of the companies that Microsoft has been accused of destroying are Novell and WordPerfect. Yet much of the blame for the demise of these two companies goes to their management that did not know how to properly market their products nor deal with a competitor such as Microsoft. This is not meant to imply that Microsoft is blameless, rather that Novell and WordPerfect had plenty of opportunities to fend off Microsoft, yet did not rise to the challenge.
Aside from the pervasive anti-Microsoft tone and style and the book, Just Say No to Microsoft: How to Ditch Microsoft and Why It's Not as Hard as You Think provides a good starting point for those that are looking for a cheaper and safer alternative to Microsoft products.
Chapter 1 start with an overview of the history of Microsoft and how it grew to be the largest software company in the world. In chapter 2, All You Need is a Mac, Bove feels that the quickest route to Microsoft freedom is by purchasing a Macintosh. While a Mac is not necessarily cheaper than a Wintel system, the Mac OS X is considerably more resilient against attacks. In addition, the concern of malware such as viruses and spyware are much less of an issue on a Mac.
Chapter 3 deals with what worries Microsoft the most - Linux. Bove notes that large companies that deal with thousands of end-user desktops are discovering the advantage of migrating to Linux in a big way.
Chapters 4 and 5 deal with Microsoft Word and Excel. Word documents have become the de facto standard for document exchange and are what has locked many people into staying with Microsoft Word. Excel has a similar power in being the de facto spreadsheet. Most people think that the only alternative to Word is WordPerfect and simply don't know about OpenOffice Writer and Calc or other open source alternatives. The two chapters show how it is possible to effectively collaborate on documents without having to use Word.
While the book does not get into every open source alternative to a Microsoft product, Bove's web site has a comprehensive list of open source alternatives to Windows products at www.tonybove.com/getoffmicrosoft/home.html#windows
Chapter 4 concludes with a look at the technical and practical problems with PowerPoint. Bove notes that the corrupting power of PowerPoint is so strong that otherwise normally articulate speakers turn into zombies mumbling the bullet points that appear on the slides behind them. It is not clear though how Impress, the open source alternative to PowerPoint is necessarily better from a presentation perspective.
The next few chapters deal with Outlook, the application that has launched countless viruses and worms, and also detail other network-based problems with Microsoft protocols and applications. Issues such as the never enduing cycle of Microsoft patches are also discussed.
Chapter 10 provides a 10 step program (fashioned after the Alcoholics Anonymous 12 step program) to free the reader from their Microsoft addition. While the steps are brief and effective, it would have been better had there been more technical details on how to migrate out of a Microsoft environment. For the person with thousands of documents and files in various Microsoft formats, it is not as effortless as to simply copy your old files onto a USB drive and move it to the new open source based host.
The book contains four parts, and there are four cartoons at the begging of each part that Bove wrote. The cartoons are quite funny in their own right and Bove should also consider a career as a cartoonist.
Ned Ludd said that the machine was the enemy, and Tony Bove feels the same way about Microsoft. For evidence, check out his campaign to stop the spread of Word documents at www.tonybove.com/getoffmicrosoft/stopdoc.html.
The only negative to the book is that there are far too many anti-negative stories of Microsoft's predatory practices. A few stories would be adequate, but there is no point in belaboring the issue in a book that is meant to be more technical and practical, as opposed to political.
For many people who don't know better, they expect that a blue screen of death and monthly patching is part of a standard computing environment. Just Say No to Microsoft: How to Ditch Microsoft and Why It's Not as Hard as You Think is an interesting read that will open the eyes of those users to a cheaper, more secure and robust open source solution.
You can purchase Just Say No to Microsoft from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
I stopped reading right there. What a load of crap. It's roughly 50$ for Windows XP Home and 100$ for MS Office.
Look, I just skimmed your review and can already tell you're a moron. Here's a fucking clue: USERS DON'T PAY THHAT MUCH FOR MICROSOFT SOFTWARE.
Sure, you mayy be able to find it that expensively in a software store. But consumers don't buy office or especially windows. They come with their computers and will most likely never be upgraded. The real price, not the bullshit open source idiocy price, is more like $30 for Windows and I dunno for Office -- but it sure isn't $350. Not to mention that most companies buy it (again, with large discounts) and that usually comes with a license to use it at home. Or you get it from university for ~$50, or buy the academic version for $90 or so if you are in grade/high school.
Not to mention that, while Windows and Office certainly have their share of issues, problems, and design deficiencies so do linux and all alternatives. People's time isn't free, so the first time they waste a couple hours of their time on an issue with, eg, OpenOffice that they wouldn't have encountered with MS Office the "savings" go poof. Of course, the opposite is also true, but Office has been worn pretty smooth by now.
If you have it on your work computer, you can legally use the same SN for one computer at home.
Troll I hope? Cuz...no you can't.
http://www.openexchange.com/
Did you pull these numbers out of your ass, microshill? Let's see, windows XP professional OEM costs $146.95. You can get a slight discount by buying a 30-pack for $4,249.95. A pre-installed version from a Dell or HPaq (without the media, so you can't reinstall and configure it yourself) would cost a little less, but certainly nowhere near $50.
Office 2003 professional (again, OEM, not retail) costs $319.95. Yes, it's also a little cheaper from a big vendor but nowhere near $100.
Please show me where you can buy windows for $50 and office for $100.
___
If you think big enough, you'll never have to do it.
I actually did see one the other day... but that was a hardware issue as you said...
Stupid SONY laptop likes to BSOD on shutdown...
I haven't had a non-hardware related BSOD since I installed Windows 2000 RC2 in 1999.
I have seen the following BSODs since then:
Dell Dimension Desktops BSOD on shutdown with some Netgear NICs. (Known issue with hardware)
Inaccessable Boot Device on some new SCSI/SATA controller trying to run the boot drive without a driver installed
SONY laptop BSOD on shutdown occasionally for unknown reason (current theory relates to either the water I spilled on the laptop a few months back, or possibly the overheating problems the machine has from time to time)
That's it, and between machines I admin at work and machines I own, I've been running 8-10ish Windows boxes...
Agreed Ergo98, FACTS WOULD BE A GOOD START.
Most MS operating systems are poorly written (eg. Win98/WinME/WinXP). You'll noticed I missed Win2k in there - because Microsoft (IMHO) did a good job there. However, I was promised the "holy grail" with XP by every man and his dog (even people I respected). Here's some FACTS for you to consider
- Windows XP IS flaky. It does not support USB properly (a problem I NEVER had under Windows 2k). Do a search through Microsoft for a list of problems that are STILL RESIDENT IN WINDOWS XP Service Pack 2. For example, it can not enumerate USB devices correctly - and my network shares and USB shares get confused. Microsoft's fix? Start network shares at Z and USB will work correctly. However, I map my network drives to the same letter of the remotely shared drive so that data paths are the same.
- Windows XP IS flaky. IEEE1394 (firewire) devices do not enumerate correctly. It took me a lot of frigging around (and a re-install) to get firewire to work under WinXP.
- If you install XP with USB devices plugged in, they will not be recognised. You'll need to manually remove them from the registry - and re-insert the devices for them to work correctly.
So here are your baloney arguments
1. Going to XP will reduce your support costs. I have found that my number of issues has gone up since going to XP. Rest assured, there are far too many other issues for me to list - so I only listed the most annoying and repeated problems.
2. XP costs less than $100 for an OEM. That's strange - because DELL charge AU$100 just for the upgrade to XP Pro.
3. Microsoft Office costs far less than $350 for the OEM edition. Again, take a look at the pricing. The Australian academic edition is typically around AU$300 - and that's for non-commercial use!!! Do you want MS Access with that - or are you referring to the cheesy watered down version that only contains Word?
4. "The whole blue screen argument is so 2002, and if that's what the anti-M$ bots are still spouting, they need to update their playbook.". Not sure what this is supposed to mean - but FACTS are FACTS. Being blind to Microsoft propaganda is NO MORE INTELLIGENT than IGNORING IT.
5. Other OSs have HIGHER support costs. If you can provide me evidence (generated by a non-Microsoft funded study) backing that, I will eat my words!!!!!!!!!!
Personally, I believe the reason OEMs save money by not providing other OSs are for different reasons,
1. Supporting a single OS (or single line of OSs) means reduced support costs because you're covering/considering/supporting one platform only.
2. You don't need to stock different sets of software (eg. software that works on Linux/Mac/Windows involves less bulk purchases - more diverse product to stock/monitor).
3. You don't limit your scope of hardware that you can support (hey, we can get that printer $5 cheaper - but it doesn't work with Linux - so we can't buy it)
4. You don't LOSE YOUR OEM DISCOUNT by supporting a competitor's operating system
5. Selecting an option like Linux has SO MUCH FRAGMENTATION in its community - that you'll end up dissatisfying most of the users anyway (eg. KDE v/s Gnome)
Again, I could extend this list - but I think i've made my point.
I try to keep an open mind about operating systems. I believe that Windows 2000 was a very good operating system (and one of the few from Microsoft). I also appreciate the SIGNIFICANT cost in buying Microsoft products with a new system (eg. the OS and Office suite). Reduced support costs with Microsoft are FALSE. Reduced compatibility with peripherals is currently TRUE for Linux - but not an issue for Mac. In the end, is it worth it? Like all marketing, if it makes you feel better to buy Microsoft (read: Nike/Coca-Cola) then it's WORTH the money.
AC
Yeah, like Cisco, Sun, Oracle, SAP, Siemens, & IBM don't engaged in ball busting business tactics... welcome to the real world.
... I just wanted to make it clear that Microsoft is producing a huge market than many of us here rely on. Microsoft uses their profit for positive benefits to society as well...
Well, I for one rely on it only in the sense that my business offers tech support for Windows and WIndows software in general (we prefer our customers run Linux because it is less overhead for us and the customer inevitably spends more because they get more-- less money is going to tech support and more is going to making the environment fit the business).
As for the suggestion that Microsoft uses their profit for positive beneifts to society, well, all the great monopolists have done so in the past. This doesn't justify the negative effects that come from undermining the market system in relevant markets though. I would suppose that people here who agree with you would rather see a world without antitrust law, where Carnegie Steel, AT&T, Microsoft, and Mobile Oil control everything?
The issue is, monopolies are patently dangerous to a democratic society. Harry Truman compared the dangers of monopolies to that of fascism-- that both amount to private ownership over the society as a while, or even over government. Carnegie is remembered as a philanthropist only because his (very brutal) monopoly has not survived. And The Bell Company's early business practices make Microsoft look like a good corporate citizen.
Also, Microsoft employs more than 12,000 people. These people likely buy products or use services that your employer produces.
Really? How many of them purchase consumer software support from an independant provider or Linux-based business system consulting? I doubt any of them do. Sure they vacation in my area, but that is about it.
If Linux fanboys want to convince, they need to make a product that works as well as the competition.
I started using Linux as my primary home system in 1999 because I found that it *worked* better than Windows. Sure, it wasn't pretty, had a pretty unrefined look and feel, etc. But it got the job done better *and* allowed me to work more efficiently. (I started working for Microsoft in 2000 but never stopped using Linux as my primary home system. Also I no longer work for MS, and no I wasn't fired, and no I don't hate MS.) Nearly every computer beginner I have introduced Linux to has had the same reaction: "Boy, this is easier to work with than Windows. I can get more done faster!"
Alas, as people become more familiar with Windows, it becomes harder to switch. Part of the problem is that people learn to be afraid of their computers. Don't believe me? Find a relative who depends on his/her computer, but is certainly not technically inclined and ask them to switch to Linux? Offer to include a second system so they can continue using Windows if they need to. The response is always the same: fear of change. Fear of having to learn everything over again.
In other words, what you are asking for is a Windows clone, not a better product. If it was, we would all be using Linux today.
Now, you say rarely has never unseated commercial competition:
1) BIND
2) Sendmail and Postfix
3) Apache
4) GCC is the most commonly used compiler in a number of fields
5) GNU tools on Solaris
6) MIT Kerberos
7) OpenSSH (vs SSH Inc)
8) GPG (v. PGP).
Indeed in most of the areas of network infrastructure (current exception being directory services), we are finding that Free/Open Source Software is deeply entrenched and, in fact, is the dominant platform for the major services we think of on the internet. Part of the issue, however, is that desktop applications are differnet. They require a different type of community, a different type of collaberation, and they have not had such for as long as the server software.
However, look at the progress being made by such applications as:
OpenOffice.org (compare with StarOffice 5.2)
LyX
Mozilla and Firefox (compare with Netsc
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP