MS combined has been on a fools path for years now, and is heading towards self implosion. MS split into WinCo* and AppCo* is a more formidable beast. Especially if AppCo keeps all of Back Office and COM/.NET/What you want to call it today.
Combined MS has been singularly ineffective of late. Letsee.... they're out of the Java game, Oracle has roundly kicked their SQL butt, AOL has fed them online humble pie, and just about every set top box is going to Liberate for chrissakes. This despite billions upon billions spent trying to buy into each of the above markets.
Why is this? some ask: well they're embrace and extinguish philosophy has reached the end of its ropes, and few industry leaders are about to trust MS as a partner. Justifiably so. They are naturally disadvantaged in their current form, due to their culture and history.
And if they're split? : Winco will have about as much new value as a non-GPL'd Linux (not much) and a huge legacy value which gradually tapers off to nought without the Back Office and MS Office and Explorer crutches. But the AppCo people can take their.NET and make a fairly good play on Linux or BSD or WinCo or whatever, by forming the Net Monopoly around the same crutches. That Linux may be used as a platform for.NET, is irrelevant... in this capacity it becomes a carrier for.NET, as a tree is a carrier for an ivy (the tree usually gets choked off, for non-biology majors). Open Source does not benefit by MS deploying COM cross-platform.
Further it would be VERY difficult (impossible?) to make a winnable anti trust suit purely on the basis of an AppCo. So I say let MS win this round, because their current monopolist culture will be the very reason they fail.
* WinCo and AppCo are terms I borrowed from The Register
Tuttle is not the central character of the movie. The central character was Sam Lowry, and the themes were oppression, freedom, being trapped in a crazy world, and dreams of paradise. If the theme was only about fixing air-conditioners for the love of it, then the movie would be just a Gothic "McGyver".
You might argue that there are other revolutionary outlaw archetypes that might fit the description just as well, but I can't think of any.
Tuttle is only an outlaw because it impossible for him to work within the crazy system. He doesn't hack the system for hackings sake, nor is he a miscreant. I can think of many who are like him. In fact I know of nobody in real life who fully conforms to "the system". And I'm hardly bohemian. There's a little Tuttle in all of us. It ain't a geek thing at all. Think harder, 'cos I'm sure you know lots of potential Tuttles.
My initial rant was mostly the result of being tired of geeks mouthing off and thinking they're Robert de Niro. I'm sure we agree that Geek elitism is so lame.
With apologies to Carly Simon, "You're so vain, you probably think this movie's about you". You think Terry Gilliam had linux hackers in mind when he made Brazil!?!?
I'm not sure how it happened - the writer/director, TerryGilliam, wasn't in tune with the computer underground that I know of - but the character has, in a few short minutes onscreen, captured the universal essence of hacking.
AFAIK, Terry hung out with the Monty Python crew, independant directors, creative people offering real parodies and insights on society. People doing more to change the world than making blue boxes go "ka-ching". His artistic vision may have been formed by looking at some of the great artists and writers of the world. He might have captured some of the essence of wisdom and perception, no? Emmet (along with the rest of the crew, Jon "kiss the geek" Katz comes to mind) seems to annointed computer geeks as the new avengers of individuality and liberty. That's fine, but don't insinuate that Terry Gilliam gives more than a passing fart about you.
Umm perhaps Terry might have been commenting on government and corporate systems that oppress the spirit, or the human desire to be free, to be in love, to fly, etc etc..
Oops... I'm let falling out of step with our "individuality" here on Slashdot. What was I thinking. Let me get back on track
In fact Brazil is about hackers and nerd justice and bad telephone design. So when is the Linux version of Brazil available? DVD sucks Hot grits in emmets pants Windows NT is Central Systems
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Why is this? some ask: well they're embrace and extinguish philosophy has reached the end of its ropes, and few industry leaders are about to trust MS as a partner. Justifiably so. They are naturally disadvantaged in their current form, due to their culture and history.
And if they're split? : Winco will have about as much new value as a non-GPL'd Linux (not much) and a huge legacy value which gradually tapers off to nought without the Back Office and MS Office and Explorer crutches. But the AppCo people can take their .NET and make a fairly good play on Linux or BSD or WinCo or whatever, by forming the Net Monopoly around the same crutches. That Linux may be used as a platform for .NET, is irrelevant... in this capacity it becomes a carrier for .NET, as a tree is a carrier for an ivy (the tree usually gets choked off, for non-biology majors). Open Source does not benefit by MS deploying COM cross-platform.
Further it would be VERY difficult (impossible?) to make a winnable anti trust suit purely on the basis of an AppCo. So I say let MS win this round, because their current monopolist culture will be the very reason they fail.
* WinCo and AppCo are terms I borrowed from The Register
You might argue that there are other revolutionary outlaw archetypes that might fit the description just as well, but I can't think of any.
Tuttle is only an outlaw because it impossible for him to work within the crazy system. He doesn't hack the system for hackings sake, nor is he a miscreant. I can think of many who are like him. In fact I know of nobody in real life who fully conforms to "the system". And I'm hardly bohemian. There's a little Tuttle in all of us. It ain't a geek thing at all. Think harder, 'cos I'm sure you know lots of potential Tuttles.
My initial rant was mostly the result of being tired of geeks mouthing off and thinking they're Robert de Niro. I'm sure we agree that Geek elitism is so lame.
I'm not sure how it happened - the writer/director, TerryGilliam, wasn't in tune with the computer underground that I know of - but the character has, in a few short minutes onscreen, captured the universal essence of hacking.
AFAIK, Terry hung out with the Monty Python crew, independant directors, creative people offering real parodies and insights on society. People doing more to change the world than making blue boxes go "ka-ching". His artistic vision may have been formed by looking at some of the great artists and writers of the world. He might have captured some of the essence of wisdom and perception, no? Emmet (along with the rest of the crew, Jon "kiss the geek" Katz comes to mind) seems to annointed computer geeks as the new avengers of individuality and liberty. That's fine, but don't insinuate that Terry Gilliam gives more than a passing fart about you.
Umm perhaps Terry might have been commenting on government and corporate systems that oppress the spirit, or the human desire to be free, to be in love, to fly, etc etc..
Oops... I'm let falling out of step with our "individuality" here on Slashdot. What was I thinking. Let me get back on track
In fact Brazil is about hackers and nerd justice and bad telephone design.
So when is the Linux version of Brazil available?
DVD sucks
Hot grits in emmets pants
Windows NT is Central Systems