Hmm... I wonder if I could rig this up to retrieve soda and pizza for me from the refridgerator?;) Seriously though, I watched a friend play with his Basic II in high school electronics. The thing is powerful. I can't imagine all the things you could get this little robot to do with a little ingenuity. How about a little repair droid for your car, like R2D2. "TRaCY, see if you can lock down that windshield wiper!" Yeah, it's late.
Perhaps we should consider this whole 'post-microsoft' deal as a state of mind.
Essentially what this would imply is that the criteria is different for each person. Every computer user will, at some point in their lifetime, encounter a computer running a Microsoft operating system. Depending on their situation (home user, graphic artist, systems administrator) their experiences with MS will be different. Most people will become so entangled with the paradigm that they will literally become part of this "Microsoft World." Go to work, troubleshoot a Microsoft network, use Microsoft Outlook for work email, come home, use Microsoft Windows running Microsoft Word and Microsoft Media Player to listen to Microsoft Windows Media Format audio files, browse the web with Microsoft Internet Explorer, etc. Whenever you have trouble with these Microsoft products, you raise your fists to the sky and shout, "Damn you Bill Gates!" Or at least I do.
And these users will (or already have) at some point in their life come across something that will kick them in the head and encourage them to start experimenting with software outside the "Microsoft World." For some, it's Novell Netware. For some others, it was the first time they sat down and used a Macintosh. But for most of us techies, it was the first time we dragged the 386 out of the basement and installed Linux on it.
Consider all the computers users in the world to be a part of one of 3 major groups:
Techies
Users
Idiots
Each of these groups can obviously be further subdivided, for example "Techies" could be "Mac Techies", "Hardware Techies", "Code (Jockeys) Techies", etc. "Idiots" could be divided up into "Media" and "Businessmen." You see my point.
The Techies have been leaving their Microsoft World for the last 10 years. The advent of the new MacOS, the rebirth of Netware and similar products, and the creation of Linux. Please note these are just the crudest of examples, I'm sure there are a lot more that I'm not considering; it's besides the point. They've either left the paradigm, started leaving, or never got caught in the trap to begin with.
The Users have just recently started to leave the Microsoft World. Linux distributions are becoming less like BSD and more like Windows 95, making it easier (albeit not painless) for someone less technically oriented to get started. Macintosh computers are earning a name with their new PowerPC processors. And software companies are starting to support these operating systems more and more. Corel/WordPerfect is just the smallest example.
For the idiots in the world, it's a whole 'nother ball game. They see the computer industry as dollars and cents, profit and loss. They've seen Microsoft on-the-rise since 1979 and hear secondhand reports of Techies and Users bitching re: Microsoft. Naturally, not being technically oriented themselves, they'd make assumptions based on the above two items (stock and rumors) and take it to mean that Microsoft is a huge, bumbling monopoly with complete control over the entire market, and must be stopped! Which, of course, we all know isn't true, but they don't know that. They're idiots. These rumors started in 1985 and have been building in and upon themselves until now.
Which brings us to present day. The announcement that Microsoft is WRONG brings great triumph to all of us. 25% of us have already had our just-desserts, which is why we're sitting here saying to ourselves "Why the heck is everyone making such a big deal about it? I've got a Linux firewall for my ADSL line and there's a Mac upstairs connected to my LAN. Microsoft Shmicrosoft, if the company ceased to exist today I'd drop RedHat on my Pentium III and install WordPerfect 2000." But the other 75% are singing "Ding, dong, the witch is dead, the wicked witch of Redmond is dead..."
So this is why I say "Post-Microsoft world" is a state of mind. "There is no spoon." There is no monopoly. We've all just come to the realization at different times.
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Alakaboo
Essentially what this would imply is that the criteria is different for each person. Every computer user will, at some point in their lifetime, encounter a computer running a Microsoft operating system. Depending on their situation (home user, graphic artist, systems administrator) their experiences with MS will be different. Most people will become so entangled with the paradigm that they will literally become part of this "Microsoft World." Go to work, troubleshoot a Microsoft network, use Microsoft Outlook for work email, come home, use Microsoft Windows running Microsoft Word and Microsoft Media Player to listen to Microsoft Windows Media Format audio files, browse the web with Microsoft Internet Explorer, etc. Whenever you have trouble with these Microsoft products, you raise your fists to the sky and shout, "Damn you Bill Gates!" Or at least I do.
And these users will (or already have) at some point in their life come across something that will kick them in the head and encourage them to start experimenting with software outside the "Microsoft World." For some, it's Novell Netware. For some others, it was the first time they sat down and used a Macintosh. But for most of us techies, it was the first time we dragged the 386 out of the basement and installed Linux on it.
Consider all the computers users in the world to be a part of one of 3 major groups:
- Techies
- Users
- Idiots
Each of these groups can obviously be further subdivided, for example "Techies" could be "Mac Techies", "Hardware Techies", "Code (Jockeys) Techies", etc. "Idiots" could be divided up into "Media" and "Businessmen." You see my point.The Techies have been leaving their Microsoft World for the last 10 years. The advent of the new MacOS, the rebirth of Netware and similar products, and the creation of Linux. Please note these are just the crudest of examples, I'm sure there are a lot more that I'm not considering; it's besides the point. They've either left the paradigm, started leaving, or never got caught in the trap to begin with.
The Users have just recently started to leave the Microsoft World. Linux distributions are becoming less like BSD and more like Windows 95, making it easier (albeit not painless) for someone less technically oriented to get started. Macintosh computers are earning a name with their new PowerPC processors. And software companies are starting to support these operating systems more and more. Corel/WordPerfect is just the smallest example.
For the idiots in the world, it's a whole 'nother ball game. They see the computer industry as dollars and cents, profit and loss. They've seen Microsoft on-the-rise since 1979 and hear secondhand reports of Techies and Users bitching re: Microsoft. Naturally, not being technically oriented themselves, they'd make assumptions based on the above two items (stock and rumors) and take it to mean that Microsoft is a huge, bumbling monopoly with complete control over the entire market, and must be stopped! Which, of course, we all know isn't true, but they don't know that. They're idiots. These rumors started in 1985 and have been building in and upon themselves until now.
Which brings us to present day. The announcement that Microsoft is WRONG brings great triumph to all of us. 25% of us have already had our just-desserts, which is why we're sitting here saying to ourselves "Why the heck is everyone making such a big deal about it? I've got a Linux firewall for my ADSL line and there's a Mac upstairs connected to my LAN. Microsoft Shmicrosoft, if the company ceased to exist today I'd drop RedHat on my Pentium III and install WordPerfect 2000." But the other 75% are singing "Ding, dong, the witch is dead, the wicked witch of Redmond is dead..."
So this is why I say "Post-Microsoft world" is a state of mind. "There is no spoon." There is no monopoly. We've all just come to the realization at different times.
Alakaboo