From the Computerworld article: Microsoft has toned down its rhetoric.
"It's a myth that open-source and Windows can't work together. Customers just
aren't religious about these things," said Ryan Gavin, a director of platform
strategy for Microsoft.
Abusers such as crack addicts and alcoholics and others will say
anything whatsoever to get what they want. There may not be a shred of truth
in what they say. What they say certainly is no guide to what they will do.
The Computerworld article is just pontification from a writer who
doesn't know or care about technical things, but was given one hour to write a
story, and a few notes. Here's a quote from the article:
"More than ideology, the fact that Microsoft makes a huge number of
business applications -- a number that is only increasing -- could eventually
limit the growth of open-source applications on Windows."
A "huge number of business applications"? What have I been
missing? Microsoft makes customer relations management software, for example,
which it bought from the creator, I believe. After Microsoft started using it,
someone from Microsoft called me and thought our company was in New York. I
doubt Microsoft can compete in any area in which it doesn't have a temporary
monopoly. Microsoft partly depends on having customers who are ignorant of
technical things. If Microsoft can compete in other than a "me too" way,
please supply some evidence.
Here's a funny movie about Microsoft's marketing, from Microsoft's
marketing department, which is beginning to gag on the company's culture of
incompetence: Microsoft Ipod Parody.
It's necessary to be very vigorous about what to accept and what to reject when being influenced by others.
But isn't this a case of rich people in India not wanting to accept that there are many poor people in their country, and therefore causing them to stay poor?
Both the U.S. and India have a lot of pride. People in both countries sometimes use their pride to blind themselves to things that need to be done.
The first step to stopping Microsoft's abuses is to understand the abuses. Microsoft has, for example, slowed the acceptance of Java.
Slowing the acceptance of Java has, in my opinion, slowed the development of Java. Together those effects have caused a lot more than $1.8 billion of harm.
Microsoft should not be able to make a profit on the harm it does. The company should be made to pay $1 for every $1 of harm.
The world needs Java, and a more completely developed Java, in my opinion. Anything that slows that hurts even people who have never used a computer, because anything that slows the development of our infrastructure hurts everyone.
From the Slashdot story, an example of science fiction: "Past this event horizon, following the creation of strong artificial intelligence or the amplification of human intelligence..."
There is no "artificial intelligence". All intelligence that is called artificial intelligence is genuine. It's a rare example of people saying something is artificial when it is genuine. It's an example of disrespecting very intelligent programmers. Disrespect of technically knowledgeable people is very common.
Computing is so famous now that people with little or no technical knowledge want to seem like they know something about it. But, they don't want to actually study anything. They just want to pontificate.
-- U.S. Government violence encourages other violence.
It seems amazing to me that there are so many very critical flaws in Microsoft products. If someone else can find the flaws, why didn't Microsoft?
I've heard that Microsoft is managed in such a way that programmers don't have time to finish their work. I know that Microsoft makes more money if there are more flaws, because users can be expected to upgrade.
However, it seems that there are too many bugs for that to be the whole explanation.
So, why, year after year, has Microsoft been at the top of the vulnerabilities list? I don't accept the argument that "software is complex, and always has bugs. There are people who know how to write complex software that is secure. Microsoft could certainly hire such people. If the company wanted to have software that was relatively free of vulnerabilities, it could.
The argument that Microsoft vulnerabilities get more attention doesn't seem adequate to me to explain the huge number of very severe bugs.
Xbox has not been successful at making a profit. I don't doubt Microsoft's ability to lose money. Here's an April 28, 2006 story I found through a quick Google search: 3.2 million Xbox 360s shipped, $388 million in losses
I wasn't worried about who copies who. I was only commenting that Microsoft efforts are usually not successful unless they are part of Microsoft's temporarily effective monopoly. Microsoft has not been able to compete on the merits, only through an adversarial situation.
We buy no name optical mice, with no extra buttons, for $4.75 at Fry's, and use software from LogiTech, if a LogiTech mouse has failed and is being replaced.
Last time I tried to install a Microsoft mouse, maybe 3 years ago, there was a software error.
Land lines are amazingly, amazingly bad compared to Skype-to-Skype VOIP calls, in my experience. And those calls are free after paying your broadband provider.
I guess a lot depends on the cell phone companies.
on
Unmaking Motorola's Q
·
· Score: 1
I know only about the CDMA of friends in the U.S. and my own CDMA in another country, and that of friends. It has been much poorer than my GSM here. So, I guess a lot depends on the cell phone companies.
In practice, however, CDMA is poorer quality...
on
Unmaking Motorola's Q
·
· Score: 1
In practice, however, CDMA is poorer quality, maybe because of the old CDMA systems.
T-Mobile is GSM. T-Mobile will unlock your T-Mobile phone for you after you
have used their system for 3 months, even if you only have a pre-paid plan.
Be sure you get a Quad-Band GSM phone like the Motorola RAZR V3
(now V3i). There are only 4 GSM bands, and a phone with all 4 bands allows use
in Europe, Asia, and any place there are GSM providers, which is becoming
everywhere. (Apparently there are some areas that use a 5th band, called
GSM400, but that is not used in modern systems. See this GSM frequency chart.
You can also look at the Wikipedia GSM
frequency chart.)
I certainly don't want to recommend the Motorola RAZR phone. When I
look at some of the features, I'm amazed at how poorly implemented they are.
Maybe Motorola deliberately makes quirky phones so the company can sell better
ones later.
TDMA and CDMA are older systems with much poor sound quality. They can
sometimes, but only sometimes, be unlocked, too. But it is better to throw
away an old phone and get a GSM phone.
This GSM band
usage shows which countries use which GSM bands.
To get your carrier to unlock your GSM phone, display your IMEI by dialing *#06# on your phone.
Then ask the carrier to provide the unlock code.
Find info about each model of phone using the Softpedia phone chart. Note that there are
many models of Motorola
V3. Older models take photos with fewer pixels, for example.
To change mobile phone provider company, just change the SIM card in your phone. GSM phones are
made so that you can do this yourself.
-- U.S. Government violence encourages other violence. You pay.
Sometimes it seems to me that Microsoft is more of an abuse company than a software company. Software is just the delivery method for the abuse. The WGA patch that is causing problems for Paul Thurrott is labeled "Critical" on the Windows Update web site, and Microsoft admits it is beta software.
How would you like to be a programmer for a company that apparently cannot get anything to work correctly the first time?
After decades of good judgement about money, Warren Buffett has made the biggest mistake of his life, giving his money to something run by the disfunctional Bill Gates and his angry wife. Often rich people like foundations because everyone they meet is very nice to foundation owners so they will get free money.
"We just don't care about global warming and the future generations all that much."
It isn't "we". Bush and Cheney and their friends and families have investments in oil and weapons, and they seem to act in such a way that they maximize the value of their investments.
-- U.S. Taxpayer Karma: If you contribute money to kill people,
expect your own quality of life to diminish.
Unfortunately I was not able to find a link, but the alternative energy sources can actually supply only a small percentage of all the energy used in cars, for example. People often live 30 minutes from work, and drive alone in a 1,000 kilo automobile a total of an hour a day.
Modern buildings depend on air conditioning.
There are things like that which cannot be easily changed.
In general, the laws of physics prevent much of what people think can be done. Solar power for New Jersey, for example, would require covering a large part of New Jersey with solar cells, and even then it would not provide enough power for all the vehicles.
"The energy efficiency of a power plant and AC transmission far exceeds that of oil drilling, refining, and delivery."
In many areas, coal (with Mercury emissions) or oil (with Sulfur emissions) are used to generate power. So, you may have oil drilling, refining, delivery, burning, and losses from AC transmission.
Politicians are taking advantage of the ignorance of the average person. "Alternative energy" such as wind and geothermal plants and rivers that have not already been obstructed with dams can provide only a very small percentage of that required.
Slashdot Mirror
From the Computerworld article: Microsoft has toned down its rhetoric. "It's a myth that open-source and Windows can't work together. Customers just aren't religious about these things," said Ryan Gavin, a director of platform strategy for Microsoft.
Abusers such as crack addicts and alcoholics and others will say anything whatsoever to get what they want. There may not be a shred of truth in what they say. What they say certainly is no guide to what they will do.
The Computerworld article is just pontification from a writer who doesn't know or care about technical things, but was given one hour to write a story, and a few notes. Here's a quote from the article:
"More than ideology, the fact that Microsoft makes a huge number of business applications -- a number that is only increasing -- could eventually limit the growth of open-source applications on Windows."
A "huge number of business applications"? What have I been missing? Microsoft makes customer relations management software, for example, which it bought from the creator, I believe. After Microsoft started using it, someone from Microsoft called me and thought our company was in New York. I doubt Microsoft can compete in any area in which it doesn't have a temporary monopoly. Microsoft partly depends on having customers who are ignorant of technical things. If Microsoft can compete in other than a "me too" way, please supply some evidence.
Here's a funny movie about Microsoft's marketing, from Microsoft's marketing department, which is beginning to gag on the company's culture of incompetence: Microsoft Ipod Parody.
Virtual Audio Cable, $30.
Very good point about the history.
It's necessary to be very vigorous about what to accept and what to reject when being influenced by others.
But isn't this a case of rich people in India not wanting to accept that there are many poor people in their country, and therefore causing them to stay poor?
Both the U.S. and India have a lot of pride. People in both countries sometimes use their pride to blind themselves to things that need to be done.
If you've been to India and you know something about the history of the people there, you know they are very self-defeating.
For years the rich and powerful in India prevented outside influence. This slowed India's development.
--
U.S. Government violence encourages other violence.
The first step to stopping Microsoft's abuses is to understand the abuses. Microsoft has, for example, slowed the acceptance of Java.
Slowing the acceptance of Java has, in my opinion, slowed the development of Java. Together those effects have caused a lot more than $1.8 billion of harm.
Microsoft should not be able to make a profit on the harm it does. The company should be made to pay $1 for every $1 of harm.
The world needs Java, and a more completely developed Java, in my opinion. Anything that slows that hurts even people who have never used a computer, because anything that slows the development of our infrastructure hurts everyone.
From the Slashdot story, an example of science fiction: "Past this event horizon, following the creation of strong artificial intelligence or the amplification of human intelligence..."
There is no "artificial intelligence". All intelligence that is called artificial intelligence is genuine. It's a rare example of people saying something is artificial when it is genuine. It's an example of disrespecting very intelligent programmers. Disrespect of technically knowledgeable people is very common.
Computing is so famous now that people with little or no technical knowledge want to seem like they know something about it. But, they don't want to actually study anything. They just want to pontificate.
--
U.S. Government violence encourages other violence.
Interesting.
It seems amazing to me that there are so many very critical flaws in Microsoft products. If someone else can find the flaws, why didn't Microsoft?
I've heard that Microsoft is managed in such a way that programmers don't have time to finish their work. I know that Microsoft makes more money if there are more flaws, because users can be expected to upgrade.
However, it seems that there are too many bugs for that to be the whole explanation.
So, why, year after year, has Microsoft been at the top of the vulnerabilities list? I don't accept the argument that "software is complex, and always has bugs. There are people who know how to write complex software that is secure. Microsoft could certainly hire such people. If the company wanted to have software that was relatively free of vulnerabilities, it could.
The argument that Microsoft vulnerabilities get more attention doesn't seem adequate to me to explain the huge number of very severe bugs.
But, what is the explanation?
MOD PARENT DOWN. Bad Link.
Official Clam Anti-Virus for Windows link: ClamWin. ClamWin is free and excellent, but slower at scanning than commercial products, in my experience.
Safer link to Systrace
Symantec software is even worse than you said, in my experience.
You didn't mention the bugginess.
Xbox has not been successful at making a profit. I don't doubt Microsoft's ability to lose money. Here's an April 28, 2006 story I found through a quick Google search: 3.2 million Xbox 360s shipped, $388 million in losses
I wasn't worried about who copies who. I was only commenting that Microsoft efforts are usually not successful unless they are part of Microsoft's temporarily effective monopoly. Microsoft has not been able to compete on the merits, only through an adversarial situation.
We buy no name optical mice, with no extra buttons, for $4.75 at Fry's, and use software from LogiTech, if a LogiTech mouse has failed and is being replaced.
Last time I tried to install a Microsoft mouse, maybe 3 years ago, there was a software error.
Microsoft's "me too" products have not been very successful in the last several years.
An organization that doesn't have the creativity to create something often doesn't have even the creativity necessary to copying it successfully.
--
Are you willing to pay a lot to kill Arabs?
Land lines are amazingly, amazingly bad compared to Skype-to-Skype VOIP calls, in my experience. And those calls are free after paying your broadband provider.
I know only about the CDMA of friends in the U.S. and my own CDMA in another country, and that of friends. It has been much poorer than my GSM here. So, I guess a lot depends on the cell phone companies.
In practice, however, CDMA is poorer quality, maybe because of the old CDMA systems.
GSM phone information.
T-Mobile is GSM. T-Mobile will unlock your T-Mobile phone for you after you have used their system for 3 months, even if you only have a pre-paid plan.
Be sure you get a Quad-Band GSM phone like the Motorola RAZR V3 (now V3i). There are only 4 GSM bands, and a phone with all 4 bands allows use in Europe, Asia, and any place there are GSM providers, which is becoming everywhere. (Apparently there are some areas that use a 5th band, called GSM400, but that is not used in modern systems. See this GSM frequency chart. You can also look at the Wikipedia GSM frequency chart.)
I certainly don't want to recommend the Motorola RAZR phone. When I look at some of the features, I'm amazed at how poorly implemented they are. Maybe Motorola deliberately makes quirky phones so the company can sell better ones later.
TDMA and CDMA are older systems with much poor sound quality. They can sometimes, but only sometimes, be unlocked, too. But it is better to throw away an old phone and get a GSM phone.
This GSM band usage shows which countries use which GSM bands.
To get your carrier to unlock your GSM phone, display your IMEI by dialing *#06# on your phone. Then ask the carrier to provide the unlock code.
This GSM Coverage Chart shows all providers in all countries.
Find info about each model of phone using the Softpedia phone chart. Note that there are many models of Motorola V3. Older models take photos with fewer pixels, for example.
To change mobile phone provider company, just change the SIM card in your phone. GSM phones are made so that you can do this yourself.
--
U.S. Government violence encourages other violence. You pay.
Sometimes it seems to me that Microsoft is more of an abuse company than a software company. Software is just the delivery method for the abuse. The WGA patch that is causing problems for Paul Thurrott is labeled "Critical" on the Windows Update web site, and Microsoft admits it is beta software.
How would you like to be a programmer for a company that apparently cannot get anything to work correctly the first time?
After decades of good judgement about money, Warren Buffett has made the biggest mistake of his life, giving his money to something run by the disfunctional Bill Gates and his angry wife. Often rich people like foundations because everyone they meet is very nice to foundation owners so they will get free money.
"We just don't care about global warming and the future generations all that much."
It isn't "we". Bush and Cheney and their friends and families have investments in oil and weapons, and they seem to act in such a way that they maximize the value of their investments.
--
U.S. Taxpayer Karma: If you contribute money to kill people, expect your own quality of life to diminish.
Unfortunately I was not able to find a link, but the alternative energy sources can actually supply only a small percentage of all the energy used in cars, for example. People often live 30 minutes from work, and drive alone in a 1,000 kilo automobile a total of an hour a day.
Modern buildings depend on air conditioning.
There are things like that which cannot be easily changed.
"As I see it, this technology is coming."
In general, the laws of physics prevent much of what people think can be done. Solar power for New Jersey, for example, would require covering a large part of New Jersey with solar cells, and even then it would not provide enough power for all the vehicles.
"The energy efficiency of a power plant and AC transmission far exceeds that of oil drilling, refining, and delivery."
In many areas, coal (with Mercury emissions) or oil (with Sulfur emissions) are used to generate power. So, you may have oil drilling, refining, delivery, burning, and losses from AC transmission.
Politicians are taking advantage of the ignorance of the average person. "Alternative energy" such as wind and geothermal plants and rivers that have not already been obstructed with dams can provide only a very small percentage of that required.