If the laptops have some Linux OS installed, then I would say it is a good will gesture. If the laptops have MS-Windows installed, basically someone is handing them a laptop full of virus-infested software. MS-Windows has been detected as one big virus itself. Stuff that in your USB port.
I still have my Commodore Computers. I fired them up about 5 years ago, and I can STILL read my floppy disks from ages ago even with the 1541 (1 or 2) 5-1/4" disk drives that are suppose to be prone to head-alignment issues (I keep them stored with the head-protectors in place and I try to keep the disks away from magnetic sources.)
I bought some Apple ]['s in the past 10 years, so I can see my assembly language programs. (remember call -768 or call -936, or in#6 or pr#6?)
If I could, I'd get an Amiga today. The reason why you don't see new Amigas around is because Bill Gates made sure the Amiga market would die by 1995 and REMAIN dead. Because he wanted to make sure he could get Windows 95 out to the masses, unchallenged, because Windows 95 could easily be overthrown and outperformed. Bill Gates and company did not make anything better than what was already out, so he had to KILL the competition through blackmail, covert backdoor deals, encourage dishonesty in competitor companies, and litigate companies and products out of existence. In retrospect, it wasn't until Windows XP that Microsoft and PC suppliers could almost "catch up" to the Amiga. So with the Amiga gone and unable to be redeveloped effectively (still to this day), Bill Gates leveled (ie: demolished in a very unethical and lawless way - but you pay off your Congressmen, and your wishes become the law) the existing playing field and rebuilt the playing field around Microsoft. The Amiga, by 1990, had VGA graphics, a sound synthesizer chip, an IDE hard drive interface, a hard drive, modular memory, a 32-bit True Pre-emptive Multi-tasking operating system, a Graphics User Interface, and the most popular accessory that sold very well for it was the Video Toaster. By 1995, most PCs had these basic features (Microsoft was still struggling with the OS, it was not true pre-emptive nor true 32-bit. Some parts are still not 32-bit until Windows 7 - It takes this long for a company like Microsoft to implement 1990 technology?) And, about 5 years ago, well after the demise of the Amiga, someone hooked up an IOMEGA SCSI ZIP disk to it, and guess what. because SCSI was an established standard and the specs were open, the Amiga could implement and use the ZIP disk to the fullest extent, even though the ZIP disk was created well after development and production stopped on the Amiga. Now that is a powerful computer. try developing the computer now. The technology is still around. But you can't because all the parts that make up the Amiga were carefully and strategically divided amongst various companies that are indirectly paid off to KEEP it divided so that IT WILL NEVER be developed AGAIN! All this evil done onto the people of the world by Microsoft.
This guy is dissin Microsoft. How dare he? FLAIMBAIT. RELGIOUS NUT! OUTDATED idiotic thinking! Throw chairs at him! Microsoft owns the WORLD. It is THE ONLY solution you should ever use. BAWHAWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAW!
What you will want to do if you have a Windows machine on each end, is to secure each machine first. That would mean, over-writing the Windows operating system with a Unix/Unix-like system (Linux, BSD, Solaris, Hack-Mac). Then you have (most likely) built-in SFTP servers and clients. That is what I would do. Someone would eventually hack into your Windows system. That is the way Windows is, so that MS or an MS-partner can sell you the antidote to your virus woes (even after your cure your woes, they will come up with something another virus so as to sell you another cure to get your money.) Get security right from the start instead of an add-on. Go with Unix or a Unix clone.
Wyandotte MI is a self-sustaining city. It has it's own power, water, cable-tv, and probably it's own internet (wired or wireless) http://www.wyandotte.net/ in spite of the fact Detroit or Detroit companies hold a monopoly on most utilities in the area. When the Detroit utilities want to muscle communities in the area, where Wyandotte holds it's own, they laugh. Comcast is especially upset that Wyandotte had cable even before cable was available anywhere. Comcast can't touch it like they do in the Downriver Area. It is evident you know Wyandotte Cable has been around when the software for the teleprompter stops, and it shows 'Amiga OS 3.9' somewhere on the screen. The power of independence.
What do the "gay" monkeys do? This researched only talked about the male monkeys having sex with females. Is homosexual activity amongst monkeys not normal that someone would not show research on it? Do the gays monkeys just exchange meat and sex in all sorts of ways? What happens when groups of monkeys, male and female get together for a meat and sex orgy? I would hate think if whole families of monkeys just get it on. And if the monkeys would engage in Humanality (like Beastiality, just in reverse.) I think after this point, the meat and sex issue get a little obscured.
Even though good law and experience has shown that, leaving an industry to select few increases chaos, and decreases quality and innovation. It is no different here. The laws on the books said close down Microsoft, but Microsoft money paid to political election funds and special interest groups bought and locked in their illegal hold on the market. Thus, the platform that was designed to be a stand-alone system and not networked is the worst offender with spam-bot networks generating oodles of spam. You won't see the proof, because like all politics, Microsoft controls the tech media, blaming strong tried and true Unix and more specifically Linux, for the blame of IT follies.
I think that in these companies, and many other individuals, see Democracy as an opportunity for themselves to stay free under Democracy's rule, while subverting others below them to enslavement to their little dictatorships within the Democratic system. The patent system may exist for the sake of equality under Democracy, but it appears it is being manipulated to substantiate little dictatorships within a Democracy. It is just one of many system in Democracy that is being manipulated for this purpose. How about we enforce the principles of true Democracy and stop all these attempts to create little dictatorships with system, so that EVERYONE is free and benefits from Democracy, not just a select few.
The reality is: research that truly has an impact cannot be tied to product cycles.
I guess that is why some of the greatest things that exist only in MSR never come out as a product, because Microsoft upper management is only looking at the money, and how to completely own the technology so that they control the entire product. Not "give it away" or (some of it away), and let people interact and contribute to it. What good does technology and new ideas do for people if they are not given access to it? In the Microsoft model, we as consumers have to COMPLETELY DEPEND on Microsoft. That is how they maximize profit. They do a pretty good job at doing that. The balance of the situation between MS leadership and consumers is off. That is why MSR is not tied to product cycles. And since MS leadership only looks to the importance of the product cycle (capitalizing on upgrades), things in MSR hardly ever get out. You can have one, but not the other.
MSR only exists for the sole purpose of feeding MS management ideas, and giving them exclusive opportunity to make a profit. MS management does not share their new knowledge. And they don't share to the point that they are fat and rich. There is another way however, but Microsoft is resistive to the change it needs to continue as a business working with others in a democracy that is made "for the people", rich or poor.
How about all the jobs and innovation that were lost when the Microsoft Mafia gave Stac Electronics, Netscape, Corel, Caldera, Apple, Commodore, and Atari some dead fish and a pair of cement shoes. How about their insistence to continue slamming innovation in companies that is not Microsoft. They have money to burn on their Mafia-style politics. They don't care about helping people learn how to run computers. They care about how to feed people more Microsoft kool-aid and smoke more Windows crack, and make it look good. The road to HELL is paved with good intentions. Want to learn great skills? Load your computer with Open Source software and a Linux OS. Open-source software has always provided free education, by nature. Take advantage of an open-source education right now! I never needed Microsoft to teach me anything about computers except how to monopolize the market. But I am not a Socialist. I am a Fighter for True Democratic Freedom.
Until we can start working on ELIMINATING these things that don't work
Yea, tell that to Microsoft. Eliminate the monopoly so a freer market can exist. Microsoft has artificially injected motivation to key points of control in government and in the market, that in order for everyone to do the right thing, they would have to not listen to Microsoft.
And this isn't just Microsoft. Many (evil-to-true-democracy) companies do it. Lobbyists and litigation. Some just get away with it better than others because of how much they pay the watchdogs to look the other way. Where is the justice? (It's slow, because it has been slowed down not to judge right from wrong, true Democracy versus Monarchy/Dictatorship/Red Communism/Slavery, but to allow the robbery of freedoms.) If we won't repent, we can not continue in freedom, but we will hold ourselves in bondage. Going deeper into debt is one way to secure that bondage.
In the end, after all the bailouts have been made, all we might say is, "Guess that didn't work." It's not the rich and wealthy that will be hurting. It is the people who are not them that will hurt.
After all that crap about OOXML is open when it is not, all that railroading of the ISO and they are going to support ODF anyway? I am packing my bags. Jesus is coming soon!
I am not going to waste my time anymore wondering about this great marvel that just got sucked up by big money. It is a waste of time and money to do something corporately with this project and make it fly. It wasn't designed to do that from the start. This can be redone again, just with a commitment to Open Source and Freedom and actual benefit to the end user, not about lining someone pockets with whatever financial resource is left of the poorest of the dirt-poor.
From the start, Microsoft offered PC makers the option of pre-loading MS-Windows on PCs. Remember, most people had to install MS-DOS themselves. Then setup MS-Windows. But then, as MS-Windows evolved and shed MS-DOS, PCs came preloaded with Windows. How convenient. Ever since then and until the DOJ ruling, no one has been able to pre-install any other OS except MS-Windows on an OEM PC. Some PC manufacturers do offer Linux, but it is behind the scenes. Not really out there for the average person to see. Why? Because Microsoft puts the screws into the PC manufacturers and structures the MS-Windows promotional packages so that it is tied to the extreme discounts PC makers can have of licensing MS-Windows. If the DOJ did not at least bring Microsoft's anti-trust actions to light, you would have never had Linux on PCs today, I guaranteed it.
Now we have a flip situation, where a PC platform started off with Linux. And now to be "fair" (***see note below) we are going to include MS-Windows in a dual-boot form alongside Linux.
So some PC manufacturers who really want to offer Linux (like Dell) might be able to, in the light of DOJ observation or just in the public eye, offer Linux in a dual-boot form on their MS-Windows only PCs. After all, we want this to be as convenient as possible for consumers of computer technology so they have
"a choice."
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*** oh, excuse me, I shouldn't say it that way, "to be fair." We all know that everyone REALLY WANTS MS-Windows, so why should we withhold technology that "everybody wants." Shame on me. I should know better that the current atmosphere does offer a "fair" choice already. Could it even be "better" than that? Yes. And that is the unfairness of it. We do have better technology out there than MS-Windows. But if that better technology is artificially held back on the same hardware platform, a majority of people will ever know about it. Especially schools and low-income people who are stuck paying into technology that really could be improved, but can't, because a big fat gorilla holds it all at bay. And in the United States at least, the government presided by the Bush administration who quieted the DOJ for Microsoft because of campaign contributions, is letting them. 'See http://www.linux.com/articles/35173 and Google')
Yeah, I know. People are gonna say, "I hate on Micro...". No, this isn't hate. This is thinking outside the accepted ecosystem and upgrade cycle.
Load Linux and a basic X server with KDM or GDM. Connect to one expensive or speedy box running any Unix or Linux via X-server connection. Cheap remote desktops. No remote connection licenses required. Also replaces dumb X-terminals that normally cost $1000s.
Load with Linux, basic X environment, VNC Client or Rdesktop - Free Thin Client.
Min 400 Mhz with 256M ram and 4G hard drive with Linux - OpenOffice/Firefox/Flash/Mplayer with codecs - Economical Multimedia Mac/Desktop - Secure Unix environment
Min 200 Mhz with 128M Ram and Linux - Single purpose server/firewall
And the best part of all. All these PCs can be remotely administrated via command line using SSH, or graphically using VNC, or X-programs like Drakconf or YaST exported to a Unix/Linux/Mac desktop running X.org graphics.
Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer remember those days too. And they were laughing as they closed the last door that would secure their financial futures and forever destroy the successful competition that was occurring before Windows 3.1 and 95.
I remember those days. I had my heart set on migrating from my Commodore 64 to a 128 to an Amiga. The Amiga was a computer ahead of it's time. Now as Amiga IP is specifically scattered around the globe to where the platform can not be actively developed as a competitor to PCs and MS-Windows, something tells me that was not an accident.
All we are trying to do here, is give ourselves the freedom that was taken away by Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. And when you give Microsoft an inch, it will take the mile and leave it's competition dead with it's monster tire tracks all over their backs. No, worse than that. It makes sure it's drive tire, with nine inch spikes, is setting firmly on the back of it's competitor, then stomps on the gas and watches the flesh fly.
It is the reason we call Microsoft an anti-trust law violator. The laws that were meant to protect consumers show that they are in opposition of Microsoft and it's business practices. In other words, the citizens do not trust Microsoft.
Microsoft is not primarily about technology and serving people. It is self-serving, and very much consumed with the idea of placing MS-Windows in front of everyone, even if it means, completely removing any and every trace of opposition of competition that might exist to stop it. That is why I don't have an Amiga in my hands today. I kept all my old systems since 20 years ago. I have my Commodore 64. I have my Apple ][e. All I have from about 1990-95 is Novell DOS, and old versions of Windows. I do not have an Amiga. And I do not have any improvements of the Amiga. All those other systems were not allowed to continue, including OS2/Warp and the BeOS. Microsoft undid them all , except Apple. What I have today, is Linux. And Linux did not come to be like the Commodore 64, or Apple ][, or OS2/Warp, or the BeOS. It came about in ways that protected the software from the very things Microsoft was doing to destroy it's competition. If it wasn't for Richard Stallman, the only thing I would have in front of me today, is MS-Windows, which, over the years, has not improved overall the performance of computing. What has improved the computing experience, is Unix. For it is on Unix technology that the internet is based, and it is because of True Open Standards (not Microsoft "Open Standards") that has caused the internet's open and wild success. And Microsoft did not invent Unix. Over the years, a bunch of people from everywhere from various companies and organizations did. And it is the same technology that now powers Mac OS X (BSD) and Linux.
Just learn the concepts? You must be talking about a very limited set. What I have learned through Linux and Open Source software, I would have NEVER learned what I know today about computer technology from MS-Windows or any Microsoft products.
What I did learn from Microsoft, is that, if you are rich enough, you can buy the law, be above the law and you can sell anything to anyone even if it doesn't work quite as well as the products from your competitors that you destroyed out of existence, so people see that the only choice is you. Kind of like free elections during the time of the U.S.S.R. ???
Windows on OLPC? Hell no! Bring back OS2/Warp and BeOS first! Or, just keep Linux!
That monopoly existed because there was no other product on the market to fill that need
While I agree with the latter part of your statement, I don't agree with the former quoted above. There was a need. It was being filled. Commodore/Amiga, TI, Atari, Apple, Timex, Magnavox, VisaCalc, Lotus 1-2-3, WordPro, WordStar, dBaseIII, Novell DOS 7, Caldera DOS, OS/2 Warp, CP/M, Stacker (Stac Electronics), Netscape. Microsoft systematically destroyed software and hardware companies through litigation and court bullying, or cast fear, uncertainty, and doubt into many struggling companies and stockholder boards. Before the government got wind of it, the damage was already done. And the playing field was leveled, not by competition, but by one company with an army of lawyers seeking and destroying. And then there was no other marketable source of an OS except for Microsoft by 1995. The Department of Justice took on the task of taking down Microsoft. And Microsoft went to task of lobbying the government, and funding the George Bush campaign. The Clinton administration was ready to dismantle Microsoft. In stepped George Bush with a fist full of Microsoft cash, just got campaign-paid, and told the DOJ to back off. The effect of the law was compromised. Heck, just recently, George Bush came to Microsoft's rescue again - Bloomberg.com: U.S. - Bush defeats Anti-trust against Microsoft
I don't think any company can do what Microsoft did for at least another 20 years. Many weaknesses of people, society, and government have been exposed. But this time around, we have the internet and Slashdot, and Groklaw. Many more truths have been exposed. Internet news containment is out of control. Companies really do not control information flow on the net, like they can in traditional media where they can make people of a country fit into a box of their creation. It may take somewhat longer than that to repeat history, which mankind is doomed to do over again.
Apple, when they got the technology from Xerox Parc, technology that Xerox execs outrightly rejected, Steve Jobs was there to get it, legally and fair. But then Bill Gates stole it. (see Pirates of Silicon Valley) - Justice is not brought on those who slip up with stupidity like Steve Jobs may have done. Justice is brought on to those who break the law. And Bill Gates and co had enough power and politics to slither out of justice being served in the proper way when Apple and Microsoft went to court. Apple had to settle in order to survive. Just because Microsoft came out the victor, does not make Microsoft right or the winner of Justice. There are many court cases in the U.S. where the people lose and the criminals win because, in that case, justice is either corrupt or ignorant.
The reason caution should be given to Microsoft regarding anything they do, is because what they did (in the public eye and behind closed doors) with the existing market computer market in the late 80's... take a crappy product (MS-DOS and Windows 3.0) litigate companies out of existence (like Stac Electronics,) run companies/products off/reduce the market through either bullying or blackmail (Atari, Amiga/Commodore 64/128, Wordperfect for Linux, Novell DOS7, Caldera DOS, CP/M) or through their illegal monopoly (Wordperfect in general, Visa-calc, WordPro, dBase III,) or through investment manipulation (the indirect funding of SCO Unix to litigate against Linux/IBM,) or even recently, the vote-buying and rigging of the ISO to pass a stupid standard like OOXML off as an ISO standard.
No, Bill Gates is not the Devil, but he might be listening to him. And a lot of what MS-Executives do, not necessarily the employees, is Evil. Evil against a true democratic-judicial system that is somewhat prone to influence, bribery, and special interests when enough money is presented with a certain level of political maneuvering. True justice is when a person without large sums of money, a person like the consumer, can be protected from a person with a lot of wealth, power, and influence. (BTW: When someone can successfully use power, wealth, and influence to compromise a market and law enforcement the way microsoft has done over the years, that is not True Capitalism. That is Greed, Suppression of the People, and Taking Unfair Advantage of the consumer market. There is a reason they call it ANTI-TRUST, because the market DOES NOT TRUST them. You can defile the true beneficial impact of ANTI-TRUST by paying off the guardians of Trust.)
And no, how Microsoft runs their business is not how it is suppose to be, because there were certain laws established to protect consumer markets, and all Microsoft see them as are marketing hurdles, not items that give respect to the people. By their actions, they reduce the options available to the market, because they know themselves, that anyone can out-produce, out-innovate, or out-create them. They had to change the rules to suit their corporate personality, which is equal to that of a high-school bully.
Defending Microsoft? You claim you are not. But I refused to buy into the lie that Microsoft is a good corporate citizen of it's market and country. I want corporate responsibility, accountability, and true innovation by even the smallest least insignificant inventor, to give them a chance to get themselves out of poverty or a lower economic class just like people in pro-sports do. All of the citizens are valuable, not just a select few rich and wealthy people who also happen to be bent on Greed instead of being a public or market servant.
I understand why Microsoft does this, but I wonder if it is really solving the problem?
In my 15 years of tech support experience, Microsoft has really never been into solving problems except how to keep their bottom line well funded, keep their particular set of stock holders happy, and how to do Disaster Recovery on their Public Relations. They give priority to the people who give them the most money. General use consumers are very low on the priority list.
As long as I have Google, and Linux or Mac OS X running, I'm happy.
There are 10 type of people who understand binary. Those that do. And those that don't
Slashdot Mirror
If the laptops have some Linux OS installed, then I would say it is a good will gesture. If the laptops have MS-Windows installed, basically someone is handing them a laptop full of virus-infested software. MS-Windows has been detected as one big virus itself. Stuff that in your USB port.
I still have my Commodore Computers. I fired them up about 5 years ago, and I can STILL read my floppy disks from ages ago even with the 1541 (1 or 2) 5-1/4" disk drives that are suppose to be prone to head-alignment issues (I keep them stored with the head-protectors in place and I try to keep the disks away from magnetic sources.)
I bought some Apple ]['s in the past 10 years, so I can see my assembly language programs. (remember call -768 or call -936, or in#6 or pr#6?)
If I could, I'd get an Amiga today. The reason why you don't see new Amigas around is because Bill Gates made sure the Amiga market would die by 1995 and REMAIN dead. Because he wanted to make sure he could get Windows 95 out to the masses, unchallenged, because Windows 95 could easily be overthrown and outperformed. Bill Gates and company did not make anything better than what was already out, so he had to KILL the competition through blackmail, covert backdoor deals, encourage dishonesty in competitor companies, and litigate companies and products out of existence. In retrospect, it wasn't until Windows XP that Microsoft and PC suppliers could almost "catch up" to the Amiga. So with the Amiga gone and unable to be redeveloped effectively (still to this day), Bill Gates leveled (ie: demolished in a very unethical and lawless way - but you pay off your Congressmen, and your wishes become the law) the existing playing field and rebuilt the playing field around Microsoft. The Amiga, by 1990, had VGA graphics, a sound synthesizer chip, an IDE hard drive interface, a hard drive, modular memory, a 32-bit True Pre-emptive Multi-tasking operating system, a Graphics User Interface, and the most popular accessory that sold very well for it was the Video Toaster. By 1995, most PCs had these basic features (Microsoft was still struggling with the OS, it was not true pre-emptive nor true 32-bit. Some parts are still not 32-bit until Windows 7 - It takes this long for a company like Microsoft to implement 1990 technology?) And, about 5 years ago, well after the demise of the Amiga, someone hooked up an IOMEGA SCSI ZIP disk to it, and guess what. because SCSI was an established standard and the specs were open, the Amiga could implement and use the ZIP disk to the fullest extent, even though the ZIP disk was created well after development and production stopped on the Amiga. Now that is a powerful computer. try developing the computer now. The technology is still around. But you can't because all the parts that make up the Amiga were carefully and strategically divided amongst various companies that are indirectly paid off to KEEP it divided so that IT WILL NEVER be developed AGAIN! All this evil done onto the people of the world by Microsoft.
This guy is dissin Microsoft. How dare he? FLAIMBAIT. RELGIOUS NUT! OUTDATED idiotic thinking! Throw chairs at him! Microsoft owns the WORLD. It is THE ONLY solution you should ever use. BAWHAWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAW!
Counter-Anti-Microsoft post paid for by Microsoft
What you will want to do if you have a Windows machine on each end, is to secure each machine first. That would mean, over-writing the Windows operating system with a Unix/Unix-like system (Linux, BSD, Solaris, Hack-Mac). Then you have (most likely) built-in SFTP servers and clients. That is what I would do. Someone would eventually hack into your Windows system. That is the way Windows is, so that MS or an MS-partner can sell you the antidote to your virus woes (even after your cure your woes, they will come up with something another virus so as to sell you another cure to get your money.) Get security right from the start instead of an add-on. Go with Unix or a Unix clone.
Wyandotte MI is a self-sustaining city. It has it's own power, water, cable-tv, and probably it's own internet (wired or wireless) http://www.wyandotte.net/ in spite of the fact Detroit or Detroit companies hold a monopoly on most utilities in the area. When the Detroit utilities want to muscle communities in the area, where Wyandotte holds it's own, they laugh. Comcast is especially upset that Wyandotte had cable even before cable was available anywhere. Comcast can't touch it like they do in the Downriver Area. It is evident you know Wyandotte Cable has been around when the software for the teleprompter stops, and it shows 'Amiga OS 3.9' somewhere on the screen. The power of independence.
What do the "gay" monkeys do? This researched only talked about the male monkeys having sex with females. Is homosexual activity amongst monkeys not normal that someone would not show research on it? Do the gays monkeys just exchange meat and sex in all sorts of ways? What happens when groups of monkeys, male and female get together for a meat and sex orgy? I would hate think if whole families of monkeys just get it on. And if the monkeys would engage in Humanality (like Beastiality, just in reverse.) I think after this point, the meat and sex issue get a little obscured.
Even though good law and experience has shown that, leaving an industry to select few increases chaos, and decreases quality and innovation. It is no different here. The laws on the books said close down Microsoft, but Microsoft money paid to political election funds and special interest groups bought and locked in their illegal hold on the market. Thus, the platform that was designed to be a stand-alone system and not networked is the worst offender with spam-bot networks generating oodles of spam. You won't see the proof, because like all politics, Microsoft controls the tech media, blaming strong tried and true Unix and more specifically Linux, for the blame of IT follies.
I think that in these companies, and many other individuals, see Democracy as an opportunity for themselves to stay free under Democracy's rule, while subverting others below them to enslavement to their little dictatorships within the Democratic system. The patent system may exist for the sake of equality under Democracy, but it appears it is being manipulated to substantiate little dictatorships within a Democracy. It is just one of many system in Democracy that is being manipulated for this purpose. How about we enforce the principles of true Democracy and stop all these attempts to create little dictatorships with system, so that EVERYONE is free and benefits from Democracy, not just a select few.
The reality is: research that truly has an impact cannot be tied to product cycles.
I guess that is why some of the greatest things that exist only in MSR never come out as a product, because Microsoft upper management is only looking at the money, and how to completely own the technology so that they control the entire product. Not "give it away" or (some of it away), and let people interact and contribute to it. What good does technology and new ideas do for people if they are not given access to it? In the Microsoft model, we as consumers have to COMPLETELY DEPEND on Microsoft. That is how they maximize profit. They do a pretty good job at doing that. The balance of the situation between MS leadership and consumers is off. That is why MSR is not tied to product cycles. And since MS leadership only looks to the importance of the product cycle (capitalizing on upgrades), things in MSR hardly ever get out. You can have one, but not the other.
MSR only exists for the sole purpose of feeding MS management ideas, and giving them exclusive opportunity to make a profit. MS management does not share their new knowledge. And they don't share to the point that they are fat and rich. There is another way however, but Microsoft is resistive to the change it needs to continue as a business working with others in a democracy that is made "for the people", rich or poor.
How about all the jobs and innovation that were lost when the Microsoft Mafia gave Stac Electronics, Netscape, Corel, Caldera, Apple, Commodore, and Atari some dead fish and a pair of cement shoes. How about their insistence to continue slamming innovation in companies that is not Microsoft. They have money to burn on their Mafia-style politics. They don't care about helping people learn how to run computers. They care about how to feed people more Microsoft kool-aid and smoke more Windows crack, and make it look good. The road to HELL is paved with good intentions. Want to learn great skills? Load your computer with Open Source software and a Linux OS. Open-source software has always provided free education, by nature. Take advantage of an open-source education right now! I never needed Microsoft to teach me anything about computers except how to monopolize the market. But I am not a Socialist. I am a Fighter for True Democratic Freedom.
Until we can start working on ELIMINATING these things that don't work
Yea, tell that to Microsoft. Eliminate the monopoly so a freer market can exist. Microsoft has artificially injected motivation to key points of control in government and in the market, that in order for everyone to do the right thing, they would have to not listen to Microsoft.
And this isn't just Microsoft. Many (evil-to-true-democracy) companies do it. Lobbyists and litigation. Some just get away with it better than others because of how much they pay the watchdogs to look the other way. Where is the justice? (It's slow, because it has been slowed down not to judge right from wrong, true Democracy versus Monarchy/Dictatorship/Red Communism/Slavery, but to allow the robbery of freedoms.) If we won't repent, we can not continue in freedom, but we will hold ourselves in bondage. Going deeper into debt is one way to secure that bondage.
In the end, after all the bailouts have been made, all we might say is, "Guess that didn't work." It's not the rich and wealthy that will be hurting. It is the people who are not them that will hurt.
blame the IT guys.
instead of trying to scream at Bill Gates. Maybe I will come into the store, and wack them over the head with my Commodore 64 -- YEEEAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!
Any you kiddies know what a 'B-side' is?
After all that crap about OOXML is open when it is not, all that railroading of the ISO and they are going to support ODF anyway? I am packing my bags. Jesus is coming soon!
I am not going to waste my time anymore wondering about this great marvel that just got sucked up by big money. It is a waste of time and money to do something corporately with this project and make it fly. It wasn't designed to do that from the start. This can be redone again, just with a commitment to Open Source and Freedom and actual benefit to the end user, not about lining someone pockets with whatever financial resource is left of the poorest of the dirt-poor.
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Want Freedom? http://pcfreedomusa.com/
will gladly educate Mr. Negroponte on how a non-profit gets away with Fraud and Conversion in the public eye.
From the start, Microsoft offered PC makers the option of pre-loading MS-Windows on PCs. Remember, most people had to install MS-DOS themselves. Then setup MS-Windows. But then, as MS-Windows evolved and shed MS-DOS, PCs came preloaded with Windows. How convenient. Ever since then and until the DOJ ruling, no one has been able to pre-install any other OS except MS-Windows on an OEM PC. Some PC manufacturers do offer Linux, but it is behind the scenes. Not really out there for the average person to see. Why? Because Microsoft puts the screws into the PC manufacturers and structures the MS-Windows promotional packages so that it is tied to the extreme discounts PC makers can have of licensing MS-Windows. If the DOJ did not at least bring Microsoft's anti-trust actions to light, you would have never had Linux on PCs today, I guaranteed it.
Now we have a flip situation, where a PC platform started off with Linux. And now to be "fair" (***see note below) we are going to include MS-Windows in a dual-boot form alongside Linux.
So some PC manufacturers who really want to offer Linux (like Dell) might be able to, in the light of DOJ observation or just in the public eye, offer Linux in a dual-boot form on their MS-Windows only PCs. After all, we want this to be as convenient as possible for consumers of computer technology so they have
"a choice."
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*** oh, excuse me, I shouldn't say it that way, "to be fair." We all know that everyone REALLY WANTS MS-Windows, so why should we withhold technology that "everybody wants." Shame on me. I should know better that the current atmosphere does offer a "fair" choice already. Could it even be "better" than that? Yes. And that is the unfairness of it. We do have better technology out there than MS-Windows. But if that better technology is artificially held back on the same hardware platform, a majority of people will ever know about it. Especially schools and low-income people who are stuck paying into technology that really could be improved, but can't, because a big fat gorilla holds it all at bay. And in the United States at least, the government presided by the Bush administration who quieted the DOJ for Microsoft because of campaign contributions, is letting them. 'See http://www.linux.com/articles/35173 and Google')
Open Solaris - http://opensolaris.org/
FreeBSD - http://freebsd.org/ (excellent bridged IPless firewall capability)
NetBSD - http://netbsd.org/
Yeah, I know. People are gonna say, "I hate on Micro...". No, this isn't hate. This is thinking outside the accepted ecosystem and upgrade cycle.
Load Linux and a basic X server with KDM or GDM. Connect to one expensive or speedy box running any Unix or Linux via X-server connection. Cheap remote desktops. No remote connection licenses required. Also replaces dumb X-terminals that normally cost $1000s.
Load with Linux, basic X environment, VNC Client or Rdesktop - Free Thin Client.
Min 400 Mhz with 256M ram and 4G hard drive with Linux - OpenOffice/Firefox/Flash/Mplayer with codecs - Economical Multimedia Mac/Desktop - Secure Unix environment
Min 200 Mhz with 128M Ram and Linux - Single purpose server/firewall
And the best part of all. All these PCs can be remotely administrated via command line using SSH, or graphically using VNC, or X-programs like Drakconf or YaST exported to a Unix/Linux/Mac desktop running X.org graphics.
===
Want Freedom? - http://pcfreedomusa.com/
Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer remember those days too. And they were laughing as they closed the last door that would secure their financial futures and forever destroy the successful competition that was occurring before Windows 3.1 and 95.
I remember those days. I had my heart set on migrating from my Commodore 64 to a 128 to an Amiga. The Amiga was a computer ahead of it's time. Now as Amiga IP is specifically scattered around the globe to where the platform can not be actively developed as a competitor to PCs and MS-Windows, something tells me that was not an accident.
All we are trying to do here, is give ourselves the freedom that was taken away by Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. And when you give Microsoft an inch, it will take the mile and leave it's competition dead with it's monster tire tracks all over their backs. No, worse than that. It makes sure it's drive tire, with nine inch spikes, is setting firmly on the back of it's competitor, then stomps on the gas and watches the flesh fly.
It is the reason we call Microsoft an anti-trust law violator. The laws that were meant to protect consumers show that they are in opposition of Microsoft and it's business practices. In other words, the citizens do not trust Microsoft.
Microsoft is not primarily about technology and serving people. It is self-serving, and very much consumed with the idea of placing MS-Windows in front of everyone, even if it means, completely removing any and every trace of opposition of competition that might exist to stop it. That is why I don't have an Amiga in my hands today. I kept all my old systems since 20 years ago. I have my Commodore 64. I have my Apple ][e. All I have from about 1990-95 is Novell DOS, and old versions of Windows. I do not have an Amiga. And I do not have any improvements of the Amiga. All those other systems were not allowed to continue, including OS2/Warp and the BeOS. Microsoft undid them all , except Apple. What I have today, is Linux. And Linux did not come to be like the Commodore 64, or Apple ][, or OS2/Warp, or the BeOS. It came about in ways that protected the software from the very things Microsoft was doing to destroy it's competition. If it wasn't for Richard Stallman, the only thing I would have in front of me today, is MS-Windows, which, over the years, has not improved overall the performance of computing. What has improved the computing experience, is Unix. For it is on Unix technology that the internet is based, and it is because of True Open Standards (not Microsoft "Open Standards") that has caused the internet's open and wild success. And Microsoft did not invent Unix. Over the years, a bunch of people from everywhere from various companies and organizations did. And it is the same technology that now powers Mac OS X (BSD) and Linux.
Just learn the concepts? You must be talking about a very limited set. What I have learned through Linux and Open Source software, I would have NEVER learned what I know today about computer technology from MS-Windows or any Microsoft products.
What I did learn from Microsoft, is that, if you are rich enough, you can buy the law, be above the law and you can sell anything to anyone even if it doesn't work quite as well as the products from your competitors that you destroyed out of existence, so people see that the only choice is you. Kind of like free elections during the time of the U.S.S.R. ???
Windows on OLPC? Hell no! Bring back OS2/Warp and BeOS first! Or, just keep Linux!
That monopoly existed because there was no other product on the market to fill that need
While I agree with the latter part of your statement, I don't agree with the former quoted above. There was a need. It was being filled. Commodore/Amiga, TI, Atari, Apple, Timex, Magnavox, VisaCalc, Lotus 1-2-3, WordPro, WordStar, dBaseIII, Novell DOS 7, Caldera DOS, OS/2 Warp, CP/M, Stacker (Stac Electronics), Netscape. Microsoft systematically destroyed software and hardware companies through litigation and court bullying, or cast fear, uncertainty, and doubt into many struggling companies and stockholder boards. Before the government got wind of it, the damage was already done. And the playing field was leveled, not by competition, but by one company with an army of lawyers seeking and destroying. And then there was no other marketable source of an OS except for Microsoft by 1995. The Department of Justice took on the task of taking down Microsoft. And Microsoft went to task of lobbying the government, and funding the George Bush campaign. The Clinton administration was ready to dismantle Microsoft. In stepped George Bush with a fist full of Microsoft cash, just got campaign-paid, and told the DOJ to back off. The effect of the law was compromised. Heck, just recently, George Bush came to Microsoft's rescue again - Bloomberg.com: U.S. - Bush defeats Anti-trust against Microsoft
I don't think any company can do what Microsoft did for at least another 20 years. Many weaknesses of people, society, and government have been exposed. But this time around, we have the internet and Slashdot, and Groklaw. Many more truths have been exposed. Internet news containment is out of control. Companies really do not control information flow on the net, like they can in traditional media where they can make people of a country fit into a box of their creation. It may take somewhat longer than that to repeat history, which mankind is doomed to do over again.
Apple, when they got the technology from Xerox Parc, technology that Xerox execs outrightly rejected, Steve Jobs was there to get it, legally and fair. But then Bill Gates stole it. (see Pirates of Silicon Valley) - Justice is not brought on those who slip up with stupidity like Steve Jobs may have done. Justice is brought on to those who break the law. And Bill Gates and co had enough power and politics to slither out of justice being served in the proper way when Apple and Microsoft went to court. Apple had to settle in order to survive. Just because Microsoft came out the victor, does not make Microsoft right or the winner of Justice. There are many court cases in the U.S. where the people lose and the criminals win because, in that case, justice is either corrupt or ignorant.
The reason caution should be given to Microsoft regarding anything they do, is because what they did (in the public eye and behind closed doors) with the existing market computer market in the late 80's... take a crappy product (MS-DOS and Windows 3.0) litigate companies out of existence (like Stac Electronics,) run companies/products off/reduce the market through either bullying or blackmail (Atari, Amiga/Commodore 64/128, Wordperfect for Linux, Novell DOS7, Caldera DOS, CP/M) or through their illegal monopoly (Wordperfect in general, Visa-calc, WordPro, dBase III,) or through investment manipulation (the indirect funding of SCO Unix to litigate against Linux/IBM,) or even recently, the vote-buying and rigging of the ISO to pass a stupid standard like OOXML off as an ISO standard.
No, Bill Gates is not the Devil, but he might be listening to him. And a lot of what MS-Executives do, not necessarily the employees, is Evil. Evil against a true democratic-judicial system that is somewhat prone to influence, bribery, and special interests when enough money is presented with a certain level of political maneuvering. True justice is when a person without large sums of money, a person like the consumer, can be protected from a person with a lot of wealth, power, and influence. (BTW: When someone can successfully use power, wealth, and influence to compromise a market and law enforcement the way microsoft has done over the years, that is not True Capitalism. That is Greed, Suppression of the People, and Taking Unfair Advantage of the consumer market. There is a reason they call it ANTI-TRUST, because the market DOES NOT TRUST them. You can defile the true beneficial impact of ANTI-TRUST by paying off the guardians of Trust.)
And no, how Microsoft runs their business is not how it is suppose to be, because there were certain laws established to protect consumer markets, and all Microsoft see them as are marketing hurdles, not items that give respect to the people. By their actions, they reduce the options available to the market, because they know themselves, that anyone can out-produce, out-innovate, or out-create them. They had to change the rules to suit their corporate personality, which is equal to that of a high-school bully.
Defending Microsoft? You claim you are not. But I refused to buy into the lie that Microsoft is a good corporate citizen of it's market and country. I want corporate responsibility, accountability, and true innovation by even the smallest least insignificant inventor, to give them a chance to get themselves out of poverty or a lower economic class just like people in pro-sports do. All of the citizens are valuable, not just a select few rich and wealthy people who also happen to be bent on Greed instead of being a public or market servant.
I understand why Microsoft does this, but I wonder if it is really solving the problem?
In my 15 years of tech support experience, Microsoft has really never been into solving problems except how to keep their bottom line well funded, keep their particular set of stock holders happy, and how to do Disaster Recovery on their Public Relations. They give priority to the people who give them the most money. General use consumers are very low on the priority list.
As long as I have Google, and Linux or Mac OS X running, I'm happy.
There are 10 type of people who understand binary. Those that do. And those that don't