Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 15:34:32 -0500 (EST)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at keithlynch.net>
To: WSFAlist at keithlynch.net
Subject: [WSFA] Microsoft (was Re: equal pay)
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

"Strong, Lee" <StrongL at MTMC.ARMY.MIL> wrote:

> <Seriousness alert> What is so bad about Bill Gates and/or
> Microsoft?  I've heard a lot of hostile comments but I've never
> heard any real evidence of wrongdoing.  Please provide specifics.
> Thank you,

I don't know about "wrongdoing," but I avoid using Microsoft products
because they are bug-ridden, slow, and bloated.  It is NOT normal
for an operating system to crash.  Nor for it to be possible to get
computer viruses simply by reading email.  If computers are thousands
of times faster than twenty years ago, why do they take just as long
to boot?  And if disks are ten thousand times larger, why are they
always nearly full?

All the computer power that was used to put a man on the moon wouldn't
suffice to even boot up Windows far enough to get an "insufficient
memory" error.

I'm also dismayed by the arrogance of that company.  For instance
their suggestion, in response to a bug involving the word "begin" at
the start of a line, that everyone stop using the word "begin"!  Or
by their casual assumption that everyone is a software pirate.  They
arrange deals where it's almost impossible for anyone to buy a PC
without also paying for an included copy of Windows.  And then they
turn around and use the count of included copies of Windows to "prove"
that almost everyone uses Windows, and that this deal is justified to
prevent piracy!

Also, their license terms say that if you don't agree to the license
terms, and do not use the software, return it, and you will get a
full refund.  People who have attempted to get a refund for the pre-
installed copies of Windows they had paid for but neither wanted nor
used got the runaround.

It's not difficult to be Microsoft-free.  Those of you were were over
here on Fifth Friday saw that I have lots of computers, and lots of
computer books.  But the only thing by Microsoft was a FORTRAN manual
from the 70s.  (That was the buggiest implementation of FORTRAN I had
ever used, and was my first exposure to Bill Gates' firm.)

The existence of this list, of various features on our web page, and
the fact that my email is always free of stray equal signs, ads, and
HTML show that the software I use is not only cheaper, faster, more
compact, and more robust than anything by Microsoft, it's also more
powerful, and gives its users more flexibility and control.  Also,
its error messages aren't incomprehensible.

I'm utterly baffled by Microsoft's success.  Back in the late 70s I
wrongly predicted that the company had no future.
--
Keith F. Lynch - kfl at keithlynch.net - http://keithlynch.net/
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