--- Eric G Ortego <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > *applause* -nice post > > John Hebert wrote: ... > >For the sake of argument, I can name a number of > >examples. Their development environments (Visual > >Studio, etc.) are very nice. > > I agree but still MSVS lets you develop bugged > software in a very nice > environment =)
Agreed, but that's not necessarily because it's Microsoft. I'm sure vi and emacs have been abused to create its share of buggy software. ;) > >Let's be rational here for a moment. Some > >people|corporations are willing to trade their > freedom > >for ease of use. > > > > Politics can make anyone apathetic at times. (see > sig) Agreed, but we then merely put off the day of reckoning, and lose our freedoms act (DMCA) by act (PATRIOT Act). How can we bury our heads in the sand like this? Is it some kind of "lost in the crowd" mentality? > >How can we compete against what > >Micro$oft is doing right? > > > Only by boycott and hard work on competing products. When you say "boycott", do you mean "alternative"? Boycott is another of those politically-intertwined concepts that can be grossly abused. I think instead that people|corporations should exercise their freedom to choose an alternative. Again, this speaks for itself: http://news.netcraft.com/archives/web_server_survey.html. The task is for the Linux and free|open source software communities to inform people|corporations of the alternatives. > That has to mostly > involve any tech support of all its products (which > has become a > business itself , therefore is nearly impossible to > boycott) . Hmmm, sounds to me like you work in tech support? ;) > Why > support something microsoft owns? Agreed, why? Because it has apparent value to the buyer. When was the last time you bought a DVD? An RIAA approved music CD? Just playing the Devil's Advocate here. Choice; we must have the freedom to choose. > You don't own the software. That is true for lots of media. Try singing "Happy Birthday" in a large public forum or on a public broadcast medium. You will owe money to Michael Jackson. > You have a > license to use it, IANAL but that license can be > taken or taxed, like > any other legal license?, at the licensee's > discretion. This is true, to my understanding. > I should be able > to file a class action suit to collect fees for > working on "their software". You can, but I don't think it would go far, as you agreed to the EULA. Again, this is the conundrum of freedom. We are free to follow the rules or abuse them. Who is abusing and who is being abused? Guess it depends on who you ask. > -- > > They seem to have learned the habit of cowering > before authority even when > not actually threatened. How very nice for > authority. I decided not to > learn this particular lesson. > -- Richard Stallman All hail St. Richard. ;) ===== John Hebert 'cat /dev/random | perl' __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it! http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ps/sb/
