On Tue, 2002-11-26 at 10:55, Derek Martin wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > At some point hitherto, Paul Iadonisi hath spake thusly: > > > > True. Next question: Do I want to work for one of them? :-) > > > > > > Good question. Can you pay the rent this month? > > > > I'll try not to be too knee-jerk here, but my general reaction would > > be (if I couldn't pay the rent) is: "Gee, you're right, I can't pay the > > rent. I think I need to go sell some illicit drugs." Different people > > Bleah. There is a HUGE difference between choosing (or not choosing) > doing something which is punnishable by law, or something that is > known to cause serious harm to people, and something that you'd simply > rather not do...
I will concede that there is a huge difference between the two. However: o Multnomah County has a policy not to do business with those convicted of, oh, I think it was federal crime. Whatever, the point is that the M$ antitrust conviction makes them fall into this category. So a Multnomah County employee doing county business with M$ Word could be potentially violating the law. (I'm reaching here, but having fun doing it ;-)) o Drugs harm the body and the society as a whole. Monopolies do significant damage to markets and society in terms of choice. It could also be argued that continuing to support the M$ monopoly in way is contributing to that harm. (Now, I'm *really* reaching here. Hehe.) Okay, a little more seriously, now. While I agree the comparison was not a good one, I do take exception to the statement that it's just "something I'd rather not do." It's much more than that for me. It's a form of protest against the regurgitations of the Redmond pariah and anyone who even unknowingly spreads its control-polluted technologies. -- -Paul Iadonisi Senior System Administrator Red Hat Certified Engineer / Local Linux Lobbyist Ever see a penguin fly? -- Try Linux. GPL all the way: Sell services, don't lease secrets _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
