Sorry, I didn't scroll down to Linux. I wouldn't hold your breath on it being the Everywhere OS of choice. The price of FREE doesn't conjure up images in my mind as being "FREE". If I were to condense everything, no make that EVERYTHING I have come to know an understand in life, there is Absolutely Nothing OF VALUE In Life That Is FREE!
It looks attractive to the compulsive tinkerers, but when I load up a box with gigabytes of software (you know, like the box you do your work on everyday), you want IT to work, not make you work on IT. I will admin that with each major OS upgrade, I am not an early adoptee because of the aforementioned. I want the damned thing to run day in and out (which is exactly what my NT40Ws does). Still today people bitch about the price of Basic Windows (www.pricewatch.com has it at $78). That's barely twice what Dos 1.0 cost 20 years ago (I don't know how many lines of code Dos 1.0 had, but didn't Windows 95 have about 35 million?). You know, when Microsoft and IBM embarked on OS 1.0, early on it wasn't going to be backward compatible with much if any existing software, but the cadre of grumblers grew to such a din that the compatibility issue became part of the reason for the split between Msoft and IBM (as I have come to understand from no one particular source, but bits and pieces through the years), and the inclusion of the Dos Subsystem and further when it became WinNt, the retention of the OS/2 Subsystem. This backward compatibility is and has been the Achilles heel of the OS. If the OS had been a clean slate 15 years ago and maintained that way, there wouldn't be any of the problems that are immediately apparent when compared to Unix or Linux. Windows XP goes a long way to address those problems and you can believe that a company that spends over 2.5 billion, That's B-B-Billion dollars annually on R&D isn't going down anytime soon, nor is the software they produce ever going to be lacking in market appeal. ( I had some words here about Ellison and McNealy but I was sure it would incite flames and that's not my intent) I just wanted to say, that for the most part, I am not unhappy with software that I buy from Microsoft, Rbase Technologies, AutoDesk, Adobe, HP, Caere, Borland, or any other vendor with regard to Price or Reliability ( well maybe not MapInfo, it's salty to buy and maintain a current version) and am actually quite happy that by some miracle all this stuff seems to work right here on this very box. Another way to look at it, really no matter what it is, politics, soda pop, or software, People tend to vote with their pocketbooks and even though there is a segment of the market that is strongly anti-Microsoft, there is a huge one that isn't. Hell, if the money were actually votes, Bill wouldn't be president, He would be King. Don't take it all so seriously, things have a way of working out. Mike ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott Salisbury" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2002 5:59 PM Subject: Re: [Off Topic] - Access > Over the years, the books in the bookstore > have been a very accurate measure of what's > popular. And I've noticed that they are also > an accurate prediction of what's going to be > popular... > > I noticed that the number of books on VB is > going way down while the number of books > on Java is going way up. There are tons of > books on HTML, XML, Java, JavaScript, > etc... There are fewer and fewer books > relating to the various MS technologies. > > I also think that public perception of M$ is > going to turn more and more negative as > time goes on. Americans are not big on the > "Big Brother" approach that M$ is taking > with Windows XP. As I understand it, if > you change more than 5 things in your PC, > M$ will know about it and in some cases, > such changes will cancel your XP license > and you'll have to purchase a new one. > > It's only a matter of time before the tide > turns and a lot of people decide that enough > is enough. > > Take a look at the bookstores selection of > Linux books. Linux is the up-and-coming > thing... > > Scott > ==== > "Richard S. Croy" wrote: > > > While I was in my local Borders books today, I counted > > 35 -- yes, 35! -- separate titles of third-party books on > > "Access." > > > > That says something . . . but I'm not sure what. > > > > -- > > Richard S. Croy > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > ================================================ > > TO SEE MESSAGE POSTING GUIDELINES: > > Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > In the message body, put just two words: INTRO rbase-l > > ================================================ > > TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > In the message body, put just two words: UNSUBSCRIBE rbase-l > > -- > > > Scott > ==== > Scott J. Salisbury > Matrix Data Systems / The R:Street Journal > 5114 Point Fosdick Drive NW, Suite E-272 > Gig Harbor, WA 98335-1733 > > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.MatrixDataSystems.Com > http://www.SeaNet.Com/~sjs > Direct Line: 206-423-7679 > Toll Free: 888-386-5040 > Seattle: 206-448-7975 > Tacoma: 253-444-5166 > Fax: 305-425-0491 > > > ================================================ > TO SEE MESSAGE POSTING GUIDELINES: > Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > In the message body, put just two words: INTRO rbase-l > ================================================ > TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > In the message body, put just two words: UNSUBSCRIBE rbase-l > ================================================ TO SEE MESSAGE POSTING GUIDELINES: Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message body, put just two words: INTRO rbase-l ================================================ TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message body, put just two words: UNSUBSCRIBE rbase-l
