Re: Maxim & Microsoft I'm not so sure about XML being a) a Microsoft file format or b) that parsing it is all that difficult, but I basically chucked MS for development purposes about a year ago, and darn near went bankrupt as a result. Here in Canada, if anything, imho blind allegiance to the Vole is more mindless and pandemic than the US.
Fwiw, you can even get decent performance out of a Windows box by shutting off IE, dumping the shell for Litestep or what-have-you. (I should point out I only realized I was doing this to this particular machine after the fact - it wasn't a plan, per se.) Once I dumped out Excel and Access and generally eschewed all things Vole, I began to see what I think is the ulitmate goal here, which is to get these little flat things on our desks to do what we want instead of what Little Billy wants. I've noticed a few emails lately which have asked about interfacing Rebol with MS This, release n**4, and my experience building this strange little computer says "find the simple solution at the cheapest cost" almost always means dumping VoleBloat. There's almost always a Rebol way, and doing it from the ground up in Rebol has always taxed my aging mind less than tilting at the MS windmill. There's still a ton more for me to learn, but I'm muddling through, with your combined experiences to guide me. Thanks for that. This machine is now dedicated to running a server for people with addictions to use. It provides a useful free public service worldwide for alcoholics and other substance abusers. By and large, it runs on an inexpensive piece of hardware and it doesn't make the Vole a dime [sic]. It's not 100% REBOL, but there's a lot, plus Python and PHP on Apache. Take heart, Maxim. My guess is the markets might yet take VoleSoft to task. Folks here tend worry more about the economic effect of bursting that bubble, but North America did survive the markets' belated acknowledgment that we made crappy cars. Now I betcha there's the odd Merc or Beemer in the Vole's staff parking lots. Me, I was figuring maybe I should sue the Vole for exacerbating my own addictions with the convoluted dross that Redmond passes off as development software. Dang! It says I have to take responsibility for my own addictions! Peter -- To unsubscribe from this list, just send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe as the subject.
