Re: [PLUG] Microsoft's statement about Solaris-based Hotmail (old)

[Bill Jonas <bj@netaxs.com>]

As the original poster, I feel I'm obliged to comment on this.  :)  I'm
on third shift, so I'm just now getting to reply.

On Thu, 17 Feb 2000, Darxus wrote:

>On Thu, 17 Feb 2000, Michael W. Ryan wrote:
>
>> My apologies for the response.  It's mostly a matter the straw breaking

You better be careful, Michael.  People have gotten on my case about
that before.  ;)

>Oh, I disagree.  I think that FUD does do Microsoft a lot of good.  That's
>the scary part.  The large percentage of people that don't see it for what
>it is.  

Agreed.  Large numbers of people don't think critically enough to
discern when they're being given a snow job.  Disclaimer:  I know I'm
not the most critical thinker in the world, but, IMO, I tend to try a
little harder than the average person.

>The only thing in this thread that might be considered Microsoft bashing
>was " Probably the standard 'Microsoft doesn't trust their own OS' being
>dusted off on the same day they're releasing Win2k."  I'm not exactly sure

...which was *not* mentioned by me...

>what it meant, but it didn't seem overly harmful to Linux's image.  

Personally, I didn't even consider the fact that yesterday was Win2K day
at all.  Just never occurred to me.  The day carried n orders of
magnitude more significance (for large values of n)  as my three-year
engagement anniversary. 

>> Second, some of us actually work in the Microsoft environment.  And,
>> frankly, I find the pity expressed over that and the abject MS bashing (as
>> opposed to knowledgable comparisons) that occurs here rather insulting.

Without sounding arrogant, I'd like to point out that you *do* have the
abbreviations MCP and MCT following your name in your signature.  (I
realize that it's probably mostly for business purposes, though,
although that's my conjecture.)  When people say, "Oh, I'm sorry" in
response to your answer to their question of what you do for a living,
though, try to realize that it's meant (I would assume) more as a
<nudge-nudge, wink-wink> type of good-ol'-boys joke, not as any personal
attack upon yourself.  (That's what I mean and have meant by similar
comments to other people.)

I work in a SunOS/Solaris shop that has a couple of NT boxen, but at
this office we have no Unix desktops.  (There are a couple of ancient
Suns at our facility downtown.)  I, therefore, use Windows out of
necessity, though I'd prefer *nix.  As far as desktops go, one could say
I work in an MS environment, but I wouldn't take offense if someone
offered their condolences.  Granted, you may have had different
experiences than I with elitist attitudes, but I'm just asking you to
consider the point in the previous paragraph. 

>I'd be willing to bet a larger percentage of the machines in my company
>are running win2k than yours :P
>(Excluding training machines which may change their operating systems at a
>moments notice)
>
>Thoughtless bashing is going to negatively impact Linux's image, yes.  

...thoughtless basing of Microsoft by Linux fans, as well as thoughtless
(or caluclated, for that matter) bashing of Linux by Microsoft.

>> On an additional note, I'd like to revoice a request made in the past that
>> if you post a URL to state what your point is.  It would definitely go a
>> long way to avoiding misunderstandings.
>
>It had the brief description of "Facts About Hotmail's Production OS
>Environment" with, I think, an implied "develop your own opinions".

The text that was there was a copy-and-paste of the title.  As far as
stating what the point is, IIRC, it was asked that one provide the
readers with a clue as to what the URL pointed to, which is different
than asking for a statement of intent.

My "point", though, was that this was something I found amusing (even
though it was almost two years old (which is why I put "(old)" in the
title)), and I thought that some of the others might feel the same way. 
(ie, It's interesting to see what their "reasoning" is behind not
migrating from Solaris.)  Darxus hit upon it as well:  "develop your own
opinions".  Note that I didn't bash Microsoft in my original posting, or
say how much I (may||may not) think their products suck, or that I'm
sorry for the people who are forced to work with their software
everyday, or that their poor programming practices are causing
starvation in third world countries and so we should all send money to
help the armless legless bodiless little kids in West Elbonia.  (Note: I
feel the need to state that these are MERELY EXAMPLES, and do not
necessarily reflect my views accurately or completely.)

Fact is, we're all subscribed to this list, because, on some level, we
have an interest in Linux-related issues.  Microsoft is considered by
many to be the biggest "enemy" to Linux, and one can hardly talk about
Linux without *at* *least* touching on Unix at some level.  Those were
both touched on in that article -- stuff related to Linux, as well as
her enemies.

After all, isn't the reason that *half* the $expletive that winds on the
list, uh, winds up on the list is because someone found it interesting
and thought others may, as well?  Does it not say at the bottom of every
piece of mail that goes through plug@nothinbut.net, "General Discussion
-   http://lists.nothinbut.net/mail/listinfo/plug";?  I fail to see how
my original post was more offtopic than the "Demon Gates" thread that
was going on a month ago (refer to the archives).

Maybe I'm just way out of line here...

</rant>

We now return you to your regularly scheduled mailing list.  GIFs at
11:00.

Bill
-- 
"Notice how altering $one in fact altered each element of @a.
This is a feature, not a bug."  -Schwartz & Christiansen,
_Learning Perl, 2nd Edition_
Stop abusive software patents!  Start typing http://www.noamazon.com




______________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group       -       http://plug.nothinbut.net
Announcements - http://lists.nothinbut.net/mail/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion   -   http://lists.nothinbut.net/mail/listinfo/plug