Re: [PLUG] download from WHERE?

[Fred Stluka via plug <plug@lists.phillylinux.org>]

On 5/8/20 4:46 PM, Rich Freeman via plug wrote:
> > I already knew Microsoft was unethical.  And was
> > learning that they wrote really sloppy software.  But when
> > they paid to fly me to Redmond to "show them how I did that"
> > in their VB programming language, I met a bunch of their
> > "best and brightest".  Confirmed my worst suspicions.  Not
> > a clue about reliability, security, etc.
> Uh, have you seen what those same 20 year olds are doing with FOSS
> today?

Yes, I have.  As I said, I don't trust them.  Do you?


> Half of the newer programming languages are almost impossible
> to package because their build systems just download random
> dependencies online, are statically linked, and so on.

What do you suggest?  Stop using yum, apt, pip?  Do you prefer
running .EXE and .MSI files over Unix shell scripts for installing
things?


> You're not going to avoid these problems by avoiding Microsoft.

True.  Not any more.  Microsoft has lowered the bar so much,
and put out so much low quality inexpensive software that
other companies have had to cut corners to compete on price.

Also, most programmers with under 20 years experience have
never seen a computer with real security.  Have not used a
mainframe, VAX, Unix or Linux system.  Or even a Mac (OSX is
BSD Unix).  Only Windows PCs.

So, they've accepted the lower bar and learned a lot of bad
habits.  And now they write mission critical systems in hospitals,
medical devices, military, air traffic control, nuclear power plants,
etc.  Scary!


> Also,
> it seems like half of this whole discussion is as dated as the 1991
> post on that website...

Rich, I have to say that I'm a little disappointed at the dismissive
and inaccurate nature of that comment.  You usually seem to to
pay more attention to detail than that.  And I usually find that
you have something to say that's worth listening to.

Did you misread the Microsoft article at my web site?  As you
noticed, I tag each of my articles with the date I wrote the first
version.  Then, as you seem to have not noticed, I also show
the latest date each time I update or re-write the article over
the years.  This one is tagged:

Original Version: 10/10/1991
Last Updated:     4/19/2020

My PLUG post on 5/8/2020 was written 19 DAYS after my last
re-write of the Microsoft article.  Not 19 YEARS, as you seem to
think.  The article is my current opinion of Microsoft after
observing their behavior, working around their bugs, hacking
easily into their systems, and warning people of their weak
security since I was first forced to use Microsoft software at a
job 19 years ago.

Anyhow, do you actually DISAGREE with anything I said?

1. Do you claim they did NOT intentionally install DLLs on my
    computer to sabotage Netscape?

2. Do you claim they did NOT extort $40,000 from my father?

3. Do you claim they did NOT lower the bar in software quality
    compared to their Unix and mainframe predecessors, as I
    described?  Or that Linux and FOSS are NOT better and
    safer alternatives?

4. Do you claim that most of the world's bugs and security
    problems are NOT on Windows systems?  That Windows PCs
    are NOT the majority of machines in malicious botnets?

5. Do you claim they are NOT dishonorable people in general?

If not, what exactly ARE you saying?

--Fred
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred Stluka
Bristle Software, Inc.
http://bristle.com 		#DontBeATrump #SadLittleDonny
#ShakeOffTheTrumpStink
#MakeAmericaHonorableAgain
http://MakeAmericaHonorableAgain.us/Trump/Countdown.htm

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