Re: The threat to our national security
On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 03:12:52 -0800
Nano Nano <40119.nospam@comcast.net> wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 23, 2004 at 04:09:02AM -0700, John M. Purser wrote:
> > Yep. Kind of amazing. Thanks for the post.
>
> what I'm about to say is related, in a stream of consciousness way...
>
> On CNBC today an analyst said Microsoft could lose 100% of its server
> business to Linux and it would only be a penny and a half of revenue
> -- out of something like 34 cents. They said it wouldn't matter to
> their financials a bit.
MICROS~1 has little server market, that's why.
I still contend they aren't after money any more. They're after
domination. Most of their products lose money. The ones that make any
make obscene amounts to support the losers. It would mean more to the
market if they dropped the losers than it would dropping the server.
They won't do either because it doesn't fit their goal of owning it all.
> I myself worked at Microsoft until one year ago today. I set out to
> switch my life to Linux in Feb. I'm a content monkey.
Good for you!!
> But I still have my registered XP Pro partition I bought from the
> company store for $30 -- the price the market *should* bear for the
> quality -- were this a different world.
>
> Longhorn will be out approximately two years from this coming spring.
> If I can choose to avoid paying retail for it in twenty aught six,
> then I will know the worm has turned.
I tried linux for a few months way back (Redhat 4.2) on the only machine
I had in the house. It was a Compaq laptop with no CD drive, no
networking, no floppy and a hokey parallel-port SCSI emulator with a ZIP
drive attached. It was difficult to get linux onto the machine because
the phony SCSI "card" was so buggy. But I persisted.
It stayed a dual-boot for about 6 months. I decided having Winders on
the machine was hindering my progress. I wiped the drive of everything,
including all of the Compaq proprietary stuff, and reinstalled linux. I
think I regretted that move for about 5 or 10 minutes. There was no way
to turn back, and I didn't back up a single thing before doing it.
Except for my 5-year-old's dual-boot (Mandrake 9.1/WIN98), the household
is now Windoze-free. The kid hates WinDOS, too. But mom makes him play
with some of his learning games on it. And if I ever have the time to
set up WINE on his machine properly, we can make that happen a little
less often, too.
I think in all of that time I needed 2 programs that I couldn't find in
linux. They were around, I just had trouble locating them. I've learned
to be a little more persistent in seeking these things now because I've
yet to find anything I need that wasn't available in linux already
(YMMV).
My only point is, it /can/ be done if one wants to do it.
--
SoBig - Innovative Microsoft peer-to-peer software.
Reply to: