On Jan 10, 2008 1:10 AM, Herbert Graf wrote: > > On Wed, 2008-01-09 at 16:47 +0000, Shawn Tan wrote: > > > BTW, I also do not understand why some Linux fans need to hate > > > Bill Gates or Microsoft. I consider Windows XP as a very good OS > > > and better than Linux in quite some aspects. And unlike quite some > > > people here, I think Windows Vista is pretty good. > > > > They don't really hate the person/company per se. What they hate is the FUD > > attacks and lies that they tell, not to mention the "questionable" business > > practices. To be honest, to me, business is business, I do not see why Microsoft is any worse than any other big public listed companies. And to me many negative comments about Windows/Bill Gates are unjustified. > Absolutely. I don't hate Bill, in fact I really respect him. While many > might not LIKE the way he made his money, the fact is he's made every > cent himself. He has a VERY keen sense of the market, and does what's > necessary to grow his company. I'm also incredibly impressed by how well > he's been able to keep his private life out of the mainstream, for a man > as known as Bill, most people barely know he's married. Here in Singapore, I will say most people know that he is married and he is very rich with a luxriours home, etc, or even some other things about him. > Microsoft the company is more a mixed bag for me. First off they DO have > some good products. The problem is they have done things are are > questionable, but you can't really blame the company for that, they're > out to make money, and they will do anything they can get away with to > accomplish this. > > What I hate is what we collectively have let Microsoft get away with. Why? That is the market reality. Those fit will win. > Despite having products that have serious flaws, products that cost most > of us a lot of time and money fixing, we continue to buy these products. That is simply because the alternatives are just not good enough. > We allow deals where until recently companies like Dell were pretty much > forced to sell a copy of Windows with every machine sold. To this day, > it is almost impossible to buy an assembled PC without Windows, this is > unacceptable. You can also assembly your own PC. Nobody will stop you from doing that. You can also buy PCs with Linux pre-installed. Whether it is worth the money is another thing. But you do have the choice. The thing is that majority the user will still use Windows. > I hate the fact that I've paid for windows licenses because there was no > other option, licenses I didn't want, and have never used, yet I can't > sell them because they are tied to the hardware. As I said, you have the choices. You always have the choice. It is just typically you do not save much money without Windows installed. But situation is now changing. Companies like Dell/Acer/etc all starts to offer low cost laptops with Linux installed. Eee PC and OLPC will also get more and more popular. > In the end I feel the blame is our own. Our society let Microsoft become > the monopoly it is. Our society has allowed Microsoft to remain the > monopoly it is. > I think we do not need the blame us or Microsoft. Let the market decide the direction. I feel what EU or the justice department have done do not help Linux. Technical merits are the one which will win the end user and not philosphical thoughts. Many anti-Microsoft comments are just silly IMHO. Low cost PCs/Notebooks where the cost of Windows (no matter how small for Dell/HP/etc) will still be a big portion of the ultra-low cost PCs. So Linux does have a chance. Linux may be get more chances in developing countries. Piracy (of Windows) is the main enemy for Linux (not Microsoft) in many developing countries but things are changing. Xiaofan -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist