Re: [COMP] Windows 2000: 65,000 bugs

Congratulations, John!

I think it's time for us to break free.

I keep on asking myself how could a nasty piece of software such windows
o.s. dominate the market.

Unfortunately, there are some answers.

First of all, in spite of all the crashes, windows is really user-friendly.

Besides, the plug-and-play features allow regular users to configurate their
computers.

These things enrage some programmers and computer professionals because they
want to keep all the knoledge to themselves.

Some of them even dislike the GUI interface because it has made the computer
a piece of furniture, allowing millions of ignorant people to run a program
with a single click.

Here in Brazil, there are lots of people happily pointing the complexity of
the Linux o.s. as a signal of the return of an era when only a few people
could operate computers.

That's really sad because computers are very usefull to almost everybody and
can help people to achieve their educational and professional goals.

For example, in spite of being a lawyer, I can no longer work without
computers.

Linux will be the solution, since it´s good and it´s free. But it has to be
popularized. Everybody should learn how to operate this new o.s.

That's why the "open source" people should be concerned about making not
only good and free software, but easy-to-use software. That´s the key to the
market.

Down with expensive and "crashy" software! Power to the users!


----- Original Message -----
From: John Madden <weez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <computertalkshop-list@xxxxxxxxx>; <computers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
<systalk@xxxxxxx>; <pethessa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <root@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
<ccdennis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2000 1:42 AM
Subject: [COMP] Windows 2000: 65,000 bugs


> To all the folks willing to let Mr. Gates continue to rule their lives:
>
>
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2436920,00.html?chkpt=zdnntop
>
> And to anyone willing to break free, and use software that isn't
> released with known bugs:
>
> http://www.linux.org
>
> Nuff said?  Sorry, but this article made me sick, and their PR response
> to the leaked memo made me even more angry.  What right do they have to
> do this?  Oh, and then charge you 300 bucks for it?  I'd like to thank
> Linus, Alan, and the thousands of other programmers out there who put
> their blood, sweat, and tears into an operating system that was built
> from the ground up to be a decent piece of software, and to the method
> (open source) that has brought us to the top of the IT world.
>
> There's simply no excuse for the sort of things Microsoft does to the
> user community, and hopefully, they won't be allowed to do it anymore.
> The problem, as I see it, is something of a snowball effect: once you
> run Windows, and use Windows software, you feel as though you have no
> choice, and that anything else is insufficient, or too difficult.  You
> create excuses, because "it's ok," and "everyone else uses it, so it
> can't be bad."  But would you buy a car that had no steering wheel?  Of
> course not.  The fight to force MS to write decent software starts with
> you: you hold Microsoft (and any other software company, for that
> matter) by the purse strings.
>
> I'm sick of it.  Maybe some blood vessel somewhere in the middle of my
> brain will burst someday, and all of the stress and frustration this
> situation causes me will have been for nothing.  Who knows... But many
> of you know me pretty well, and you know I can't just sit around and
> watch these things continue.
>
> There are alternatives: all the software you could ever want is
> available for FREE, for a FREE operating system, built on stability,
> reliability, and correctness.  All the help you could ever want in
> adjusting to this alternative and amazing environment is also available
> FREE, on the internet.
>
> I've got a challenge: I challenge each and every one of you to think
> twice the next time you go to buy a piece of software.  Stop and
> think: "Am I really going to get my money's worth here?  Are they going
> to screw me over with bugs?  Do I care to do anything about it?"  If
> your local government were to, say, allow your children to just watch TV
> all day in school, would you stand by and let such an atrocity take
> place?  Of course not!  You'd complain!  So why run poor software, on a
> poorly written OS, that was released with thousands of known bugs?
>
> Take a stand folks, and user by user, bit by bit, change will happen.
> You'll look back on these days and wonder why it took so long to change
> things.  The challenge: install an alternative OS (sure, Linux is great,
> but it doesn't *have* to be Linux) and live with it for two months.  Use
> all the software you like; go ahead- it's all free.  Enjoy the speed,
> stability, and flexibility.  Got problems?  Ask on a mailing list,
> newsgroups, a local LUG, or from  your nearby always willing-to-help
> guru.  After those 60 days, go ahead and try to go back to your old OS.
> You'll be amazed at how much your view on computing has changed.  Email
> me your experiences, tell me about your problems, how you liked it, how
> you didn't, ask questions, whatever.  I'm setting up a mailing list
> (details later) just for this sort of thing.
>
> Some people look at me strangely when I speak my views on certain
> commercial software, because after all, I'll someday be in the job place
> writing it (yeah, still in college here).  It's really perfectly
> logical: At the current rate, all crappy commercial software will be run
> out of the market by free software, which is usually technically
> superior.  Thus, the market for poor software will decrease, and
> companies like our favorite Redmond campus will be forced to either
> straighten up, or go out of business.  This puts a strangle on the
> market, decreasing my chances of getting a job.  By increasing the
> quality of software now, competition in the market will become fierce,
> and high competition is the strongest kind of market, and that means
> lots of jobs for me, and better software for the consumer.
>
> Am I an advocate?  Absolutely.  A zealot?  Hopefully. :)
>
> John
>
>
>
> --
> # John Madden  weez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ICQ: 2EB9EA
> # Sys-Admin / Webmaster, Avenir Web: http://avenir.dhs.org
> # LANdb: Network Admin Database - http://avenir.dhs.org/landb/
> # "A kernel compile a day keeps the blue screens away."
>
>
>
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