BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft

Subject: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 11:39 AM

...fascinating...M$ earnings to decline? ...but I think there is a LOT more buried in this message than a simple prospectus/earnings report.

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: Rapparee
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 12:03 PM

Gee, that's too bad. I'm sooooooo very sorry to hear that. I don't see how I can bear up under the news, maybe not even continue to live. I'd throw myself out a window, but I work in the basement and it's rather difficult.

Anyone else ever read "The Cathedral and the Bazaar?"

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 12:09 PM

I don't like monopolies and I don't like a lot about MS systems, but I'd be happier to read of this in relation to the shrub and his cronies. At least Bill and his wife have been fantastic about giving a lot away to charities and foundations. I think they try to do good with the money they've made and I don't wish them any ill will.

My next computer, though, will be MS-less if at all possible!

kat

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 12:18 PM

you 'can' buy machines with Linux installed now, but my wish is for a big powerful thing with dual boot and Partition Manager.

I am still trying to read BETWEEN the lines of that report and figger out what this means in practical terms..i.e., what MS intends to DO...

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 02:10 PM

Yeah, I think there's a lot there to *read* Bill. I don't understand the tech stuff enough to suss it out, though, so I hope you'll share what you figure out.:-)

What do you mean by "dual boot" and "partition Manager" if there's a quick, short way to explain?

Thanks,

kat

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: Rapparee
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 02:23 PM

Ever notice that Bill Gates only started giving away his money AFTER he got married????

Still, doing good is what you should do with money, even if it's your wife's idea.

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: NicoleC
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 02:30 PM

Really, MS took a dive earlier in the year, but they masked it with a revenue-enhancing plan called "Software Assurance." (In other words, but this plan, because upgrades are going away forever, and only those with the Plan will get them.)

On top of that is the anti-trust settlements, which cost a bit of money.

Truth be told, MS hasn't done anything innovative or exiting in years. Windows XP is great, but it's not innovation, it's what the windows operating system SHOULD have been all along. Office keeps adding stupid and unused features -- there only so much genuine functionality you can add to a virtual typewriter.

They'll blame this in the anti-trust case, but with no reason to get the newest version of the software, they'll continue to lose money until they have a better plan in place to provide stuff worth buying.

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: Greg F.
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 03:35 PM

Still, doing good is what you should do with money, even if it's your wife's idea.

Don't get TOO choked up and teary eyed- what he gives away is loose pocket change compared to what he keeps. He don't miss it at all.

Its cheap positive publicity- and apparently it works.

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 03:39 PM

and deductable

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: Amergin
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 03:40 PM

kat a dual boot system is a system that has two operating systems installed on it...like one could be win98 and the other os be win2k.

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 04:33 PM

and Partition Manager is an application that will 'partition' your HD and manage it....the way to make D & E & F, etc.. virtual drives, so you can keep stuff separate...if you DO run Win98 and 2000 and Linux all on one machine, they need to be on different drives.

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 06:37 PM

Ah, thanks Amergin and Bill.

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: mack/misophist
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 06:56 PM

Don't feel too sorry for M$. They just got a copyright on the number one protocol for streaming video. Bound to be a few bucks there.

With the latest AMI bios, dual boot became unnecessary. When the splash screen comes up, just hit F8. It brings up a menu that lets you boot from any drive you have.

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: Peter T.
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 08:27 PM

Why anyone buys or uses Windows remains a complete mystery to me. It is like thinking that Ronald Reagan was a great president, or that tax-cuts for the rich will stimulate the economy. The counterevidence sits there in piles, and still people pay no notice.

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: Billy the Bus
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 10:28 PM

Warp me back to 'real-blokes' OS/GUI's like CP/M, DR-DOS, 4DOS, GEM and OS/2....

Sigh - Sam

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 10:36 PM

Peter, I used to say the same about VHS VCRs, when compared to Beta...but what they did was give you longer recording time and 'gadgets'. Windows simply was there enough earlier with more bells & whistles until most people weren't willing to change. I have useful and interesting programs that just don't exist for a MAC or on Linux, though I admit everything necessary could be done with those systems. I am heading towards getting a Linuz system eventually, but I may keep certain Windows stuff, just because....like keeping a horse & buggy because it is familar.

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 07:17 AM

You've got to admit that Microsoft's "success" owes everything to Bill Gates being around at the right time - ie just when the boss of Digital Research didn't turn up for a meeting with IBM because he'd gone out sailing or something.

I wish that the basic operating system had been designed more like UNIX or DEC DCL with features like file version numbers and a proper batch job scripting language.

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 07:56 AM

It is similar to Unix at Ye Olde DOS level. You can still use all of the command line prompts you learned and loved. In fact, Billy once admitted that he used the Unix model to create MS-DOS, but changed the names. dir = ls, for instance. Unix has some great features that you can't find in DOS or Windoze: grepping, for instance.

Of course, Unix has been called "the world's least intuitive operating system". Then again, if you use a GUI interface such as KDE and packages such as Star Office or Open Office, you needed go to the command line anymore than you now do with Windows.

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 10:26 AM

There is a funny, wide gap between those who easily and/or intuitively take to DOS and command-line stuff, and those (like me) who find it arcane and mysterious. I have NO computer training, but I can do most everything needed in Windows, while "c dr/ 'y\ del nul-grb/pos" means nothing (well, so I made up most of that *grin*) Part of the reason that Linux is so slow getting a toe hold is that installation and use has a lot of UNIX type commands still floating about. I AM looking at a transitional thing that allows you to run a small Linux system from one CD though.(no 'installation')

Knoppix

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 11:07 AM

DCL and UNIX (and DR-DOS for that matter) are much more powerful procedural languages than MS DOS which hasn't gained much since the concept was pinched from CP/M. You try to get a variable out of an ORACLE SQLPLUS statement back into the procedure language so that you can pass it to, or use it to control another part of the job.

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: mack/misophist
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 03:51 PM

The way to travel is to have linux on one disk and windows on the other, along with all those programs that haven't been open sourced yet.

Installing linux has been greatly simplified in the last couple of years. The American linux 'windows' is Red Hat. I prefer SuSE. France has Mandrake, and there's a host of others. I don't recommend Lindows or Lycoris because of security issues. For the non techs who want eternal free upgrades (more or less) and fantastic ease of use combined with great stability, try Libranet. You have to pay, but its worth it. And a hell of a lot cheaper than windows.

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: Cobble
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 06:34 AM

I'll stick with my Mac you can have your viruses etc, i;ll have reliability its much better.

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 08:35 AM

The city here is "standardized" on Office. The library is standardized on "we'll buy whatever you know how to use best because we'll save more in not having to re-train you to be productive."

Most in the library use WordPerfect. It'll open and save in .doc format and lots of others, but ya know, oddly enough Word won't save or open .wpd format. I woooonder why...?

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 09:28 AM

Just as a matter of interest, here is a FREEWARE application which will open MS Word docs and is a fine and powerful tool.

Altantis Nova

(It has a Shareware ($35) big brother Atlantis , but the free version will do anything I need)

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: NicoleC
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 02:58 PM

Yes it will, Rapaire. It's just not one the import formats that gets installed by default -- you have to tell it that you want it when you install or add it later.

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 06:15 PM

My point exactly, Nicole. WordPerfect installs the capability at startup, automatically, because you might have to deal with other formats -- and such esoterica as Word Star, Volkswriter, Navy DIF Write, Ami Pro, and various text formats are also included. Word offers far fewer choices, and as you point out, they have to be installed if you want them. Both will publish to HTML and PDF, but I believe that only in Office 2003 can you publish to XML, which already is possible in WP.

My feelings about it are that you should use what you know. It's cheaper all the way around in the long run. But if you have to buy many licenses I can see standardizing simply because of the money savings.

I've used Star Office -- it's a good product and way cheaper than either WP or Word, and there are others out there as well.

Subject: RE: BS: I sure do feel sorry for MicroSoft
From: Mrrzy
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 09:13 AM

So, Bill Gates was all jealous of Hugh Grant and wanted a date with Divine Brown, the woman who got Hugh into all that trouble... afterwards, Bill is lying on the bed and says, dreamily, "I can see where you got the name 'Divine...'" - at which point she answers, "And *I* can see where you got the name 'Micro Soft!'"