[ale] petition

Greg runman at telocity.com
Fri Feb 15 11:21:08 EST 2002


aww, come on, don't be shy, tell us how you really feel about M$ ;-)

Greg

> -----Original Message-----
> From: James P. Kinney III [mailto:jkinney at localnetsolutions.com]
> Sent: Friday, February 15, 2002 9:11 AM
> To: Benjamin Dixon
> Cc: Atlanta Linux User Group (E-mail)
> Subject: Re: [ale] petition
>
>
> My comments reflect my justified mistrust and disdain for Microsoft.
>
> It is the _business_ that I don't trust. I don't do business with the
> mafia. I don't do business with terrorists. Unlike Microsoft, I put
> principles before profits.
>
> I don't buy Coors beer products. I will never again buy a diamond since
> they all come from DeBeers. I drive an extra 15 minutes to go to a
> different store than the Best Buy near me because of horrendous customer
> service and an attitude of indifference from the management.
>
> It is Microsoft's code. They claim that they wrote all of it. They claim
> than none of it was acquired from outside sources without a license.
> They claim that they do business honestly and fairly. As we all know,
> the federal government has shown that Microsoft is a liar about their
> fair business practices.
>
> I don't run Microsoft products on my machine. I do own legal copies of
> Win95, 98, NT3.51, NT4.0, and win2k pro. They were all rammed down my
> throat when I purchased 5 other machines to run Linux on. I have to
> interact with Microsoft products on a daily basis. My clients run
> windows on their desktops. My networking systems have to interact with
> and support their setup. Recently, I had to configure networking on a P4
> 1.8GHz 256M running XP. My wifes Celeron 700 128M running RedHat 7.2 and
> Gnome runs circles around it. Quality of product?
>
> I don't apologize for my disdain and mistrust of Microsoft. They have
> done nothing to earn my trust or respect. Not as a software development
> house, nor as a multi-billion dollar business venture. Instead, I am a
> vocal advocate of kicking Microsoft out of all public funded locations.
> This includes schools and all government activities. I think it is a
> conflict of interest for the federal government to be simultaneously
> using and suing Microsoft. I know from some first hand experience that
> schools use Microsoft because they are told to by leadership who are
> mostly computer illiterate. These "leaders" are pitched (duped) by the
> salespeople from Microsoft into believing that because Microsoft in on
> 90% of the worlds desktop computers, it must be good for the schools to
> teach students how to use Microsoft since that's what they will use in
> the adult world. Gag! Spit! Choke! Puke! And we are forced to pay,
> through our taxes, for this "privileged opportunity" for our children.
>
> Microsoft is a despicable business run by the greediest of bastards with
> no interest whatsoever in doing a good job at anything. As long as the
> cash flows in, that's all that matters to Microsoft.
>
> Blech!
>
> On Thu, 2002-02-14 at 23:14, Benjamin Dixon wrote:
> >
> > As scary as MS and the thought of anything MS on linux is,
> these comments
> > are just as frightening. While MS may have been cunning in their
> > questionably legal marketing manuevers, let's face it, they've
> played the
> > business game the best of anyone. Their code, no matter how evil, is not
> > a random occurrence but is the product Microsoft's investment
> in time and
> > money to create a product. If they don't want you to see the
> gears, thats
> > their decision. Its their code, they should be able to do what they want
> > with it no matter how much of a "threat" they pose. Ultimately its the
> > people who continue to buy into their monopoly that are causing the
> > problem. If you're worried about nefarious things going on
> inside the code
> > that you don't know about, which is undoubtably the case, don't
> buy their
> > products for linux, windows, or any other operating system.
> >
> > Ben
> >
> > On 14 Feb 2002, James P. Kinney III wrote:
> >
> > > I would prefer to have Microsoft forced to publish every line of code
> > > for every OS they have released since DOS 1.0.
> > >
> > > I don't want MSOffice on my linux boxes unless it too is fully
> > > documented with full access to every line of code. I simply
> don't trust
> > > the vulture of Redmond.
> > >
> > > The code doesn't have to be GPL. They could have a redistributon
> > > prohibition clause on binaries. I want to see what they are doing when
> > > my network shows traffic and I'm not doing anything. (kids
> windows box)
> > > I want to see how my personal data gets handled. I want to see how the
> > > difference between the published API and the purchased API.
> > >
> > > <side note - how much $$ does Microsoft make from licenses with Norton
> > > and MacAfee virus software?  Whose cash-paying interest would
> be served
> > > by closing the security holes?>
> > >
> > > On Thu, 2002-02-14 at 20:43, Geoffrey wrote:
> > > > I've come to the conclusion that we need to get the word
> out. I've heard
> > > > that the hold out states on the Microsoft trial want
> Microsoft to port
> > > > Office to Linux.  I don't know about you, but I don't want
> Office taking
> > > > my Linux box down.  I think the proper solution is for Microsoft to
> > > > publish their file formats.  What do you folks think?  I
> want to get a
> > > > petition going.  I've dead serious about this.
> > > >
> > > > Anyone know how you would go about this, from the legal
> standpoint?  I
> > > > can throw up a site for this purpose on no time, but how do
> I get it to
> > > > the right people, so that it can be 'heard?'
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric at 3times25.net
> > > >
> > > > "...the system (Microsoft passport) carries significant
> risks to users that
> > > > are not made adequately clear in the technical
> documentation available."
> > > > - David P. Kormann and Aviel D. Rubin, AT&T Labs - Research
> > > > - http://www.avirubin.com/passport.html
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > ---
> > > > This message has been sent through the ALE general discussion list.
> > > > See http://www.ale.org/mailing-lists.shtml for more info.
> Problems should be
> > > > sent to listmaster at ale dot org.
> > > >
> > > --
> > > James P. Kinney III   \Changing the mobile computing world/
> > > President and COO      \          one Linux user         /
> > > Local Net Solutions,LLC \           at a time.          /
> > > 770-493-8244             \.___________________________./
> > >
> > > GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics)
> > > <jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
> > > Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> > Today's Random Quote--------------------------------------
> >
> >  "Dont critisize a man till you've walked a mile in his shoes,
> >  that way when you critisize him you're a mile away and have his
> > shoes."
> >
> >     - unknown
> > -----------------------------------------------------------
> --
> James P. Kinney III   \Changing the mobile computing world/
> President and COO      \          one Linux user         /
> Local Net Solutions,LLC \           at a time.          /
> 770-493-8244             \.___________________________./
>
> GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics)
> <jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
> Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7
>
>
>


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