Two consecutive entries on the same subject, lame. But this recent court decision affects me personally. I work as an IT consultant, developer and sad to say, Microsoft is good for business. The servers that are installed with an OS from Microsoft require a lot of work to run reliably and securely. Business are willing to pay big bucks for that peace of mind. With the big buck that surrounds the microsoft’s name it’s amazing to me that shareholders, people who own a part of M$, don’t see any profit. You see M$ doesn’t pay dividends, shareholders make money when they sell M$ stock. Talk about the king’s new clothes. During the last M$ shareholder meeting there was a call for dividends which was promptly shot down. This makes no sense to me and maybe common sense has escaped the SEC in the US.
Well the US legal system got it wrong again, first OJ now Microsoft. I know, I know not in the same league with respect to offense committed but still …
I don’t consider myself anti-microsoft, it’s a simple, usable platform anyone can use. Seeing that most people have only in the last few years started using computers a standard is a good thing. Even if that standard crashes once a day, how much work are you really getting done each day anyway? I refuse to put up with failures that generally result from greed (don’t test, sell), Gates greed. So I don’t use the microsoft platform as my computing platform of choice. Update: 06 - 11 -01
Many aritcles getting printed online about this topic (include my bandwagon jumper), but I think this one stands out.
With that aside, after many years of court arguments M$ was found to be guilty of US anti-trust laws Microsoft’s new remedies seem more like a slap on thier well protected wrists. David Coursey, of ZDNet, had this to say. David Coursey is typically pro-microsoft but lately he’s been a little more even handed in his OS remarks. While he doesn’t wish the extremes that Judge Jackson (the prior udge in the case) ruled for, he not entirely opposed to the present ruling. He does make a great point that the US anti-trust laws are woefully out of date. It is my opinion that District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly’s ruling was based on the fact she didn’t want to be overruled by a higher court, she paid no attention to the marketpce nor did she want to put a penalty on Microsoft because they broke the law (as proved in court).We can all hope that the EU doesn’t follow the lead of the US courts and that they get it right.
I get much of my news from the web. I?m one of those sad sacks that spend many hours a week on the Internet. The first step in getting help for an addiction is to admit to having a problem. I can?t admit it, I won?t admit it, and I don?t have a problem. I use ?other? operating systems and my stress levels are pretty low and for me it?s fun to geek. This isn?t a recent change; I?m only mentioning it because of reading news from the web and noticing more references to other OS?s in that news. People are getting very dissatisfied with M$ Windows. My dissatisfacton started long ago. The change in me started in university, I took one class that introduced Unix and Linux in particular and I?ve been hooked since. That was 7 years ago.
It satisfied the craving in me to know what was going on behind the scenes and make the modifications that fit the way I work instead of what the way some engineer thought I wanted to work. This admission is starting to sound like I’m coming out of the closet. I?m not, just declaring my geekiness to the world. My web server is a Linux box that runs all the services I need right now. With the Linux box it can take a little time and effort to get some things working and in my old age I got lazy and bought a Mac. Why? The BSD core satisfies my Unix geekiness. The OS X GUI is great to look at. It is slower than an Intel processor but hell I don’t type that fast. It?s easy enough that my girlfriend can figure out most things herself. Things work without a lot of fiddling but if you want to fiddle to get it just right you can. So in true geek fashion I have a Linux box as my central server and a Mac box with OS X for my girlfriend and I to work with. I?m in geek heaven.
I concede defeat, I haven’t the necessary skills to perform the task I would like. I … I …. am not a graphics person. There I said it. I cannot make icons for this site that satisfy my wants. I give up. That’s pretty hard for me actually but after beating my head to a bloody pulp against a wall I know when to call it a day (I hope). If anyone out the can come up with graphic images to convey the simple. but elusive, site navigation bar. I would be very happy. Remember, a happy Peter can make the world a happy place. 8^)
Sorry, that rant was born of simple frustration. I’m better now, I still can’t come up up with the skill to create what´s in my head by I can get over that. I guess I got a few thing on my mind. eh, whatareyougonnado?
Update 10/21
Not more crying and bitching but the new button satisfies my aesthetic senses (for now). If you’ve got something better please let me know.
You may not know this by this website, you may not know it by my college degree in Computer Engineering but the truth is that I don’t like much of what technology has to offer. I don’t blame technology but mostly it’s the marketing behind it. Are marketers to blame for the state of technology?
Are they just getting it wrong and offering no inspiration to buy new technology? A prime example would be the recording industry. They are so fearful that the world will realize they are nothing more than marketers. There hook now is that they’re are also the distributors but with mp3 they out of that loop. Great ideas don’t come to market because some marketer doesn’t think the public will like it. I have no idea what the public likes but I have a good idea of what I like and it seems that the good ideas never go anywhere. But there is something that I endorse wholeheartly with the marketer’s endorsement, the iPod from Apple. Many others do too but I think it too expensive for the mainstream. That being said it is the perfect companion for the commute on the Tokyo subways. I walk with a cane but that doesn’t mean I get a seat on the morning (or afternoon) trains. So I have to hold on for my dear life on the straps that are to low for my height (I’m about 8 cm taller than the average Tokyoan). With my iPod I recently discovered in can put audible books from Audible.com and have been enjoying “reading” again. I get strange looks when I laugh out loud on something I heard from the book at the moment. I don’t care, it has made my 50 min commute seem like nothing. You’ll have to pry my cold lifeless fingers to get my iPod (or a ice cream bribe).
On a side note
The Simpsons are coming to a movie screen near you. Matt Groening, creator of the Simpsons, has decided to make movie stars of the Simpsons. The reported deal is for three movies. Simpsons, 14 years young.
