Re: Micro$oft is at it again...

[Adam Tauno Williams <adam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>What I believe MS may be thinking is that need to tap in to the wealth
>of free software out there...  "Mainstream" computer users are beginning
>to notice Linux and it's vendors and developers are rapidly getting it
>ready for a meagerly competent person to boot and run.  MS may see a
>(distant) day when Joe User says to his buddy "I bought this computer
>because it has Linux on it instead of Windows, because there just aren't
>any really good free programs for it."

Er, Hmmmmmm.  Not sure I buy this, Windows already comes with gobs of free
software, all that stuff that is pre-installed.  (The user's perception is that
it is free, and that's what matters).  But their is some truth to the fact that
Linux now suffers from application glut in alot of areas,  you have to look
pretty hard to find a niche that hasn't been filled.  (The quality of those
fillings is open for debate).

Not to start yet another flame war but I also take expection to the statement
"meagerly competent person to boot and run".  A preinstalled Linux box is just
as easy to use as a pre-installed Win box.  I have several users who's home
machines got obliterated by the various VBS worms, some are still trying to get
them working again.  Video driver issues, etc..., are not and never will be
simple to resolve.  My wife uses floppy disks, plays' CDs, prints, and all that
stuff without ever typing a command,  just click here, click there... etc.  In
fact a local pastor who has a Mac laptop popped it open the other day near one
of my X stations and it was errie at how similair the UI assumptions had/have
become.

>By getting this out there and getting programmers to begin using it to
>write programs for multiple platforms and such, MS can then begin
>tweaking C# in ways that will influence HOW PEOPLE CODE THINGS...  And
>that's a road I'd rather carpet bomb than travel.

I can't picture alot of GPL-ish programmers adopting a M$ language.

>>> http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-2128454.html
>>> They've made up another programming language: C# (C sharp, like in
>>> music).
>>> <PUN quality="bad">This one might hit a sour note...</PUN>
>><PUN>I'll wager this project falls "flat", or given the jeering tone
>>of most reports, never get's "played out". </PUN>  But seriously
>>why on earth would m$ ever produce a properly cross-platform
>>language?  their whole strategy over the past decade has been
>>anti-cross-platform.  (Unless you view Win9x, WinNT, and WinY2K
>>as seperate platforms, which they sort of are, like CP/M and DOS).