Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.apps,comp.os.msdos.programmer,comp.sys.pen,
comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer,comp.windows.ms.programmer,comp.os.os2.programmer
From: reh@wam.umd.edu (Huddleston)
Subject: Boycott Microsoft
Message-ID: <1992Feb17.010522.7722@wam.umd.edu>
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Keywords: Microsoft, PC Industry, PC Software, PC Programming, PC
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Organization: Workstations at Maryland, University of Maryland, College Park
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1992 01:05:22 GMT
From the _Microbytes_ section of the March 1992 _Byte_ magazine:
"How will Microsoft's forthcoming Windows NT operating system
compare to Unix? According to Microsoft chairman and CEO Bill
Gates, NT pretty much *is* Unix. With its Posix standard
compliance, Gates claims NT will be as compatible with the
leading versions of Unix as they are with each other. The
^^^
advantage of NT, Gates says, is that it will sell millions of
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
units, more than any flavor of Unix. He also said that
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Microsoft may offer a limited voice recognition capability for
Windows this year."
Seems dear Bill is starting to take a few things for granted. A few
million things, in fact. Looks like Microsoft is starting to make the
same mistake the American automotive industry made about 20 years ago:
thinking that the consumer was in their pocket. Perhaps it's time to
give Microsoft a good lesson in Customer Orientation.
I've gotten more than a little tired of "The World According to Microsoft,"
as well -- incremental increases in capability introduced on Microsoft's
timetable -- while the innovators of those capabilities (example: Go Corp.
and their Penpoint OS) get their ideas kludged into MS products. I, for
one, refuse to play along anymore. I have ordered DR DOS 6.0, and will
install it on my home PC as soon as it arrives. I will go out of my way to
buy non-Microsoft solutions in any product category. And, I will urge that
others equally tired of being played like a Pawn/Sucker by Microsoft start
doing the same thing.
I'd like to thank Bill Gates for giving me the push I needed to leave DOS and
Windows behind.
--
Boycott Microsoft
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.apps
From: nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Russ Nelson)
Subject: Re: Boycott Microsoft
In-Reply-To: reh@wam.umd.edu's message of Mon, 17 Feb 1992 01:05:22 GMT
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Organization: Crynwr Software, guest account at Clarkson
References: <1992Feb17.010522.7722@wam.umd.edu>
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1992 03:59:34 GMT
Lines: 32
In article <1992Feb17.010522.7722@wam.umd.edu> reh@wam.umd.edu (Huddleston) writes:
Seems dear Bill is starting to take a few things for granted.
"starting"? Ahhh, I see that the scales have fallen from your eyes.
I've gotten more than a little tired of "The World According to Microsoft,"
as well -- incremental increases in capability introduced on Microsoft's
timetable -- while the innovators of those capabilities (example: Go Corp.
and their Penpoint OS) get their ideas kludged into MS products.
Exactly. Microsoft hasn't ever had an original idea. Their
traditional flagship product, BASIC, was a clone of Dartmouth's
language. NDIS imitated the packet driver specification. DPMI copied
(that up-and-coming industry standard whose four-letter acronym
escapes me). Quick * was a reaction to Turbo *.
Remember those old commercials? "Suave does what theirs does for a
lot less". Well, "Microsoft does what theirs does for a lot more, and
later, too!"
Boycott Microsoft
I'm wondering, though, what your conditions are for ending the Boycott?
Are you going to call it off when Gates gets humility? Or when Microsoft
becomes a market leader rather than a market follower? Be prepared for
a long battle...
--
--russ <nelson@crynwr.com> I'm proud to be a humble Quaker.
Peace is not the absence of war. Peace is the presence of a system for
resolving conflicts before war becomes necessary. War never creates peace.