Re: [tlug] Is Linux Helping MS to make Windows better?

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

>>>>> "Josh" == Josh Glover <tlug@example.com> writes:

    Josh> Yes, but NT's Orange Book rating was based on not being
    Josh> connected to any network and not having anything but the
    Josh> base OS installed. It was fraught with conditions.

Yes, and so are Olympic gold medals.  So what?

    Josh> Most people that I know in the security field consider that
    Josh> Orange Book rating a complete joke.

Yes and no.  Is it an achievement?  Yes.  Does it have real meaning in
the field?  No.

    Josh> But hell, that is the price you invariably *must* pay when
    Josh> you support every shitty piece of PC hardware made in some
    Josh> Taipei garage.

Nonsense.  NetBSD does that excellently, and Linux does it better than
satisfactorily.

Microsoft _could_ emulate the free OSes and supply support the way Red
Hat does---use the hardware we specify and certify, or you get "best
effort" from us with no promises about what that means on any given
day.  The reason that Microsoft does what it does is because people
are willing to pay to be lied to (more precisely, for "bitching
rights" when they are informed of the small print) rather than find
out the truth themselves for free.

Microsoft _is_ the devil, but it is not a D&D style demon.  The power
is all in the tongue.  (Not strictly true, of course Microsoft is
capable of and has performed dirty deeds in meat-space.  But the real
power is mind-share, and that is powerless against enough people who
Just Say No.)


-- 
Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences     http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp
University of Tsukuba                    Tennodai 1-1-1 Tsukuba 305-8573 JAPAN
               Ask not how you can "do" free software business;
              ask what your business can "do for" free software.