Re: [tlug] [OT] Say _no_ to the Microsoft Office format as an ISO standard

["Josh Glover" <jmglov@example.com>]

On 09/07/07, Roger Markus <rogermarku@example.com> wrote:

> It's easier to be magnanimous when you haven't been (much of) a victim
> yourself.  I've lost a lot of money, time, and work due to the
> combination of Microsoft's rotten design decisions, unstable and
> unsafe products, and overpricing.

Why?

Dude, I got cut my milk teeth on an Apple IIc (or //c, if we *must*),
but then it was DOS on an Epson 386 -> Windows 3.11 on a Packard Bell
Pentium (80MHz 80586, IIRC) -> Windows 95 on the same -> Windows 98 on
a custom-built 80686 rig -> Red Hat 7.0 on a Dell shitetop -> Red Hat
7.1 on the same -> Red Hat 7.2 on the same -> Red Hat 7.3 (thank the
Lord!) on the same -> Gentoo Linux on a custom-built 80686 rig with
Hyperthreading -> Gentoo Linux on a Dell Inspiron 600m -> Gentoo Linux
running in a chroot jail inside RHEL 3 on a Dell Latitude D410.

So it was all Microsoft stuff for like six years for me, before I
dropped that shite like an abusive wife. ;)

Who forced you to keep using Microsoft products?

> Those robber barons have more
> negatively affected my life than they have yours obviously, which is
> why I'm as passionately opposed to them stealing any more of our
> freedoms.

You should be worried about governments stealing our freedoms, not
software companies.

I hated Microsoft with a similar passion to yours five years ago, but
as the memories of actually running their software faded, my hatred
faded into apathy. Microsoft matters almost zero to me now. I get
irritated at their hijacking of standards from time to time, but even
IE has lost its stranglehold on the browser market, and
standards-compliant browsers like Mozilla Firefox, Konqueror, and
Safari [WebKit] are making the Web a better place to develop software
(which is what I do for a living).

If Microsoft has hurt you so badly, why can't you quit them? Sounds
like you need psychological counsel more than legal... ;)

> I like freedom, and what they're doing to the computer
> industry is a threat to us all (dubious patents, etc.).  "If"
> (hopefully not "when") they begin to interfere with your ability to
> use Linux, your serenity would (or will) fade!

I don't see this happening, mate. I dropped Microsoft like a bad habit
years ago, and I see their influence fading, not growing.

Like I said, I can go weeks without thinking about Microsoft at all,
until somebody thinks that "Linux Users Group" == "Microsoft Haters
Group" and posts some FUDdy FUDtacular FUDitude to the list.

--
Cheers,
Josh