Proposed "Boycott Microsoft" WWW page
Charles Coffing
I'm sick of Microsoft. I'm sick of having Microsoft products shoved down
my throat. I'm sick of how Microsoft manages to hold the mainstream
market four or five years behind where it should be. I'm sick of the
veiled threats and questionable business practices it pulls.
Anyone out there feel the same way?
As soon as I get Warp Connect on my computer (I need a CD-ROM drive--
anyone have a cheap one for sale? ;) I would like to create a WWW page
dedicated to exposing Microsoft's deeds and highlighting non-MS
alternatives. I'm just coming up with this off of the top of my head,
but here's a rough outline of what I'd like to have on my site:
- links (or my own stuff) explaining the advantages of Warp and Linux
(any others I'm not thinking about?) over anything MS has to offer.
- some of the press releases about large organizations which dumped
Win95, and why they did it.
- examine some of the many errors and omissions made by several computer
mags in the comparison of MS Win95 and OS/2
- weaknesses in Win95. Some which are not mentioned by MS (it's NOT
32 bit like they claim), and others which are touted as features (the
VFAT kludge--come on people, FAT was originally written for floppies,
not hard drives.)
- links to OS/2 and Linux archives
- links to OS/2 and Linux FAQs/help/support.
- links to vendors who specialize in selling non MS stuff, or at least
vendors who are competent in non-MS stuff.
- MS business practices which verge on illegal
- why a MS monopoly is bad for us all
Any other ideas?
Let me know what you think of this. Please email any ideas you may have.
I plan to get this going in the next week or so (as soon as I can find
a CD-ROM drive...)
ps. Yes, I'm an OS/2 advocate, but I'm not planning on giving that slant
to the page. I would like to give equal coverage to all the alternatives
to MS stuff. I also want to objectively present what's wrong with MS.
Thanks for your time.... look forward to hearing your thoughts...
Charles L. Coffing | Team OS/2 | Disk full: Delete Windows?
ki...@mit.edu | Get Warped! | (Y)es (H)ell yes
Richard Piper
>
> Hello all.
>
> I'm sick of Microsoft. I'm sick of having Microsoft products shoved down
> my throat. I'm sick of how Microsoft manages to hold the mainstream
> market four or five years behind where it should be. I'm sick of the
> veiled threats and questionable business practices it pulls.
>
> Anyone out there feel the same way?
>
I think this is a good idea. The overall message is that there
needs to be common data formats for text and numerical data (?
open doc) and standards at the network level. Corporations,
governments etc that support standardization at the operating
system/application suite level are being irresponsible.
I have some friends who are relative computer novices, but insigtful.
We were using netscape to look at some files on the Linux server
at work and they commented, if I can open an look at this file,
why cant I edit it and save it back on the server from home. You
dont have to be Dave Cutler or Linus Torvalds to realize that
a common open network protocol and data format is logical.
Microsoft had better learn this lesson quickly, because otherwise
as consumers we are going to teach them.
The computer industry has grown so rapidly that it can support
multiple operating system as they are not as important as
a common language (ie data format). To my mind excel or word6
is not a common data format. We must insist on open networking
protocols and data formats ......and ideally a common programming
API although this less important.
I just hope that in 10 years time school kids are still learning
english, maths and art rather than MS-Word, Excel and MS-Paint!
--
Richard Piper Email: rpi...@julian.uwo.ca
rpi...@critcare.vichosp.london.on.ca
Brian Knotts
>Hello all.
>
>I'm sick of Microsoft. I'm sick of having Microsoft products shoved down
>my throat. I'm sick of how Microsoft manages to hold the mainstream
>market four or five years behind where it should be. I'm sick of the
>veiled threats and questionable business practices it pulls.
(deletia)
>Any other ideas?
>
>Let me know what you think of this. Please email any ideas you may have.
>I plan to get this going in the next week or so (as soon as I can find
>a CD-ROM drive...)
>
>ps. Yes, I'm an OS/2 advocate, but I'm not planning on giving that slant
>to the page. I would like to give equal coverage to all the alternatives
>to MS stuff. I also want to objectively present what's wrong with MS.
>
>Thanks for your time.... look forward to hearing your thoughts...
I'd just suggest that you keep in mind that there are quite a few
Macintosh users who are fed up with Microsoft as well.
_____________________________________________________________________
Brian Knotts bkn...@northcoast.com Team OS/2
http://redwood.northcoast.com/~bknotts/ for PGP public key and other
stuff. I am sometimes found in news:alt.fan.happyman,and other
pointless Usenet groups. Check out the HappyMan FAQ!
...is this centered?
br...@clark.net
>As soon as I get Warp Connect on my computer (I need a CD-ROM drive--
>anyone have a cheap one for sale? ;) I would like to create a WWW page
>dedicated to exposing Microsoft's deeds and highlighting non-MS
>alternatives.
As much as I agree with you, you don't win converts by telling people how bad
their current OS is. You tell them how much better YOURS is. I have nothing
against OS/2 and I hate Win95, but if that's what people want to run, then
let them spend their lives in hell. It's their decision, and as far as I'm
concerned, its just not worth trying to tell them how bad Win95 really is.
Just my $200,000. :-)
Bryan
Artur Lipowski
Jack Grey
>As soon as I get Warp Connect on my computer (I need a CD-ROM drive--
>anyone have a cheap one for sale? ;) I would like to create a WWW page
>dedicated to exposing Microsoft's deeds and highlighting non-MS
>alternatives. I'm just coming up with this off of the top of my head,
>Charles L. Coffing | Team OS/2 | Disk full: Delete Windows?
>ki...@mit.edu | Get Warped! | (Y)es (H)ell yes
Just for inspiration, you might take a look at
http://www.oeh.uni-linz.ac.at:8001/~chris/HATE/hate.html
entitled "The Official Mircosoft Hate Page"
Please understand that the opening panel is not for the politically
correct by a longshot ( Warning - NOT family material ), but there are
lots of links to stuff of similar sentiment.
Most interesting was the sudden disappearance of this page a few weeks
prior to the Wieners '95 release. It has since returned with some
commentary about censorship and disclaimers of responsibility by the
university which hosts the page. I had a bit of email exchange with
one of the authors, he said he was running Linux - no fool he! I
suggested he might take a look at Warp. As for me, I have Warp, Linux,
and NT all on one box as a matter of professional necessity - I have
pros/cons on the three, but wouldn't hit a dog in the rear with any of
the Microsoft mass-market stuff.
*----------------------------------------------------------*
Jack Grey - jack...@iglou.com
Windows '95? - If God had not meant for them to shorn,
he would not have made them sheep.
Jim Louvau
JG> Most interesting was the sudden disappearance of this page a
JG> few weeks prior to the Wieners '95 release. It has since
^^^^^^^
Now that a few fools^H^H^H^H^Hpeople are actually running it, the nickname has
officially been changed to "Whiners95." :-)
-jL
--
|Fidonet: Jim Louvau 1:290/4
|Internet: j...@aisbbs.com
|
| Standard disclaimer: The views of this user are strictly his own.
Michael Blair Mathers
: I just hope that in 10 years time school kids are still learning
: english, maths and art rather than MS-Word, Excel and MS-Paint!
Well, haven't you heard?? MS's new application MS-Teacher? It comes
out in the second quarter of '97. MS-Principle will follow it two
quarters later...
-Mike M
Kazimir Kylheku
Michael Blair Mathers <math...@cps.msu.edu> wrote:
>Richard Piper (rpi...@critcare.vichosp.london.on.ca) wrote:
>: I just hope that in 10 years time school kids are still learning
>: english, maths and art rather than MS-Word, Excel and MS-Paint!
>
>
>Well, haven't you heard?? MS's new application MS-Teacher? It comes
I just hope Computer Science isn't part of its curriculum.
--
I have taken all the Gates out of my computer, and it still works!