RE: POL: Reaction to Microsoft Ruling

From: Billy Brown (bbrown@transcient.com)
Date: Thu Apr 06 2000 - 21:27:02 MDT


Ross A. Finlayson wrote:
> Removing the Internet Explorer "E" icon is not feasible. It is scary for
> neophyte users.

Anyone who is that much of a neophyte isn't going to have an opinion about
what browser they want to use, either. I mean, come on, all you have to do
is click on it and hit the delete key.

And for people who really are that ignorant of computers, the fact that they
don't have to worry about choosing a browser unless they want to is a big
benefit.

> As aWindows user, what I want is the ability to add and remove all
components of
> the operating system and rebuild the kernel fine-tuned to my
specifications.
> Also, as I am paranoid, I want to verify system security which is not
feasible
> otherwise.

Cool. I want world peace, a billion dollars and <obscene comments deleted>.
Does that mean I can reasonably complain if I don't get what I want?

Making Windows highly configurable is actually a fairly big priority with
Microsoft, but there are limits to what is practical. Customers also have
lots of other things they want, like perfect stability, an infinite number
of new features, and smaller/faster software. You can't have all of those
things at once, no matter how much money you spend.

> Well, as a user of this software for which money was indirectly tendered
to
> Microsoft, I am the customer, and thus always right, and so want the
source code
> to build my own compiler and kernel, and basic operating system services,
and to
> be able to then pick and choose what operating system enhancements I find
> relevant, and then to pick and choose application software that best fits
my own
> personal requirements.

If you want Linux, use Linux. Most people emphatically do NOT want to be
able to do such things, and that's the market MS is targeting. Their
approach is to give users and administrators nice GUI interfaces for
everything they say they want to be able to manipulate, and then bury
everything else under a layer of automation so that no one has to worry
about it.

Billy Brown
bbrown@transcient.com
www.transcient.com



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