Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 00:34:37 +0000 From: Harry Woodward-Clarke <Harry.Woodward-Clarke@S1.com> Cc: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: IE for FreeBSD Petition Message-ID: <3928809D.584A62E7@S1.com> References: <000b01bfc35d$c8c3c030$0200a8c0@bill> <20000522093603.B77130@freebie.lemis.com>
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Hi Greg, <snip> > > I think this is a very bad idea. Look at your mail message for <snip> > > In the FreeBSD project, we're trying to get away from Microsoft, >not > come closer to it. If there were a counter-petition to ask >Microsoft > *not* to port IE, I would sign it. Until recently, I would have agreed wholeheartedly with you. Now-a-days, I'm not too sure... I think, for many of us, the proliferation of PCs would not have occurred without someone like M$ coming in and establishing a 'standard'. OK, it's not the 'best' standard there could have been, but for quite a while it's been pretty much the only ship in town. (Digital Research with CP/M dropped the ball - but would that have been any "better" than Messy-DOG?) Without the large number of MS-DOG/Windoze PCs around, the economies of scale in production of the hardware may not have arrived as quickly - as it is we have heaps and gobs of (relatively) cheap and (relatively) reliable hardware that we can convert via FreeBSD (and others) to Unix Workstations. Secondly, isn't our OpenSource world all about 'choice'? Now, true, some are greatly attracted to the freedom to have all sorts of nifty little 'toys' to play with. Others are attracted to the promise of great OS stability (which is why NT4 was such a hit in the Corporate world - compared to Win3.x/95 it is/was heaps better), but these people also require compatability with their (less enlightened) work-collegues. Hence StarOffice and ApplixWare (etc.), and this petition for IE. I doubt that all Free/Net/Open-BSD/Linux people will instantly switch to IE for Unix, but it's possible that there are those who would like to do so - if only because NetCommunicator is so kludgy at times. But, if people want to use an IE for Unix, then why not allow them the choice? At least if a worm enters their account, hopefully it will be confined to their own account ;') just my 6d haxxa To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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