Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1998 10:05:08 -0600 (CST) From: John Kenagy <jktheowl@bga.com> To: "Jonathan M. Bresler" <jmb@FreeBSD.ORG> Cc: Charlie Schloemer <smiledon@intop.net>, chuck@ucsd.edu, jkb@best.com, danny@AlphaZed.com, wes@softweyr.com, grog@lemis.com, kbyanc@freedomnet.com, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Tell Micro$oft what you think Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.95q.981122094444.9115A-100000@barnowl> In-Reply-To: <199811221309.FAA07281@hub.freebsd.org>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Sun, 22 Nov 1998, Jonathan M. Bresler wrote: > Charlie Schloemer wrote: > > I have to concur on this one, too. Love or hate Microsoft, they're > > largely responsible for the the low cost of PC hardware, making their > > software accessible and easy for home users. I don't care to ever USE any > > of this software in my lifetime, but I enjoy being able to build a killer > > system for $1500. FWIW. :-) > > > > Gates often repeats that line....or elaborates on it saying > that if cars had developed and car prices fallen as fast > as pcs you could drive from maine to san jose on a single > tank of gas in less than an hour......detroit responds by > saying that is true, if you made it.....the car would > explode killing all passengers before you reched the > mississippi. General Motors issued a response having some of the coments below (sorry for my paraphrase GM): 1. For no reason whatsoever your car would crash twice a day. 2. Every time they repainted the lines on the road you would have to buy a new car. 3. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine. One more (out of many) and my favorite - 4. The air bag would prompt "Are You Sure?" before going off. > the fall in PC prices has nothing to do with MS, neither > can one atribute increase in performance to MS. rather > intel and and computer makers have been busting their chops > trying to keep the hardware improvements from being swamped > by MS bloatware. > Yes, and Bill's comment about the auto industry indicates his very profound lack of understanding of manufacturing in general. It is _precision_ of manufacture which makes the machines that make cars, PCs, the Space Shuttle, the Hubble, etc. possible. Bill's software did not provide SUFFICIENT PRECISION to create programs that drove those machines. Back in the days when PCs were 8 bit and came in baggies we used CBASIC from Digital Research. It could be pushed to millionths of an inch. NOTHING from Microsoft could do it. > as users of FreeBSD, we should be deeply grateful to these > hardware companies....we get all the improvement without > suffering any of the MS induced sludge-ware. > > attribute the speedup to the "market forces" if you will, > but dont credit MS with others work. > jmb Right again, cheap PCs exist because we all were willing to pay for them. Manufacturers fell over themselves to produce ever cheaper and more feature loaded boxes. Bill knew when to wear a suit. John To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.BSF.3.95q.981122094444.9115A-100000>