Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2002 07:15:04 -0800 (PST) From: Radhika Sambamurti <radhika_narendran@yahoo.com> To: John Bleichert <syborg@stny.rr.com>, Charles Burns <burnscharlesn@hotmail.com> Cc: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Advocacy help for CS professor Message-ID: <20020322151504.56897.qmail@web9301.mail.yahoo.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0203220942530.7872-100000@janeway.vonbek.dhs.org>
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This is a passionate subject. All I can say is that it is amazing that in this world, superior technology has nothing to do with popularity. What I'm trying to say is that when Microsoft thwarts others from entering the software realm, it is acting as a bouncer. It is a muscleman not letting people in. It is NOT the better technology, but it is using the system around it to maintain its status-quo and that is dangerous. Here is a link to a small-ish write up about open-source that opened my eyes. It is not a diatribe at all, but a very balanced look at the benefits of open software and innovation that occurs from it and where we would all be today without it. I couldn't have put it better. http://www.xiph.org/about.html enjoy, Radhika --- John Bleichert <syborg@stny.rr.com> wrote: > > Oh boy, I fought with this type all the way through > engineering school. > Yet another CS professor who sees the glitzy surface and > the commercial > success yet ignores the sloppy underpinnings (He's > probably a DCOM expert, > right?) and the havoc M$ is wreaking on this planet right > now. > > I've found it worthless to try to reason with these > people on technical > grounds - if they were interested in technical acumen, > they wouldn't be > arguing with you anyway. > > There are only 3 arguments that can help you at this > point: > > * M$ is a convicted monpolist who has broken the law > several times and has > been convicted of same. They should be treated > accordingly. > > * Ask this "professor" what happens in the wild when one > species has > gained utter and complete control of a biota and is > then summarily wiped > out by some sort of disease? The only safe network is a > heterogenous > network. The fact that one opsys controls the desktop > of 95% of the > world's, businesses' and governments' desktops gives me > the willies and > is just plain wrong. > > * Ask him why exactly he would support a defacto, > corprate-installed > standard rather than a widely-agreed upon public > standard that all > opsys's could communicate with. > > I'm a unix enthusiast, but an open-standards zealot. The > problem is, > you've dropped this question in a newsgroup to a bunch of > people who > probably couldn't care if some sequestered academic > thinks M$ has better > products just because they were able to buy the market > ;-) > > JB > > On Thu, 21 Mar 2002, Charles Burns wrote: > > > Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2002 23:41:47 -0700 > > From: Charles Burns <burnscharlesn@hotmail.com> > > To: questions@FreeBSD.ORG > > Subject: Advocacy help for CS professor > > > > I have a CD professor who has a masters in CS and EET > from a top 50 > > university yet is enveloped in the Microsoft way of > life. While this isn't > > necessarily a bad thing, he is indirectly advocating > Windows over Unix for > > all tasks based on knowledge from the Unix of years > ago. Alot has changed! > > Showing him that Unix (BSD/Linux, etc) make a great > server is easy, but Unix > > is now a great desktop platform as well. This is what I > need help with. I > > have written several advocacy messages myself, but they > are typically > > targeted to people setting up servers. > > > > I would like to make some specific arguments that will > show him that Unix is > > worth giving a try, and if he doesn't like it, fine, > his choice. He is > > willing to read what I have to say about it and listen > to me as a peer, and > > considering his position as the head of the CS > department, this could > > benefit FreeBSD and Unix in general (if you are > interested in that sort of > > thing). > > > > This person has the following additude: > > > > - Microsoft has money, therefore can buy the best > programmers, therefore has > > the best products. > > > > - Microsoft is very successful, therefore has the best > products (though he > > is not using the popularity alone as an argument as he > does have extensive > > knowledge of logic) > > > > - OSS programmers could not possibly be as good as > Microsoft programmers, > > because Microsoft sponsors such things as nat'l > programming competitions and > > hires the winners/hires the best of class from top > universities, etc. I need > > specific reasons and hopefully links (not to slashdot, > to reputable neutral > > news sites and such). OSS has Greenman, DeRaadt, > Torvalds, Hubbard, Lehey, > > and others which are certainly among the top 100 > programmers on earth. How > > to prove, though? I have pointed out that academics and > contest winners are > > different from people that naturally love to code, but > he is in a commercial > > mindset. I have seen many great logical abstractions of > this concept on > > various sites, but finding them would be impossible. > > > > - He is using examples of MS products being superior to > other Windows > > products, examples in which he is right. Netscape 4.7* > vs. IE4--No > > comparison. MS Office vs everything else--for it's > intended audience, it > > really is the best. Media player, etc. He quoted > Outlook Express, but being > > in the field he uses Eudora because of OE's > jaw-dropping security record. I > > already made the Evolution comparison, but I really > need more examples in > > which an OSS Unux product is superior. > > ----Note that I am not trying to convince him that Unix > makes a better > > overall desktop, or that OSS software is necessarily > the best, only that > > there are many great OSS apps-some of which are better > than MS counterparts, > > and that he should give it a try. (he is busy and > doesn't want to waste time > > on something that he is pretty sure will suck) > > > > - He says Unix is fragmented, therefore cannot have a > unified vision and > > focus, and that this automatically makes it inferior to > Windows which is > > under one company with theoretically one vision and > focus.(to own everything > > :-) > > > > > > I have already made some arguments and given some > examples, but I would > > greatly appreciate any compact and strong anecdotes, > facts, quotes, > > examples, theories, logical proofs, rhetorical > questions, etc. that apply. > > Please don't tell me that Windows really is a better > desktop OS--whether it > > is or not isn't the point. > > > > Thanks ahead of time. > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN > Hotmail. > > http://www.hotmail.com > > > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the > message > > > > |-John Bleichert----syborg@stny.rr.com----------------| > |-------------------http://vonbek.dhs.org/latest.jpg--| > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message ===== It's all a matter of perspective. You can choose your view by choosing where to stand. --Larry Wall __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Movies - coverage of the 74th Academy Awards® http://movies.yahoo.com/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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