[Linux-aus] You're talking about the same man who...

[Leon Brooks]

...didn't even see the Internet coming, so shipped the first edition of 
Windows 95 without a web browser.

Quoting from:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/10/01/HNgatestalksmuseum_1.html

> As far as Linux goes, Microsoft has seen other potential threats to
> its dominance come and go, Gates stressed.

If that truly represents what Trey Gates believes, then he's stuck somewhere 
between GandhiCon 1 and 2, while the rest of his company is just passing 
GandhiCon 3.

    http://www.faqs.org/docs/jargon/G/GandhiCon.html

> OS/2 was supposed to kill us

_Microsoft_ once called OS/2 a killer product on their own (Windows, no less) 
packaging. Is this doublethink? Go figure.

> Unix, in faltering, has lacked the advantage that Windows has had in that
> it comes from one vendor and has one set of instructions, Gates said.

That's true on its face for a change, and I call to witness the CodeReds, 
Slammers and other symptoms of that dangerous monoculture.

> In the area of grid computing, Gates said not all situations are applicable
> for grid, 

Translation: "we don't have a real product there yet." If they were actually 
competitive in the field, he would sing a different tune.

> “The bad news is this malware [or malicious software] thing is so bad,” 
> he said. 

See above, under "monoculture" - and possibly "irony" and/or "chutzpah".

> phising

This is a grammatical error, the term is "phishing".

> “We ourselves are not going after the e-voting market or the nuclear
> reactor control market,” Gates said.  

That's a relief! However, they _are_ going after the nuclear aircraft carrier 
market. Oh, well, win some, lose some, I guess.

Paul, none of what Bill opined here was news.

Gartner inadvertantly revealed last week that (if their figures accurately 
represent real life, which is doubtful) Linux has slashed illegal software 
copying by at least 20% in many Asian countries, all by itself.

That _is_ news - it's an approach to so-called "software piracy" which 
actually works, and doesn't build resentment of the organisations 
implementing it, nor cause hardship for the end-users.

However, the few news outlets which reported it (including InfoWorld, 
http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/09/29/HNlinuxpiracy_1.html) blindly 
pitched it as if Linux had somehow _contributed_ to the problem.

Why this fascination with Microsoft and their viewpoint? Why are the 
pointless, outdated and generally wrong prognostications of a rich man, or 
the empty sensationlism of an attention-starved consultancy considered 
newsworthy, while the real world-changing news consistently whooshes right 
underneath InfoWorld's radar?

Pharmaceutical companies owned by Bill Gates act to block South Americans from 
shipping cheap generic anti-AIDS drugs to Africa, and it's not newsworthy. On 
the other hand, Linux advocates are helping those same Africans cross the 
Digital Divide, claw their way towards economic independence, and it's still 
not newsworthy. There's even a whole computer game on the topic 
(http://home.gna.org/oomadness/en/slune/), and still silence from InfoWorld. 
Yet you publish this inane "Bill's not scared" article. Hello?

Cheers; Leon