Bigot! (was Re: 7895 and 2.0.35 aic7xxx)

[Robert G. Brown]

On Sun, 6 Sep 1998, Reinhold J. Gerharz wrote:

> At 19:41 09/06/1998 +0200, Erik Elmgren wrote:
> >Some persons, myself included, have problems cold-booting linux
> >with it. We have to boot win nt first <shudder>, ant then warm-boot
> >linux.
> 
> Why do some people feel obligated to say something disparaging about
> Microsoft in order to fit in with the Linux crowd? With all the bigots
> in the world, do we really need Operating Systems Bigots?
> 
> If NT makes you shudder, why did you install it?

In my case, I DIDN'T install it.  Dell did, because of a "deal" with
Microsoft and Intel.  Only the most paranoid amongst us are wondering if
MS, Adaptec and Dell got together and arraged for some sort of firmware
"trap" that more or less "requires" that one run only NT if you want to
actually use the onboard 7890.  Unfortunately, I want to install linux
on the system (and indeed have).  Quite a few people end up with
Microsoft products installed on their systems for two reasons:  a) The
systems come preinstalled with one because MS has immense armtwisting
capabilities in the Intel world and uses them ruthlessly to ensure that
this continue to be the case; b) Because of the overwhelming prevalance
of MS-based systems in corporate and University networks, technically
merited or not (see a)), many people "must" install a "Windows" product
to participate in a local networking scheme or to run some particular
and required site software package.

As far as the "shudder" is concerned, it is simply the honest statement
of personal opinion, one that is indeed widely shared on the linux
world.  It is not bigotry, which is "obstinately or intolerantly devoted
to his own opinions and prejudices".  It is entirely mindful distaste
based upon the heavy-handed marketing tactics of a multi-billion dollar
corporation that currently has a stranglehold on the information
industry.  You need to carefully differentiate between "obstinate and
intolerant" bigotry, as in "alligators suck because they are reptiles
and all reptiles suck" and thoughtful and tolerant distaste, as in
"alligators in my neighborhood suck because one bit off my hand, another
ate my dog, and they are making little piles of alligator-poop all over
my back yard, but I'm sure that alligators in the wild are attractive
and useful creatures".

The exploitation of a monopoly market position has garnered MS the full
attention of the Justice department and a number of anti-trust suits.
It is a shame that Justice is so bigoted.  MS is so in-bed with e.g.
Intel corp and Dell that Intel "almost" required that one run WinNT on
the machines they are donating via their grant programs (obviously they
cannot REALLY require it or there would be ANOTHER anti-trust suit, one
involving Intel).  They do insist that the (Dell) systems come
pre-installed with NT, arranged a lunch meeting with an NT field
engineer, and let participants know that if they want any software
support at all it will be for NT only, but I'm sure that this doesn't
reflect any "bigotry" on their part agains linux or freebsd.

Am I bigoted agains MS?  Not at all.  I think that Windows 95 sucks from
experience, not because I'm obstinate.  I think that MS Office sucks,
also from experience, not because I'm intolerant of "office products" in
general.  "Loathing" is probably a reasonable descriptor of my feelings
toward both products.  I do think that Windows makes a great operating
system from which to launch games (a challenging task:-) and is
acceptable as the basis for learning-ware.  NT, on the other hand, I do
not actively hate -- it at least is trying to do a number of good things
(like achieve posix compliance, support real multitasking and VM, and
provide network access to the CPU and executables).  I dislike the fact
that it "requires" a head and GUI to manage and de facto requires a head
to run most of its software -- to me it is silly to integrate your OS
and your GUI, and I dislike RH linux for pretty much the same reason
even though the integration in the latter case is technically at a
removable level.

No, when we <shudder> out loud in the linux world, it is not mindless
prejudice, nor are we passing a moral judgement on the millions of MS
users worldwide.  (Well, maybe just a little, but all in good fun;-).
Heck, I personally have two dual boot Win95/linux systems and every time
it is cold in hell or I want to play Riven or I need to help my wife
with a Power Point presentation (double <<shudder>> and a <barf>) I boot
one of them up, generally to end up muttering under my breath and
banging on the innocent keyboard a bit later when a general protection
fault trashes my system and loses me four or five hours of work or it
turns out to be a thirty step process to get a spreadsheet image
embedded in the presentation and correctly formatted.

   rgb

Robert G. Brown	                       http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/
Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305
Durham, N.C. 27708-0305
Phone: 1-919-660-2567  Fax: 919-660-2525     email:rgb at phy.duke.edu




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