Re: [TCLUG:3453] Bad news for MS

["Vince Platt" <Vince.Platt@Born.com>]

First of all, your message is coming through as a text attachment to me.
I get the below message, and then I have to open the attachment
separately. *shrug*

Second, I must insist on spoiling your fun on the links you provided.  The
first piece is fiction called "Microsoft's Last Day" and the second is an
article by Bruce McKinney (the author of two editions of _Hardcore Visual
Basic_, stating how fed up with Visual Basic he is and how much he likes
Delphi instead.

The spoiler:  they have nothing to do with the *reality* of Linux in the
marketplace.

The first piece is a particularly disgusting rambling faux-prediction of
the downfall of Microsoft.  It's potential to come true is completely
pre-empted by precedents in the real world.  Want an example:  IBM.  Want
another: Ford.  Yet another?  Ok.. how about AT&T.  All examples of 'evil
monopolies' which made a practice of stomping all over the competition in
unfair ways.  Did they get their come-uppance: more or less.  Did they go
out of business because of it: far from it.

The second piece is a considerably better explanation of why the author
will no longer be writing about or using Visual Basic, despite the success
of the previous two editions of _Hardcore Visual Basic_.  He has some
valid gripes and complaints about the language and has simply decided to
move on.  That's it though.  Will the VB readership and users move en
masse to another environment because of it?  Unlikely.

I'll stop here because I'm afraid I'll just get boring, but let's please
focus on the positives of Linux instead of the negatives of Microsoft.
What if, with all this mud throwing, we bring along to the open source
world what we want to leave behind?  Would we be any better off?  I don't
think we would.

I left SCALUG out of this... I don't subscribe to their list and I don't
think I should be firing stuff off to them without subscribing.  Anyone
else who feels it would be appropriate, feel free.


-----Original Message-----
From: Troy Johnson <john1536@tc.umn.edu>
To: SCALUG <scalug@kendeco.com>; TCLUG <tclug-list@listserv.real-time.com>
Date: Saturday, January 16, 1999 2:17 PM
Subject: [TCLUG:3453] Bad news for MS


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