Whenever I mention in a crowd that I use free software, someone always seems to comment that I must hate Microsoft. When I add that I write about free software for a living, someone is apt to call me a Microsoft-basher. In either case, the implication seems to be that my identity is defined by Microsoft, and, perhaps, is composed of an unhealthy amount of envy. When I reply calmly that Microsoft is mostly irrelevant to me, the people who made these comments seem disbelieving, or at least disappointed. But why would I care about what Microsoft is doing, beyond a mild interest in news that doesn’t particularly concern me?
Oh, I know that some free software users seem fixated on denouncing Microsoft at every opportunity. You can find them on any forum with a free software slant, writing about “Micro$oft” and referring to Windoze, and seeing a deep conspiracy in every move that the company makes. Mostly, I suspect, these users are in their teens, and either passionately young or anxious to sound as though they belong.
Personally, though, my teen years are long gone. These days, I tend to hold my beliefs with a quieter but no less deep conviction.
Yet, even when I was younger, I could never rally more than an abstract dislike about Microsoft. Sure, I object to a monopoly. I’d have to be an idiot not to think that the constant anti-trust cases brought against the company world-wide are coincidences. And my personal sense of aesthetics and quality revolt against anything that is designed poorly and intended to keep the user ignorant.
But I’ve never felt much need to convert others to my beliefs, and I certainly wouldn’t be rude to Windows users. I’ve even chatted amiably with a number of Microsoft employees; some of them are pleasant people.
My move to free software was not a rejection of Microsoft so much as a discovery of a philosophy that was in sync with the rest of my social principles, and a decision to go with the superior software.
Since I made that decision, I’ve generally had a small partition with Windows on at least one machine. But it’s been kept mostly for games, and months sometimes passed between the times I booted it. For the last eight months, I didn’t have a copy of Windows running anywhere in the house, and that only changed because my new laptop came with one. I immediately minimized the partition and allocated four-fifths of the hard drive to Fedora 7. Probably, I’ll only boot into Windows when I’m doing comparison articles. I certainly don’t need it for anything else.
Under such circumstances, why would I care about Microsoft one way or the other?
The only time I’m interested at all is when a Microsoft executive makes some far-fetched statement about free software or makes a tentative attempts to interact with the free and open source software community. Yet, even then, the most I can muster is a mild professional interest. Mostly, Microsoft interacts with free software-based companies, while I prefer to use community GNU/Linux distributions, so on a personal level, I don’t care much.
I suppose that one reason people assume that I must spend my time conducting Three Minutes’ Hate sessions against Microsoft is that I earn a living from free software, so all the related issues must be of absorbing interest to me. But, the truth is, I usually leave writing about Microsoft-related issues to other people. It’s a beat that I prefer not to cover.
Anyway, even those who do write about Microsoft are rarely rabid about it. They’re professionals. They work eight hours or more a day with free software, and very few people are capable of sustaining a fierce hatred for forty hours a week. Nor are editors especially interested in paeans of hate, even if some of them have a fondness for stirring up controversy. For these reasons, if you are passionately anti-Microsoft going into free software journalism, you either don’t last long or mellow.
I could be wrong, but I suspect that the main reason people assume that I hate Microsoft is the poverty of their own imagination. For many people, Microsoft is such a large fixture in their world that — love or loathe it — the idea of not caring what the company does is almost inconceivable. They seem unable to comprehend that, among other things, the free and open source communities are refuges where – unlike the larger world – Microsoft’s latest doings or Windows’ new security patch are irrelevant.
Frankly, the obsession with Microsoft is theirs, not mine. There are days, even weeks sometimes, when I don’t think of Microsoft one way or the other. Believe it or not, mostly Microsoft just doesn’t enter into my life.
I agree with you in the main. And in a perfect world I would agree whole heartedly. However, there is a reason to be concerned about what Microsoft does. They seem to be able to convince politicians that it is in the best interest of everyone to do what Microsoft wants. This could include making it illegal (by whatever means they can come up with) to use anything other than Windows. Perhaps under a provision of the Patriot Act?
Who knows. So, keep you eye on them. Even if you don’t have anything against them.
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. It is impossible to be an afficionado of free software without being opposed to Microsoft, because Microsoft is actively at work trying to exterminate free software.
Swiss german, now retired in Italy.
At job:
1986 AT&T 3B2 with UNIX SVR2
1993 no name i486DX50 with Interactive UNIX SVR3.2
1998 no name PII450 with Linux 2.0.3? (Slackware)
2004 no name Dual Xeon with Linux 2.4.3? (Slackware)
Private:
1995 no name PII133 with Linux (Slackware)
… many machines, all Linux (Slackware)
2007 no name Core2 duo Slackware, kernel 2.6.22.3
3 machines in daily use
M$: no problems, a) _never_ _used_, b) ignoring them.
You can use this info as you like, common etc.
Regards
Mario Vanoni, born 1941
As regards Microsoft: in the immortal words of The Who, “Let’s forget you, better still…”
I still use and love Microsoft software. I’ve got all the Office 97 applications and they work just fine. Those Office 97 applications are so good Microsoft has not needed to provide updates in years other than a few security features. Lately Microsoft has not even needed to provide any Office 97 applications.
I keep watching. Perhaps one day I’ll move to Office 2003 if that ever gets stable. I haven’t seen any recent pricing on Office 2003 so maybe I can pick up a free copy after it gets stable.
My kids bought Windows XP and a Laptop with Vista. My wife got sucked into buying the Microsoft applications for my daughter’s laptop. Those applications are pretty useless what with all the maintenance requirements of applying bug fixes so often. It seems like every month or so there is some new problem. My wife and daughter simply got ripped off by the young man behind the counter. What scum they have selling that crappy software.
My son just bought a Mac and loves it. He will never go back to Microsoft.
I tried Fedora 5 as both a server and a desktop. As a server it was fine. As a desktop it sucked. It could not figure out how to properly configure any of the 3 or 4 monitors I tried. I lost weeks on that problem and no one in the Linux community ever came up with a solution for me either. They were friendly and I probably got 50 or so useless suggestions.
The day Microsoft Office 97 stops working (and I rarely use Word and Excel) is the day I install Open Office.
On a daily basis I use Linux via a browser interface for both MySQL database and file uploads of my PHP applications. All my applications run on Linux servers.
I used to use Visual Basic. Does Microsoft still sell that product. I think my last version was version 5. I guess that was around the time when I began to question why I needed to pay Microsoft a penny more. I mean, how many copies of an Operating System that is not yet stable do I really need to buy? XP is the first version where I haven’t seen the Blue Screen of OS death. Of course, XP is the first version where a browser simply opens and then immediately closes without telling you why. Basically that is the XP implementation of the Blue Screen. I haven’t used Vista but I suspect it is just as unstable. I mean, it is not like Microsoft is capable of creating any software that is stable before they proceed to create more useless software features that no one but marketing folks use. It just sin’t going to happen.
Well, that’s all I’ve got. I’ve got to get back to my Firefox browser to review some of my HTML/CSS/Javascript web pages that extract MySQL data using PHP applications. And, of course I’ll create and edit those applications using the greatest piece of software Microsoft has ever produced – NOTEPAD. That is why I love Microsoft software. Notepad Rocks!!!!
Microsoft isn’t bad, some of their products are bad but the company has released some quality stuff that no one until now would even attempt to create. They gave out free e-mail when everyone else was charging (yes I know they bought Hotmail later in its succession but still).
Most people that hate Microsoft have absolutely no Developer experience. They’ve never programmed, and so they don’t know how difficult it is to create – it’s easy to destroy and criticize – any idiot can do that. But it’s another thing to create, and to create something that’s actually usable and easy to use and learn.
People without any programming knowledge find it easy to criticize the products because they don’t know how hard it is to track down bugs. Not to mention that Microsoft also takes a pretty lenient position on piracy of their products for personal usage. Look at Apple, which patrols the net vigilante style to stop piracy of it’s products – which might I add are upwards of $100. Bugs in OSx require you to pay money for the hotfixes and patches, which they poetically refer to by animal names (oh it’s not small change either, like $100 for Panther – I’m off osx when I found this out).
Microsoft still has it’s problems, I’m not big on the monopoly thing and I don’t like that they’re getting in to open source – cuz they’re too commercial and they’re true intentions peek out when they try to do something nice. But again, they’re no worse then Apple (which is basically Microsoft with nice glossy vernier) – don’t forget that Apple stole their design from Xerox. So originality is nothing, they all steal from each other.
Linux is pretty good, but it’s not user friendly – I’ve had bad experiences with Linux, but I would definitely recommend it. I’m happy with XP which I configured heavily and it works quite nicely. I can do whatever I want and I can get free programs easily, and when I want to program or develop something I don’t have to shell out $$$ to get a developer program to start making applications (Apple dev software seems nice, but it’s crazy expensive – hence why OSx developers are rare, and usually charge for their products to recoup the costs of the expensive compilers they had to buy).
While having been a computer user for more than twenty years, primarily as a technical and home user rather than for programming or professional office, I have also moved to an environment almost free of Microsoft – mostly GNU/Linux and FreeBSD with only a part-time Windows box, mainly because I appreciate reliable, secure and flexible software that allows me to be as productive as possible.
However I keep a wary eye on Microsoft’s behavior, as the company has a well documented history of acting very badly towards competitors, especially GNU/Linux and Free/Open Source Software (FOSS). They show no signs of obeying or even acknowledging the USA or European anti-trust decrees against them, that can and will probably lead to their illegal actions to secure the restriction of FOSS in many areas of use, which will surely and severely affect Bruce Byfield, whether he likes it or not.
The only reason that I pay any attention to MS is because their monopoly over operating systems factory installed, hurts my Ubuntu Linux usage.
It is still very difficult to buy a computer that comes with Ubuntu factory installed (though now possible through Dell and some smaller white box manufacturers). What is even more troublesome is getting peripherals working. Why manufacturers can’t and test their products with Linux and put on the box whether they are supported by mainline kernels is a mystery to me. I have had all sorts of trouble getting USB wifi sticks to work with Ubuntu and so far I have been totally put off trying to get a webcam working.
This brings me to the final point, the MS monopoly makes getting good proprietary software for Linux quite difficult as well. Windows gets the vast majority of corporate developer attention, e.g. where is the video version of Skype for Linux?
So that is why I try to convince people to use Linux where it is possible. The increased numbers of Linux users will make my computer using life easier (and probably their’s too).
BTW I am definitely not in my teens and I have no idea why people like notepad so much… what exactly does it do, that is any better than other text editors?
“They show no signs of obeying or even acknowledging the USA or European anti-trust decrees against them, that can and will probably lead to their illegal actions to secure the restriction of FOSS in many areas of use, which will surely and severely affect Bruce Byfield, whether he likes it or not.”
Maybe. And if such actions begin, I’ll oppose them as I can.
Meanwhile, I’m not going to worry unduly about them. What you don’t seem to realize is the vastness of FOSS’s resources. They’re much greater than Microsoft or any other corporation can hope to rally.
“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. It is impossible to be an afficionado of free software without being opposed to Microsoft, because Microsoft is actively at work trying to exterminate free software.”
Oh, I’m against a lot of what Microsoft does.
But free software would be a very pathetic movement if all it stood for was being against Microsoft. If that was all, then taking Microsoft away would also remove free software.
I happen to think that free software is building something more positive — a real alternative to Microsoft, rather than just a bad-mouthed opposition to it.
Bruce, like you, I don’t use Microsoft products other than for comparative purposes, and in theory, I shouldn’t care one way or another what Microsoft does.
Unfortunately Microsoft cares very much that I don’t use their products. They care very much that people like me (and you) can put together entire application hosting infrastructures without spending a cent.
They care so much about it that they continually undermine, contaminate, intimidate, obfuscate and spread as much rumour and FUD about Free/Open Source Software as they can.
The Free Software Movement is not just about being anti-Microsoft, but for as long as Microsoft tries to undermine Free/Open Source Software, we have to care about what they do.
They did little to change their business practices after being found guilty of being an illegal monopoly in 1999, despite all the penalties, so they will continually loom large on the radar screen.
I have been Microsoft free for quite a long time already. I advocate using Linux since the 90s.
For me, it is ABM — Anything BUT Microsoft. 🙂
Jaro said, “BTW I am definitely not in my teens and I have no idea why people like notepad so much… what exactly does it do, that is any better than other text editors?”
NOTEPAD is the one tool Microsoft created that is very basic, is stable and has not changed very much. And, I hope it stays that way. Trust me, there is no love lost between myself and Microsoft. NOTEPAD is the only Microsoft product I’ve actually considered to be stable over the years. And, I even recall a couple unexplained hangs with Notepad.
As soon as Linux is viable as a Desktop operating system, I may try using VIM as my Notepad replacement. However, that could be tomorrow or a decade from now.
Notepad pretends to be nothing more than what it is. It is a tool to enter text and store that text into a file. It does nothing more than what you ask of it with one possible exception. When you press the ENTER key, both a carriage return and a linefeed are entered.
And, in that regard it is far better than the loony Linux approach of never knowing whether you have \n, or \r\n, or \n\r, or \r. I think some Linux utilities, and Windows utilities, are just out to mess with your mind. If I receive a program from anyone, my first step is usually to paste it into Notepad. Only then do I feel safe to move it to my Linux server. If something gets broken in the process, shame on them for trying to put something passed me or otherwise cause a dependency.
As far as other editors are concerned, the more help they provide, the further away from the code they take you. Look at all the garbage an editing tool like Microsoft FrontPage provides. And, FrontPage has gotten better over the years! The fact is that bloat causes as many problems as it solves. There is no bloat with Notepad because either you put it in or it is not there.
Even with something like VIM with its colors and language specific formatting, VIM creates a dependence for the author. An author may become dependent in code checking with color indicators. Then for whatever reason, VIM does not always get it right – so you go through a couple extra compiles or test executions because you overlooked the problem. If I check the code more closely, I may still miss the problem, but, the simple process of checking the code once again is helpful in creating better code.
In summary, Notepad keeps you closer to the code – and that is a good thing!
Bruce Byfield said, “And my personal sense of aesthetics and quality revolt against anything that is designed poorly and intended to keep the user ignorant.”
I do not think that the “keep the user ignorant” point has ever been given enough emphasis. There is not a doubt in my mind that it is Microsoft’s plan, intent and successful implementation to “keep the user ignorant”.
My proof? Next time you get an error message from Microsoft or even a Window with a special title, go to the Microsoft website and search for that term. Very very rarely will you ever get a search result on the Microsoft website that gives you the details behind the error message. Microsoft wants you to either pickup the phone and pay or to simply go away and don’t bother them.
So, here you have paid for this unstable software, you get an unclear error message, you get no online support and you have to pay some more if you want to know that the Microsoft folks don’t understand why that error message would arise. Nor do they always know the meaning themselves even up the chain a couple levels. Why do people still buy this Microsoft software anyway? It used to be that you had to buy Big Blue. Now you have to buy Microsoft instead of IBM.
Now, go over to the PHP website at http://www.php.net and enter in any function name you like. Not only will you get language syntax details, you also get extended details and you get real world examples from users. Anything similar in the Microsoft world is disconnected from Microsoft’s proprietary – and often hidden – world.
I actually liked Microsoft’s Word 2. It did everything I needed at the time, and even now there is nothing I do “word processing” wise that Word 2 didn’t do, except for “save as HTML”.
But like Neil Stephenson writes in his _In The Beginning Was The Command Line_, I too was burned by my Word 2 documents being made obsolete and unreadable by endless feature creep and vendor lock-in.
When I had Win95, as suggested above about Notepad, I actually liked Wordpad. It, again, did what I wanted it to do to make pretty documents. But now it’s gone, unlike Notepad.
Nothing Microsoft has made since has given me any reason to not use F/OSS instead of their products. If Windows were free, if Office came without charge, I still wouldn’t use them.
Will, you would mount a better argument if you responded to what I actually said, not an approximation that allows you to make snide remarks in an effort to assert your superiority.
If you actually go back and read what I have to say, I never said that Microsoft wouldn’t continue to act in ways hostile to free software. What I said is that free software is now in a position to defend itself against such threats, so there is no need to be in a constant state of alarm.
Your attack is morbidly interesting for its slinging of insults, but they fall well short of affecting me. Your conflation of being calm and polite with “subjugation,” for instance, is simply a non sequitur.
Nor is there any “self-sensorship” (sic) involved in my disinclination to rant against Microsoft. There are many ways to support free software other than constantly damning Microsoft. And, even if there wasn’t, I would have no self-respect whatsoever if I simply acted as a fan-boy for any cause, even one as worthwhile as free software.
As for your claim that, “You have let M$ tell you what words to use,” that is even more insulting. I defy you to find anything in the thousands of words I have written about free software that you can prove was dictated by Microsoft — and, no, writing something you disagree with is not proof.
As for buying a computer with a Microsoft program installed on it, what makes you think that I was ignorant of what I was doing? Contrary to what you seem to think, you’re not the only one who knows that you pay for Windows when you get a new computer, and I am fully aware that I could have applied for a refund if I’d care to.
However, what you don’t grasp is that, I am not just a home user. As a journalist, I often do comparison articles, such as my series a couple of months ago comparing OpenOffice.org to MS Office. So far as I’m concerned, Informing the free software on such subjects is a far greater blow in defense of my freedom and everybody else’s than simply retreating into self-righteousness as you do.
In short, for someone who claims that hatred of MIcrosoft does not “consume” him, you do a remarkable imitation. But apparently, you’re so locked into an outdated mindset that you cannot even examine it.
Interestingly, I think MS haters/complainers utters MS more than MS software users do.
“That’s not something I had thought of when I noticed your attack on “Microsoft bashers”. We may very well see you go the way of Dan Lyons, Laura Diddio, George Ou and other infamous columnists. If you are taking directions from M$ PR, it’s only be a matter of time before they rat you out with leaked documents or your record tell on you.”
Considering I’ve been favorably quoted by the executive director of the FSF at its annual general meeting, I don’t think I have to prove anything to anyone.
Anyone who could even consider lumping me in with these people
a.) Hasn’t read much of my work. (See, for example, http://www.newint.org/columns/essays/2006/11/01/software/
b.) Is completely tone and style deaf, since they can’t tell the difference between deliberate provocation and honestly expressed opinion,
and/or
c.) Is such a whacked-out paranoid that they believeany thing except complete agreement with their views is a sign of a plot.
“I continue to hope that your free software experiment goes well”
Experiment?? If you call ten years of using GNU/Linux almost exclusively and four years of writnig about it an experiment.
“I’m sorry to hear about your KDE 4 problems.”
Problems? I don’t have any KDE 4 problems. Please read the article, and not the blurb that introduced it.