Re: [tlug] What's with this anti-Apple tirade? [was: 2014-05-10 Linux Quiz]

[Raymond Wan <rwan.kyoto@example.com>]

On Tue, May 13, 2014 at 12:06 PM, Stephen J. Turnbull
<stephen@example.com> wrote:
> Raymond Wan writes:
>
>  > I think we have to give credit to Microsoft.  Not for their
>  > technology, but for their marketing.  For partnering up with vendors
>  > long before iOS and Linux existed and continually trying to stay ahead
>  > of the marketing game.
>
> "Partner", my ass.  My brother, when working at DEC, said their
> estimate was $1 million to $5 million per model to get a "Windows-
> ready" certification.  Eg, add a few mechanical changes so users can
> put an auto-sheet-feeder (sold separately) on their scanner: $1
> million in conformance testing.


Well, "partner" was a poor choice of words on my part.  Opps!  I
didn't mean that they like each other or one doesn't overcharge the
other...


> I don't think that's right.  Apple has been doing the "just plug it in"
> thing since before the Mac (remember AppleWriters?), back when Windows
> was hardly a glint off Gates's shoepolish.  What Microsoft has that
> Apple doesn't now is installed base, and Apple's products aren't bug
> compatible with Microsoft's (it's amazing how using Apple's hinting
> engine can break a carefully formatted Monkasho form, for example).
> You have to be willing to put up with a lot to avoid having a Windows
> box somewhere in your office where I work.


Yes, true.  If you work in a small IT company, you might get away with
it.  But if you work with others who aren't in IT (i.e., human
resources, etc.), it is hard to get away from Windows.


>  > As for Linux (all of this IMHO, of course), it is unfortunate us Linux
>  > users argue about Debian, Mint, Fedora, ... is better.  Or even unity
>  > versus gnome versus KDE...  I think it divides us whereas we should
>  > all band together against our common foe...Microsoft.  :-)
>
> To band together we'd have to become Microsoft.  The different distros
> and desktops are genuinely different.  They do some things better and
> worse than each other, and they do some things equally well -- but
> differently.  You'd need a dictator to iron out all the differences.


Indeed, differences are great; but it makes it difficult for someone
from the outside trying to get into the Linux world.

Ray