Addressed to: Don Madson <dpmadson @
skypoint .
com>
Firewalls <firewalls @
GreatCircle .
com>
** Reply to note from Don Madson <dpmadson @
skypoint .
com> 05/13/96 12:08pm -0500
ANY FURTHER DISCUSSION TO PRIVATE MAIL
= You don't know what you're talking about!
=
that has been said many times before. after all, who am I?
"who the fuck am I?" --nobody, I guess.
I have a Piled higher and Deeper in information techniques
from Zuerich (undergrad at Harvard in physical chemistry --boring);
I've been around since before the dawn of arpa net, probably as long
as TCMay --but I've never held a "job";
I've personally coded two 250,000+ line packages which made me
more than comfortable, even if one did go down the black hole (and
countless other things like the bit-slice hardware and firmware to
replace the B3500s in missle silos); and that's just the beginning.
I have been the hatchet man in numerous high tech recoveries;
I have been charged with crypto offenses by the Feds; I have
been charged with "treasonable" technology export by the Feds; and, a
long time ago did more than one tour in "black" special
operations in SE Asia --as a battalion commanding officer and
'copter pilot --better known as the "Ace of Swords."
Oh, yeah, I forgot, I hold a license to practice before the courts
in a couple European countries.
read the following while playing 'Hotel California'
So, "who the fuck am I?" --just another aging 300 lb gorilla,
long haired hippie California freak with an outlaw chopper.
So, who am I? Nobody, I guess -just attila.
= Having made that statement I believe I'm being generous.
=
probably so --your call....
= You don't have to like MS or Bill Gates, that's your business but I
truly doubt that MS is the worst in any category of ethical or
criminal behavior.
=
I guess your ability to evaluate ethical considerations is
firmly implanted wherE the sun don't shine. Sorry....
= If you think MS is bad just think of the world without MS. What would
you be paying for your products if Apple and Adobe were the only
show in town? What if IBM was the only company out there. I'm glad
that MS is there to compete with those companies.
=
oh, I don't mind fair competition --but MS is now the "800 lb
gorrila" on the block (quote NY Times). Bill's intimidation and
vindictiveness, his unethical violations of confidentiality, his
more than condescending attitude to DOJ consent agreements, etc. is
more than fiction --it's legendary (and provable if further
intimidation was removed as a threat from victims).
Secondly, I do not like people who blatantly lie, misquote,
false advertise, etc.
= I'd hate to go back to the day's of paying ten to a hundred times as
much money for one one-hundredth of the quality, performance and
features we get with software today.
=
you get what you pay for --if ISVs were free to issue their
programs on competing systems, there would be a viable market. As it
is, competing systems are reduced to second sourcing software and
often fail to reach their potential due to Gates' threats if they
load any other system.
Bill Gates operates on the principle:
"What's good for Microsoft is good for the country."
(paraphrased from Al Sloan of GM in the 30s)
--attila
=
= Don
=
--
"Bill Gates is greedy because he has amassed a fortune of
US$ 15,000,000,000 ($15 billion)
but the US Government is a helpful Village because it takes
US$ 1,400,000,000,000 ($1.4 trillion) from us each year
and does good things with it."
--Hillary Clinton
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