No more Mr. Nice Guy...

[Jspired]

I am very curious to hear if you receive a response, so I'm hoping you'll post it if you feel it prudent.

Thanks.

[mark]

In response to several comments and links from the latest DistroWatch Weekly , I have just sent the following email to Microsoft:
I have used Microsoft products since before MS-DOS 1.0 (anybody remember BASIC?). I have been a beta-tester for Windows 95 and NT. I have attempted to "pour oil upon the troubled waters" (see my article "Stop the Jihad!" at www.madpenguin.org) in the sometimes ugly Linux-vs-Microsoft public discussion. I have maintained a Windows 2000 partition on my home computer (even though I use Linux for everything but compatability issues with documents generated at work).

This stops NOW.

I am removing ALL Microsft products from my computer. My only use of Microsoft products will be (grudgingly) at work - and if I can convince our IT people to switch, I will. I will no longer promote, recommend or sanction the use of Microsoft products.

Please understand me - healthy competition is fine, it's very much a part of our ecomomic culture. But the competition should be based a a product's merits and on fact. Mr. Ballmer's recent comments regarding the threat of litigation against users of Linux (and, by extrapolation, any open source software) are based on neither. These statements are particularly egregious since Dan Ravicher, the author of the OSRM study cited, has publicly stated that, "The market needs to understand that the study Microsoft is citing actually proves the opposite of what they claim it does."

Until Microsoft abandons such bullying and monopolistic marketing practices and proves that they are producing high-quality software at a fair price, my computers will be Microsoft-free - and I will attempt to convince anyone else that I can to do the same.

Sincerely,

Mark W. Tomlinson
Santa Monica, CA, USA I'll be very interested to see what (if any) response I get from Microsoft...

[zenwhen]

You won't get a response, but several thousand of you might. Perhaps if enough people got together and made a big enough stink, a difference could be made, or at least more people would know what kind of company Microsoft actually is.

This is why I will not support people who have Windows issues. This is why I will not offer support to family members that doesn't involve installing Linux, and them learning to click a Firefox icon to "get to the Internet".

If enough people from the middle and top cut Microsoft out of the equation, the lower half will have to follow to survive. Windows isn't foolproof, and the fools are the ones who won't switch for the reasons you outlined.

Make "what they know" inconvenient to use, and "where they want to go today" may be to http://ubuntulinux.org.

[jdong]

I agree with your opinion. Ballmer's recent statement was absolutely absurd. I no longer recommend the use of Microsoft products and am aggressively searching for alternatives.


I'm working with my school admins on researching Novell's Linux products, and intend on a full Linux migration within a year.

Please tell us Microsoft's response (if any). I'm just as upset as you are.

[oddabe19]

Yeah, what did he say? i keep hearing all this news, but i am yet to see what he actually said.

[edit] nevermind i found it...

what greedy SOB's. Sounds like they might actually starting to be scared and threatend because of Linux's overwhelming poplularity and philosophies.

Makes me want to throw up. I can't stand the fact that they can't just deal with competition.

[oddabe19]

Actually, they better be prepared to sue thousands of companies, 10's of thousands of users, the US Military, NASA, Pentagon, Berlin Germany, Madrid, and countless other groups... which i doubt they are prepared to do.

This includes me, they better be prepared to sue me too, and I promise you, i will not go down without a decent fight.

Damn greedy coorperations.

[mark]

The first reply:

Dear Mark,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft.com Customer Support.

We are striving to capture any and all feedback so as to ensure that we are continuously sensitive to customer needs. This is exactly why feedback such as yours is always taken very seriously.

We will be forwarding your comments to the appropriate Microsoft group, which will use your feedback when planning and evaluating future enhancements.

If you have additional suggestions for improvements, please feel free to write back.

Sincerely,

Oliver
Microsoft.com Customer Support ...followed by the text of my email. Well, it's nice to know that their robots are polite, anyway. Be interesting to see what happens when somebody actually reads it.

[oddabe19]

The first reply:
...followed by the text of my email. Well, it's nice to know that their robots are polite, anyway. Be interesting to see what happens when somebody actually reads it.


would you mind If i sent a copy of your e-mail as well???? if not, could you please post the addy you sent it to?

[mark]

would you mind If i sent a copy of your e-mail as well???? if not, could you please post the addy you sent it to? By all means, feel free to copy my email. Since I couldn't find an appropriate address, I went to the Microsoft web site & looked for the Contact Us selection. Clicking that got me to an on-line form & that's what I used.

Seriously, any & everybody - copy my email word-for-word, edit it, use it as a template - anything to let Redmond know that we're p****d!

Mark

[indygreen]

By all means, feel free to copy my email. Since I couldn't find an appropriate address, I went to the Microsoft web site & looked for the Contact Us selection. Clicking that got me to an on-line form & that's what I used.

Seriously, any & everybody - copy my email word-for-word, edit it, use it as a template - anything to let Redmond know that we're p****d!

Mark

Thanks for letting the community do this, Mark. We need to send MS a message!

-chad

[Quake]

Bah, I don't think Steve Ballmer is gonna change his stance, He's having too much fun thinking about the suits.
http://www.tarmo.fi/arc/monkeydance.mpeg

[piedamaro]

This monkey dance is the saddest thing I' ve ever seen in my life! #-o

[amoser]

That monkey dance video is the sickest thing that I have ever seen in my 18 years of life. I just make me want to go an work for Microsoft (j/k).

~Alan

[Quake]

He's even blaming the Linux developers
http://www.ntk.net/media/developers.mpg

[indygreen]

He's even blaming the Linux developers
http://www.ntk.net/media/developers.mpg

Microsoft is worried, plain and simple. Any you know what? I don't feel bad for them at all.

[jeremy]

I just had a look at those mpeg's, I had no idea what a revolting individual that Ballmer is!

[oddabe19]

$500USD says that he goes home, boots his computer.... and goes "Ahhh linux, what would i ever be without you."

[OrangeSlice]

I read somewhere recently (I think GrokLaw) that Ballmer asked a California PC Manufacturer to make him a $100 computer, and they gave him one with GNU/Linux on it. The sad thing is, even a single copy of Windows XP costs you $200 (or $100 for the upgrade.) Off the shelf, that is. So naturally, they can't give him a $100 PC with Windows on it, yea? I love how he digs himself into these little holes.

[p!=f]

There are some rumors that SUN will release next Solaris (version 10) under Open Source licence. If it's true it's going to be a last nail for M$ coffin.

[Magneto]

There are some rumors that SUN will release next Solaris (version 10) under Open Source licence. If it's true it's going to be a last nail for M$ coffin.
thats no rumor its already out and haz a bootleg gnome version and wireless support etc and its free
you can download it free at sun.com they are going to make java open source too but they are waiting a few years for that - i think they want to have something left to make money with if their hardware business dies

[Karnaugh]

Can someone actualy provide some context of this discussion?

Link to said "statement" maybe?

[Magneto]

Can someone actualy provide some context of this discussion?

Link to said "statement" maybe?
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/003833.html

seems that ballmer was citing a study that said linux possibly violates over 200 patented technologies

http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=68116

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041118/tc_nm/tech_microsoft_linux_dc_3

http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/38294.html

[adbak]

It's amazing that as physically active as Ballmer is, he still manages to carry that weight. You'd think that by the way he parades himself he'd be a waif.

[jdong]

There are some rumors that SUN will release next Solaris (version 10) under Open Source licence. If it's true it's going to be a last nail for M$ coffin.
out of curiousity, have you used Solaris before?

I've tried it a few times on x86, and let me say, I can fit the list of supported hardware on a 3x5 index card with room left over for Sun's Java logo on all four corners!

The best luck I've gotten was 640x480x4bpp, with an ugly CDE desktop.

[Magneto]

out of curiousity, have you used Solaris before?

I've tried it a few times on x86, and let me say, I can fit the list of supported hardware on a 3x5 index card with room left over for Sun's Java logo on all four corners!

The best luck I've gotten was 640x480x4bpp, with an ugly CDE desktop.
sounds like solaris8- try solaris 10 and solaris 9 - they have a way to use xf86 drivers now and solaris 10 has a new app that lets u run linux apps

the hcl has come along way- people are running solaris9 and solaris 10 on new laptops with wireless running- sol10 is supposed to shed the slowaris nick name too
sol10 uses gnome- but i think its a version of 2.2