----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Hellige" <jhellige_at_earthlink.net>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2001 9:23 AM
Subject: Re: Virus Alert !!!
> I believe that the point of his statement was that marketing
> has played too large of a role in the popularity of MS products and
> in thier design without the substance to back it all up.
My biggest hate thing against Microsoft is not that the software has
bugs, but that
they want the end users to pay them for fixing it. "$25 per problem,
can I have your
credit card number please" when you call support. (I won't. Ever. I
don't even *have* a credit
card, nor does the school AFAIK)
I find the concept of selling something with faults, this is common
enough in software (I won't hold
this as a Microsoft only flaw) but that they have the unmitigated gall
to CHARGE the people they sold
the product to in the first place, for ms to repair what's broken.
This is like buying a fridge, taking it home, and having the light globe
continually blow, calling the manufacturer,
and being told that "This is a common problem, we charge $25 for
solutions, can I have your credit card number please?"
Yeah, right.
Though perhaps Windows has more bugs than it should, it's global
popularity
means they are certainly noticed more.
I *know* Windows and some of it's apps are broken in many places, and
has memory leaks (amongst other things).
If you leave a windows box with Outlook Express open over a weekend, it
will be slow as an XT on
Monday morning, until you get sick of it and reboot, or it locks up and
you have to reboot anyway.
Done this by accident a couple of times, obviously not a good procedure
with an MS based box, but it
STILL SHOULDN'T DO IT.
VMS systems (with or without Decwindows) can have up times measurable in
years without stuff eating all available
system resources. A respectable O/S should not permit this to occur.
What I *like* about windows and it's companion apps like Office, Outlook
Express (not forgeting it's virus vulnerabilities though)
is the user interface. It's a relatively easy to use system, for some
very complex and powerful apps, (word has features most of us never use
or need). It's fair to say if Windows worked as well as the interface
looks, Bill would be God, and everyone will be happy.
I guess that's it's biggest fault, it doesn't work as well as it looks
like it should.
My 0.02c worth.
Cheers
Geoff Roberts
Computer Systems Manager
Saint Mark's College
Port Pirie,
South Australia
geoffrob_at_stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au
ICQ: 1970476
If there's
> one thing MS has proved itself to be a master of it's marketing and
> the media. I'm another that would hardly call thier products
> 'quality' driven. They've proven that marketing will sell even the
> lamest thing while the lack of it will sink even the best of ideas.
> Both Commodore and Atari learned that lesson the hard way while Sony
> is another company that uses it to great advantage and has the deep
> pockets to do so.
>
> Jeff
> --
> Collector of Classic Microcomputers and Video Game Systems:
> Home of the TRS-80 Model 2000 FAQ File
> http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757
>
Received on Wed Mar 07 2001 - 17:48:41 GMT