Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1999 22:17:55 -0500 From: Ben Pitzer <uncleben@mindspring.com> To: freebsd-chat <chat@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: windows debate Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.19991218221755.007a1010@pop.mindspring.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.21.9912180115250.13403-100000@dogma.freebsd-uk. eu.org>
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At 01:23 AM 12/18/99 +0000, Jonathon McKitrick wrote: > >I'm having a debate with my brother-in-law over microsoft's business >tactics and bill gates. He argues that gates is a genius for getting PCs >in the hands of average people, not just computer geeks. He argues that >gates was brilliant for his marketing tactics that locked people into >windows, and that he gave people what they wanted: easy-to-use >computers. He argues that there may be better OSes out there, but that >gates just had the wherewithall to market it correctly and make it cheap >enough and easy enough for the average person to use. He agrees that >crashes are no fun, and agrees that M$ may be a monopoly, but thinks that >gates did good for consumers, not bad, and that M$ singlehandedly brought >the computer industry to the cutting edge of the eceonomy and brought the >US to its economic growth it enjoys right now. Any thoughts? Greetings, I suppose that something like this is not the best way to come out of my lurking state, but I'm inspired here. Reading the other posts, so far, I'm tempted to put myself up as flamebait, and pray that the people in this community would be charitible enough to refrain from toasting me too badly. In essense, I say that your brother-in-law is right. We can admit that Gates is a marketing genius, and not admit that he's a 'good person' or 'a boon to the IT revolution'. He did convince an entire nation that even Joe Schmoe on the street could own and use a computer. Not only that, but also make it an invaluable part of their lives. Steve Jobs didn't do that, I'm sorry to say. Neither did any IBM exec, or any individual hardware manufacturer. Let's face it, you don't need to know hardware to own and run a computer. Bill Gates convince the masses that they could learn the /software/ necessary to do that, however. Now already I can hear the low, distant roar of keyboards clicking away producing flames. But I'm gonna put this very clearly: I'M NOT DEFENDING BILL GATES IN ANY WAY. Look, he got the computers into the homes, but he created a crappy product. That's it. Computers are not easy to use. They're not. Period, and I don't care who you are. Some of us are blessed with the ability to understand and inherently 'get' computers, OSes, and hardware. Most folks don't, without prolonged exposure. And many don't get that. Look, the average home computer user is not expected to fix his own computer, which is why people like me got our jobs to start, doing tech support. We know how stupid users seem, but the more realistic and wiser among us know that they aren't necessarily stupid, but just in the midst of a learning process where so many false legends and misconceptions abound that it amazes me that any average person can get it at all. Put plainly, I can't imagine the computer that /is/ easy to use. Jonathan, in all, your brother-in-law is right about Gates' economic impact. He undercut Apple's prices and technology, and convinced the world that his product was better than Jobs' product. Was he right? Does it matter? He got computers into homes, and now it's the job of people like us, who /do/ know about computers, and OSes, to prove to the user community that there's a better product out there. Please, let's not be so arrogant as to believe that we are the average computer users. We are by far in the upper percentiles. The average computer user never heard of Linux until last week, and VA Linux Systems' spectacular IPO. Hell, the people who reported that on CNBC didn't even have any idea what Linux is (much less FreeBSD), and admitted it. THAT is the average computer user, and THAT is the person who can honestly realize what good, and what evil, Bill Gates and M$ have foisted on the public. M$ is not a good thing, but neither is it absolutely evil. We do ourselves a great disservice to put down every single thing that this company has done because we don't like the way it's done it. By doing that, we deprive ourselves of learning the means by which he did it, and using a measure of those means to right the wrongs that we perceive M$ to have done. I could go on for a long time, but I'll stop here. Take it or leave it. Just don't ignore it. Thanks for not deleting this before reading it fully. Regards, Ben Pitzer uncleben@mindspring.com "I would rather be ashes than dust. I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteorite, every atom of me in maginficent glow, than a sleepy, permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I will not waste my days by trying to prolong them. I will use my time." -Jack London To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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