Re: Xandros -- sigh, more meta-discussions ...

["Bryan J. Smith" <b.j.smith@ieee.org>]

On Tue, 2004-03-09 at 23:40, Sean Jewett wrote:
> You're the one that's being arguementative.  Making claims (ie, go look at 
> Gartner without pointing out what the person is supposed to be looking 
> for).  Support your "facts" and maybe we'll have a little more respect for 
> you.  

Paraphrasing Niel Boortz (radio commentator and self-admitted
Libertarian):

"Don't believe a word I say.  Do your own research and find out if I am
correct or not.  I am here for my advertisers and I am only interested
in ratings.  You cannot believe a word I say."

I'm not interested in respect.  I'm not interested in whether you
believe me or not.  In fact, you should _assume_ I am _dead_wrong_.  Go
ahead.  I have made my statements.  I'm not here to prove them.

If you are duly concerned, then ask around about my "integrity." 
Otherwise assume I am the "village idiot."  I honestly don't care.

> Do you have any clue what you're talking about?

Go ahead and assume I don't.

> You're not addressing my post / request.  

And I'm saying the type of threads that are occurring here are not the
ones people should make.  You can't address consumer ignorance.

PC OEM and consumer ignorance, assuming a "free lunch with no strings,"
is why Microsoft was able to capture a 90%+ marketshare with MS Office. 
Lotus and WordPerfect outsold Microsoft application products 2:1 or more
on the retail shelf in the mid-'90s, yet Microsoft dominated.  Same deal
with 3dfx v. nVidia -- 3dfx outsold the latter 2:1, and still lost.

Microsoft controls the distribution.  First it was just the PC OEM, and
that was huge.  Now they are taking the retail outlet to capture the
last 10-20%.  The majority of consumers are all eager to spend their
money.  If I'm Micrsooft

CASE-IN-POINT:

With such consumers, introduce them to Mozilla, OpenOffice.org and other
Freedomware on Windows.  If they still balk (e.g., the oh-so-common
"What, you don't like Microsoft or something?" response) then you can do
_nothing_ for them.  They are fixated on "Microsoft by default" just as
bad as the other flip of a coin, select "Linux bigots" I know.  ;-ppp

> I understand completely.  You're again ignoring what we've said.  In this 
> case I said _YOUR_POSTS_ARE_REALLY_FREAKING_ANNOYING_.  

You wouldn't be the first to suggest such.  Heck, I'll even agree with
you.  I is the village idiot.

> Thank goodness I don't need to worry about you teaching me anytime soon.  
> Images of Stalin come to mind.

What?  That I'd rather my students come to their _own_ conclusions?  Do
their _own_ research?  I don't state my opinions in the classroom.

> I always wondered about IEEE.  Thanks for reinforcing my suspicions.

So you assume everyone in the IEEE is like myself, simply because I have
an IEEE e-mail alias?

So I assume if you see a white man senselessly beating a black man (or
vice-versa), that means all white men hate black men (or vice-versa)?

Stereotyping based on one person.  That's the clear indicator you have a
very shallow mind.  You have my sincerest pity.

Fixating yourself on one person is not a wise thing to do.  I've seen
people totally destroy their credibility or, worse yet, integrity.  I
don't assume to have credibility, but I do have long-standing integrity.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith, E.I. -- Engineer, Technologist, School Teacher
b.j.smith@ieee.org



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