Listen to PMC

[johnsykes]

If you read a comment from PMC, better read it again and get the words into your head. This guy is a genius. He knows more about computers than Bill Gates does....well, maybe I'm stretching it a bit, but he's darned close. In two days (me taking up much of that time) he's fixed my computer from some pretty nasty stuff.

Many thanks PMC, you are what this board is all about.

[PMC]

If you read a comment from PMC, better read it again and get the words into your head. This guy is a genius. He knows more about computers than Bill Gates does....well, maybe I'm stretching it a bit, but he's darned close. In two days (me taking up much of that time) he's fixed my computer from some pretty nasty stuff.

Many thanks PMC, you are what this board is all about.

Thank you John !

The only difference between Bill Gates and I is,

HE HAS ALL THE MONEY !

[jon]

And you might have an original idea in your head. Bill sure never did.

[PMC]

And you might have an original idea in your head. Bill sure never did.

Bill as a person, is being at the right place, at the right time, with the right people, has made him a monetary success.

As a corporation, the original dos caused many hardware manufacturers to conform to a standard... I remember when one keyboard would not plug into another machine because of the different coding that existed, and Microsoft caused that to change... the same applies to standards set for the other devices.

Today, Microsoft has lost alot of the market to Linux, because Microsoft tries to be all things to all people, and that will never happen, because the world is diverse.

Speaking of Linux... I have been running the latest version of Ubuntu which comes out of Sweden, and I am very impressed with it. The basis of it, comes from Debian, and then a graphical front end has been added to make it much more user friendly.

It is free to use, and can be downloaded... can take up to three hours on a home connection. The downloaded .ISO file needs to be burned to a CD as track, so that the CD will autoboot to run.

If you have an old computer 266 and up with a 10 gig drive, 128 meg of ram, and a decent video card, you might want to give it a try... of course if you have a better machine then you would get a better result.

http://www.ubuntu.com/ if you want to learn more about it.

[jon]

As a corporation, the original dos caused many hardware manufacturers to conform to a standard... I remember when one keyboard would not plug into another machine because of the different coding that existed, and Microsoft caused that to change... the same applies to standards set for the other devices.

As the history section of the DOS Wikipedia entry confirms, the CP/M operating system and the IBM PC really deserve the credit for "original idea". Bill merely capitalized on CP/M's owner's mis-step when IBM came calling, looking for an operating system for the IBM PC. Bill knew that Seattle Computer Products had reverse-engineered a copy of CP/M, which they called QDOS, and he bought the rights for it.

The brilliance of Bill starts there (acquiring QDOS) and shows vividly in the deal he struck with IBM. Not only did he get paid well, but he also retained the right to sell his own version of DOS to other companies, besides IBM. That is why there were two variants of DOS: IBM PC-DOS and Microsoft's MS-DOS.

I don't dislike Bill, but just feel that he, even more so than Steve Jobs of Apple fame, rarely, if ever, has an original idea. And is slower than Steve to recognize a good idea as early in the "popularity cycle", perhaps no better exemplified than his release of MSN in the mid-'90s as an alternative to the Internet, which he still couldn't believe would be successful. Admittedly, I still had some reservations about the Internet's future in those days, when the rules stated that no advertising on the Internet was allowed.

[PMC]

[QUOTE=jonedmonton,Jul 19 2006, 10:10 AM][QUOTE=PMC,Jul 19 2006, 11:06 AM]
The brilliance of Bill starts there (acquiring QDOS) and shows vividly in the deal he struck with IBM. Not only did he get paid well, but he also retained the right to sell his own version of DOS to other companies, besides IBM. That is why there were two variants of DOS: IBM PC-DOS and Microsoft's MS-DOS.[/QUOTE]

No argument on the QDos, and the cost was fifty grand, which was serious dollars then.

Bill's father is a lawyer which explains the licencing. It also explains some of his logic. Bill's mother was on the same charity board as the pres of IBM... right place at the right time etc.

As for MSN, it serves the masses, and they are welcome to it, while many others choose better sources.

As the internet evolves, it needs government to assist rather than hinder, and it needs to be a positive global perspective, and not by government playing big brother like the americans have done... Digital Millenium Act, Patriot Act etc.

To me and some other techies, the issue with Microsoft is the be all, to all perspective, because it creates chaos.

As example why should I have to run a forced security package because some original software was crappy to begin with, and I don't need or use that software.

Apple wins because of the quality control, and Linux wins because it is open source where the world can give input, rather than dictated to by the limited few in Redmond.... all of it, is truly diverse.

The next Microsoft OS is called Vista. I don't expect to personally use it, but I will happily take money from people that are victims of it

[jon]

I lay the blame on Microsoft's quality problems squarely at the feet of the Microsoft Corporate Culture of the '90s: they were extremely proud of the fact that "their best code" was written at 2:00 a.m. by a sleep-deprived employee. Lack of sleep is similar to being under the influence of a drug: your decision making skills are way off, typically making you into a PollyAnna, where anything you do seems like "a good idea".

They have long since reformed from this stupidity, but millions of lines of code in Windows, Office and other products remain from those sleep-deprived days.

[PMC]

I lay the blame on Microsoft's quality problems squarely at the feet of the Microsoft Corporate Culture of the '90s:  they were extremely proud of the fact that "their best code" was written at 2:00 a.m. by a sleep-deprived employee.  Lack of sleep is similar to being under the influence of a drug:  your decision making skills are way off, typically making you into a PollyAnna, where anything you do seems like "a good idea".

They have long since reformed from this stupidity, but millions of lines of code in Windows, Office and other products remain from those sleep-deprived days.

I disagree with some of what you say, because you assume to much as fact when it isn't.

I write code at 2am because I want to, I can relax, not be disturbed over petty issues, and I can get absorbed in the documentation or the concept.

Creating useful bug free software is not easy, is very time consuming, and is subject to change, which must be allowed for in the coding.

My coding habits are not the same as the next guy... some programmers only write outline code, and leave the grunt work to the underlings with less experience... this has a positive and negative effect. Bugs can be introduced because the underlings don't fully understand the concept, or vision of the original programmer.

As for Microsoft reforming the stupidity, I seriously doubt that... MS can't be all things to all people, and the harder they try, the worse it will get.

The average Joe and the corporate world exist on two different planes.