[Gasification] Off topic - open source software to replace microsurf office

[Michael Redler]

OK. Google "is quietly buying control". I only see that statement as an 
attempt to quantify Microsoft's hegemony, not deny it's involvement. In 
my opinion it doesn't  conflict with my earlier position and it doesn't 
compel me to change my mind yet.

Justice Department: I never made an opinion about the justice department 
one way or the other (although I do have an opinion on it). So, I fail 
to see any sense in mentioning Extraordinary Rendition except to inject 
a little drama into this (off topic) debate.

Monitoring: As far as monitoring goes, it's happening at this moment in 
the form of public discourse. However, monitoring is only a tool. The 
power to change something comes from two sources - money and/or active 
public dissent.

You wrote: "Market forces are merciless and inefficient."

Merciless? Sure. I agree with you.

Inefficient? Personally, I agree with you on this point too. However, I 
think that statement merits an entirely new debate. What would Milton 
Friedman say?

You wrote: "I have great respect for Professor Chomsky but he's never 
seen a corporation he likes."

Neither have I. For-profit Corporations exist for one reason. Liking 
them is a non sequitur. This makes Professor Chomsky's position quite 
viable in my opinion.

Mike

Mark Ludlow wrote:
> Google is quietly buying control of huge blocks of Internet infrastructure.
> Microsoft's hegemony is much less today than it was a few years ago before
> network applications became a reality and alternatives to Microsoft's
> enterprise solutions became available.
>
> What do you propose? Who does the monitoring? The Department of Justice? The
> same Department of Justice overseeing extraordinary rendition?
>
> Market forces are merciless and inefficient. I have great respect for
> Professor Chomsky but he's never seen a corporation he likes. Please suggest
> a viable alternative that would meet your high political and economic
> standards and still have a breath of a chance of functioning.
>
> Mark
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org
> [mailto:gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of Michael Redler
> Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 8:12 AM
> To: Gasification at listserv.repp.org
> Subject: Re: [Gasification] Off topic - open source software to replace
> microsurf office
>
> Mark wrote: "Anybody can use any software they wish, last time I checked."
>
> This philosophy helps the victor write the history and the standard. If not
> monitored diligently, the number of software choices listed under "any",
> will eventually come under one name. The U.S. Department of Justice has an
> abundance of documentation which supports this position.
>
> "If there are three major corporations [one being Microsoft] controlling 
> what is essentially public property and a public creation, namely the 
> Internet, telecommunications, and so on, that's not a whole lot better 
> than one corporation controlling, but it's maybe a minor difference. The 
> question is to what extent parasites like Microsoft should be parasites 
> off the public system, or should be granted any rights at all."
>
> -Noam Chomsky
>
> http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=1408
>
> Mike
>
>
> Mark Ludlow wrote:
>   
>> This endless Microsoft bashing seems puerile and pointless. Anybody can
>>     
> use
>   
>> any software they wish, last time I checked. Open Source, Google, or
>> home-brew--who cares? You pays your money and takes your choice. Don't
>>     
> like
>   
>> Microsoft? Don't buy it!
>>
>> Mark
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org
>> [mailto:gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of Mike Weaver
>> Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 6:44 AM
>> To: Harmon Seaver
>> Cc: Gasification at listserv.repp.org
>> Subject: Re: [Gasification] Off topic - open source software to replace
>> microsurf office
>>
>> Groklaw rides again.
>>
>>  >>Apple has never done anything to engender that sort of hatred.
>> But they're working on it ;-)
>>
>> I'd second the advice on OpenOffice. Mozilla and Thunderbird.  The only 
>> bugbear I've found is
>> sometimes you can't open heavily formatted Word or Excel docs.
>>
>> That's good news regarding the Nat Archives - I don't remember 
>> annointing MS the official
>> software monoply of the US Gov't.
>>
>> Harmon Seaver wrote:
>>
>>   
>>     
>>>   And of course there's the whole social, cultural part of the virus
>>> problem -- one whole heck of a lot of very smart, very talented people
>>> just absolutely loath microsloth for their horrible history of bullying
>>> and stomping on small developers over the years. There have been
>>> countless individuals who came up with a great idea, wrote the code,
>>> started a small company and started selling their product --only to get
>>> a legal notice from MS about a supposed "patent infringement", and,
>>> being a small outfit couldn't possibly fight back in court without going
>>> quickly bankrupt. The problem got so bad that some of the bigger IT
>>> companies, like Novell and Sun, got together and created legal funds to
>>> help people against MS, and started suits against MS themselves.
>>>   Anyway -- trust me, there are many, many thousands, if not millions,
>>> of people who hate and despise MS, most of the linux community in fact.
>>> And a lot of them are quite good at writing code, and at hacking. Apple
>>> has never done anything to engender that sort of hatred. So most people
>>> have no reason to even try to write malicious code for OSX, or for
>>> linux. But they always will for MS.
>>>    And as big as MS is, they can't possibly hire enough programmers to
>>> be on par with all the open source community programmers who do it for
>>> pay, for fun, on the job and in their spare time, all around the world.
>>> That's why linux advances so much faster than windoze.
>>>    I would urge people to try Openoffice to replace MS Office. It's
>>> free, and an excellent tool -- reads and writes documents in the MS
>>> format if you desire, but has a much better format of it's own, and that
>>> one has now been adopted by the US gov't National Archives as it's
>>> standard. Likewise you want to use Firefox for a browser and Thunderbird
>>> for email -- remove the MS browser and mail reader -- they are massive
>>> security holes. Get rid of them and you solve most of your virus problem.
>>>
>>>
>>>     
>>>       
> [snip]
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