Cool Rant! 100% agreed!
>
> Dawn-Marie wrote:
>
> > I don't like the idea of a web where m$ choses to ammend websites
> > I visit. I like it even less that m$ is setting itself up as an
> > authority on what we need to know.
>
On Fri, 8 Jun 2001 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> You know, I am really not a Linux zealot. I really don't care if you use
> Linux or not. FreeBSD is fine by me. Heck, so are proprietary operating
> systems like MacOS X and eCommStation 1.0 (basically, OS/2 5.0, but now
> rechristened and marketed by someone other than IBM, a little late in the
> game). I am not a Richard Stallman devotee and I really have no problem
> with the concept of intellectual property. What I *DO* have a problem with
> is one very monopolistic, very rich, very greedy company trying to control
> the global exchange of information, and in effect, have tremendous power
> over us all. Uncle Bill as Big Brother *bothers* me. If you care about
> your freedom, your privacy, and real competition and innovation, PLEASE
> boycott Microsoft any way you can. The corporate state has no attraction
> for me at all.
You don't mention IBM OS/400 -- bulletproof data security, and no
microsoft content whatsoever. And the next version will support
Linux and Unix applications on the AS/400--complete with database
integration.
The ironic thing is that AS/400's traditionally are used to run
big corporate databases -- the kinds that have traditionally needed
(and have long implemented) secure database transactions over various
networks (the systems that M$ says it's going to "innovate" with it's
"B2B" and ".Biz" bull-oney! Bill obviously never sent flowers to
his mother through interflora/FTD, otherwise he'd know darn well that
his B2B "idea" has been implemented for a long, long, long time!)
What kinds of organisations use AS/400's? Oh, you know...
banks, casinos, HQ's of enormous global corporations, credit card
companies, insurance companies, hospitals...you know, the organisations
that already *do* have far more of your personal data than Bill Gates
could ever *dream* of getting. (Don't Panic!)
It's when these organisations start moving their AS/400 operations to
NT or Win2K server that it's *really* time to start being concerned.
However, Linux on the AS/400 could be the thin end of the wedge for
getting Linux on the corporate desktop.
Basically, since we're in a position of *having* to trust a large
number of corporations already (unless you keep a wad of cash stuffed
in a mattress!) perhaps one way to approach this issue is to put linux
desktop tools in the hands of the big corporate and governmental
AS/400 users--as a far more secure and stable alternative to M$ office
stuff.
Of course, you could say that IBM is no better than M$ -- both
being big monopolistic computer corporations.
But consider the fact that IBM offers the very best in data security
to its customers, for the customer to do what it will with the data.
M$, on the other hand, implements extremely low data security and then
actively exploits the holes to harvest information for its own use.
Penguina
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