A question about windoze trolls 2174

On Wednesday 23 August 2006 02:10, WCJ stood up and addressed the mbuttes incomp.os.linux.miscas follows...:

Not always, unfortunately. It is my experience - from talking to my Windows-using friends - that most people install an antivirus program and then naively believe that this is adeus-ex-machinathat guarantees that they have no malware on their systems.

Those are the users most eligible to be logistically supporting a zombie botnet without knowing what their machine does behind their back. And then I'm not even mentioning that they're usually not aware of the fact that Windows "phones home" every week or so to let Microsoft know that it's still a legally installed version. I also wonder what other information it hands over to Microsoft.

And then when I mention GNU-Linux to them - and these are people who know that GNU-Linux exists, albeit that most of them have never checked it out - they all come up with the same argument: they want to go out, buy games, come home and play them.

I refuted that argument with someone the other day by telling him that if he wanted to play games, he should buy a game console - at least they're *made* for that kind of stuff, and the graphics will be superior - but the guy said "That's not the same, is it?".

Well, I'm not a gamer, so I wouldn't know. What I do know - not from working with Windows but from studying its internals and from paying attention to Microsoft as a company - is that Windows *is* a toy.

If anyone were to ask my advice on installing a computer operating system - especially one suitable for mission-critical needs - I will always advise them to go with GNU-Linux, and when I then see them displaying some contempt, or when they seem inclined to go with Windows, I tell them that in my well-documented and honest opinion, Windows is not even a mature operating system, let alone a business-grade one for that matter.

Windows is a single-user operating system that attempts to be something more than that, based upon a few bolt-on afterthought features such as security via partly implemented VMS kernel code and (bypbuttable) access control lists. Everything else with regard to the ubiquitousness of Windows is only a matter of business tactics that regularly cross the borders of what's still morally acceptable.

Despite of what some newbies vent as being their opinion, Windows does *not* - I repeat: *not!* - owe its success to its alleged userfriendliness - a concept which in itself is highly debatable, as a commandline can be far more userfriendly than a GUI in many respects - or to its abilities as an operating system, and especially not to the quality of the software.

A recent survey has shown that proprietary software contains hundreds of times more bugs than a comparable amount of Free & Open Source Software code, and it is also my experience - and not mine alone - that among proprietary software developers, Microsoft scores top of the list in the percentage of both generic bugs and bane bugs.

And then I'm not even getting started about how they've managed to stifle technical progress for over 20 years, consistently and voluntarily disregard established standards in an attempt to impose their own proprietarized standards - e.g. their versions of HTML, XML, Java, et al - or how they even so consistently disregard security aspects - and for a long time also totally abandoned all stability aspects - in the design of their operating systems.

Aside from Microsoft's importance as an employer or its success story in achieving "The American Dream" - something I myself as a non-American have very little touch with - it is my well-documented technical and ethical consideration that Microsoft truly *is* evil.

Being afflicted with Asperger's Syndrome - a form of autism usually coupled with high intelligence and eloquence - my brain processes things differently from other people's minds.

I tend to see all the little details that most people overlook, and I have a very strong (and even neurotic) drive for analysis, comprehension, logic, order, truth, justice and ethics. My priorities are different from those of other people, and so is my perception, i.e. my attention to detail and my constant analyzing of what's going on around me. If you're familiar with "Star Trek" and derivatives, then you'd probably understand it when I say I'm very much like the Vulcans.

Sadly enough, there are also many downsides to my affliction, among which the common denominator for all autistic people being that we are socially handicapped, i.e. we have difficulty picking up social signals directly aimed at us. For instance, in direct communication between myself and someone else, I am unable to discern the other person's sincerity or intentions. I can however discern someone's intentions or sincerity when this person is talking to someone else, or long after my conversation with this person is over.

The above however, together with the attention for detail and the need for order and sameness, form the common denominators among people with an autistic disorder. Everything else varies from person to person. Albert Einstein for instance - who also had Asperger's Syndrome - was known to only speak when he had something to say... ;-)

And then, there are those who refuse to let the truth stand in their way, eventhough they're perfectly aware that they're lying through their teeth... :-

Pay attention... He's reading this group as well, and you'll regularly see him posting here, either under hisflatfish+++pseudonym, or under a(n often female) nickname, complete with throwaway e-mail addresses from Yahoo or Google.

If he posts something bad about GNU-Linux, you also quickly know it's him, because he won't stick to a single thread - he typically starts two, and even more if he's in one of his psychotic moods again. ;-)

Thank you for appreciating it. ;-)

-- With kind regards,

*Aragorn* (registered GNU-Linux user #223157)