[TenTec] "Remember, it's a computer."

[Joe Malloy]

tentec-bounces at contesting.com wrote:
> You guys missed my point completely.

And I think you miss our point completely as well.

> As for business purchases of MS products, it's worth noting that
> the majority of 'critical' applications run under UNIX. These would
> include: telephone switching
> transaction processing
> large database applications
> billing systems
> manufacturing systems
> transportation routing and control systems

Does the phrase "consumer electronics" mean anything to you?  Yeah, I
suppose you could consider Verizon a "consumer" but in the retail field, it
means being devoted to individual sales to a wide variety of people who will
use it for entertainment.  Microsoft is simply the most popular (or, if you
want, the most monopolistic) and therefore garners the most complaints.
Yes, small businesses depend on Microsoft to a large degree.  With their
NT-inspired line, however, and considering the thousands of companies that
produce peripherals that must work with the OS, they're doing pretty good.
How many manufacturers of telephone switching software and hardware  are
there?  Now compare that number with the number of printers manufacturers
out there.  End of story.

Now, I don't particularly like what Microsoft has in store and what it has
recently begun with its "product activation" (which has spread to the likes
of Quicken, et al.).  Nor do I think they have any business involving
themselves in my use of digital recordings.  Hence, I'm beginning to explore
Linux (I've got Mandrake version 9 on the other computer in the shack).  But
it's not for stability purposes -- so far they're about even (which is to
say that Linux has only crashed on me once!).

73,

Joe, W2RBA