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Microsoft Books Media Book Reviews

Just Say No to Microsoft 547

Posted by samzenpus from the you-will-not-be-assimilated dept.
Ben Rothke writes "Load up a computer today with a basic set of applications software, and there will be a de facto Microsoft tax on that computer. Add roughly $100- for the Windows XP operating systems and $350- for Microsoft office, and you have a significant initial financial outlay. If one would use an open source operating system and set of office applications, the cost savings would be enormous. That is why the option of open source is so financially compelling to the both the consumer and organizations have thousands of computers. And open source is corresponding such a threat to companies such as Microsoft. The idea of saving money and never having to worry about a blue screen of death is the proverbial win/win scenario." Read on for Ben's review.
Just Say No to Microsoft: How to Ditch Microsoft and Why It's Not as Hard as You Think
author Tony Bove
pages 243
publisher No Starch Press
rating 7
reviewer Ben Rothke
ISBN 159327064X
summary Open source alternatives to Microsoft operating systems and applications


With that, Just Say No to Microsoft: How to Ditch Microsoft and Why It's Not as Hard as You Think would seemingly be a most valuable book in helping consumers and corporations rid themselves of the Microsoft tax. Unfortunately, the book spends far too much time slurring Microsoft and Bill Gates.

The books main charges are that Microsoft has been far too predatory and that Bill Gates is not the technical genius that he is made out to be. Microsoft's questionable business tactics are not without ethical lapses, but it must noted that Microsoft is simply one in a long line of companies that have used their size and deep pockets to quash the competition. Microsoft is not alone and joins companies such as American Airlines, Ford and General Motors, Wal-Mart and more that have engaged in practices that while good for their stockholders, have not been good for the competition.

Bove is correct that Microsoft's practices over the years have discouraged innovation and stunted competition. But then again, that is true of Ford, GM and other such companies. The innovations of Ford and GM for example have been mostly superficial, without any significant improvement into crucial issues such as gas mileage and more.

Two of the companies that Microsoft has been accused of destroying are Novell and WordPerfect. Yet much of the blame for the demise of these two companies goes to their management that did not know how to properly market their products nor deal with a competitor such as Microsoft. This is not meant to imply that Microsoft is blameless, rather that Novell and WordPerfect had plenty of opportunities to fend off Microsoft, yet did not rise to the challenge.

Aside from the pervasive anti-Microsoft tone and style and the book, Just Say No to Microsoft: How to Ditch Microsoft and Why It's Not as Hard as You Think provides a good starting point for those that are looking for a cheaper and safer alternative to Microsoft products.

Chapter 1 start with an overview of the history of Microsoft and how it grew to be the largest software company in the world. In chapter 2, All You Need is a Mac, Bove feels that the quickest route to Microsoft freedom is by purchasing a Macintosh. While a Mac is not necessarily cheaper than a Wintel system, the Mac OS X is considerably more resilient against attacks. In addition, the concern of malware such as viruses and spyware are much less of an issue on a Mac.

Chapter 3 deals with what worries Microsoft the most - Linux. Bove notes that large companies that deal with thousands of end-user desktops are discovering the advantage of migrating to Linux in a big way.

Chapters 4 and 5 deal with Microsoft Word and Excel. Word documents have become the de facto standard for document exchange and are what has locked many people into staying with Microsoft Word. Excel has a similar power in being the de facto spreadsheet. Most people think that the only alternative to Word is WordPerfect and simply don't know about OpenOffice Writer and Calc or other open source alternatives. The two chapters show how it is possible to effectively collaborate on documents without having to use Word.

While the book does not get into every open source alternative to a Microsoft product, Bove's web site has a comprehensive list of open source alternatives to Windows products at www.tonybove.com/getoffmicrosoft/home.html#windows

Chapter 4 concludes with a look at the technical and practical problems with PowerPoint. Bove notes that the corrupting power of PowerPoint is so strong that otherwise normally articulate speakers turn into zombies mumbling the bullet points that appear on the slides behind them. It is not clear though how Impress, the open source alternative to PowerPoint is necessarily better from a presentation perspective.

The next few chapters deal with Outlook, the application that has launched countless viruses and worms, and also detail other network-based problems with Microsoft protocols and applications. Issues such as the never enduing cycle of Microsoft patches are also discussed.

Chapter 10 provides a 10 step program (fashioned after the Alcoholics Anonymous 12 step program) to free the reader from their Microsoft addition. While the steps are brief and effective, it would have been better had there been more technical details on how to migrate out of a Microsoft environment. For the person with thousands of documents and files in various Microsoft formats, it is not as effortless as to simply copy your old files onto a USB drive and move it to the new open source based host.

The book contains four parts, and there are four cartoons at the begging of each part that Bove wrote. The cartoons are quite funny in their own right and Bove should also consider a career as a cartoonist.

Ned Ludd said that the machine was the enemy, and Tony Bove feels the same way about Microsoft. For evidence, check out his campaign to stop the spread of Word documents at www.tonybove.com/getoffmicrosoft/stopdoc.html.

The only negative to the book is that there are far too many anti-negative stories of Microsoft's predatory practices. A few stories would be adequate, but there is no point in belaboring the issue in a book that is meant to be more technical and practical, as opposed to political.

For many people who don't know better, they expect that a blue screen of death and monthly patching is part of a standard computing environment. Just Say No to Microsoft: How to Ditch Microsoft and Why It's Not as Hard as You Think is an interesting read that will open the eyes of those users to a cheaper, more secure and robust open source solution.

You can purchase Just Say No to Microsoft from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
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Just Say No to Microsoft

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  • This is worth a whole book? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by gbulmash ( 688770 ) * <semi_famous@ya h o o .com> on Monday November 28, 2005 @02:56PM (#14131078) Homepage Journal
    Is this topic really book-worthy? Seems like how to "just say no" to Microsoft could be covered in an article or two. Perhaps that's why the author spends so much time bashing Microsoft in the book... for filler.

    And if you're going to just say no to Microsoft, Apple isn't necessarily the way to go. You're still locked into all sorts of proprietary software and apps.

    Perhaps a more useful book would have been "Just Say Yes to OSS", detailing all of the neat replacements for popular closed-source software, not just Windows and Office. A lot of this stuff has been ported too, so you can phase yourself over, trying out various apps on your Windows box, getting more comfortable with OSS, and gradually moving toward a closed-source-free existence.

    - Greg

    • This is the "only" issue, is oss really that cost effective? service vs licenses. Yes its definatly worth a whole book.

    • Re:This is worth a whole book? (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      /. is mostly MS bashing. And complaining about dupes. And moaning about stories that are adverts.

      Is /. worth a full website? Perhaps two pages (Linux rulz & FOSS is teh r0x0r) would be enough...

    • Perhaps, but... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Spy der Mann ( 805235 ) <`moc.liamg' `ta' `todhsals.nnamredyps'> on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:03PM (#14131151) Homepage Journal
      an article or two won't convince a newbie or a Joe Manager. Besides, a book might make a perfect gift for an office (pun intended) coworker, or even your boss.

    • Re:This is worth a whole book? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by fitten ( 521191 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:03PM (#14131160)
      I agree completely. Writing a book that is full of crap like that just turns more people OFF. If you have a solid argument that OSS is better, you can make your argument without ever mentioning Microsoft. If you can't make your argument without mentioning Microsoft, then you are just a religious nut. Prove to me that OSS is better. Do not try to argue with me that Microsoft is evil therefore I must use OSS to save my soul.

      • Re:This is worth a whole book? (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Since this particular book is about avoiding Microsoft in particular, your statement makes little sense. This book appears to take the approach of presenting a solid case against using MS products, then proposing alternatives--some less desirable (Mac OS X), some more (GNU/Linux). This is known as pragmatism.

        A "religious nut" would actually be the one who pushes OSS at the expense of perfectly viable non-OSS solutions. Of course, such a "religious nut" need hardly mention Microsoft to make his case for OSS.
      • Arguing that OSS is "better" without mentioning Microsoft could prove difficult indeed. "Better" is a word that takes two arguments-- the thing that is better, and the thing the first thing is better than. X is better than Y. If no argument is given for Y directly, we find one based on context. In a discussion wherein OSS is said to be "better", the logical inference is that it's being compared with its competition-- specifically, Microsoft.

        I think you're saying OSS should stand on its merits alone. Well
      • " I agree completely. Writing a book that is full of crap like that just turns more people OFF. "

        No it doesn't. There have been a tremendous amount of research into negative advertising and it has been proven over and over that it works. That's why politicians do it, that's why companies do it, that's why CEOs do it.

        MS (and it's lackeys) has run a smear campaign against OSS for a long time now by calling people communists, refering to open sores, calling linus and other thieves, socialists and whatever else

      • Re:This is worth a whole book? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by bcrowell ( 177657 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @06:33PM (#14133079) Homepage
        I have a different book from No Starch, "The Debian System," by Krafft, that suffers from a similar problem. You have to wade through a huge amount of ideology before you get to the real meat of the book. My perception of No Starch is that they're sort of a second string compared to O'Reilly. People whose books didn't get accepted by O'Reilly might get them accepted by No Starch. No Starch seems to allow (or even encourage) this kind of ideological meandering, which I'm sure would have been edited out by O'Reilly. And No Starch also tends to do a really lousy job on the editorial stuff in general (grammar, etc.).

        It also kind of rubs me the wrong way to have the first 60 pages of a book be a rant about free information, when the book itself isn't free-as-in-anything. (Both O'Reilly and No Starch make some of their books available for free in digital form, but not that many of them. And before anyone mods me down as -1, Hypocritical, yes, I have written some free books myself -- see my sig for examples from me and other authors.) If the author's own book isn't free, I won't criticize his decision (there's not much room in the economy for people who pay the rent by writing books that are free), but then he should omit the rant.

        Prove to me that OSS is better. Do not try to argue with me that Microsoft is evil therefore I must use OSS to save my soul.
        Well, I do think the ethical aspects of free information are important, but it's true that 99% of the population (including you, I guess) won't buy it -- you can't go around making these free-information speeches to people who aren't fellow travelers. They'll (a) think you're nuts, and (b) think that you're emphasizing all this philosophical stuff because OSS isn't good quality, and therefore quality itself isn't enough of a reason to prefer it over proprietary software. I think it works a lot better if you first show them that they can get something really good as free information (Linux, Wikipedia), and then let them draw their own conclusions about whether the world needs proprietary/monopoly information.

    • And if you're going to just say no to Microsoft, Apple isn't necessarily the way to go. You're still locked into all sorts of proprietary software and apps.

      I don't think the problem is really that he recommends Apple, but that he only recommends Apple.

      Now, let's be honest here: most people don't give a hoot and a holler about being locked into proprietary formats and applications. I use a lot of FOSS applications on my Powerbook (Emacs, Pan, Xalan, OpenOffice.org) but I don't exactly feel like Adobe h

    • "Never having to worry about a blue screen of death" is a very stupid presumption to base a book on. I haven't seen a blue screen of death since moving to WinXP so long ago. There's a lot to be said for buying quality parts. Alternately, we buy cheapo hardware at work and our Linux farm suffers freezes on about a third of the systems once every week or two. In my world the sky truly is purple compared to the author's blue sky descriptions. How I wish they would pony up a little more to make these Linux

    • Its another brick in Microsoft's tombstone. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by crovira ( 10242 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @01:02AM (#14135345) Homepage
      It starts with a bunch of machines that people don't want to replace because it co$ts and managers don't get bonuses from spending money.

      The eventual demise of Microsoft will come from the same source that saw the rise of the 'compatible' PC. It was cheaper than the alternative.

      It doesn't matter how well your system is running, Microsoft is living proof that quality is not that important, but how little you had to shell out for something 'good enough.'

      Cost of replacement and the slowing of the replacement cycle is going to be the death of Microsoft and give rise to cheap Linux boxes.

      Books about OpenOffice (or NeoOfficeJ for older Macs) are telling people that its okay NOT to have to shell out the bucks for Microsoft (or even Apple).

      I suspect that Vista will be an utter failure because people have a vested interest, read lots of bucks, in their existing machines.

      When 'Joe Consumer' is faced with hanging on to his machine under Linux with OpenOffice or spendin '"beaucoup" bucks' he'll wave Microsoft 'Bye Bye' before he tosses all that green on all new hardware.

      Would YOU like to have to cough up money to buy a new 64bit processor, gigs of RAM, a new mobo and a new video card, just to run an incrementally 'better' Windows experience.

      Fuck that... My wallet and I voted for Linux years ago, though I my wife still owns an aging Win2K Windows box and I still own a couple of OS X 10.4.3 Macs. My last machine is an ADM64 Athlon running slackware.

      People are going to vote just as they always have, with their wallets.

      Not just Joe Consumer, but the corporation bosses who are stuck to buy 5K, 10K, 15K, or 20K boxes at a shot. We're still running Win2K and would still be running WinNT if we could.

      Books about HOW TO DO IT for less are EXACTLY what's needed. They're not written for you. They're written for 'Joe Consumer' and to get the idea to the corporation bosses.

      Just brace yourselves for all those AOLers and other newbies getting on /. asking for help with Samba. :-)

  • Pricing (Score:5, Informative)

    by dnaumov ( 453672 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @02:58PM (#14131096)
    Ben Rothke writes "Load up a computer today with a basic set of applications software, and there will be a de facto Microsoft tax on that computer. Add roughly $100- for the Windows XP operating systems and $350- for Microsoft office, and you have a significant initial financial outlay.

    I stopped reading right there. What a load of crap. It's roughly 50$ for Windows XP Home and 100$ for MS Office.

    • Re:Pricing (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      You mean when you buy them out of the back of a van?

    • Re:Pricing (Score:4, Informative)

      by qazwsxqazwsx90 ( 321105 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:05PM (#14131186)
      I don't know where you buy your software at, but the standard pricing is:

      Windows Home Upgrade: $100

      Windows Home: $200

      Windows Pro Upgrade: $200

      Windows Pro: $300

      Office Standard: $400

      Office Standard Upgrade: $240

      These were the prices that Best Buy reports on their web page and the prices that I have seen elsewhere as well. The student and teacher edition of Office is $150.

      • Re:Pricing (Score:3, Interesting)

        by BewireNomali ( 618969 )
        just buy a new PC for $500 and move your old one on ebay for $150.

      • Re:Pricing (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Zathrus ( 232140 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:43PM (#14131588) Homepage
        These were the prices that Best Buy reports on their web page and the prices that I have seen elsewhere as well

        And you think that Dell pays $200 for that copy of MS Windows XP Home Edition on that $300 PC?

        Hey, let's use your own pricing method for Linux -- apparantly the only way to get Linux is to pay $99 for Linspire at Best Buy.

        This is utterly stupid. The original poster was correct that the alleged prices listed in the book are complete and utter fabrications. Using bogus numbers to make your point doesn't just fail against anyone with a clue, it undermines your points that are valid. There are plenty of valid reasons to go with Linux over Windows, particularly in a typical office environment. Stick to them.
        • Indeed, last I checked Microtel charged about 50 dollars premium over the linux install on their ~$290 pc's (340 with Windows) sold at walmart.com.

          The actual price (which is certainly different) is a trade secret. If only because MS doesn't want everyone else paying what Dell does for windows.

          Just for background, if you haven't read already this fellows [netcraft.com.au] battle with Toshiba refunding him the cost on his windows 95 license many many years ago is an entertaining read.

    • bullshit (Score:4, Informative)

      by RelliK ( 4466 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:48PM (#14131637)
      I stopped reading right there. What a load of crap. It's roughly 50$ for Windows XP Home and 100$ for MS Office.

      Did you pull these numbers out of your ass, microshill? Let's see, windows XP professional OEM costs $146.95 [newegg.com]. You can get a slight discount by buying a 30-pack for $4,249.95 [newegg.com]. A pre-installed version from a Dell or HPaq (without the media, so you can't reinstall and configure it yourself) would cost a little less, but certainly nowhere near $50.

      Office 2003 professional (again, OEM, not retail) costs $319.95 [newegg.com]. Yes, it's also a little cheaper from a big vendor but nowhere near $100.

      Please show me where you can buy windows for $50 and office for $100.

      • Re:bullshit (Score:3, Interesting)

        by radish ( 98371 )
        I recently bought a new PC for $350. Adding up the prices of the components I know about (100GB hd, 3000+ AMD proc, mobo, modem, case, CD burner, 256mb ram, mouse, keyboard, etc) comes to around $200-250. I'm sure they make some profit (lets say $50) and I'm sure Best Buy wanted their cut too (maybe another $50?). I'm now struggling to see where the supposed $100 for XP Home comes from, never mind MS Works which was also included.

        The prices you quote are retail, and yes, they are accurate. But large OEMs ge

        • Re:bullshit (Score:3, Insightful)

          by MrResistor ( 120588 )
          I recently bought a new PC for $350. Adding up the prices of the components I know about (100GB hd, 3000+ AMD proc, mobo, modem, case, CD burner, 256mb ram, mouse, keyboard, etc) comes to around $200-250. I'm sure they make some profit (lets say $50) and I'm sure Best Buy wanted their cut too (maybe another $50?). I'm now struggling to see where the supposed $100 for XP Home comes from, never mind MS Works which was also included.

          So you say there are volume discounts for software, but not hardware? A more r

      • Re:bullshit (Score:3, Interesting)

        by dnaumov ( 453672 )
        A pre-installed version from a Dell or HPaq (without the media, so you can't reinstall and configure it yourself) would cost a little less, but certainly nowhere near $50.

        Actually, it most certainly is near $50. Again, the big OEMs get HUGE discounts on software. That 30-pack you mention is NOTHING compared to the volume of millions upon millions of WinXP installations moved by the likes of DELL.

    • Re:Pricing (Score:3, Informative)

      by MojoStan ( 776183 )

      Add roughly $100- for the Windows XP operating systems and $350- for Microsoft office, and you have a significant initial financial outlay.

      I stopped reading right there. What a load of crap. It's roughly 50$ for Windows XP Home and 100$ for MS Office.

      I know there's a difference between retail "CompUSA" prices and OEM prices, but I think his "estimates" ($100 for Windows XP, $350 for Office) might be fair, although he should have been more specific.

      $100 is probably his estimate of the "average" cost

    • Re:Pricing (Score:3, Informative)

      by Maxo-Texas ( 864189 )
      Where I agree with you...

      I got a $379 computer with WinXP. The parts for the computer would have cost me $450 retail AND it was assembled AND the OS was already installed. (I did replace 2 noisy fans and put in a 6800 video card).

      If I give up access, I can get the rest of office for about $139.
      If I lie, I can get it for $99 as a student/teacher.
      If I use my corporate discount, I can get it for $20 (free shipping).
      If I use my corporate discount, I can get WordXp Pro for $50 (free shipping).

      So why do they cha
  • This book is very similar to the Parable of the Broken Window [wikipedia.org] by Bastiat. You can remove Microsoft from the PC equation and maybe see a savings of $450 per PC, but you're forgetting about the unintended consequences of that action.

    I'm not being a Microsoft fanboy here, I just wanted to make it clear that Microsoft is producing a huge market than many of us here rely on. Microsoft uses their profit for positive benefits to society as well: 1 [thetidenews.com] 2 [cnn.com] 3 [elitestv.com] 4 [mercurynews.com] These are just a few from November, 2005.

    Also, Microsoft e

    • Microsoft uses their profit for positive benefits to society as well:

      Ah, yes, but a thief who spends part of what he steals from you on good causes is still a thief, isn't he? If someone breaks into your house, steals a thousand dollars, and then donates ten dollars to the red cross, would you laud him for his positive benefit to society? Or would you say "that darn thief stole a thousand dollars from me"?

      Microsoft is just like that, only on a larger scale.

      • I don't see Microsoft as a thief. Government is a thief: they steal with the threat of a gun. Microsoft is a choice, government isn't.

        You and every other person in this world is FREE to choose against Microsoft. As many people know, Microsoft has an interface in their software that is VERY easy to use, and they are supported by more programmers than any other operating system. You can't fault Microsoft for releasing Windows 3.1 that was compatible with millions of computers and offered a fairly decent i
        • You and every other person in this world is FREE to choose against Microsoft.

          So you missed the whole point didn't you?

          When I buy a PC, any PC, I have Windows preinstalled. That means that, even if Microsoft licensed Windows to the PC manufacturer only 50 cents, I have to pay 50 cents to Microsoft when I buy the PC.

          I don't want to give any money to Microsoft, but when I buy a new PC, I have to anyway. That's the point: you're free to choose to *install* something other than Windows, but you must pay for Wind
          • When I buy a PC, any PC, I have Windows preinstalled.

            Have you been living under a rock for the last five years? Dell, HP, and thousands of independant system builders are happy to sell you a PC without Windows. Even Fry's and Wal-Mart have PCs without Windows.

            The fact that those products sell poorly indicates that people want Windows.

    • Re:Who to blame? Idiot competitors (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Decaff ( 42676 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:16PM (#14131293)
      Microsoft's platform has offered millions of programmers a fairly amazing platform to make software that not only works in a standard way familiar to users, but also interacts with other programs.

      A fairly amazing platform for programmers? I beg to differ. Ever since I started to develop for Windows in the mid-80s I saw what a mess the platform was in so many ways. There were other GUI systems available (even for DOS) that were cleaner and simpler. There was, of course the Mac.

      My company only maintains a few Novell servers and we HATE them.

      We love them. They are rock solid stable and virtually maintenance-free.

      WordPerfect was always terrible except when it was running solely under DOS.

      Terrible how? We still have users who use WordPerfect/Corel Office under Windows and love it, as it is far more tailored to their use than MS Office.

      My users (nearly 90% in our last questionnaire) love the Word interface and look-and-feel.

      I couldn't let this pass! (1) Have you shown them anything else recently? (You have to bear in mind that users will always prefer the familiar) (2) What do you mean by the Word interface? The thing keeps changing every few years, often in ways that makes it different from the main Windows GUI.

    • If Linux fanboys want to convince, they need to make a product that works as well as the competition.

      This statement is just wrong:

      1. "Linux fanboys" don't tend to write software.
      2. The people that do write the software HAVE NO INTEREST IN DEFEATING MICROSOFT. How does having a bunch of whining Windows ex-pats looking to save money help the F/OSS world at all? No. Are they going to write software? Are they going to complain that everything doesn't work just like it does on windows? Probably.

      This book i

    • I'm not being a Microsoft fanboy here

      Well, you *sound* like one...

      In fact, you sound like you're arguing everythign except realistic points (which, of course, the book does too - I don't want to sound like I'm defending it because it's crap).

      In fact, everything you write here sounds exactly like the standard fears & rants of a Microsoft sharecropper who fears (greatly) the de-valuation of your company. It's certainly true that Microsoft has engendered a large subculture, but I don't think you could

    • Re:Who to blame? Idiot competitors (Score:5, Insightful)

      by max born ( 739948 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:23PM (#14131378)
      Microsoft has been on top for a while, but it isn't anything unnatural -- they've created a product that billions of people LIKE using.

      You make a good case for Microsoft but your arguments are mostly personal (experiences) and are unreferenced. It's debatable whether Microsoft got to "be on top" because people like there system or because they had no choice.

      I'd suggest reading the Findings of Fact [gpo.gov] from the Microsoft antitrust case. It's quite revealing. It details, for example, exactly how Microsoft threatened vendors with severe consquences if they even considered selling computers with competing software.
    • I'm not being a Microsoft fanboy here, I just wanted to make it clear that Microsoft is producing a huge market than many of us here rely on. Microsoft uses their profit for positive benefits to society as well: 1 2 3 4 These are just a few from November, 2005.

      Did you know that Microsoft paid no Federal taxes in 1999? And they paid 1.8% on 21.9 billion in pretax profit for 2000-2001.

      Also, Microsoft employs more than 12,000 people. These people likely buy products or use services that your employer produces
    • I'm not being a Microsoft fanboy here

      Yes, you are.

      Microsoft uses their profit for positive benefits to society as well: 1 2 3 4 These are just a few from November, 2005.

      Two articles are about the Gates Foundation, which is NOT Microsoft, one was about Google, and the last was actually about MS.

      Also, Microsoft employs more than 12,000 people. These people likely buy products or use services that your employer produces.

      They Actually employ more along the lines of 35,000 people, however, if they were

    • Re:Who to blame? Idiot competitors (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Hatta ( 162192 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:36PM (#14131508) Journal
      This book is very similar to the Parable of the Broken Window [wikipedia.org] by Bastiat.

      I agree, but it's the microsoft tax that is the broken window.

      Also, Microsoft employs more than 12,000 people. These people likely buy products or use services that your employer produces.

      Yes, and broken windows help employ glass makers.

      If you actually understood the parable, instead of just trotting it out to look smart, you'd realize that the money wasted on microsoft would flow into other areas of the economy, providing a greater net benefit than just giving it to microsoft.

    • Re:Who to blame? Idiot competitors (Score:5, Funny)

      by A beautiful mind ( 821714 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @04:02PM (#14131773)
      Let's assume, that by some miracle, some subcontractor, ShitSoft (MS) manages to break a deal to sell shit (Windows) for food (OS) for McDonalds (IBM) customers for their fastfood restaurants (PC) sometime in the late 80ies so ShitSoft gains monopoly on fastfood restaurants and thus the food market.

      There are 12'000 people involved in devising the best methods to fling shit at the customers, to feed them with shit, to serve shit in the most appetizing way.

      Because people don't know anything better, people buy ShitSoft's "product". ShitSoft must be producing a huge market many hungry people rely on, right?

      ShitSoft is a nice friendly company, so it donates less than 1% of its profits to help combat diseases, so this is why we should keep eating shit.

      Also, ShitSoft also has around 12'000 employees, whom are contractually obliged to eat shit.

      ShitSoft has been on the top for a while, they clearly created a product that everyone LIKES, because they don't know any better. That product has created jobs for millions of food specialists, contractors and plastic cutlery producers. (Because they would be totally out of their jobs if people would eat something different, right?)

      But as in every fairy tale the bad, ugly guy appeared: community owned greenhouses started producing quality vegetables. They gave it away the plans of building such greenhouses and the seeds for the vegetables, only asking to share them with everyone who wants those plans and seeds.

      ShitSoft had to do something: they started their "Get the feces" campaign, where they involved several independent researchers, with only a few million shares from ShitSoft or being a board member at ShitSoft. Those researchers claimed that everyone who uses community owned greenhouses must be a communist for not supporting Real hard working American produced quality branded shit wrapped in nice shiny package, but preferred vegetables. They explained that shit has a much lower Total Caloric Overall, than vegetables and that ShitSoft's shit is produced by a trustable american corporation while the vegetables are clearly on the way to ruin the american economy.

      The campaign is still undecided to be effective or not, but let's not forget another issue: ShitSoft's product created a huge industry to modify some of the product's erm, "features". Some customers wanted to decrease the value of the quality shit (no idea why would they want to do that), by buying products from third party companies to make shit lose it's smell and taste, and to drive away the flies. Can you not see how ShitSoft helps the economy?

      There have been certain allegations before, that ShitSoft's product is not adequate for human consumption. Such a nonsense! It is a shame that we can't disprove that since ShitSoft's End User Shit Agreement specifically forbids the analysis of their latest, "eXPerience the Shit" product and all former versions. Some people slandered ShitSoft before by claiming that shit causes diarrhea and infections and that generally everyone just should refrain from eating shit, but ShitSoft dismissed such scandalous claims.

      Be patriotic, support ShitSoft, down with vegetables!
    • ... I just wanted to make it clear that Microsoft is producing a huge market than many of us here rely on. Microsoft uses their profit for positive benefits to society as well...

      Well, I for one rely on it only in the sense that my business offers tech support for Windows and WIndows software in general (we prefer our customers run Linux because it is less overhead for us and the customer inevitably spends more because they get more-- less money is going to tech support and more is going to making the enviro

  • Facts would be a good start (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ergo98 ( 9391 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:00PM (#14131112) Homepage Journal
    The OEM cost for pre-loading XP on a new box is significantly less than $100, as is the cost to pre-load Office. Retail end-user costs in no way correlate with OEM costs.

    Even more telling is the fact that many large OEMs charge the same or more for boxes without Windows, because those systems generally prove to cost them more in the end - more support calls, more returns because their distro doesn't support the particular DAC codec, whatever. Sometimes the whole is much more than the parts.

    And the whole "never worry about blue screens" really put the icing on the Lamecake. The whole blue screen argument is so 2002, and if that's what the anti-M$ bots are still spouting, they need to update their playbook.
    • Naturally they are significantly lower. But even at $200 per new box, that is a major expense. Preloading Open Office is nothing. DELL should be offering that as a default and then Microsoft Office for the markup on new PC's.

  • Typical slashdot tripe. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by JismTroll ( 588456 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:01PM (#14131129)
    I would be astounded to see one article on Slashdot that ever shows Microsoft in a positive light. Microsoft isn't inherently evil, they're a company. They make things. It took hundreds of thousands of unwashed linux programmers over a decade to make their operating system, and Microsoft only takes a few years for each version, which yes, of course, like all things, has flaws. How about just stepping back, taking a deep breath and realizing that, yes, Microsoft makes good things?

    • Re:Typical slashdot tripe. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by smittyoneeach ( 243267 ) * on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:24PM (#14131380) Homepage Journal
      Concur
      never having to worry about a blue screen of death
      Haven't seen any pattern of these since XP. There may have been one, due to a flaky driver, once. But, Windows CE/Me/NT is hard as a rock, and dumb as a brick.
      Maybe Slashdot can atone by adding something to English: the WMD Argument Pattern. Noun. An argument so intellectually porous as to soak up the speaker's credibility.
      • Haven't seen any pattern of these since XP.

        I've seen significantly fewer since XP, but not zero. In fact, I can make my laptop BSoD on demand. Install EAC (Exact Audio Copy) and ask it to do anything that touches the net (get data from FreeDB; report info on the CD/DVD drive, etc) -- boom, dead. Why? No damn clue. This is a pretty plain jane Centrino laptop using the built-in 802.11g adapter and standard drivers for everything. But I could consistantly BSoD the system w/ EAC.

        Works just fine on my desktop s
    • I commend you for not posting as an AC, but, face it, if Microsoft made GOOD things, we wouldn't be complaining about IE vulnerabilities, or blue screens, XBOXes crashing, or the latest sober worm.

      Have you forgotten that there were NO THINGS such as wordperfect ,Lotus-ABC or Eudora-mail viruses?

      Yes, Microsoft has helped to establish somewhat a user community around computers and the internet. But that's about the ONLY good thing they've done.

      Microsoft isn't inherently evil, they're a company.

      Wrong. They're a MONOPOLY, and they've played dirty on EVERY CHANCE they've had. Perhaps you should read the "say no" book to realize how evil Microsoft is.

  • Double negative? (Score:5, Funny)

    by TripMaster Monkey ( 862126 ) * on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:02PM (#14131138)

    From TFS:
    The only negative to the book is that there are far too many anti-negative stories of Microsoft's predatory practices.
    So...there's too many positive stories of Microsoft's predatory practices? I'm confused...

  • It's only a tax if you have no option (Score:5, Insightful)

    by gasmonso ( 929871 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:02PM (#14131142) Homepage

    How can paying for an OS be considred a tax? Now, if you wanted to buy a box from Dell without the OS and they won't, then yes that's a tax...well kinda. But stick it to Dell by buying from someone else or making your own system. There are plently of places to buy a computer from without having Windows installed.

    gasmonso http://religiousfreaks.com/ [religiousfreaks.com]

    • Re:It's only a tax if you have no option (Score:5, Interesting)

      by ZachPruckowski ( 918562 ) <zachary.pruckowski@gmail.com> on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:59PM (#14131740)
      YOU can build your own system. YOU can buy from someone else. Personally, I don't have the time or skills to put a computer together myself, and I haven't seen major PC distributors selling clean boxes. I'd say I am slightly above average in terms of tech-savviness. The average user sees computers as Apple, Gateway, Dell, HP, and whichever ones didn't spring to mind there. If they don't sell it at Wal-mart, Best Buy, Cost Co or maybe Office Depot, it doesn't exist to the average customer. The "MS tax" is partially dependent on people not being able to invest weeks in understanding and utilizing the computer-building resources available.
  • Like, we all know Microsoft oozed/spewed from a gate to Hell. So adding point after point about that isn't helpful. What do you do about that?

    This sort of reminds me of the TCO comparisons between Windows and Linux. Too often one side or the other just completely ignores some major advantage or problem. For Linux, the pain of configuring a workable system gets glossed over too often, assuming that your devices work in the first place. OTOH, somehow the fact that Linux is free as in beer routinely gets ign

  • Enough. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ultralame ( 868372 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:06PM (#14131189)
    I don't love MS either. But when was the last time you got a BSOD on XP? I have crashes on XP about as often as I do on my debian server. The only BSODs I have had on XP have been when I ran VERY BAD software. Interestingly, the last one was two weeks ago when I was using a driver to read an ext2 volume mounted over USB. Yes, I have crashes on my debian box- the latest was somthing that rsync did that locked me out of both local and ssh connections. (Seriously. I have no idea what was happening and had to kill the machine) And no, I am not a linux guru. But if I have problems like these with my intermediate level of knowledge, then you'd better belive that joe blow will too.

    • Re:Enough. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Americano ( 920576 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @04:57PM (#14132302)
      I have to agree with the parent poster's point. I'm a reasonably experienced software engineer, and have worked for the last 8 years on or with Windows, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, Red Hat Linux, Gentoo Linux, and Fedora Core Linux. I have some rudimentary sys admin skills. I can -- and have -- set up, to a functional, networked state, all of the systems above, and can troubleshoot them when things go wrong, given a couple books, google, and a few days -- I'm certainly not a "professional" sys admin, but I can do the basics with a little time & research.

      I use Windows XP Pro (SP2) at home, and have been for at least a year and a half now... before that, I was using Windows 2000. With XP, I don't get the BSOD that everybody incessantly complains about, and I've *never* seen my system have one of those "random reboots" somebody else mentioned, unless my power goes out. Still haven't gotten around to buying a decent UPS for my home system, because I really don't do too much critical work there.

      No, Windows XP isn't perfect, and I'd never claim it is... I'd love to see my system support firewire devices better, since they sometimes cause the system to begin spitting out "delayed write" errors, and force me to reboot. Sometimes a process or two gets out of control with CPU / RAM usage, and the system starts getting flaky, so I reboot. Sometimes, on reboot, my iPod Service hangs, and I have to reboot into safe mode to disable it, then re-enable it after I get logged in... Windows isn't perfect, and anybody who claims it is is lying.

      However, Linux is by no means a better solution, at least for me. A few months back, I attempted to install Fedora Core 4 on the same system, with the same devices that I use under Windows without any particular issues: a printer, a scanner, a digital camera, a bluetooth usb dongle w/keyboard & mouse, a web cam, a wireless card, a radio receiver, an iPod, and an external USB drive for backups. Bottom line is, I had MUCH more frustration getting all of this to work under Fedora Core 4, and spent about 10 times more time than I did setting up Windows, and I never managed to get everything up & running before I decided to say, "Screw this," and reinstalled Windows again. Here's the issues I ran into:
      • My webcam worked -- but ONLY when it wasn't plugged into a USB hub -- ONLY if plugged directly into the port would it work properly.
      • My Linksys wireless card required about 2 weeks of research and fiddling before I could get it up and running... thank god I happened to have a card with a chipset that Linux supports, or I'd still be working on it.
      • Bluetooth: well, let's just say the only way I could get my bluetooth mouse & keyboard to work was if I *disabled*! the Bluetooth services that start up during Fedora boot... and even then, the bluetoogh pairing for the keyboard & mouse would stop working.
      • Speaking of crashes... GTKPod crashed. Repeatedly.
      • OpenOffice... slow & ugly... not very impressed with what I saw, it looked like a cheap knockoff of Office that was slower, and didn't work as well. Perhaps 2.0 looks better... but the 1.x I tried wasn't very compelling, or useful.
      • Thunderbird: Worked Okay... but to me, not significantly different than Outlook Express. I prefer using Outlook to OE, because I prefer the familiar interface.
      • Firefox: Actually pleased with this experience, and like it enough that it's my primary browser on my Windows system now. LOVE the tabbed browsing.
      • Video & Audio support for FC4 was pure, unmitigated SHITE... the only way I got it to work for all of the music & video files I tried watching was by following instructions I found through google to hack together a copy of MPlayer -- which led me into dependency hell -- MPlayer was good, once it worked, but the video & audio was choppy. Oh, and let's also not forget that, if you start a program from the command line, any audio event in the Gnome gui kills the audio or video you're

      • Re:Enough. (Score:3, Interesting)

        by ookaze ( 227977 )
        I can -- and have -- set up, to a functional, networked state, all of the systems above, and can troubleshoot them when things go wrong, given a couple books, google, and a few days

        Strangely enough, what you describe below just shows the contrary to what you say here.

        However, Linux is by no means a better solution, at least for me

        Two problems start appearing here :
        - You equate Fedora Core 4 with Linux
        - As it shows below, you did not look at which distro was right given your hardware

        Bottom line is, I had MUC

  • My guess is... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by curteck ( 910935 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:06PM (#14131191)
    This dude isn't a PC gamer.
  • anti-negative stories of Microsoft's

    Does that mean they are positive?

    Seriously though, while OSS is good and all, there is a bit of an issue with day-to-day usability. You can't expect a random user to jump through a dozen hoops to get sound working properly (yes there are still random issues with sound all the time).
    • You can't expect a random user to jump through a dozen hoops to get sound working properly (yes there are still random issues with sound all the time).

      And it took Microsoft 20 years to get it right. Why do people forget that plug and play on Microsoft was never an easy task prior to XP?
    • I've had more than a few instances when i've had to jump through hoops to get sound working on windows. Some people have some pretty non-standard sound hardware. Finding drivers for some of this stuff is almost as hard as writing your own driver.

  • NOT-win scenario? (Score:3, Funny)

    by gliph ( 823543 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:07PM (#14131206) Homepage
    The idea of saving money and never having to worry about a blue screen of death is the proverbial win/win scenario.

    Shouldn't that be a non-win/non-win scenario?

    [rimshot]

    ;)

  • Am I the only one who is surprised that a publisher had the balls to publish this thing?

    They must have had lawyers going over the book to make sure their stuff was defensible -- completely defensible.

    Or perhaps the 800 lb. gorilla just doesn't care when people publish bad things about it; you'll be buying their stuff anyway.

    I'm happy that someone has published this book. I can't imagine anyone bothering to publish, in the 70s, how to live without AT&T -- partly because it wouldn't have been possbile.
    • Why would Microsoft want to block a book like this? Take a look around, even in this thread on *Slashdot*. This kind of foaming at the mouth "Linux is good BECAUSE M$ IS THE DEVIL!!" is exactly the thing that turns businesses off Linux and OSS.

      If Masters Choice Cola where to run a nation wide ad campaign, which would be more effective: "COCA COLA IS AN EVVVVIIIIL COMPANY", or "MC Cola tastes as good as Coke at half the price". Negative advertising doesn't improve ones position - the one place where it is us
  • I'd avoid all MS software, just because I don't want to have to buy XP (apparently really means extra purchase) more than once. I went to windows update and was told there was a problem with my license code and I couldn't get updates.

    I did have to replace a hard drive, and now apparently MS thinks I'm using a duplicate license code. I'm not buying their OS over again just because I had to replace a part in my computer, and I shouldn't have to play some kind of childish workaround game just because of t
    • Guess what? Microsoft has a whole process devoted to people who have changed their hdd and now have problems re-registering. It's been a while since I checked, but that process (or a pointer to it) used to be denoted on the page that comes up when you encounter a problem registering.

      Your posting sounds a lot more like incorrect bitching about a fictional problem than a real-life experience.
      • Exactly... Call our number, you'll get one of our friendly, well trained, Microsoft India representatives to walk you through getting a new activation code. Its a toll free call and takes about 5 mins. Seems pretty reasonable.
      • Your posting sounds a lot more like incorrect bitching about a fictional problem than a real-life experience.

        Yes, but we Linux users are constantly bashed over the head with the last remaining leg that Microsoft stands on - ease of use for the 'regular Joe'.

        If you think calling a rep to get your paid for software is easier on ol' Joe than just taking the CD out and reinstalling the software, then we obviously have two differing standards of *ease of use*.
      • " Guess what? Microsoft has a whole process devoted to people who have changed their hdd and now have problems re-registering. It's been a while since I checked, but that process (or a pointer to it) used to be denoted on the page that comes up when you encounter a problem registering.

        Your posting sounds a lot more like incorrect bitching about a fictional problem than a real-life experience."

        As a consumer, I really don't care at all about either their excuse or what kind of hoops they want me to jum

  • It is not clear to me... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jejones ( 115979 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:09PM (#14131235) Journal
    ...how the claim that other people have used tactics like those of Microsoft excuses Microsoft, as the reviewer seems to think.
  • I really want to know.

    what's the open source equivalent to exchange server?

    shared calendars with permissions specified by user?
    something that allows people within a company to coordinate contacts/scheduling/files/information?

  • BSOD (Score:2)

    by mpapet ( 761907 )
    never having to worry about a blue screen of death

    I fault microsoft for many things and they rightly deserve the blame in many cases including my latest nit-pick the amount of baby-sitting their servers require.

    But the BSOD comments have to stop. It's so windows 3.1.
  • It seems to me that one of the biggest drawbacks with use of software from MS and similar companies is the legal liabilities that ensue as a result of the licensing of this software. Bring this stuff into your organization and you open up the potential for massive lawsuits, disruption of operations and so forth. To avoid this you have to put in place a set of draconian corporate policies and definitely take on overhead in the form of license record keeping.

    None of this appearrs in the purchase price for the
  • FTA The idea of saving money and never having to worry about a blue screen of death is the proverbial win/win scenario.

    Okay, okay, we get it... you don't like the blue screen of death. How about a soothing Salmon Pink color?
  • You should just say no to people who sell books! You can get all your information for free from online encyclopedias. [uncyclopedia.org] How dare "Tony Bove" try to sell a book! That's just a hidden tax.
  • what bothers me is that people expects that I have MS Office, which I don't.
  • Once there were lots of word processors. Then there were two: Word Perfect and MS Word. MS Word was the better product in the end - Word 5.0 was solid.

    Then there was one. And one has become evil bloatware, because every couple years MS has to pile on features few people use. So what happens when something gets so complicated and expensive that it doesn't make sense to use it?

    Competition comes back.

    But there are two problems in my opinion. 1) start ups competing against an entrenched product really need

  • Does MS Office cost that much? I've never paid more than $20 for a full copy, and my copies came straight from Microsoft. I've worked for a couple of large companies where employees could buy copies of Office for home use for $20. It's the same with the military. Military members (and Reservists) can also participate. Here [microsoft.com] is the MS site on the program. So if employees are only paying $20/copy, it's probably the case that the companies aren't paying $350 a copy either, so the savings of OO are oversta

  • Microsoft is not alone and joins companies such as American Airlines, Ford and General Motors, Wal-Mart and more that have engaged in practices that while good for their stockholders, have not been good for the competition.

    Right. No company cares to do what's good for their competition. Actually, each company has a fiduciary duty to do what's right for their stockholders, even if that is at the expense of their competition (which it normally is). I don't know why people seem so confused about this conc

  • PowerPoint (Score:5, Insightful)

    by slackmaster2000 ( 820067 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @04:16PM (#14131916)
    I've always found it strange how so many anti-Microsoft arguments will include some reference to PowerPoint and how it is somehow responsible for bad presentations.

    PowerPoint is a fine program for what it does, which is probably why it's so popular. Yes, it can be used poorly, so what. It's not Microsoft's fault. Microsoft didn't invent presentation software, and isn't forcing people to give bad presentations. Other programs like Impress serve the same function, and can be misused just as easily. Used properly, these tools can be very beneficial for both the presenter and the audience.

    Adding poor arguments like this one into the mix with good arguments only weakens the better arguments. There are plenty of valid reasons out there for disliking Microsoft and Microsoft software - PowerPoint is not one of them. It doesn't help spread viruses or introduce malware, it doesn't hinder workflow, and it doesn't seem to have as many irritating stability issues as the other programs in the Office suite.

  • Reviewer is Wrong (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Zobeid ( 314469 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @04:48PM (#14132219)
    Reviewer wrote:

    . . .it must noted that Microsoft is simply one in a long line of companies that have used their size and deep pockets to quash the competition. Microsoft is not alone and joins companies such as American Airlines, Ford and General Motors, Wal-Mart and more that have engaged in practices that while good for their stockholders, have not been good for the competition."


    That statement shows unawareness of Microsoft's history for the last 20 years. Yes, all those other companies have had ethical lapses. Shady practices and bullying are commonplace among big business, it's undeniably true. However. . .

    None of them even come close to Microsoft. The bullying, lying, cheating, stealing and sabotage that Microsoft have carried out -- blatantly and relentlessly for two decades -- make Sony and Wal-Mart look like boy scout camps. Just because everybody cheats doesn't make it OK for Microsoft to cheat, and sure as hell doesn't make it OK for them to cheat twenty times as much as everybody else. And that's before we even get to how the majority of Microsoft's products have been either seriously flawed, or they were five years behind what other companies had done, or both.

    I already got rid of all my Microsoft products some while back, and saving a few bucks had nothing to do with it. (They don't give away Mac OS X, anyhow.) Here are some better reasons to ditch Microsoft:

    1. Not helping to support a company that has willfully and maliciously caused tremendous harm to the computer industry.

    2. Not doing business with a company that has ripped off customers for countless billions, and will undoubtedly rip you off too, if you give them a chance.

    3. Avoiding the spyware and DRM that Microsoft would like to slip into your computer.

    4. Avoid the many security holes that riddle Microsoft products like swiss cheese.

    5. Buy from companies that don't have a track record of putting out crummy products.

    The problem, of course, is that people on the whole don't care about right and wrong. Or if they do, they think it's somebody else's problem to do something about it. They may grumble that the DOJ didn't crack down on Microsoft, but the same people will be standing in line to get a XBox 360.

    "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" -- Edmund Burke

    And unfortunately, that's exactly what most good people do. Nothing. Ignore the problem. Tune out the few who complain. Tar them as fanatics or kooks, then you can safely ignore them too. Rationalize.

    "Microsoft cheats, but so what? All the big companies do."

    "Look at all the innovation Microsoft brought to computers!"

    "They wouldn't be so huge and successful if they weren't providing what people want, after all."

    "What are you, some kind of communist?"

    But if you scratch under the surface, past all the excuses and rationalization, what they're really thinking is: "Man, I want to play Halo 3. . ." And they probably don't even know or care that Bungie was a star Macintosh developer before Microsoft bought them out.

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