On Nov 2, 2003, at 6:10 PM, der.hans wrote:

> Such as m$ eXploder and m$ outlook? Can't get rid of those without 
> replacing
> the OS.

Know you enemy, Hans. There are much better browsers and mail clients 
for Windows than Explorer and Outlook. If fact, convincing ordinary 
users to switch away from Outlook and Explorer should be much easier 
than convincing them to change their whole OS. I think IE is the only 
browser left on Windows that doesn't block pop-up adds.

The converse is that if you can't convince someone to dump IE and 
Outlook. You will never get them to abandon Windows. They are baby 
ducks who have imprinted. Logic has nothing to do with their behavior.


> Something that affects all of us is the Freedom of Free Software and 
> Open
> Standards. RentWare isn't good for consumers.
>
> Interoperability is important. It's why the Net can work. Proprietary
> protocols and formats diverge from interoperability. m$, for decades, 
> has
> made it clear it will subvert Open Standards at every opportunity.
>
> For those who don't want to know much about computers it is in their 
> best
> interest not to use m$. Especially for them.

This argument is essentially that we would all be better off 
collectively if MS didn't have their monopoly. I think that is so 
obvious that it isn't worth debating. The thing is, it's a big jump 
from there to the assertion that some particular individual would be 
better of switching to Linux. I don't think you can know that without 
knowing that individual personally.