More Resaons to Make the Switch

And leave MS for the brave new world of Linux, from an article in Information Week:

With the recent release of Microsoft’s newest potential cash cows, Windows Vista and Office 2007, the company is expecting a wave of upgrades from users seeking the latest functionality. But what if you’re not looking for new bells and whistles? What if you want to keep your old operating systems, such as Windows 2000, running as long as possible?

Microsoft isn’t making it easy for you. Office 2007 and the software for the company’s much-hyped Zune music player won’t install on Windows 2000. As other new products emerge from Microsoft in 2007 and beyond, more and more of them are likely to leave Windows 2000 out of the party.

It’s clear that the public’s choices are being severly limited by Microsoft insistence that we all upgrade.

But what if… Microsoft is compelled to make Windows 2000 and it’s variants public domain?

Nah, it’ll never happen.

I bought a system with XP MCE loaded on it a year ago, and do not plan to upgrade for several years, if ever.

I’m quite happy as a clam, and maintain that everything that I want and need in the foreseeable future (in regard to my personal computing needs) I have now.

I’m determined my next OS will be a Linux variant. I’ve set aside for now the process of installing a dual-boot system at home because of some technical issues I’ve yet to work out.

But once I have some time, I am confident I can overcome these niggling problems.

Patented

This great essay/article puts into perspective much of the intellectual property shenanigans currently the source of so much confusion in the virtual world.

In light of the recent Microsoft-Novell imbroglio, it’s interesting to get into the way-back machine and revisit the Apple-Microsoft GUI wars, GIF enforcement, the rise of the patent trolls, and how today the open source GPL addresses IP by spinning it on its head.

Fascinating.

Not a Disturbing Development in the Least

When it comes right down to it, the words you write in an email and send through your company server are not yours- they are the property of the company for which you work.

So if they keep them for 100 years, as required by law, that’s not a big deal, right? After all, it’s their property, and they can choose to use it however they desire.

Right?

If you don’t think so, I guess the place to start is right here.

Refreshing Candor

The CEO of Seagate, Bill Watkins, who hails from Texas, had a few drinks with a Money mag reporter and let it rip. Excerpts:

[on] Sarbanes Oxley: “CEOs who whine about Sarbanes Oxley don’t belong in their jobs. Come on guys, get over it.”

[on] The M&A boom: The Valley is no longer “about building a company and a culture. It’s about making money for the top guys. If you look back to Intel (Charts) and Fairchild, they set out to build a company that would become massively large. Google (Charts) was another good example. They waited a long time. They wanted to build a big company. People don’t think like that now.” That includes, Watkins continues, YouTube. “YouTube is like eBay. The founders didn’t know what they were doing. The consumers just took hold of it.”

[on] The HP pretexting scandal: When I ask if anyone really cared about this story outside of the media, Watkins shakes his head. “Wall Street certainly didn’t. I saw it and thought, it’s good to know there’s a board of directors more dysfunctional than mine.”

Very entertaining, and insightful too. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.