Bill Gates is working strongly on a time machine to take him back in time to
the hotel in Albuquerque, NM where he worked on the first MS-DOS to install
linux on his early computer and claim it for his own. He would then rewrite
history, having invented linux, patenting it, and making it completely
proprietary. He would rename linux to BGOS (Bill Gates Operating System) and
programs like Windows 3.1, WIn95/98/00/Me (More Errors), and WinNT would
vanish and be replaced with BGOS 1.0, BGOS 1.0000001, BGOS 1.0000002, etc.,
each upgrade costing $200 more than the first. Would Bill make the code
available to others? I think not. However, he probably could not guard
against the code taken from him and be manipulated or used by others to make
their own operating system. Programmers would most likely pay a royalty to
Mr. Gates for its use or face heated legal battles. Mr. Gates Billions would
turn to Trillions and very few competitors would be realized in this new
world to take on the Bill Gates dream of dominating the development of
computers and software.
I am glad we have linux in an open source environment. I am not a
programmer, but I have grown up with DOS and Windows and learned how
manipulative and dominant it has become; software which was placed on my
first new 486 PC back in 1993. I thought none of it and was intrigued with
the "Windows" environment, having used DOS for so long. I feel that the
evolution of Windows has led to a withdrawal of the user's control on choice
and how he would like his computer to work. After Win98, I have found no
more enjoyment in the Windows software which I believe is now a marketing
tool to spy on the individual user who installs the Windowns software on his
computer, learns nothing of how it works, and loads all personal information
on it and sending it across the internet to Microsoft or whoever has the
ability to take it. This is Orwellian and creates paranoia but is a question
I believe will be addressed again and again as we migrate to a digital age.
I think there is something to be said about having a free environment to
develop software and I have appreciated the contributions programmers have
made to the linux environment which is more I can say for any DOS or Win
environment.
Andy W.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Fri Aug 01 2014 - 16:53:33 EDT