#1 \ufffd I didn\ufffdt mean MS destroys companies, as far as competition, or illegal leveraging of their monopoly. I meant that the MS tax makes life harder while adding minimal benefit (if any) to the end user. And when I say tax, I don\ufffdt just mean the obvious dollar amounts. I means when poor interoperability breaks things. When an OS upgrade takes out the network. I especially mean when things such as multi-database or multi-server configurations break, which then makes us scramble to find out what MS changed.

In the old days, the OS wasn\ufffdt done until Lotus wouldn\ufffdt run. Now it is more likely to be ADS rejecting a Samba authentication request.

Or how about this \ufffd I just had a hardware problem with my home network. So I needed to setup a new core Linux box. I have several new low end Dells. But when we say low end, they are still VERY fast for running a Linux KDE environment. At least they would be, IF they would let me install the OS. It seems to new low end Dells (I see multiple posting concerning this) have a locked BIOS of some sort, and refuse to boot Linux. So I had to scramble to setup a usable environment which include VMWare under XP running Linux, which makes it a bit slow, and loses a lot of my favorite desktop programs since it would be VERY slow if I turned them on. So while the box is somewhat usable, it is painful, and another reason for me to dislike MS. I\ufffdm not accepting "coincidence".

#2 - I consider anyone who doesn\ufffdt consider alternatives an MS robot. I don\ufffdt know if you fall into that.

#3 \ufffd Interesting. "I understand that some people have moral or ethical objections to MS". Do you feel they have a valid reason, or it is very specific to those people and can\ufffdt possibly have a good basis?

#4 \ufffd They have a lying, cheating politically mudslinging sales force. You may consider that good. I don\ufffdt.

#5 \ufffd Viruses are part of the MS tax. Cost of doing business.

And yes, I see it is your job. But it is not just a job. It is a career.
[link|http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?sourceid=Mozilla-search&va=+career|http://www.webster.c...search&va=+career]

Note your comment on how it might be hard to find another job.

This means you have a vested interest in seeing it spread. Which goes back to my original problem with you being a fan. It is against my best interests, and the interests of my company. Not as a producer of software which is in competition with MS, but as a user of software that does not want its independent direction controlled by an outside entity that\ufffds only interest is in extracting as much money as possible.

Note on MS specific characters. I\ufffdve been forced into using MS environment for the short term, so I might sprinkle them about a bit. Sorry.

my father was a chemical engineer in the pharmaceutical industry. the company he worked for was found to have violated anti-trust laws at least once while he was with them. if anyone told me that made him an immoral or unethcial person, even though I probably wouldn't do it, I would want to punch them in the face


So he worked for a company that was CONVICTED (you said "found") of violating the law. And rather address the issue directly (hmm, "maybe there is a problem here") you would instead want to punch the person who said this.

Yup, your choice of professional and willful avoidance of the facts surrounding it is making more and more sense.

Without any possibility that your father might have been part of the crew that made the decisions that trigger the sanctions.

I accept it is very unlikely, but without knowing the specifics, possible.

You on the other hand responded with possible violence at the mere suggestion.

Yes, some good people work for MS.
Yes, some good people work for drug companies. I'd be in deep shit without a variety of drugs handy at all time (heart, blood pressure, pain killers, etc), so I'm very grateful to the good people working at drug companies.

So what. It doesn't stop a reasonable person from being wary.