Bo Simonsen wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:

 BS> Hi Roy,

-=> Roy J. Tellason wrote to Bo Simonsen <=-

 TW> Windows 98 gets a reprive

 TW> REDMOND, Washington (AP) -- Microsoft reversed a decision to stop
 TW> support for some older Windows operating systems, saying Monday some
 TW> customers in developing countries were not aware of the change.

 RJT> Heh.

 BS> You can never count on Microshaft.

I knew that!  (Notice that I never capitalize m$,  either?  :-)

 TW> Support for Windows 98 and Windows 98 S.E. had been scheduled to expire
 TW> Friday, and for Windows Millennium Edition on December 31. Under
 TW> Monday's decision, the software giant would maintain paid phone support
 TW> for the operating systems and review security threats to determine
 TW> whether it will provide customers with security patches through June
 TW> 30, 2006.

 BS> Wow! Then we can buy cheap old hardware, because people don't wonna
 BS> run a unmaintained OS.

 RJT> Even now I find it very inexpensive and easy to get
"older" hardware
 RJT> that people just don't seem to want any more.  Judging by the
 RJT> way I see some of it running m$ crap,  

 BS> Yes, it's nice for us which is running Linux, we can get cheap old 
 BS> hardware :-)

Works for me...

Of course,  we still have the software authors writing their bloatware.

 RTJ> I can well understand why!  I've just written a bit ago a rather 
 RTJ> long email to "support" for a given set of web pages.  These 
 RTJ> pages are giving me an error message when I try to select certain 
 RTJ> menu options, saying that "my browser has been inactive for 20 
 RTJ> minutes or more",  never mind this was within five minutes of me 
 RTJ> getting online.  Their pages also have a "system checklist" 
 RTJ> function that my end _fails_ on each and every count (except 
 RTJ> one).  

 BS> Aha, also people wouldn't get security updates for their buggy
 BS> Internet Explorer if they are running it on Win95/98/ME, so the
 BS> crackers would get a easier life :/

 RJT> Yet I know darn well that all of these capabilities are there.  
 RJT> I'm just not running the software that they think I should.  
 RJT> Maybe my email will give them a clue,  though I seriously doubt 
 RJT> it.  Subj. line said "This is bullshit"  :-)

 BS> Haha! :)

Update on that situation:  I got an email from one "customer service
rep",  and today I got another one.  So I replied again,  and spelled
stuff out.  Apparently it's not just IE,  but also some specific version of
netscape that they support.  I told 'em why I wasn't running that,  either
-- that it's a pig,  a real resource hog,  and buggy.

I pointed out that I have a choice of who to deal with,  while they have
customers,  or they don't.  Their site name contains the word
"Global" and I pointed out to them how lots and lots of people
all over the place,  particularly outside of this country,  weren't running
m$ software any more, and that maybe they oughta take note of it.

I pointed out how this was "text" that they were talking about
presenting,  and that I didn't see how even text with graphics should
impose any sort of serious limitations on what browser I can use, 
particularly when there's all these other sites I don't have a problem
with.

I told them that this was "the 'net",  and how the whole point of
it all was so that machines on wildly different platforms could
interoperate,  and not have a problem.  Except when some webmaster weenie
wants to use every gimmick he can dream up,  and thereby limits who they
can talk to.

I told 'em how this was "the web",  where HTML was the standard
protocol,  and that my machine spoke that language just fine.

 BS> Or maybe we'll get more Linux users.. Who knows..

 RJT> Yep!

 BS> Many OS/2 and Amiga people did consider Linux as a good 
 BS> alternative,  maybe the Win9x people would see it in the same way..
 BS> I'm really doubting, but there might be a chance.

Most of what I'm seeing is that unless they're really motivated to change
for some reason they don't want to bother with what they think are
excessively technical requirements to have to learn.  Though I know of a
bunch of people who are managing just fine,  in spite of not wanting all
that much to be into the technical side of things.

My brother is among that group,  he describes himself as "a GUI kind
of guy" and sees the computer as an appliance,  a tool to do certain
jobs,  and that's it.  But his eyes were opened when he went from home to
work with a floppy one day and all sorts of info _from his home machine_
started showing up on the machine at work!  All because of a
".doc" file...

 BS> I did just saw Microsoft is in to their big campain, about "showing
 BS> people the facts", but I really doubt it's the facts.

 RJT> Who cares what _they_ think the facts are.  Or what their version of
 RJT> the facts might look like?  I don't like their software,  or
 RJT> their approach to things other than software,  for that
 RJT> matter.

 BS> Buisness, companeys only count in money which is Microsofts point,
 BS> but I  _really_ doubt that their "scientific caluculation" is
 BS> proper. 

Yep.

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