Moving on. Was: Re: [Am-info] "Lord of the Rings"

[Erick Andrews]

On Thu, 27 Dec 2001 10:59:03 -0800, Mitch Stone wrote:

>--- From a message sent by Erick Andrews on 12/27/01 10:16 AM ---
>
>>On Thu, 27 Dec 2001 09:58:29 -0800, Mitch Stone wrote:
>>
>>>--- From a message sent by Erick Andrews on 12/27/01 9:17 AM ---
>>>
>>>>
>>>>So what's your point?
>>>
>>>"A joke."
>>>
>>> Mitch Stone  
>>> mitch@accidentalexpert.com
>>>
>>
>>On who?
>
>I realize we're all a little cranky these days, but come ON.
>
> Mitch Stone  
> mitch@accidentalexpert.com

I should take that as a "truce" then, and should be hopeful we 
can move on, more positively and politely with the list topics?

Neither you nor I need a bad tone.  We've both been around here
for several years.  I don't like bullshit attitudes, yours or mine.

---

Actually, I've had some very good "hair days" over the holidays.
Very positive about Mac's in case you thought me otherwise.

My wife and I spent sort of a snowy "nostalgic" getaway in 
Vermont, you possibly could know...that special venue filmed 
in black and white (or was that the color version?) that starred 
Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire,  & Marjorie Reynolds...that Irving 
Berlin wrote the theme song for:  "Holiday Inn".  We weren't 
on the exact movie set, but similar.

So back on topic.  I felt honored at their dinner table -- a dozen 
or more academic folks in Vermont, professors, undergrads, friends
-- just a few days ago, and they pointedly asked me what I thought 
about the new XP from MS.  No joke.

Most of them use Macs at college/university; many had to have 
Windows machines, too, chiefly for "Word" compatibility.  The 
latest version I heard was Win98 and were still concerned to move to 
Win2000 primarily to get Word2000.  Yep, forward incompatibility, 
upgrade treadmill issues.  OS/2 they knew nothing about.  Linux has 
been a difficult experiment so far.  We're not talking computer 
sciences curricula here.  History, some library science, environmental
courses, liberal arts.  All basic users.  A cross section?  I think so.

This was a challenge for me to explain the new XP basics like .NET,
Passport and the new MS change from "owning" the software license 
to the new subscription structure of XP.  NONE of them were truly
aware of this.  I found I really don't like talking a lot about MS lately
because there is so much negative about it.  Dirty job but somebody's 
got to do it.  I think I did reasonably well on the spot.

On that subscription point, these friends were quick to understand the 
concept of some "continued value of choice" and how XP will further 
diminish it.  Oh, another biggie they were unaware of was my explanation
of what *may* happen with the class action suit in Motz' court, how MS
has been trying to "dump" marginal value software and cheap machines 
that stand to displace choice in the education sector further.  I want to 
help them understand more and I promised to send more *useful* details.
I do have considerable resources right here, though picking the best can be
somewhat problematic without being overwhelming.  *Maybe* even 
this list as a resource, though I know most of them have schedules busier 
than mine and get enough e-mail already.

If you've got one or two major thoughts that ought to be said that
can be meaningful through *an economy of words* please remind me.
I'd like to see them have some success to dodge the next MS bullet.

One step at a time please, maybe with some maple sugar on it.

Maybe I should coerce them to write to Sen. Leahy?

-- 
Erick Andrews