OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

Okay, Revelation prophesy aside, I was wondering what you IT types thought about this article . I have never been a big fan of Microsoft, but I do respect their products for the productivity they have enabled over the Last few decades. This article seems like MS has really gone over the top. What do you think?

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

What a load of crap. Technology woven into religious dogma, and this guy prolly makes 6 figures. First off, everyone loves MS when they can get it for free, or use it for free. And MS is in the business of selling software. Why not make hard for third parties to interact with it, while also making it more secure.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

Expect all free open source office equivalent programs to include methods to bypass that stuff... it is impossible to make the documents 100% MS Office-only... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Also, this will probably generate a lot more business (well, Users... there is no business as it is free) for http://www.openoffice.org/ http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[ September 20, 2003, 18:00: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

At least for the first stage, this is only for companies who want to protect their documents with built-in encryption, and set up an MS server for that purpose.

However, that's a typical tactic for introducing new power grabs to see how outraged people are. With .NET and XP, MS has been trying to maneuver the masses into a position where they have to pay regular subrscription fees for everything MS (Windows, Office, etc.).

Which brings us to Thermodyne's "everyone loves MS when they can get it for free, or use it for free", which I know is definitely not the case for let's see... actually almost everyone I know who uses it. They put up with it and use it because it is often free (or hidden-cost) for them, and a standard most people have, and is useful, if imperfect.

It'll be interesting to see how many people choose to use a backward-and-sideways-incompatible Office .NET which they have to Subscribe, register, and pay continuously for. Personally, I expect I'll continue to use Office 97 at home, and only use such annoying new products if someone is paying me to do so (and paying for my "right" to use it).

There are several reasons not to do what MS is doing, but I guess it seems like a good idea to some greedy corporate bozos.

As for Biblical analogies, well, the Bible has some good points about the immorality and danger of some things. There are no doubt clever parallels in Orwell, too.

PvK

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

I seriously doubt this part is going to stand up to any court challanges, "Even worse, to use the features in Office 2003, you'll need to be running Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition." As I understand it this is exactly the sort of garbage that got them into trouble before. For that matter I would expect some smart as a whip lawyer types to bring up the question of whether or not MS has the right to do any of this at all. Given that the data in all these documents is the property of the Users, not MS. It would effectively be like International Paper charging a fee and requiring a special copy machine to copy any thing typed on a sheet of their paper products.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

wether or not he's the anti-christ, this kind of business tactics is scary.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

"Even worse, to use the features in Office 2003, you'll need to be running Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition."

Umm, what about home Users, I sure as hell aint going to run enterprise, I am sure there will be something for us home Users, heck I am still using Office 2k.

I can see both sides of the issue, MSFT wants to crack down on piracy, who can blame them, its their stuff. Then there is the monoply issue.

About that artical, heck, that is the best example of the number of the beast so far http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

okay. if this is true, i have one response.
However "evil" it might be, its a plan of a genius - simply because when it comes out and *someone* installs it, others also will. And by the time something competitive comes out... it'll be too late. And its not a violation of any rights - technically its a DEFENSE of certain human rights.
This plan seems almost foolproof, if it is brought into action, in real.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">It is not really for home Users. It is for enterprise systems. It should be noted that document security has become an issue partly because of off site backups. Many corporations are very worried about who can read what. There is even some demand for the encryption of logs. I have to wonder who they are really protecting this stuff from, but I know one lady that is about to wish that she had used some encryption on business files.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

a good point however - if such a system would be released, why would the corporate world switch to it, possibly souring certain relationships with other companies?

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">If we are talking about home Users, then by all means, use what you want. But don’t ***** about having to register your copy, and then ***** because you actually have to obey the EULA. But on the other hand, if it is enterprise, then show us something that is better than MS and we will look at it. UNIX is too user unfriendly for the PITA’s to use with the exception of some very specific applications. Linux is not bad on the desk top, but server side is still absolute junk. FreeBSD is the worst of the lot. And in the enterprise, open source is not free and often it is hard if not imposable to insure.

Actually, I think you need a broader sample of people to base your statement on. I know literally hundreds of people that use many different OS’s. And very few fault MS OS’s except for price. Some like Linux and some like Windows, but invariably the largest ***** is the cost of XP and the inability to stretch the license across several systems. Now granted these are IT people, which more or less weeds out the incompetent *****ing that arises from the PITA’s when they FUBAR an install of wonder why their 15 year old spread sheet is no longer supported. And let’s no forget the PITA’s that “Had no Idea that bringing that floppy from their sick home system would hurt the network!” Or the ones that constantly log id10T errors, then complain about MS. The same ones that scream about “feeling violated” when confronted with the facts in the logs.

Another often over looked point is that the major OEM's all modify windows to some extent. And often the blame for the problems that arise are laid at MS's feet.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Shared keys would still be used for secure transfers, as they are today.

This would secure documents that were removed for the site, (stolen) because access to the server would be required to open them. Sure the guys at Ft. Mead would read them in a few moments. But you average Joe Schmoe would not be able to DL documents as he prepared to start that new job with the competition. Sure, he could still print it out, but it's not that hard to catch reams of paper.

[ September 21, 2003, 04:02: Message edited by: Thermodyne ]

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

I feel MS is blamed FAAAAAAAR too much. I really like XP (I have used Linux, and it is nice, but not up my alley too much). I ran a distro of Linux, of course it did not support much of my hardware, but it worked. Microsoft is the market leader for a reason -- their stuff is pretty good. Sure, they have done some monopolistic stuff, penalize them for it, but lets not go crazy.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

But it is so trendy to bash MS...

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

Actually, bashing the MS has to be done with left hand and swings has to be made counter-clockwise, else be "His" wrath be upon the unworthy.
So sayeth the anonymous profet, the Psalm of Judas (Jud 5:5).

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

[ September 21, 2003, 18:09: Message edited by: Me Loonn ]

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

Well the answer to the question "Is Bill Gates the Anti Christ" is quite simple. Yes

* Bill has more money than Satan
* Bill makes Satan look like a friendly neighbour
* ...

On a more serious note, as for the article, he's right in most things he says about M$ but comparing them with the devil? Come'on, be serious.

I do not like where M$ is heading but we, customers created "the beast".
And they use tactics that you can expect from a company looking to expand it's business and revenue. A lot of companies tries to do the same. Nothing exceptional there. But i don't like it one bit.

Anyway, if they keep charging as much as they do for all there products, they will drive people into the arms of less expensive alternatives. A lot of people hate the monopoly M$ has yet they keep on buying or using their tools. If more people where using some other OS than Windows, things might not look as grim but as i said earlier, if you keep on using M$ stuff, don't complain.

Windows is not a bad os neither is GNU/Linux or *BSD. But i like GNU/Linux more because it allows me to change almost anything, something you cannot do with any Version of Windows up to date. You just don't have as much freedom with Windows and that something i really enjoy when using GNU/Linux.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Pfff. Really. The os's you talked about UNIX, Windows and Linux practically all do the same and are IMO almost as good as one another at it. A system is as secure as it's administrator so if you hire a guy who knows Linux, he's going to install it faster that windows and more secure than if he would have to install a windows server.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You named a couple of replacement OS's yourself. And they are as good. If you say they aren't, that's because you haven't spent as much time trying to use them as you did with Windows.
Is Unix or Linux more difficult for most people? Yes because most people who start working with a computer start off with Windows.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Huh? Linux is far and formost an os for servers, next for desktops. Last week i've setup my Linux server as a PDC using samba. Piece of cake and i now allows my XP to register with the domain and load/save stuf to the linux server. This is only a small example. I'm not saying that in your case it's not the best tool but Linux has a lot of good alternatives to Windows programs and to this day it's still more stable than Windows as a server although recent Version of Windows tend to be very stable also.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">So it seems. I haven't used it so i cannot comment on my own experiences but i've heard other people say that it can be a pain to install a BSD server.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Open soure allows companies to sell the source. You can take an open source program and sell it but you have to provide the source code. Why would this be a problem. And insuring program code? I have never heard about this before.

Anyway, to me, you do not come across unbiased when talking about Windows vs Linux vs Unix. I've worked with Linux and i've worken with Windows and to me, they both have their strengths.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

If I seem to be pro MS, then it is because I am a realist. Hey, I don’t love them, but I don’t hate them either. Personally, I think American business could take a few lessons from them. Cost cutting and job outsourcing might look good for the next dividend, but it is a poor substitute for actually going out and making money. And I also think that MS could benefit from listening to their customers a little more.

As for what Linux can do, can it deliver a single set of office apps (same suit for every user, office xp in this case) to 500 plus clients in 28 locations? Clients are 486’s through P4-2.4c’s, and run win 3.1, 9x, 2k, and XP? It also has to deliver 2 UNIX apps and a web based Sequel app. All processing has to take place on the servers, do to the limited abilities of the older systems and TC’s with current software. It also has to support about 100 thin clients from the same servers. Tech support is limited to 1 tech per 125 systems (actually it never gets better than 1/200), and because of distances, 75 percent of service calls need to be handled remotely. Each user gets the same desktop based on what group they are in. And to access the UNIX apps, trust relationships need to exist with two disjointed NT domains. Also, any location needs to be able to access resources, such as printers, in any office. Then toss in domain wide security, backups, web mirrors and Email just for kicks. Now, you get two of the 5 techs to run the servers, 1 of them for the wan and firewall, and two to support the rest. Of course it also has to do the normal domain stuff too.

Also, do to the limited amount of bodies, new features must already be proven out in the real world. Testing on site is very limited. Then just to make life unbearable, management approval lead time is often 18 to 24 months. Not to mention that the approved equipment/software list come from above and is politically influenced (here it is, use it).

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

Wow, your departement is understaffed! And because of it, it seems as if you haven't got a lot of time to learn new stuff. Anyway, it's a very spread out company if they have 28 locations and about 500 clients. That's roughly 18 workstations per location. And running such old hardware. I have been a sys admin in the past but boy my job was easier than this. 2 locations, some 60 clients and i had time to study.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

It’s a division of a state government. We deliver entitlement services, so most of our funding is spent before the ink is dry on the budget. Some of our offices have three systems and the new trend is offices with one system. Average is prolly 10 systems per field office, with the balance here at the main facility. Only thing served up in the field offices is anti-virus, and that is delivered from XP systems. All of the other servers are located here in the data center. Citrix farm is up to 7 quad processor units now. Big new push on now is disaster “resistance”. So the next few IT budgets will go to setting up remote locations for the server farms.

As to not studying, that would not be true. But most of my time is spent on security issues. I actually still have an AS300 in the data center, but unless the budget needs to be amended, it has done its Last piece of work. I also run some Redhat at home, but it is not in the same class as XP IMHO. And with what XP costs me, I don’t se any reason to abandon it.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

ok,.. you ready for my opinion?...

About Bill Gates, He was in the right place at the right time and made very good choices. The end result he got filthy rich. Is he a bad person (the anti christ) NO!

About MS Office etc.. I'm a Gamer and an artist. Why the heck would I want to install Business Crap on my computer? Software like Office would just take up room on my HD that would be better served by a new game or save-games for my existing ones.

My computer very rarely (once or twice a year) crashes and this has been true of Win95, Win98, and now WinXP Home. My brother has virtually the same exact system as me, but he has a 1ghz and I have a 1.46ghz CPU. His computer is fully loaded with all that 'Business' crap like Office, Publisher, etc. His computer runs like a turle on valium and crashes almost every other day. My brother has little or no games installed on his computer. To me this is proof positive that Business software is all crap.

But I'll say it again,.. "I'm a Gamer and an artist, what do I care about all that business software crap?"

Nuf said. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

Incidentally, since I'm planning on getting a new computer with Windows XP pre-installed, can anyone point me to a good guide on getting the Microsoft junk (learning tutorials, Windows Messenger etc. that I never use) uninstalled so that XP can run at max performance?

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yep, I have a link at home to a good tweak site. Some of the stuff is turned off by adjusting the service settings, and some of it requires a little pokeing around in the regestry.

I'll post the link for you tonight.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

According to Forbes, Bill is still the richest:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">Rank Name Worth ($) Age Residence Source
---- ---- --------- --- --------- ------
1 Gates, William Henry III 46.0 billion 47 Seattle, WA Microsoft
2 Buffett, Warren Edward 36.0 billion 73 Omaha, NE Berkshire Hathaway
3 Allen, Paul Gardner 22.0 billion 50 Mercer Island, WA Microsoft, investments
4 Walton, Alice L 20.5 billion 54 Fort Worth, TX Wal-Mart
4 Walton, Helen R 20.5 billion 84 Bentonville, AR Wal-Mart
4 Walton, Jim C 20.5 billion 55 Bentonville, AR Wal-Mart
4 Walton, John T 20.5 billion 57 Bentonville, AR Wal-Mart
4 Walton, S Robson 20.5 billion 59 Bentonville, AR Wal-Mart
9 Ellison, Lawrence Joseph 18.0 billion 59 Redwood Shores, CA Oracle
10 Dell, Michael 13.0 billion 38 Round Rock, TX Dell
11 Ballmer, Steven Anthony 12.2 billion 47 Redmond, WA Microsoft
12 Anthony, Barbara Cox 11.0 billion 80 Honolulu, HI Cox Communications
12 Chambers, Anne Cox 11.0 billion 83 Atlanta, GA Cox Communications
14 Kluge, John Werner 10.5 billion 89 Palm Beach, FL Metromedia
15 Mars, Forrest Edward Jr 10.4 billion 72 McLean, VA Mars, Inc.
15 Mars, Jacqueline 10.4 billion 64 Bedminster, NJ Mars, Inc.
15 Mars, John Franklyn 10.4 billion 67 Arlington, VA Mars, Inc.
18 Johnson, Abigail 9.8 billion 41 Boston, MA mutual funds
19 Redstone, Sumner M 9.7 billion 80 Beverly Hills, CA Viacom
20 Ergen, Charles 8.9 billion 50 Denver, CO EchoStar
21 Newhouse, Donald Edward 7.7 billion 73 Somerset County, NJ publishing
21 Newhouse, Samuel Irving Jr 7.7 billion 75 New York, NY publishing
23 Pritzker, Robert Alan 7.6 billion 77 Chicago, IL hotels, investments
23 Pritzker, Thomas J 7.6 billion 54 Chicago, IL hotels, investments
25 Johnson, Samuel Curtis 7.4 billion 75 Racine, WI S.C. Johnson &amp; Son</pre><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

In the US, yeah. But there are a couple people in foreign countries that are richer than Gates. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

My comp has always been filled with business crap http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif , and I have only rarely had crashes over the Last 6 years on various MS OSes. 90% of all crashes I have had were on win 95 or 98 resulting from games crashing (usually after extended periods of play and the RAM not being cleared properly by 95/98 http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif ). All of the 4 or 5 crashes I have had under 2000 or XP in the Last 2-3 years were from hardware failure.

David, your brother probably has an over-bloated registry. Perhaps it is time for a reformat and reinstall of windows for his PC. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ September 23, 2003, 22:04: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Try these for starters.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/p.../powertoys.asp

http://www.winguides.com/registry/

Depending on what video you get, quite a lot can be done there to make the system put up more frame per/sec.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You certain of that?

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You certain of that?</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Gates actually is far ahead of all modern royalty Last I heard, including all the Middle Eastern ones.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">In actual real dollars very possibly. But in comparison to local cost of living and in comparison to the average per capita income in each country I would suspect he's well down the list.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ah spoken by someone who has never used WinMe I bet. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif I despise MS with a passion mostly I think because I'm blessed with WinMe at home and at work (untill just recently) If any other company produced a product that flawed they would recall it or fix it. And yea I know I could upgrade to XP but I resent the hell out of having to pay $150Can to fix the flawed piece of crap I've already paid for.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is one of the things that pisses me off about windows. As in why is this necessary?? It would be real nice if Windoes could clean itself up without me having to go through the insane amount of time needed to reinstall all my drivers and software.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ah spoken by someone who has never used WinMe I bet. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif I despise MS with a passion mostly I think because I'm blessed with WinMe at home and at work (untill just recently) If any other company produced a product that flawed they would recall it or fix it. And yea I know I could upgrade to XP but I resent the hell out of having to pay $150Can to fix the flawed piece of crap I've already paid for.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I agree, WinME sucks, never used it, and I am the happier for it. I have used Linux, so I have something to compare things to. Linux is nice, it works, but hardware support is iffy. I hear about compatibility problems too. If you get a free distro, then when you need tech support, who do you call? Sure, Linux support Groups exist, but if you need an answer fast, it may not be what you want.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is one of the things that pisses me off about windows. As in why is this necessary?? It would be real nice if Windoes could clean itself up without me having to go through the insane amount of time needed to reinstall all my drivers and software.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Basically, the process of installing and uninstalling software can mess the registry up. Windows does need better support of this (such as allowing defragging the registry by the built in defragger). If the registry gets wrecked, you'll need to go back to a save point or maybe reinstall everything. I do not know of many registry fixing programs, Windows could use a better utility for it though.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Doh! Official MS site. Doesn't seem to be anything very interesting there.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

Powertoys rule! Check them out.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I will second that. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is one of the things that pisses me off about windows. As in why is this necessary?? It would be real nice if Windoes could clean itself up without me having to go through the insane amount of time needed to reinstall all my drivers and software.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Basically, the process of installing and uninstalling software can mess the registry up. Windows does need better support of this (such as allowing defragging the registry by the built in defragger). If the registry gets wrecked, you'll need to go back to a save point or maybe reinstall everything. I do not know of many registry fixing programs, Windows could use a better utility for it though.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I do repairs all the time. Usually the problems are caused by unapproved software installed by the PITA’s. And the registry is easy to repair in the NT Versions of windows. 9x is not so easy to repair, but can be fixed most of the time. Many 9x problems relate to the installer that came with them. There was a work around for it, but few people took the time to install programs correctly. Now there is a new installer that fixes the problem.

[ September 24, 2003, 12:29: Message edited by: Thermodyne ]

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Doh! Official MS site. Doesn't seem to be anything very interesting there.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Don't knock it till you try it. Most of it was writen by third parties. Tweak UI will give you access to a lot of setting that Users seldom see.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I will second that. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">They do seem interesting, but they seem to be, well, toys, more for coolness and fun than anything else. I was thinking more along the lines of sites like this:

http://www.tweakxp.com/

and this:

http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/winxp...es/index.shtml

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

Here's what seems a related topic Reuters Link. What I thought interesting was that towards the end of the article they recommend running a mix of systems at a company or agency. How are they going to be able to do that and still use this personal encryption thingy that you can only get from MS mentioned in the original article? Sounds like some kind of Catch-22. But then again this topic started off outside my area of expertise and kept going. Still, I am appreciating the insight and devirsity of responses.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

I could see a mix of systems working out. Maybe Linux running all the server boxes and WinXP for desktops, and maybe another lite distro of Linux for "appliances" as I would call them (file server kinda things, like the guy who made a giant 1.2 TB firewire drive)

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

Good article on open-source, Microsoft and government use of software:

http://www.economist.com/displaystor...ory_id=2054746

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I will second that. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">They do seem interesting, but they seem to be, well, toys, more for coolness and fun than anything else. I was thinking more along the lines of sites like this:

http://www.tweakxp.com/

and this:

http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/winxp...es/index.shtml</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">If you want tweaks, then you play with toys. If you want hard core mods, then learn to like the registry.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I will second that. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">They do seem interesting, but they seem to be, well, toys, more for coolness and fun than anything else. I was thinking more along the lines of sites like this:

http://www.tweakxp.com/

and this:

http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/winxp...es/index.shtml</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Actually, the TweakUI part gives access to all the hidden settings that you can not access normally in Windows. It is much more than a toy. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

More evidence that Bill Gates is, in fact, the Anti-Christ....

http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~lambert/...ers/tanks.html

New 'think tanks' funded by Microsoft are sprouting up like mushrooms, and all spreading the same anti-Linux FUD borrowed from Gates/Ballmer speeches we heard a few years ago. No one seemed believe it then, so why would anyone believe it now? Guess Bill thinks it will sound better of lots of other people repeat it than if he repeats it himself. What worries me is that MS may start citing all of these 'independent' sources when lobbying Congress, and if Congress doesn't know it's astroturf we may be facing some nasty legislation.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

Antichrist Schmantichrist, he's just an excellent businessman.

That's all there's to it.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

The article referenced does not claim that Gates is the Antichrist. It points out yet another trend in our society (or new technology) that would allow biblical prophecies to come to pass. It wasn't all that long ago that doubters had a great time making fun of biblical prophecy, pointing out how ridiculous it was to think that:
a) anyone could control world finance and commerce to the degree predicted;
b) horrible painful sickness could be spread by flying things with people inside;
c) 1/3 of humanity could be wiped out in a single calamity;
d) people all over the world could watch events in Jerusalem as they occurred;
e) the antichrist could be fatally wounded, yet live (heart transplant?, clone?, AI?, something else?);
f) the "king of the east" could field a million-man army; or
g) the West would trade democratic freedom for safe dictatorship.
I could go on, but you get the point. Regardless of your religious views on the Bible, the prophecies are at least no longer funny.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

Regarding the technical side of the discussion:
Gates is again doing proprietary bundling to "make things easier for the end-user" and, oh yes, incidentally kill off the competition and force upgrades. (I read somewhere recently the following very insightful comment: for MS, forcing upgrades is now equivalent to killing off the competition, since at this point MS's main competion is older Versions of MS software.)

I am equivocal about MS: I hate its tactics, but it seems to be one of the few remaining American exporters.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Consider also the possibility of identification bar codes on your hand or forehead...eliminating the need for credit cards...and allowing the government to instantly id you.

Re: OT: Is Bill Gates the Anti-Christ?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">At least I'd get through the checkout line quicker. But I'd imagine my forehead would get sore from rubbing against the scanner.

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