Microsoft's Ballmer Warns Asia of Linux Lawsuits (Microsoft pulls a SCO in Asia)

Reuters ^ | 11/18/2004 | Reuters

[Bush2000]

I've been running Linux exclusively on desktops and laptops for nearly 4 years.

LMFAO! "Using it" is a subjective term; particularly when you can't even get wireless drivers to work with it. It's useless on laptops.

[KoRn]

They just don't seen to like free markets and capitalism.

[Bush2000]

You're kidding right? I run XP, it crashes regularly because of conflicts of some kind or another.

Try using quality hardware and drivers. That's the primary source of problems.

[Bush2000]

LOL!! And you know that--how?

Coupling. Quality just isn't in your nature.

[Knitebane]

Does Ballmer still call you by that pet name?

What was that again?

Monica?

[Knitebane]

Odd, the built-in 802.11g card in this Toshiba Tecra M2 works just fine with Debian. Just booted it up and it worked.

And the PCMCIA Netgear card in my Dell Latitude works just fine too.

Once again, you spew FUD and you have no idea what you are talking about.

[Prime Choice]

Try using quality hardware and drivers. That's the primary source of problems.

How lame it is to blame the hardware. Absolutely lame.

Q: How many Microsoft engineers does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: None. They just declare darkness the "new standard" and charge $300 for it.

[Prime Choice]

Does Ballmer still call you by that pet name? What was that again? Monica?

[Bush2000]

How lame it is to blame the hardware. Absolutely lame.

I'm not blaming the hardware. I'm blaming cheap hardware and drivers. You'd be amazed at the crap that people put in their machines.

[Prime Choice]

He's talking about his standard Redmond talking points, not reality.

You got that right. Bush2000 and Golden Eagle were always whoring for Microsoft every chance they got. It was sad to watch, but kinda funny.

Brass Buzzard...er...Golden Eagle seems to have vanished, though. Ain't seen hide nor hair of him since August. (And it took me this long to miss his bullcrap.)

[Knitebane]

The crappiest of which all comes from Microsoft

[Bush2000]

Odd, the built-in 802.11g card in this Toshiba Tecra M2 works just fine with Debian. Just booted it up and it worked.

Linux hasn't worked with 5 of the wireless cards that I've tried -- and, in fact, crashes in several cases with the supplied driver. Cisco Aironet, Orinoco, Linksys, Intel Pro/Wireless, Lucent WaveLAN. Considering that the vendor "workaround" is to recompile the drivers, edit configuration files, and basically waste about 3 or 4 days in endless nonsense, I'm not going to waste any more time on it. You won't admit it (you're a zealot, after all) but Linux Wireless just ain't there yet.

[Bush2000]

You got that right. Bush2000 and Golden Eagle were always whoring for Microsoft every chance they got. It was sad to watch, but kinda funny.

As opposed to you guys taking it between the cheeks for Red Hat and Linus...

[Bush2000]

The crappiest of which all comes from Microsoft

Said Medieval Wedding Boy.

[Prime Choice]

As opposed to you guys taking it between the cheeks for Red Hat and Linus...

You're so cute when you're being petty and bitter.

And FYI, I don't use Red Hat. Not that I expect you to have the brain thrust to understand that.

[TechJunkYard]

Ballmer never said any of this.

Oh? You have a transcript? What did he say?

[Knitebane]

It's not my fault, nor is it the fault of Linux, if you have a built-in bias against Linux which colors your ability to pop in a friggin CD, boot up, and use wireless.

Or perhaps it's that third-party crap you've been harping about, eh?

Nope, that can't be it, since the Netgear card in my Dell has an Orinoco chipset. The Cisco card my cube neighbor has works fine too. So does the Lucent card, Linksys and even the Intel Centrino built-in wireless chipset. All without recompiling.

I and every person at the local LUG uses 802.11 at every meeting. There are generally 30-50 people in the room, with varying types of wireless, built-in, PCMCIA and PCI cards, and I've not heard of a single instance where a recent version of a mainstream Linux distro wouldn't operate simply by opening a GUI app, typing in the ESSID and encryption keys and clicking OK.

We have beginners that have never used Linux come in. We give them a Knoppix CD and they are browsing using the wireless AP in under a minute.

So I have to conclude that it's not Linux, it's not new users, it's not the hardware...

It's just you.

[TechJunkYard]

.. particularly when you can't even get wireless drivers to work with it. It's useless on laptops.

Works fine on my laptops (RH 7.3, 9), no problems with my Orinoco WiFi cards.

"Try using quality hardware and drivers. That's the primary source of problems."

[Knitebane]

As I've already stated in an earlier post, I don't use RedHat. Learn to read something other than Microsoft marketing slicks.

And as for Linus...I've never met the man or taken money from him and besides, weren't you on the warpath with GE claiming that Linus didn't write Linux anyway?

[Knitebane]

Oh, that hurts so much.

Perhaps when you make enough money to throw away tens of thousands of dollars on a themed wedding for your wife you won't be quite so bitter.

But then you work with a product whose growth days are behind it rather than an expanding, vibrant market.