Hello Fellow Arachnephobes!
OK, I didn't quote the thread about HotMail, god only knows what else MS will
do to STOP any and all alternatives. The thing is, MS is very much involved
with US "national security" interests at the moment. WinXP has been installed
in numerous military computer systems, MS IE is the "browser of choice", and
home users who decide to purchase a new computer are faced with the choice
of WinXP Home or WinXP Professional. I do believe I warned everyone about
this. The time for action was actually at least 2 years ago, maybe more. That's
when I decided to limit my exposure to MS products, although I still find I must
use Win95 on occassion. The battle was never really being fought, nothing
like the old browser wars of the late 90s'. Anyway, what is one to do? Here you go:
1. Give up NetScape...yes, I know, many of you have had NS installed for a decade.
The problem is, NS is no longer being developed, and what they call NetScape is
in reality America Online! So, give it up.
2. Upgrade your Win9X to...Windows 3.1! That's right, I said Win31! Why? With Win3X
you can use Trumpet, or even the Shiva dialer from MS IE 3.0 that is free. Trumpet
Winsock doesn't handle everything...I prefer Shiva, and have it available for d/l. I
know,
it's still "Windows", but...it is 16 bit, and so far none of the latest email trojans
and viruses
have ANY effect on Win3X. You say you need a browser...sure you do, so get a copy of
Opera 3.62! I can check anything with Opera that is normally requiring IE 5.5 or
later! That
includes HotMail (which I have not been able to even get Windows 95 with IE 5.01 SP2
to access in over 2 months!). There's a host of free software for Win3X also.
3. Install and use Arachne 1.71 UE01...if your ISP will not provide you with the
needed
settings to get connected, FIRE THEIR ASS! Get another ISP dammit! There are still
services available that will work just great with Arachne and DOS. You need web based
email? Easy enough...try Softhome, www.softhome.net, you can even use it "standalone"
without the web interface, just like a regular POP3/SMTP service. You need a web
site?
While not "point and shoot" easy, I still use my old Geocities page, www.geocities.com,
even though it is now part of Yahoo. I have found that sometimes I need Lynx 386 DOS
to do maintainance on the site, as well as check Yahoo Mail and my Yahoo Group, but,
at least it is still usable. (Side bar to Sam H.---NO, Yahoo is NOT, I repeat, NOT a
"haven
for spammers, pornographers, hackers", so please, get over it...the address you see
that appears to be a Yahoo address is a "spoof"...remember how I spoofed your own
address with the old DosLynx list about 3 years ago? It was not intentional, but it
happened.
Most Yahoo users are legitimate users.)
I apologize for any toes I may have stepped on. But sometimes, you just have to call
"a spade a spade". It does absolutely no good to chit-chat amongst ourselves about
our inability to access this or that on the web with Arachne. Most so-called "web
masters"
couldn't master tying their shoelaces...they simply use IE and FrontPage to create a
"cool looking site". Folks, we have few choices. We can continue to ignore the
problems,
bitch to each other on this list, and I guarantee that within 2 years, we will not
even have
this choice! We can follow the crowd, go buy the latest version of WinXX with
IEXX...that
solves your access problems, but what about everyone else? Or, we can, as I and
others
have tried, make solutions to the problems. This can be by way of writing software
that
works inside or with Arachne to access a service. Or, it can be by way of making
other
software that we have found to work AVAILABLE for download to others! Not only making
it available, but help them get it going.
Unfortunately, the majority of people I know opt for the second option and just go
purchase
new hardware with WinXP and IE 6. This only strengthens MS's stranglehold on the Net,
not to mention the virtual lock on home user desktops.
I've ranted enough. I know that was quite long, and probably hard to swallow. I've
been
fairly quiet for sometime on this as well as other e-lists I am a member of. Guess I
had quite
a bit to say, hehe. I wish each of you a great weekend. Help yourselves and each
other.
Write letters, not emails, to your governmental representatives, outlining the
problems faced
by those of us with "alternative" software. One last comment...those of us without
any real
"disability", just think about the hardships faced by those with disabilities! Can
you even
comprehend how difficult it would be to browse the web WITHOUT SITE? How about check
email without your eyes? Or, type a reply letter without hands or fingers? I have
friends that
quite frankly do not enjoy the Internet anymore, because the screen reader software
they
purchased for 2 to 3 thousand dollars no longer functions properly. Imagine trying to
browse
with a screen reader, with a JavaScript enabled browser, and all those popups,
popunders,
popovers etc ads!
If we, the users of alternative software, are vocal enough, we might can stop this
insane march
to MS's drum. One or two users can't do it, it will take as many as we can find.
<---steps off the soap box
C U L8R!
Wiz <{;-)
Shit fire, people! (Excuse me a minute, I need to vent!) We have absolutely NOBODY
but ourselves to blame for the present mess the Internet and WWW is in! While many
have stood around for a year or longer, blaming MS for this, AOL for that, yada, yada,
yada, we let all those folks take away OUR access to the Internet! All it would have
taken a couple of years ago was maybe a few hundred more of us to say "Hell No!
I don't want the latest, most bloated IE and some future WinXX version! My computer
is MINE...I will choose what I run on it!" I asked in several forums for help in
getting a
petition of sorts together to send to various governments, asking for help. MS was
actually "on the ropes" at the time, reeling from being found guilty of violating the
anti-trust regulations. What happened? Nothing...nobody but a handful joined with
me. Over the course of the past year or so, MS has quietly managed to somehow
get all those nasty ant-trust violations to go away! No stiff penalty! No
restrictions
on how they conduct business! Now here we are in 2003, MS is growing bigger and
richer. Any "alternatives" to MS products are being locked out of the services that
MS users have.
Glenn Gilbreath, Jr.
Wizard57M
http://www.geocities.com/wizard57m/index.html
