Actually, it isn't a joke, it's a real piece of mail, whose author
is, AFAIK, serious. Windows is the joke.
----- Forwarded message from <name withheld> -----
Subject: Re: Supporting commercial software on open source platforms
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2000 18:41:39 -0400
From: <name withheld>
>> what happens when you try and get support for the product?
>
> They tell you "you must have a Windows problem" ...
>
> I hear that "reinstall Windows" is a common refrain.
Back when I did consulting for small businesses, I discovered that some
of my competitors *only* worked on Windows, because Windows users are
trained to expect crappy software. If something they write or set up
fails, they can just say "Well, it's probably because of a conflict within
Windows. Have you tried rebooting? Have you re-installed the OS? I can
come out and do that . . .".
One such consultant as much as said that he didn't want to work on Unix or
Linux because nobody would believe him if he claimed the solution was to
re-install the OS. An exact quote: "With Windows, I can write substandard
stuff and get away with it."
I see this as a potential obstacle to adoption of alternative OSs (which
I'll define for the purpose of this paragraph as "an OS that works"): the
great army of mediocre code hacks who do sloppy work may not want to give
up their standard scapegoat.
----- End forwarded message -----
--
K<bob>
[EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.jogger-egg.com/
