The Letter

"I wanna tell you about oo-poo-pah-doo"

As I mentioned on the Home Page, I was fortunate to have my letter to the Editor of PC Active magazine awarded 'letter of the month' for issue 5, March 2001.

The text of the letter as follows.

What a waste of time and effort is going into the never-ending saga of the world vs Microsoft. It proves absolutely nothing in the end and is causing the unnecessary death of too many trees. The corporate conduct of Microsoft, good or bad, has no bearing whatsoever on the operating systems or other software they sell.

If Windows suits, use it. If not, move on. There are plenty of operating system alternatives to chose from. I am not a Microsoft minion, I run a small business which entails running Windows, BeOS, Linux, Macintosh, Amiga, and CalderaDOS, networked together. All these systems have their strong and weak points, and they all cause their little problems with new peripherals. The only way to avoid these problems is to put your computer in stasis and add nothing. Those complaining about driver problems when upgrading to Windows Me have obviously never played around with Linux or BeOS. We are living in the Stone Age of computer development and surely must expect some difficulties as we progress.

I am sure out ancestors had quite a few problems until they got fire working properly. I have noticed on a few Star Trek episodes that the LCARS system is capable of crashing. What about that Cardassian computer on Deep Space Nine? We still have a long road to travel.

The Editors reply as follows.

Brian

What a superb view of computing: down-to-earth, utilitarian and workmanlike (a positive). So you win the prize. Your letter also fulfills one of the statutory commandments of a PC magazine by referencing Star Trek in a real world example. However, as with any decent piece of writing, there are points with which I have to differ.

1) Yes, we must expect difficulties, however, as Altair (to continue your Star Trek theme) hit the shops 26 years ago, and Don Estridge's IBM PC went into retail channels in 1982 (19 years ago) you'd kind of expect things like major, market dominating operating systems to work first time. My old Amiga 500, for example, never let me down and neither did my C64. You would definitely expect the industry to have balanced profit with customer care and to have got it's collective head together say in 1991 to have agreed release dates and working practices.

2) You can't trust a Cardassian at the best of times.

A great magazine with impeccably good taste. Click on their banner above to visit their web site.

What about the quality of my writing? O.K., Shakespeare I ain't. But, would he work for $25.00 AUD + GST per hour? I think not. Click below and hire me.

This magazine went belly up about 12 months later. Must be a message in there for me somewhere.

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