“What [if] the government admitted… that they were too dependent on Microsoft and needed to diversify? Well what do you suppose they’ll do? Buy Dell or some other IBM clone that uses, you guessed it, windows operating systems,” writes Alan Fein for Axcess Business News in his article, “Windows’ Government Worm Attack No Match for Mac.”
[Okay, we admit it, Alan refers to Mac as, “MAC,” throughout his sometimes incoherently written article (even in the title, ouch!), but we’re fixing it for him gratis; you’ll find out why later. He also includes such passages as, “…I got to work and spent the next six hours getting rid of a virus I that had a name but I couldn’t find it anywhere on the net,” which we think means something like “I spent six hours getting rid of a virus. I knew the name, but couldn’t find information about it anywhere on the ‘Net.” There are other examples, like, “If I could only get that url open I’d of used that software.” We believe he means, “If I could only get that URL open I would have used that software.” We wish he would use commas before the word “but,” but we digress; he writes as if severely agitated by Windows worms into a state of pure Dyslexia and that’s good enough for us.]
Alan describes his latest Windows nightmare and then says he found out afterwards that, “The U.S. Department of State computers running Windows had to be shut down because of the Welchia virus… Steve Ballmer who recently said he was humbled by the outbreak of viruses probably has a Mac at home. At least it’s stable and you can use it… Ballmer and Gates should have been picked up by those guys in dark suits and sunglasses and taken to the State Department and told they had to personally fix all the computers on the State Department’s OpenNet system within 24 hours or they’d get 50 years each hard labor at Levenworth. Bet they’d fix those security problems then, eh?”
And then, in closing, Alan lays it on us (which is why we fixed his “MAC” references without a [sic] anywhere), “For my money? I’m switching to a Mac. Maybe if Mr. Jobs was really clever, he’d give President Bush and his whole family free Macs. If the Bush’s could see the forest before the trees the next thing you know there’d Apple logos all over Capitol Hill.”
Poor Alan, even when he’s right, he’s partially wrong. Mr. Jobs is clever, you see, President George W. Bush already uses a Mac and we bet his whole family probably does as well. So, the Bushes have probably “seen the forest before the trees” on this one. Still, welcome to the Mac party, Alan, enjoy!
Read Alan’s full article here.
Semi-related MacDailyNews article:
The Mac is Bush to Windows’ Clinton – October 25, 2002
Clinton, Gore, Bush, Gates, Ballmer, and plenty of the ‘movers’ use Macs.
These guys have got things to do.
Even BrainGates is too busy ‘Taking Over The World’� with Ballmkie to spend hours ‘fixin’ N patchin’ any WinPC!
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Holy crap, Batman! Did you read that article by Alan Fein? It really is pretty much completely incoherent. Does he get paid for that?
How Do You Think Bill Gates knows what to copy?
Great, Bush uses a Mac, now I gotta buy a Dell.
I thought GW used Dell, since he and Michael are good friends. Mike even worked on GW’s presidential campaign.
And this article would definitely have more impact if you could understand it. This guy writes like I do. Very bad. Or badly, I forget which.
w00t
Tell me about it. Every day I get at least 15 virus infected emails in my inbox. Even on a Mac this virus nonsense is getting me down. The world needs to start moving away from M$ big time. But be realistic MDN – with all that investment in PC boxes they are gonna want an OS that will run on their existing machines., OSX, as excellent as it ist, does not.
john, you mean all thos2 PC boxes last more than 2~3 years? What will they do when the next “Security Standard” OS from Windows will be around?
AN OS that runs on their PC boxes? Then they better stick with what they have: it is NOT going to be the next Windows update (I even heard that Office 2003 will require PCs to put more memory in because it is a memory hog).
So, realistically, there is a concrete opportunity to move away from Micros**t. The problem is turning all those lemmings into rational being and spend their money on something else by the time – in the VERY near future – they will be forced to buy a new machine.
Until the average Windows user can untangle Word and Windows into two different products in their mind, they are going to stay put with MS and all the bugs and viruses. How many times have you asked someone what they have installed and they tell you “Windows 97” or even that they have Windows 2000, then you find out it’s Office 2000 on Windows NT4?
Gotta say, though, Red Hat Linux is far more likely to benefit here. You may be able to break the mindset about Windows, but the Intel Pentium 4 processor too (dong-dong-dong-dong)? Unlikely.
Wonder where next Windows virus will strike?
http://www.pivx.com/larholm/unpatched/
Dave, true: I have heard that myself.
which proves a crucial point: the more a user is ignorant about everything computer, the more s/he will have a Windows running PC.
Which goes along Micros**t when they say “it is the fault of the dumb user”.
Dave H: I agree about Linux being more likely to benefit. Unlike Seahawk I have never had a PC box break on me, not my 286, my 386, 486, Pentium I, 2 or 3 – but I ended up giving them away because I now use OSX on a Mac. However, the general public are not as wastefull as I, they are gonna want to use their existing kit. The benefit of Linux is that it does so and flies in the process!
john: at the Lab (large one and with external visitors), with all the firewalls and forced patches there has been 86 PC MSBlastered.
Unless I misunderstood you and you were talking about lasting PCs.
On large installed business base (ours as well) PCs last an average of 2 years then they are ditched. That happens regulatly and it is under the eyes of everyone (dead PC boxes at the collection pints).
A single knowledgeable user can pamper the PC and make it last but it is an exception. I know PC home users still with Windows 95 who will never upgrade because they would have to buy a new PC but others (gamers for the most) that buy/upgrade even faster than on yearly pace.
So yes, there is a large spectrum involved.
On the other end, while I see the knowledgeable WIndows users go Linux I can’t see that happening successfully with the average John Doh
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“Great, Bush uses a Mac, now I gotta buy a Dell.”
The only time that I ever thought about not using an Apple compouter ws when OWL Gore joined the Apple board. I don’t care if the Devil himself works for Apple. They make great products. That’s all that matter.
As far as “What [if] the government admitted… that they were too dependent on Microsoft and needed to diversify?”
M$ would probably find a way to fire the Government.
George Bush isn’t all that bad. Those against him are just pissed that he won via electoral vote and then made his Presidency an historical one that changed our economic and foreign policies with long-lasting (and I believe beneficial) effects. Taxes are lower and the U.S. kowtows to the U.N. no longer. Fear is a powerful weapon that the world hears more loudly than diplomacy. Bush is turning out to be one of the stongest U.S. President’s in a long time. And, Dems, be careful, your blind and irrational hatred of Bush will lead you to Dean. Think McGovern and Bush landslide. Bush is smart and those who treat him as not are the stupid ones. — End political rant —
Dear Johnny Appleseed:
This is a space for discussing computers, not politics. If you insist on bringing politics into the discussion, please work harder on your logic and grammar.
“. . . his Presidency an historical one that changed our economic and foreign policies with long-lasting (and I believe beneficial) effects.” The effects of his changes are long lasting? Are you writing from the future? Perhaps they will be long lasting, but we don’t know yet. Also all you mean “historic” not “historical.” Look these words up if you are confused about the difference.
“Bush is turning out to be one of the stongest U.S. President’s in a long time.” “President’s” should read “Presidents.”
“And, Dems, be careful, your blind and irrational hatred . . .” The third comma in this sentence should either be a period or a semicolon.
Lenny,
Attacking grammer of a post is considered base and an obvious crutch when you cannot refute the premise of the post. You come off the fool. I agree with Johnny A., grammar and all. His logic is sound. Read this:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101030922-485769,00.html
I suggest the rest of you Bush Haters read the link, too.
Hey, you guys started out picking on my article and how bad my grammar is and in no time it moved to Bush, Gore and the American Way!
And don’t knock my grammar, I’m not paid to write for Axcess News and they don’t charge anyone to read it either, so enjoy it, there’s not much that’s free today, except Microsoft support, ack!
My next column’s going to be about the music these help/support lines play when you call in. Who comes up with that anyway?
By the way, six people sent me pics of Prez Bush sitting in front of a Mac (please note that I corrected that in the story)and twice as many corrected my grammar. Must be a lot of teachers follow my column. I think they use it in class as what NOT to do when writing!
And thanks to all of you. Got any lawn tips?
Michael,
I agree with the premise of Johnny Appleseed’s post as well: Democrats are angry at Bush for coming to power in less than overwhelming circumstances and pushing through policies that they disagree with (tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy, retreat from international collaborative efforts like the Kyoto treaty and the UN, and perhaps most importantly, starting a major war without a substantial alliance or provocative evidence).
Weren’t Republicans angry at Clinton for policies they disagreed with? Didn’t we hear a lot from Republican camps that Clinton was elected “without a mandate” because, with Perot in the mix, he won with less than 50% of the popular vote?
It’s the same thing. Bitching about the president should be expected as a constant from the camp he does not represent. Complaining about complaining is just plain silly.
Politics, schmolitics. Yadda yadda yadda…..
Face it, they all screw you in the end. Now can we all talk about computers. One of the keys fell off my PowerBook. I was typing away, I lifted my finger, and it came with it. After my initial shock subsided, I rang Apple, and they said they would repair it. Although it’s not a story that’ll get me invited to dinner parties, it’s a more relevant post than bl**dy politics.
MDN: RIP
RIP = Rest In Peace? I hope not. I love the MDN site!
“George Bush isn’t all that bad. Those against him are just pissed that he won via electoral vote and then made his Presidency an historical one that changed our economic and foreign policies with long-lasting (and I believe beneficial) effects. Taxes are lower and the U.S. kowtows to the U.N. no longer. Fear is a powerful weapon that the world hears more loudly than diplomacy. Bush is turning out to be one of the stongest U.S. President’s in a long time. And, Dems, be careful, your blind and irrational hatred of Bush will lead you to Dean. Think McGovern and Bush landslide. Bush is smart and those who treat him as not are the stupid ones. — End political rant”
What complete nonsence. Bush started a war on terror that he can’t win. Iraq is turning into a bloody mess moreso every day that passes. Financially USA can’t afford it and that is why Bush just recently had to crawl to the UN and ask for military support and funding (of which he got none).
“Bush is smart and those who treat him as not are the stupid ones.”
So you were joking all along then… Good show!
Dems underestimating Bush (not to mention wildy going for a too far leftist candidate in overreaction to Bush) is why Bush will be re-elected rather easily in 2004.
Check out the county by county map from the last election:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/vote2000/cbc/map.htm
Bush will win even more counties this time around. We appreciate what he did and does regarding terrorism. Voted for Gore last time out. After 9/11 – I am older and wiser.
FDNY for Bush ’04.
NO POLITICS TALK HERE! A Mac is a Mac no matter who uses it. Please get off this stupid tangent.
see http://www.oilempire.us/microsoft.html for good reasons to boycott
Big Brother’s computer company (probably not news for most on this list)
Microsoft’s “Digital Rights Management” schemes, Bush’s domestic
Homeland Security fascism, the evisceration of civil liberties — these
are all interconnected.