Bailing Out

Week of August 19, 2002
What are you waiting for?

Some people are discovering Microsoft is not going to limit its screw-you tactics to Windows XP and Office XP - they're screwing people across the board. People are hanging on, here and there, not really willing to believe the ship is really sinking. They get a Linux box running, then when the emergency exit is secure, go back to Microsoft and wait. Some feel the wait has gone on too long and is no longer worth it. News of service pack 3 for Windows 2000 spelled the final blow for a colleague who wrote the following.

I think this is the last straw for me. Even the clever evasion of the license does me no good, because when I install the service pack, Microsoft can at the same time install components that allow them to connect to my system at will, retrieving whatever information they deem necessary. This situation will never get better; it will only get worse with time.

I've just revived a Linux installation that's been dormant on my PC for a year or so. As I look at my Windows desktop, I find that 90% of what's there is either included free in Linux, or has high-quality and free equivalents, or isn't necessary at all. It's going to take me a little time, and I have to be sure that my wife and kids can still do what they need. But I think it's time to make the switch.

Hear hear. We've been telling people for years now (since November 1998) to get out, and just so no one misunderstands: we really mean it. Microsoft is the odd man out, in many ways. They're the only vendor with a non-Unix OS; and they beat the field at wobbly software, arrogance, and screw-you tactics.

You get what you deserve when you stick with them. The time has never been better to 'switch' either. You have vanilla Linux stuff like Slackware, Debian, Red Hat, Mandrake, SuSE; you have newcomers like Lycoris, which is a no brainer for no-brainers; you have Yellow Dog for the PPC; and you have what we at Radsoft recommend: OS X.

If all of these systems thrive, refuse to crash (ever seen a BSOD on OS X or Linux?) and don't screw you the way Microsoft likes to screw you - then what are you waiting for?