Bruce said:
I'll have to concede the points, on this one.
Although it might SEEM like it, I'm really not playing a game, and
counting points.
But this also goes to
prove the validity of my main contention: You've posted such so much
unsupported and rabid anti-Microsoft drivel in the past that I
wouldn't take your word for it if you were to say the sun "rises" in
the east.
Well, I know a few people that would say the same thing about MVPs,
about being pro-MS, though that wouldn't be true either.
I'm probably more respected in this group, than you are willing to let
yourself to believe, and I understand why, as I've been rather hard on
you in the past. But if you really read most of my posts, you'll see
I'm very well thought out, even to the point where I try to explain that
MS's copy-protection is bad not only for consumers, but for stockholders
too.
I doubt that I'm the only one to filter your posts through
the same heavy layer of skepticism, based on observed behavior.
I'm sure you're not. But most of them are those that judge the book by
its cover, and not by the content of the book. I believe that is a
minority of the regulars around here, even amongst your fellow MVPs.
And I mean it too. People like you and me know better than installing
anything before knowing as much as possible about it. Most average
computer users don't, and especially when it comes from a seemingly
trustworthy source as a major corporation.
So, why are "most people" so mindlessly gullible?
Because innately, people are trusting. The human capacity to trust is a
double-edged sword. Yep, trust tends to be eventually rewarded with
being suckered, but imagine a world where it is human nature not to be
trusting. Where everyone's natural reaction is to see the worst in
everything.
Yeah, I'm a hypocrite, and a natural skeptic, but I'm not so
hypocritical and skeptical to be blind to the beauty in the human
capacity for trusting.
Perhaps so, although I'm sure there'll also be some sort of altruistic
sounding rational for it. What it all boils down to, however, is that
all too many people are too lazy to rely upon themselves, and want a
nanny society where corporations and governments look out for them.
And Microsoft, like any other amoral corporate/government entity, is
going to take full advantage of that tendency.
If they are gonna act like a spyware distributor, then they need to be
treated like one too. And only through people speaking out about this
will people learn to not just blindly trust MS, and to see them for what
they really are, the largest distributor of spyware in the world.
I know you have voiced your displeasure about WGA in the past, for its
false positives, but this latest incarnation of WGA goes way beyond the
bounds. And as I've been saying along, the behavior modification
technology tools of the recent past isn't all that much of a big deal,
it is what they will become that is the real worry.
In a decade from now, imagine the hoops it will take to run a Windows
OS, modeled on what has developed over the last five or so years, since
PA was first introduced to the masses. Now extend that to a 1/4
century. It doesn't take a rabid anti-MS person to see where all this
stuff is heading.
No one that believes in personal freedom is likely to see any real good
that will come from any of these behavior modification technologies.
What I can understand is how anyone could possibly claim to be
surprised or appalled by such a sorry state of affairs; people are
getting exactly what they want.
No they aren't. Nobody wants any unnecessary hassles while computing.
Not you, and not me, and especially not the average user. They are only
getting what MS wants, as MS knows that most people are too busy and/or
too lazy and/or ignorant to notice.
The worst part is that MS was finally starting to get through to people
about the need of patching their OSs, which was a good thing, as a vast
majority were not doing it. But with the recent bad patch, and now the
WGA Notification spyware scam, MS is gonna get people so confused as to
what they should do, that they'll go back to not doing anything at all.
<sarcasm>Just what we need more computers on the global net that are
ripe for being taken over as zombies!</sarcasm>
One final note. Yeah, I'm a character, and I rub some people the wrong
way, but I'm trying to be entertaining too. I am passionate about
trying to educate people about how using technology to limit human
behavior is a major long-term threat to personal freedom, but I try to
do it with all good humor, rather than be preacher all the time, preying
on people's fears, or just boring them to death with the same old song
and dance. I acknowledge and accept that a some people are gonna not
like me for my manner of presentation. That's why we need as many
different voices speaking out as possible, as often as possible, as no
one can speak to all people all the time.
--
Peace!
Kurt Kirsch
Self-anointed Moderator
http://microscum.com
"It'll soon shake your Windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'."
