It's the governments fault!

Well, at least it is for why we (as a society) use microsoft products. in our country, the majority of people work for the government, either directly, or as a 3rd party supplier. therefore, the government has set the standard. Now, if the standard was set to stuff like ascii files, that multiple programs could read, companies could pick and choose, decide what software to run. instead the standard is for Microsoft products.

because of this Microsoft has effectivly had a monopoly for the last decade in comercial software. Linux and other *nix's are slowly breaking that hold, but thanks to a government standard, we have to live with an unsecure operating system.

Don't get me wrong, I think the concept of windows, an easy to use OS for the masses is a good idea. but in reality, it is so full of security holes and sloppy programming I refuse to even have it on any of my personal machines.

for around half the cost of going to XP/2K, you can install linux. modern distros can be designed to even look just like windows, and you never need see the command line. but you'll be running a secure, open source computer. whats more, you don't need to upgrade to the newest hardware, Linux will run on a 386 if you want (got an old computer sitting in the closet? why not give it a try? if you have a fast enough connection, you can download linux from hundreds of places on the net for free. I reccomend SuSE (www.suse.org), but Redhat (www.redhat.com), and mandrake (www.mandrake.com) are also good choices. www.linux.org has local "Linux User Groups" listed to help you find local users who love to help newbies. www.linuxnewbie.org is filled with tons of help files.

Running linux is Free, it's secure, and best of all, it's fun. Break the chains of Redmond, Cast aside Gates, and follow the Penguin.

A racket?

Well, I got a new one pulled on me. Oregon, along with New Jersey, will not let ordinary citizens pump their own gas. so, despite being very short on cash, I decided to fill up my tank, and jerry can. Pull into the station, tell the guy I want both filled, but to stop if it reaches $25. well, he fills the jerry can, then sticks the nozzle into my scouts tank and walks off. According to law there is a very high fine for touching the pump, so I had to sit and watch it go past 25 dollars. granted I ended up having to pay $490 less than if I'd had to stop it, but I shouldn't have had to pay a cent over what I specified. By refusing to allow me to control the pump, the state has absolved me of the responsibility of meeting the standard I set, and accepted such responsibility themselves

I was in a hurry the other day, but next time they offer to invite the local police if I don't pay i'll say go ahead and raise bloody hell