codex: involute stream of consciousness

Michael Robertson, the eternal corporate martyr, apparently has taken a page from Darl McBride's book and, through his latest venture, Lindows (a version of Linux dumbed-down enough to appeal to Joe Sixpack), is shilling claimants for a settlement to a class-action antitrust suite against Microsoft.

When I suggested to a friend,

The PC might be crappy, and you probably have to lie to get it (you would need to have bought 5 or more OS or Office tool licenses for USE IN CA to qualify), and the Lindows License ain't worth the plastic its printed on (unliess you give it to some who would never switch off Winders any other way), but for significantly less self-degradation, you could get a paid retail copy of Sun's Star Office suite for use on any Linux or Windows machine. At a $50-75 value, I think its worth screwing MS for.

he replyed,

It appears what is lying and stealing worth $50-75 to screw Windows and to assist Sun. My attitude is to screw all software corporations - why play favorites. I would rather avoid the hassle of lying and cheating and just get a shared version of Sun's Office suite or Microsoft's latest OS. I find it hard to 'buy' into some other corporate's players games when their attitude is not that much different than microsoft. So my attitude is to screw them all and to support open source not some wanabe oportunist capitalists.

Oh boy. This coming from the same guy who castigated me for voting for Nader becuase he supposedly upset the delicate balance between the two corporate candidates? Sun and MS are both corporation, and they both behave dispicably at times, and (if you really strech it) they both provide some small measure of benefit to humanity as well. But there is a difference between them, and it is not unreasonable to to favor one over another. Just as one does not enter a demolition derby with a horse, one does not play in international-scale economics without a corporation (or, like Warren Buffet, at least as much personal assets to be a corporation).

Microsoft has a proven track record of raping and pillaging, never inventing but adopting every technology it depends on, sometimes by theft, and it thrives in its evil ways. Sun attempts to survive on its merits, by competing for mindshare with useful products of its own design, and is on the verge of collapse due to its refusal to meet MS's tactics. If I am given the opportunity to use Goliath's resources to benefit David, even if that opportunity is pointed out to me by one of Goliath's other enemies, then I consider that a Good Thing.

Now, whether I will actually avail myself of that opportunity is another matter. I don't want to purger myself any more than necessary, and this is not a necessity. And don't you even suggest that you're above lying and cheating; scamming is your favorite recreation!

As for the fact that my local Linux User's Group gave this pitch the cold shoulder, I would guess that it stems more from a disdain for Lindows and their slimy shilling tactics nearly equal to their emnity for Windows and all things Microsoft, and the fact that all the alternative products offered at MSFreePC.com are for Windows or Lindows exlusively, without admitting the possibility of other alternatives to Windows.

My pre-ordered copy of Neal Stephenson's latest book, Quicksilver, came yesterday and I've started devouring it. At over 900 pages, it'll be a while before I can provide a full book-report. Thus far, it shows all signs of being worth the wait (over 4 years). Combining his ususal mix of historically-appropriate lingo, cameo appearances by historic figures and events, and ecclectic immersion in the period with his wry humor and off-the-cuff observations that cut to the coneptual essence of the subject, the Baroque cycle promised to personally contextualize the Enlightenment and rationality the way _Cryptonomicon_ did the information economy and cryptography.

But Stephenson fans will soon go from famine to feast, as this is the first of his 'Baroque Cycle' trilogy, which will be released in 6-month intervals. These include Book Two: The Confusion to be released on April 04, 2004 and Book Three: The System of the World, to be released on October 04, 2004.

For an excerpt and all things Neal, see http://baroquecycle.com

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is a regional public radio network serving parts of seven northeastern United States, which is available in Poughkeepsie at WAMK, 90.9 FM, and having an estimated audience of more than 200,000 listeners. They have a morning talk radio magazine show, which includes a public call-in segment in which callers are asked their reactions to a 'question of the day'. Yesterday's question was

"Have you lost faith in the American political system? (If so please let us know how you would fix it)".

The poll results on the site indicate 65% of respondents (non-scientifically selected) answered 'yes'. Various callers expressed analyses why this was so, and provided suggestions to improve the situation.
The response from this question was so prolific that they repeated it this morning. Several more callers complained about corporate influence, lack of incumbent responsiveness, and the public's apathy and apparent disinterest in the political process.

With about a minute left in the segment, they took one more caller. Quickly and succinctly (unlike this note), the caller pointed out that one Presidential candidate, Dennis Kucinich, supports the views expressed earlier and is doing something positive about these issues, and then announced the camaign's website address, spelling it out for the phonically-challenged.

We need to do more of this to raise DJK's media profile. If you listen to talk radio (Rush or Hightower, I don't care), then call in and plug your candidate.