Subject: Re: Harlequin vs. Allegro From: Erik Naggum <clerik@naggum.no> Date: 1998/06/28 Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Message-ID: <3108021150719184@naggum.no> * Erik Naggum | you buy from somebody else. just how hard can it be to grasp this? * Christopher B. Browne | It may not be that simple. well, yes, it always is that simple. it's called "acting on principle". | The same can be true in business when power in the marketplace | concentrates into relatively few hands. I can despise Microsoft; that | does not necessarily leave me with alternatives when the "witless cattle" | that decide to market products decide that M$ is the only platform | they'll support. have you really _needed_ a piece of software that runs only on Microsoft? I have never seen _anything_ published solely in the Windows market that had me go "wow! that software really _would_ make my life easier! how I wish I had a PC with Windows!". supposing I already had invested in a PC with Windows, what would I _want_ to buy for it, except various idiot tools to help me survive the many inherent limitations of the system and make it more like a real computer, which by the time I had got all the crappy add-ons, I could get for less money? never has any Microsoft victim been able to show me anything they do on their PC's that I cannot do at least as well on my SPARCstation, and usually faster even the first time -- of tasks that _matter_, that is. entertainment is something else. if you are into selling cheap goods that nobody needs to millions of bored people who crave entertainment, choose Microsoft and make lots of money. if you think mass marketing is a serious liability, like I do ("if it's acceptable to the large fraction of the population that base their buying decisions on TV commercials, how could it possibly be good enough for me?"), avoid them entirely, because the Microsoft world has _nothing_ to offer anyone except ubiquity at this time. #:Erik -- http://www.naggum.no/spam.html is about my spam protection scheme and how to guarantee that you reach me. in brief: if you reply to a news article of mine, be sure to include an In-Reply-To or References header with the message-ID of that message in it. otherwise, you need to read that page.