[sdiy] (errata) The goose-stepping morons are at it again

[Batz Goodfortune]

Y-ellow all.
         Err, before anyone picks me up on this. With regards to linux I 
don't mean TCO as M$ would have it. Linux, like most unixes and 
derivatives, is far from the no-brainer that M$ OSes are. So if you've not 
got a brain, the cost of using linux could be prohibitively high. But if 
that's the case then perhaps starting out driving something simpler might 
be wise anyway. Try starting with a toaster and working your way up.

I realize I shouldn't have necessarily lumped linux in with that because 
none of this is even that simple. Wintel boxes (That is intel architectures 
running a micro$oft OS as opposed to something more robust) are merely 
mindless mass for the mindless masses. They economies of scale have made 
them exponentially cheaper. The more people buy them, the cheaper they get 
and therefore more people buy them.

Apple's big mistake was in assuming that if you build a better mouse trap, 
people will buy it. But if all you want to do is trap a mouse, you probably 
doing give a rat's ass about it's ergonomic design. If apple had played the 
economies of scale game when they had the chance, they might have 10% of 
the PC market now instead of 5%. (Or what ever it currently is) But then 
that was never what Jobs, or Apple were about anyway.

Neither is it what Linux or any of the other OSes are about. And that's 
something Billy Boy and Uncle Ballmer just don't understand. But it's also 
what makes Lindows so interesting. Because it IS what it's about. Cheap, 
stable OS aimed at the heart of the desktop coupled with some cheap mass 
produced but adequate hardware to carry the whole package off.

And as an aside, and only because I'm here typing this already, I'm 
figuring that this is a really bad time for M$ to be adding to the 
complexity and confusion in their operating systems by adding DRM and WPA 
and all that anti-consumer stuff because it's just more good reasons for 
people to take a look at something like lindows.

If I were working for M$ right now, I'd probably be considering pretending 
I didn't have any lower limbs. M$ have become so adept at shooting 
themselves in the foot that the only thing they seem to be able to blow a 
hole in is feet. And I don't think they care who's feet they hit.

Finally, Sorry to those who may or may not still have me on their kill 
files for being the veritable master of the "Off topic" but if I don't try 
to clarify these things then someone will pick me up on it and that's how 
entire OT threads start.

So that's where I'm going to leave this. Except to emphasize the point so 
that even the cheap seats can here it. If you don't agree with the way 
they've hijacked access to the hardware from you, then just take it and do 
whatever you want with it. By the time your product get's to the volume 
where these things start to matter, spending a couple of grand would 
probably be viewed as a slight operational cost anyway.

And here's a thing. I wonder what they'd do, what they could do, if you 
just took a number that hasn't been assigned, told them that you were 
taking that number, and told them that if your volume becomes worth the 
cost you'll give them what they're asking. My guess is that the only thing 
they could do is take you to court if you claimed on advertising material 
that you were in some way USB compliant. But since your probably so small 
time you can't afford to advertise anyway, it's probably not going to 
amount to a hill of beans.

Or what about this. A user definable product id? Let the user decide if 
they want to. At best the IDs are only like a MAC address on a network. And 
it's often required that the user change or define that to suit some 
particular need.

Hope this helps.

Be absolutely Icebox.

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