[NBLUG/talk] How to send a message to Mr. Gates

[Nancy Harrison]

Good letter, Suzanne! Interesting that I also wrote a letter to Ms. 
Walker
on the same subject - use Macintosh and Linux (remember she may have
the problem that the Washington Post won't let her!)  - NHarrison

On Friday, August 15, 2003, at 12:08  PM, Suzanne Aldrich wrote:

> This is an email I wrote to a journalist who got hit with the Blaster 
> worm:
>
> From: Suzanne Aldrich <aigeanta at sonic.net>
> Date: Fri Aug 15, 2003  11:35:27  AM US/Pacific
> To: walkerl at washpost.com
> Subject: How to send a message to Mr. Gates
>
> Dear Ms. Walker,
>
> In response to your article "Worms Shouldn't Break Windows" 
> (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54937-2003Aug13.html):
>
> I am a young female computer professional who works with Windows, 
> MacOSX, and RedHat Linux on a daily basis. The easiest to use by far 
> is MacOSX, and Apple hardware is also well-designed (disclosure: I own 
> some Apple stock). If you're on a tight budget, RedHat Linux is a 
> great choice. I have found that the funky old PC I put RedHat on runs 
> faster, and the drivers support hardware better than Windows. The HP 
> Deskjet output looks better, and my D-link network card actually 
> works, which I couldn't get it to do with Windows. For years I have 
> been hearing complaints that there isn't enough software available for 
> Mac and Linux, yet I have never had an issue with finding tools or 
> creating documents that could be shared with the entire world. 
> Meanwhile, I see people using Word, a horribly monolithic and unusable 
> excuse for a word processor, having trouble even sharing documents 
> between different versions. In addition, I have never been infected 
> with a virus, trojan, or worm and I generally don't use antivirus 
> software. The fact is, Microsoft tends to leave a lot of ports open 
> and services running, and they don't give you the ability to block 
> pop-ups and third-party cookies with IE, but do let you download and 
> execute all sorts of malicious code in email if you don't modify 
> default settings in Outlook.
>
> I think the reason Microsoft's software is so poor is because they 
> have a development process not unlike an assembly line, they're trying 
> to build too many pieces of software into an obsolete monolithic 
> structure, and they're making a huge profit by not investing in 
> security. Why do people take this? The herd mentality has forced many 
> into the Microsoft corner, as everyone tends to use what they know 
> from work or school environments. There is also not enough publicity 
> for Linux as a desktop system. I think now is the time to spread the 
> gospel, as people who are sick and tired of patching Windows every 
> week look for an alternative.
>
> Open-source software is "distributed in source under licenses 
> guaranteeing anybody rights to freely use, modify, and redistribute, 
> the code" (http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/). What this means is that 
> I can download the source code that comprises an open-source software 
> project, modify it to my heart's content, build an executable program, 
> and re-distribute the changes I made to the source. The whole point of 
> this is that programmers want tools that work, so they built them. 
> With proprietary software, if there is a bug or security hole you have 
> to wait around until the company fixes it, but if it's open source the 
> community itself can address the problem immediately and without any 
> obstruction. You can see how inherently democratic this process is. In 
> addition, peer-review has led to almost bug-free pieces of software, 
> like TeX (http://truetex.com/knuthchk.htm) and collaboration on a 
> massive scale has led to viable competitors to Microsoft, like 
> OpenOffice (http://www.openoffice.org) which rivals MS Office after 
> only a few years of development.
>
> The best part is that not only is open-source software more secure, 
> it's also free! Take one! If you have a PC with a CD burner, go to 
> http://www.redhat.com/download/howto_download.html and follow the 
> directions. If that's too heavy-duty for you, there are numerous Linux 
> User Groups (http://www.linux.org/groups/usa/) that hold installfests 
> to put Linux on newbie's computers and seminars to teach them how to 
> use it. If you have any extra time to fiddle around, I highly 
> recommend trying out RedHat, which is only one of the many flavors of 
> Linux. Another piece of open-source software I highly recommend is 
> Mozilla (http://www.mozilla.org), which is an Internet browser that 
> rose from the ashes of Netscape. It can easily be installed on 
> Windows, Mac, or Linux. Mozilla lets you block pop-up ads and 
> third-party cookies extremely easily, and it has a built-in mail 
> client that isn't vulnerable to the kind of attacks that Outlook 
> succumbs to.
>
> The reason I've spent so long on this to convince you to try something 
> new is not because I'm making any money on it, but because I believe 
> in it and I think it makes the world a better place. The best way to 
> send a message to Bill Gates is to stop buying his crappy software.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Suzanne Aldrich
> sjaconsulting.com
>
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