The Control Freaks Want to "Protect" Geeks from Themselves

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[Guest.Visitor]

The Control Freaks Want to "Protect" Geeks from Themselves

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Apparently you have never sat in a restaurant and listened to some idiot having a very personal conversation in a very loud voice while you were trying to eat your soup. Or, how about this: I was in the waiting room in the hospital waiting for them to call me in for surgery. Also in the waiting room was a guy on a cell phone apparently having an argument with his wife or girlfriend. It seems he thought he was alone. In fact there were several people around him who all kept exchanging glances. I don't know about them but I was ready for the guy to be pummelled to within an inch of his life. This was the only time I ever went into surgery gleefully... it was that much of a relief to get away from the guy.

[Guest.Visitor]

The Control Freaks Want to "Protect" Geeks from Themselves

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when being forced to listen to someone else's personal discussion, start to discuss the personal details of their conversation with the other people around you. it's amazing how insular people can feel while talking on a cell phone. this soon fades when they realise everyone around them is talking about them.

[jgolds2]

The Control Freaks Want to "Protect" Geeks from Themselves

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Every time I enter one of these huge buildings with loud voices blaring on the overhead speakers and people running up and down the halls waving, gesturing and talking loudly to themselves I think this is what an insane assylum would look like today but smarter people than I call it an airport.

[R.Daugherty]

The Control Freaks Want to "Protect" Geeks from Themselves

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First, we're talking NYC here. From what I see in the news, the current regime there are always looking for ways to arrest you for the way you cross the street. They make Chinese Communists look benevolent by comparison. (Hello Echelon. Move along, nothing to see here.) Secondly, this is to protect people from themselves, people who walk out in front of speeding emergency vehicles with blaring sirens blissfully unaware that that wailing sound is not Mariah Carey. This clearly should be like we handle it in pickup games, no harm, no foul. Just ticket those on the ground. But should the harm that befalls those without the moves to dance out of the way prove to be fatal, then of course a summons for their court appearance would be mandatory. You're dead, you say? Tell it to the judge. rd

[David Abramowitz]

The Control Freaks Want to "Protect" Geeks from Themselves

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TTBOMK no one has been ticketed for this infraction. OTOH no one in NYC ever gets ticketed for jaywalking. In point of fact jaywalking is considered the norm. When I first went to the midwest (as a student) I was astounded (and very much out of place). A group of us came to an intersection where there was no traffic to speak of. I started to cross the street, and only when three quarters of the way did I notice, that I was the only one in transit! New Yorkers also walk on escalators, and get within inches of an oncoming train as it approaches the station. Dave

[nakeddave]

The Control Freaks Want to "Protect" Geeks from Themselves

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IIRC, in the early 90's IBM had an advertisement that asked: "If you think your can run your company on server technology, ask Microsoft what platform they run THEIR business critical apps on". According to popular legend, Microsoft immediately attempted to get of the 400 platform.

[R.Daugherty]

The Control Freaks Want to "Protect" Geeks from Themselves

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I can't imagine that IBM had such an ad. I think that must be folklore also. Microsoft would have been trying to use their own servers as soon as they could. They have a strong "eat your own dog food" philosophy. It wasn't until they came out with NT in the early 90's that they had a server to try it. rd

[David Abramowitz]

The Control Freaks Want to "Protect" Geeks from Themselves

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At one time I actually had a picture of Bill Gates standing in front of an AS/400. It was a white box, so it must have been a while ago. TTBOMK Microsoft's own financial applications are being run today by an outside service bureau on an iSeries. That being said, I have no evidence of this, nor do I know anyone who does. Dave

[J.Pluta]

The Control Freaks Want to "Protect" Geeks from Themselves

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While I agree that IBM would never have run such an ad, that's primarily because IBM has never promoted the midrange platform. Microsoft has absolutely used IBM midrange servers in the past (remember the infamous picture of an AS/400 that was shipped with Windows right up until Windows 2000). The unsuccessful migration to Windows servers in the 1990's was stuff of legend, but as most legends there was more gossip than fact. Nobody has real answers, and neither side is talking. Joe

[R.Daugherty]

The Control Freaks Want to "Protect" Geeks from Themselves

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While I agree that IBM would never have run such an ad, that's primarily because IBM has never promoted the midrange platform. Yes, that's what I was thinking too. This is the time when they were running the nuns ad for OS/2. That's what IBM cared about promoting. rd