On Wed, May 09, 2001 at 09:09:36PM -0400, A. Harry Harrison wrote:
> I think VB has been the single biggest downfall of Windows. I've worked on
> computers for over 20 years and think this whole Microsoft bashing thing is
> a big crock. I've had Linux crash and burn enough times to know that, while
> maybe not as often as Windows (which IMHO is not nearly as often as most MS
> bashers like to claim), when it does it is a whole lot messier to clean up
> then a simple Windows BSOD. Granted, to run Linux in a "server" mode with
> stable software it can't be beat. It will pretty much run forever without a
> care, and that is it's biggest strength. But as a desktop environment it's
> neither more stable nor more manageable.
>
> Anyone who has been at this for a while (and MOST Linux enthusiast have,
> because it is not an OS for the inexperienced) will remember cutting their
> teeth on some form of BASIC. Of course, they will also remember quickly
> learning that BASIC was not the development environment of serious
> applications. So now there is a whole new generation of self proclaimed
> "programmers" because they can hack out code in Visual Basic. And people
> LOVE to download and clog up their system with this stuff... and as the
> original post says, some people actually pay thousands of dollars for this
> stuff! I won't begrudge Bill Gates his billions because he has enabled
> thousands of buffoons to become self proclaimed "VB gurus". If anything I
> envy the guy, I sure wish I was worth several billions right now without a
> care in the world.
>
I suspect that more than half of the Linux users out there would
disagree with you on the stability of Linux. I've wedged Linux before as
well, but it's a lot harder to do than on Windows. And I can absolutely
attest that under load, I can crash Windows a minimum of three times a
day without any unusual effort. Linux? No chance, again, unless I really
try.
You're right about BASIC and VB, though. BASIC was a brain dead language
to begin with. I learned Dartmouth (mainframe) BASIC in 1974, working on
a teletype with an acoustic modem (and you wonder why I have gray
hair?). VB distorted BASIC almost beyond recognition and gave legions of
semi-literate boobs the ability to say they were "programmers". But it
made for nice looking apps, and had the wonderful advantage of making
them completely dependent on Microsoft.
Paul
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