Friday, September 29, 2006

Of Apples And Burgers

My workplace has free BBQ today for its 13,000+ employees. Free burgers, hot dogs, pizza, chips and drinks. Aaagh!

I almost contemplated taking my bag and filling it up for later - true desi style - but in the end decided it was too much bother.

Speaking of bother, is there an unwritten rule that anyone working in the IT sector MUST hate Microsoft?

I remember in college, there was this course on UNIX. Our first assignment was writing a Shell script program. I wrote it, but I used Notepad on Windows to create and edit the file, and test it on UNIX. When I got my assignment back, it had -20% in red 'for using M$ Windoze programs'.

The prof actually ran each submitted file against a scanner that checked for line breaks created by Notepad to see who had used Windows programs. I did argue that it wasn't mentioned anywhere on the course or assignment that we would have to not use Windows but university professors are dictators. I could fight but it was a small assignment and not worth it. Waiting for Day of Judgement for that hisaab to be barabar, iA.

Yesterday, I ran into a friend who had just bought a new laptop. An Apple laptop. And as is typical of Apple users, he started to praise the machine profusely.

"Dude, you gotta get an Apple! It's sooooo much better than stupid Windows. It has this - that - blah blah - *repeat* It's sooooo much better than stupid Windows."

I then made the mistake of saying "Well thank God for Bill Gates and MSN. I mean without MSN my social life -"

Oh boy did he go red!

"What do you mean? The first chat program was developed by Apple licensed by SomeOtherCompany stolen by Microsoft. Same with Windows. It was first developed by LoserInAppleWhoDidn'tLicenseIt and then STOLEN by Billu bhai ..... "

Is there any reason why Apple users immediately start to bash Windows? Insecurity, perhaps? Yes, I get it. Your box is cute. It has a cute little blue apple on top. It has a cute little transparent whatchamacallit on the bottom. Now leave my Windows box alone.

It has stuck by me through thick and thin. When I got my first computer and the best game was a stupid Pong, it was there. When I upgraded to Windows '95, it tried its best to run Prince Of Persia 2 without freezing on Level 10. 95% of the world is with me. I can run any program I want. Any MP3 player or cellphone that's out on the market, I know it will work with my machine. Now that I have Windows XP life is complete.




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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Salamaat,
I always wondered about the pc-bashing-bill-gates-hating tendency in IT. Phew..at least *i* am not the (only) uncool one around:)

Hey, your taraweeh buggers was hilarious:)

Ify Okoye said...

I prefer Mac but I also use Windows. Each performs some things really well and other things less well so together they become the perfect complement. The new Apple commercials are shockingly unoriginal and annoying.

Anonymous said...

Windows XP has made life so much easier! But to me people probably felt smarter if they bashed M$ publicly and still use MS products at their own systems.

'liya said...

I wanted to comment on your last post but the comments weren't working. I hate the spacers. They drive me crazy. I like to be able to be comfortable when I pray and not smell the next person's breath/b.o. There's usually one crazy woman who tries to push us all together but I always try to resist her and stand in my place. Hey, I'm there to pray, not play musical chairs :)

As for computers, any computer is good for me as long as the net works fast I can't be picky.

Anonymous said...

absolutely its an unwritten rule! especially if you bump into open source types. I have Ubuntu on my laptop at home - such a dream. All those license fees that Microsoft charges - sorry but it's outrageous. and Internet Explorer is such crap - Firefox is miles better. I'm not a techie but i do like user-friendly software. Frankly when i hadn't used UBuntu i was used to complaining about Windows crashing all the time but had no alternatives. i think if people had a chance to use something else then they might have a chance - but that's the point - you don't really have a chance with all that monopoly. And there's nothing about it being 'smart' or not. It's about func-tion-ality.

I find it amazing that in countries where money is a pretty big issue ( e.g. Bangladesh) people i.e. businesses - aren't more willing to think of less expensive alternatives to Microsoft licenses.

mezba said...

Maliha: You are definitely not alone. Most people need Windows to login to unix.

Muslim Apple: True, Apple is really good with graphics. It's the annoying self-importance of Mac users that bugs me.

Rajputro: So true. It's the same guys who bash Walmart (a super store in North America) publicly for destroying local businesses, but then calmour to be the first one at a sale.

Liya: True - I think there was some problem with Blogger at the time of my last post - I hate Spacers too.

Sonia:
I find it amazing that in countries where money is a pretty big issue ( e.g. Bangladesh) people i.e. businesses - aren't more willing to think of less expensive alternatives to Microsoft licenses.

You are assuming people in these countries actual pay for the licenses?

Anonymous said...

Hahahahhahahaha!
AHHHAHAHHAHAH

I loved that cartoon! Those commercials are funny though. However, anyone who is smart should know that those commericals really don't have anything solid against PCs.

Did you see the thing by Tasneem Khalil about free software? The free software is like the next revolution and of course, Microsoft is fighting it! Check it out here:
http://www.iwrnews.org/tasneem/archives/richard-stallman-interview