Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!tank!ncar!boulder!gore!jacob From: jacob@gore.com (Jacob Gore) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss Subject: Re: The meaning of life, as it relates to hacking. Message-ID: <970008@gore.com> Date: 22 Dec 89 17:33:16 GMT References: Reply-To: jacob@gore.com (Jacob Gore) Organization: Gore Enterprises Lines: 18 / gnu.misc.discuss / rang@cs.wisc.edu (Anton Rang) / Dec 21, 1989 / > Actually, a good argument could be made that Microsoft has helped > out the economy tremendously. The IBM PC, though it's not the most > powerful computer in the world, has been quite a boon to businesses > (the economy). Without MS-DOS, it wouldn't have been accepted nearly > so quickly, or been as easy to program.... EASY TO PROGRAM??? Compared to what? Maybe a Mac (I've never programmed a Mac, but I'm yet to meet anyone who liked programming it). IBM did a very short-sighted thing by choosing the 8088 as the center of the PC, and Microsoft made it worse by patching their CP/M clone to make MS-DOS. It's no accident that it took many years before compilers and linkers appeared that don't put the programmer in a straightjacket. Jacob -- Jacob Gore Jacob@Gore.Com boulder!gore!jacob