From hungary-online-owner Mon Sep 18 07:03:40 1995 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id HAA13710 for hungary-online-announce-out31415; Mon, 18 Sep 1995 07:03:40 -0700 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id HAA13701; Mon, 18 Sep 1995 07:03:28 -0700 Received: from steve@isys.hu () via =-=-=-=-=-= for hungary-online-announce@hungary.yak.net (13699) Received: from kingzog.isys.hu (KingZog.isys.hu [194.24.160.4]) (fnord) by nando (8.6.5/8.6.5) with ESMTP id HAA13693 for ; Mon, 18 Sep 1995 07:02:58 -0700 Received: from [194.24.160.22] (bubba.isys.hu [194.24.160.22]) by kingzog.isys.hu (8.7.Beta.11/8.7.Beta.11) with SMTP id QAA05833 for ; Mon, 18 Sep 1995 16:02:18 +0200 (MET DST) Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 16:02:18 +0200 (MET DST) X-Sender: steve@mail.isys.hu Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: hungary-online-announce@hungary.yak.net From: steve@isys.hu (Steven Carlson) Subject: (HOL-A) Bill comes to Budapest Sender: owner-Hungary-Online-announce@hungary.yak.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net hi there - Here's the latest HOL column from the bbj. This week I take a poke at Bill. After all the recent hoopla over Microsoft in the local press (how much did that cost?) I just had to say something. Hope you enjoy it. I sure did . The latest physical HOL get together was a pretty quiet affair. I announced it in great haste, and didn't figure many people would come. In fact, about 10 people showed up, which was more that I expected on such short notice. It was a nice sendoff for Strick, who spent most of his summer in Budapest, and travelling around the continent on various pursuits. My system adminstrator, Istvan, was happy to hack around with an old pro. Strick also met several other list members - in various stages of sobriety. I won't name names. After the HOL party broke up, Strick and I wandered off with Rick Bruner. Rick, as you may recall, is the proprietor of the Hungary Report. Stricks hosts that, as will as this list, on his ancient but powerful Sun workstation in SF, the mighty Yak. The three of us had a lot of cud to chew. We dug ourselves in at a sweaty little cellar establishment that I'd never visited before, and will doubtless never find again. It was an unicum-besotted night (and morning) so I can't give you an accurate report. There was much slapping of backs. If anything was decided I'll never remember. Nice to have you here Strick. See you online! =steve= -- Bill comes to Budapest hungary-online by Steven Carlson Did you catch the Microsoft circus that came to town last week? Did you get to shake Bill's hand? Unless you were utterly comatose, you must have felt Microsoft CEO Bill Gates's billion dollar presence here during his recent visit to promote the launch of his operating system, Windows95. The last time I remember such a fuss was in 1992 when the Pope turned up and armed goons shut down half the city. But nobody shut down the city for Bill. There wasn't time. He only stopped long enough to eat lunch and shake hands with every VIP in town. First on his list was the new CEO of MATAV, the Hungarian telecom. Second was the Prime Minister. I have to say Bill has his priorities straight. I know what you're thinking. Did I get to meet Bill Gates? Well, I would have liked to, but I couldn't fit him in. He really should have called first. But Bill never listens to me anyway. Every 18 months computer speeds double and yet Bill's software keeps demanding more. Who can keep up? Now that my office has upgraded to Win95, my PC-based colleagues are groaning that they need more RAM. I get to giggle smugly watching them complain - because I use a Mac. Sorry for ranting - I know it's not polite to discuss religion. If the truth be known Win95 is a pretty good product. (There, I said it in print.) Anyway like 95% of the Hungarian market, you probably use Windows so I'd better not alienate you. I'd better do my job and inform you. If you're using Win95 - or might want to - there's a wealth of information about it on the Internet. You could start by checking out Microsoft's own support site: . There's also a very useful Unofficial Software Archive at . As you might expect, official Microsoft site is well designed and informative, offering you technical support, free software, press clippings and more Microsoft PR material than you could possible read. Of course, I'm the kind of guy that reads it all. Browsing around I came across a section called Clarifications which offers Microsoft's views on press or online criticicsm. And what do you know? There it was, Microsoft's official explanation of the Online Registration Wizard scandal. So what is this Wizard thing? Earlier this year, word went out on the net that Windows95 had some kind of super secret way of scanning your harddrive and sending a record of what software you were running back to headquarters. Pirates beware! The news created an uproar. Microsoft then announced that the rumor was based on something called the Online Registration Wizard - something that was going to help you. Most people never bother to fill out software registration cards and send them in. The Wizard is a routine that does this for you while you install Win95. According to Microsoft no information gets sent away without your explicit permission. Nothing sinister, right? Perhaps. But it also isn't too difficult to imagine that if Microsoft felt it could take this information from your computer without you knowing, or objecting, they most certainly would. Perhaps the Registration Wizard rumor was like a trial balloon sent up to test public sentiments before some Final Decision was reached. I don't know about you, but I'm very territorial about the contents of my harddrive. This is private space. I keep my correspondence here, my financial records here and even love letters. I don't want Bill or anyone else messing around here. It's a matter of trust. The sentiment on the Internet is that Microsoft is out to conquer the world, and is not taking prisoners. He's working against us, not for us or with us. There's a deep mistrust out there that is sure to work against Microsoft as the company set its sights on the Internet. Attitude is everything in a medium where news and rumor spread like wildfire, and where perception is the reality. The best example of the anti-Microsoft sentiment is the series of bogus press releases that have appeared over the months, claiming to originate from Microsoft. One announced Microsoft's ficticious purchase of the Vatican in order to develop a billion dollar line of religious software. Another claimed that Microsoft had trademarked the name Bob, following the development of a software of the same name. Amazingly enough, Microsoft has had to publically refute these announcements. Hey, here's a good one! Have you heard that there are subliminal images in the Win95 startup screen? One writer claims to see dark horses, dead rock stars, eerie faces and a copulating couple in that cloudy blue sky you see as Win95 starts up your computer. Before you scoff, check out . Whether you love or hate Microsoft, you can thank Bill for keeping the game interesting. Although I seriously doubt Bill will manage to take over the net and dominate the universe, he is driving the competition forward - and that is always good. But don't ever expect me to give up my Macintosh. -- Steven Carlson is Net Media Manager for iSYS Hungary, a Budapest-based Internet provider. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright (c) 1995. Permission granted to redistribute this article in electronic form for non-profit purposes only. My byline and this message must remain intact. Contact me for reprint rights. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --- Steven Carlson iSYS Hungary info@isys.hu steve@isys.hu http://www.isys.hu ############# # This message to Hungary-Online-announce@hungary.yak.net # was from steve@isys.hu (Steven Carlson) # # To unsubscribe, # send "unsubscribe" to # For a full subscription (rather than this announcement-only subscription) # mail "subscribe" to # Send mail to for more information, # or to if you need human assistance. #############