[K12OSN] No flames: Why use M$ offerings?

[Yancey B. Jones]

> Yes, everything should be your choice.   Now remind me why there
> are not a lot of choices when it comes to things that can 
> sync with pocket PC devices...  Could it be that you were 
> sold something that does not follow published standard 
> protocols for internetwork communications?  Did you not 
> understand what that meant when they took your money for the 
> device?  It is one thing to say that we should accommodate 
> heterogeneous internetworking following standard protocols.  
> It is something very different to say that everyone should 
> accommodate a single vendor that doesn't follow standards, 
> particularly in the same sentence that claims it is your 
> choice when in fact all your choices have been made by someone else.

That's funny - "you were sold something" - actually, I purchased the iPAQ
because I wanted to and because in my opinion, there is no better handheld
on the market (I have an iPAQ 5555 BTW). I will not purchase something just
because it may be the "in thing" or approved by the open source crowd.

There is a project called SynCE that is under development to make it
possible to sync a PocketPC device with Linux (http://synce.sourceforge.net)
- so there must be some documentation as to how to sync up the device. I
will venture a guess that the reason there aren't a bunch more is that a
using PocketPC is kind of an unspoken taboo for the Linux crowd. 

It is funny that you think my choice was made by somebody else just because
I chose something which is contrary to the Linux movement. Sounds to me like
your choices are being made by somebody else. I don't care which handheld
you use - I don't care if you buy an iPAQ and put Familiar on it, I don't
care if you by a Zaurus, Palm, or anything else - whatever you want to do is
your choice. Don't try to limit my choices or downplay my choice because you
have philosophical disagreement with Microsoft.

I guess the real difference is that my choice to use Linux or Windows (or
whatever) is not a philosophical decision - it is a practical one. I use
what suits me best at the time and I really don't care what the popular
opinion is. You are free to make your own choice regardless of the reasons
behind it - just stop with the attitude that because I made a choice
contrary to yours, I must of somehow been duped. 


-Yancey