Enough talk....let's DO SOMETHING...

robsterrobster
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
OK...I went to see Michael Moore yesterday, and he fired me up to do something about Micro$oft.



We all know that Apple has as worthy a place in business environments as the da*ned PC, and while I applaud such sites as <a href="http://www.f*uckmicrosoft.com"; target="_blank">www.f*uckmicrosoft.com</a> we need to take more positive action!



COME ON MAC FANATICS, pick up a phone book, find 10 large companies near you and send them a letter, straight to the CEO and the CTO, telling them about the benefits of the Mac, the value of the open source movement, the cost savings. Tell them that, even though MS got away with a mild rap on the knuckles at the hands of your corrupt supreme, they were still found GUILTY and do they really want to do business with a company that flagrantly breaks the law.

As Moore amply demonstrates, it only takes one person to make a difference and change things, we could make that difference.



OK, so if you're ready to help out, post your list of copmanies you've written to.



Here's mine and I posted today!



EMI

Sony

Lloyds TSB Bank

NatWest

HSBC

Merril Lynch

CitiBank

Ikea

Sainsburys



Look alive people!
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 32
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    Oh God. [quote]Dear Sirs,



    d00d - Macz r00l! Microshaft sucks my a$$!



    Sincerely,



    A Mac user.<hr></blockquote>I sent this to all fortune 500 companies!
  • Reply 2 of 32
    robsterrobster Posts: 256member
    [quote]Originally posted by BRussell:

    <strong>Oh God. I sent this to all fortune 500 companies!</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Hey it's easy to mock but I'm serious.
  • Reply 3 of 32
    bellebelle Posts: 1,574member
    I don't think I'd recommend much of the Apple line to anyone these days, unless I'm trying to do them harm.



    And though you may be pissed at Microsoft, there are reasons to be pissed at many other companies. How about EMI and Sony's parts in price fixing of CDs, and copyright protection systems? Or unethical trading of the six financial institutions you list? Or Ikea's links with Nazis? Or Lord Sainsbury's business interests mixing with his political interests?



    I also find it hard to want to do harm to Microsoft for one reason: The $555 million that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave to causes last year.



    I know I'm being a little pedantic, but honestly I don't think one company is particularly any better than another.
  • Reply 4 of 32
    progmacprogmac Posts: 1,850member
    wait? Michael Moore talked about Microsoft???



    I saw him earlier this year (maybe 9 months ago?) and had him signed my book and I said "Do you use Microsoft products--word, windows etc? especially in light of their anti-competitive monopolistic practices" or something to that effect. He responded with, "Yeah, I do. What can you do, you know?" (Saying he had no real choice). I followed this up by saying he could use an apple and I also said something like, "I guess you can't fight every battle, can you?" He gave a thoughtful smile to that comment.



    I hadn't thought much about this confrontation yet. But now Michael Moore is touting the evils of Microsoft? What are some details about what he said?
  • Reply 5 of 32
    trailmaster308trailmaster308 Posts: 699member
    Okay. All that sounds really great sitting at home in your room, but this is the real world. Explain to me how I am gonna go to my CIO and make him understand that we need to get rid of all 500 + Compaq/IBM/HP leased workstations here and dump our IBM Sharks, IBM Netfinity's (30+), AS400's, RS6000's and all 300 + Microsoft Apps. that have thousands of man hours tweaking and tuning to run on M$. Not to mention that these Apps. that are specific to our industry are not written for Macs. Yeah, the stuff that is most common like Office and Adobe stuff is but we don't use Adobe (except our marketing depart. and who cares about them?). So we have Office?? The other 298 apps that are written for our specific industry that costs millions to maintain with support contracts, man hours, hardware contracts, etc. do not have a Mac version. How am I gonna convince the Accounting Department to sign a P.O. for more money than I can guess to stop what our I.T. department is doing port everything over to Mac plus find an application that meets our needs that even runs on the damn thing. Majority of companies have apps that are specifically written for their Market, yeah they use the generic apps like office too, but those are "NOT" the money makers, bread and butter so to speak. And until those apps. are written "ITS NOT GONNA HAPPEN". Mac's are great for home/digital market. But for mainstream industry they are not.
  • Reply 6 of 32
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    [quote]Originally posted by robster:

    <strong>Hey it's easy to mock but I'm serious.</strong><hr></blockquote>I seriously think it's a bad idea. It will make Mac people look like morons and if anything the companies will be less likely to use Macs.
  • Reply 7 of 32
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    [quote]Originally posted by BRussell:

    <strong>I seriously think it's a bad idea. It will make Mac people look like morons and if anything the companies will be less likely to use Macs.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Exactly.
  • Reply 8 of 32
    serranoserrano Posts: 1,806member
    You frighten me robster. Why not put your effort into a more worthy cause.
  • Reply 9 of 32
    der kopfder kopf Posts: 2,275member
    [quote]Originally posted by robster:

    <strong>Here's mine and I posted today!



    EMI

    Sony

    Lloyds TSB Bank

    NatWest

    HSBC

    Merril Lynch

    CitiBank

    Ikea

    Sainsburys</strong><hr></blockquote>





    I can't believe the news today...



    Both Ikea and Sony have announced that they are going Mac only from now one. Wow.
  • Reply 10 of 32
    composercomposer Posts: 212member
    [quote]Originally posted by Belle:

    <strong>I don't think I'd recommend much of the Apple line to anyone these days, unless I'm trying to do them harm.



    I also find it hard to want to do harm to Microsoft for one reason: The $555 million that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave to causes last year.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Belle,



    Luv ya, but I gotta call you out on these two. I sell Apples to people in the business world. I would HIGHLY recommend each and every system we sell over anything in the windows world. Why? Because MACS JUST WORK. It sounds like to me you're either: 1. Disgruntled about the switch to 10 or 2: Disappointed over Apple's seemingly over-priced under-spec'd machines.



    For every business there is a Mac solution. EVERY BUSINESS.



    And ooo a whopping $555million? Give me a break. Bill didn't even start giving until people called attention to the fact that he wasn't, and even so he could and should afford a lot more.



    -Composer.

    [LIST]
  • Reply 11 of 32
    macluvmacluv Posts: 261member
    This is the most inspirational thread I've read in a very, very long time.



    It's inspired me to write to MOBIL CORP and tell them why solar power kicks ass.



    I've also written to Michael Jackson to tell him to change his face back.



    I've written to President George Bush and told him to "give peace a chance."



    I've written to MGM to suggest they replace Pierce Brosnan with "Urkel" for the next James Bond film.



    I wrote to Phillip Morris and suggested that they adopt a corporate-wide "smoke free" campaign in all of their offices.



    <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
  • Reply 12 of 32
    macluvmacluv Posts: 261member
    [quote]Originally posted by Belle:

    <strong>

    I know I'm being a little pedantic, but honestly I don't think one company is particularly any better than another. </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Hey, did Corporate America give you an ulcer, too?



  • Reply 13 of 32
    robsterrobster Posts: 256member
    [quote]Originally posted by BRussell:

    <strong>I seriously think it's a bad idea. It will make Mac people look like morons and if anything the companies will be less likely to use Macs.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Well all you have to do is be courteous and reasoned in the letter, stick to facts and don't rant. (something some posters here should consider...)

    Hey, I really don't care much about what anyone else thinks, and I'm not only advocating Macs here, I'm pushing Open Source, GPL and other non-profit or partial-profit solutions.



    I've no wish, either for Apple to become the next Microsoft, simply that open standards will allow many manufacturers to exchange data seamlessly between multiple platforms.
  • Reply 14 of 32
    robsterrobster Posts: 256member
    [quote]Originally posted by Composer:

    <strong>And ooo a whopping $555million? Give me a break. Bill didn't even start giving until people called attention to the fact that he wasn't, and even so he could and should afford a lot more.[LIST]</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Hey Composer,

    Thanks for the words of support.

    Did anyone else read about Bill giving Indian 100m towards aids research with one hand and blackmailing the indian IT industry to ditch linux with a 400m bribe with the other?



    Everyone else:

    He may give money to good causes and all money for them is good, but I'm sorry I seriously doubt his sincerity in this or in any other thing. When he starts locking you out of non-Digital Rights Managed music files with his Palladium platform then you'll maybe understand why it's important to stop them before they impact on your freedom rather than after.
  • Reply 15 of 32
    robsterrobster Posts: 256member
    [quote]Originally posted by serrano:

    <strong>You frighten me robster. Why not put your effort into a more worthy cause.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    such as...? Anyone else fighting the corner right now? Guy Kawasaki? uses an IBM thinkpad now...



    It took an hour to write the letter and edit it a bit, another 30 minutes to get addresses to send the letter to and five minutes to stroll down to the postbox, picking up MacUser, LinuxWorld and a mars bar on the way home.



    not exactly a burden on my time is it?



    [ 12-03-2002: Message edited by: robster ]</p>
  • Reply 16 of 32
    robsterrobster Posts: 256member
    [quote]Originally posted by der Kopf:

    <strong>





    I can't believe the news today...



    Both Ikea and Sony have announced that they are going Mac only from now one. Wow.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    That's not the point, A**hole...

    The point is that unless a little awareness is spread; of peoples feelings on the matter, on the alternatives, on the moral issues here, then there will never be any change. I don't care if the head of Ikea decides to change to Macs in one office just to give the cynical marketing freaks a piece of godd news to feed us, it's still another Mac on another desk.

    I'm really just suprised some people fail to see the importance of small changes and presume that every attempt to make a difference must involve some earth-shattering difference in all our lives.
  • Reply 17 of 32
    bellebelle Posts: 1,574member
    [quote]Originally posted by Composer:

    <strong>Belle,



    Luv ya</strong><hr></blockquote>

    Well, thanks hon.

    [quote]<strong>but I gotta call you out on these two. I sell Apples to people in the business world. I would HIGHLY recommend each and every system we sell over anything in the windows world. Why? Because MACS JUST WORK.



    For every business there is a Mac solution. EVERY BUSINESS.</strong><hr></blockquote>

    Hmm. So many companies, including most of the large financial institutions, have millions of dollars of investments in bespoke software packages, and also get colossal hardware and maintenance packages from companies like Dell and Sun, something which Apple cannot match. We're not talking about an office-ful of PCs running Word.



    And I don't consider the Xserve as a serious serving solution for many businesses - especially for application hosting, data centers, CRM, etc.



    It's fine as a web server, local file server, media server, but for these corporations, it's hardly suitable.



    Would I recommend an iBook or PowerBook to reps who connect to the Notes or Windows servers back at base while they're on the road? Probably not.



    If we want to help Apple along in some way, write to these companies and ask them to support Mac browsers with their online stores, banking, etc.

    [quote]<strong>And ooo a whopping $555million? Give me a break. Bill didn't even start giving until people called attention to the fact that he wasn't, and even so he could and should afford a lot more.</strong><hr></blockquote>

    So we tell him he can keep his $555 million because he's not giving it away for the right reasons?!



    $555 million may not seem a lot to you, but it was one year of contributions from a continually growing endowment of $24 billion. Oddly enough, this is how the Catholic church works, too.



    Oh, and:

    [quote]<strong>It sounds like to me you're either: 1. Disgruntled about the switch to 10 or 2: Disappointed over Apple's seemingly over-priced under-spec'd machines.</strong><hr></blockquote>

    I own an iBook and Power Mac and am perfectly happy with both, running OS X. I'd like to see improvements, for sure, but I'm certainly in no way disgruntled enough to not recommend an Apple machine when it suits the user's purposes.



    [ 12-03-2002: Message edited by: Belle ]</p>
  • Reply 18 of 32
    trailmaster308trailmaster308 Posts: 699member
    [quote]Originally posted by Composer:

    <strong>



    For every business there is a Mac solution. EVERY BUSINESS.

    [LIST]</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Not true. Not even close to true. If you want to play that game I can give some apps we use here at our hospital and you can give me some nice Mac solutions. Keep in mind these are Enterprise applications that you can't just load from a CD and use high level clustering on High Availablity servers. Wanna play? Please say you wanna play!! Because what you said is just plain WRONG!
  • Reply 19 of 32
    artman @_@artman @_@ Posts: 2,546member
    I'd mail them this...







    Too forceful?
  • Reply 20 of 32
    macluvmacluv Posts: 261member
    [quote]Originally posted by Artman @_@:

    <strong>I'd mail them this...







    Too forceful?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />



    My brother brought home that issue of National Lampoon when I was just a tot *sniff*



    brings back memories...
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