Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/01/19

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Subject: [Leica] An Abbreviated History of Computers
From: Martin Howard <mvhoward@mac.com>
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 02:09:22 -0800

Carl Pultz wrote:

> It's one of those colossal ironies that the (deservedly) hated 
> Microsoft made possible the most democratic revolution in technology 
> (for the average person, not a unix programmer) built on a platform 
> created by the equally ignoble partner of fascists, IBM.

Revolution: The overthrow of one ruler and the substitution of another 
by the goverened.

Democracy: Government in which supreme power is vested in the people 
and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of 
representation.

Facism: A political philosophy that exalts nation above the individual 
and stands for a centralized autocratic government, headed by a 
dictatorial leader.

So, if I'm reading the above correctly, the democratic revolution must 
be the one in which the goverend people (the average, non unix 
programmers) overthrow themselves (the rulers, since it's a democracy), 
substituting their own rulership for something new -- presumably in 
this case, the deservedly hated Microsoft, who partners up with IBM to 
create a system in which a centralized, autocratic rulership is headed 
by a dictatorial leader with little concern for the individual (back 
again to the average user).

Yep... sounds about right to me.

M.

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