Joe Geiser writes:

>If anyone tells you that the Win32 API spec is not public,
>they're (as a company owner I know once said) "smoking dutch cleanser".  I
>have the full Win32 API available (and not because of my ClubWin connection
>either - but acquired on my own)

Odd. I know the API spec isn't secret (at least, not the public part),
but when I ask you or Denys, the two most knowledgeable (or at least most
vocal) Microphiles on the list, where to get a reference manual for it, I
get no response. Where do I find it? What manual do I order? Can
*anybody* answer that question? I want an official Microsoft document,
not some third-party book.

>People are not tied to Microsoft either,
>and it's a farce to think so.

Nor are people tied to gasoline or diesel engines for their cars. But try
to find an alternative-fuel car, despite the obvious advantages that many
of them have. We're stuck with century-old technology in our cars, just
like 90% of computer users are stuck with 20-year-old technology in their
computers. They have a right to be, of course, but it'd be nice if the
engineers told the truth. Or doesn't good engineering require telling the
truth any more?

>[Microsoft] market[s]
>extremely well, which is more than I can say for a few other companies.

This is true. Microsoft can get away with saying that their fertilizer
smells like roses because they can be confident that 90% of their
customers will never get to smell a rose. IBM used the same technique
until the early '80s. It works. Are you saying that it's OK to sell an
inferior product as long as you do it with superior marketing?

>there are people who dislike
>(being nice here) Microsoft - and that's their right -
>so go use Linux, OS/2
>or MacOS.

Dang! I just threw away my OS/2 stuff a couple of days ago. But I do use
Linux and the other one you mentioned.

I don't hate Microsoft. I hate indifferent engineering and misleading
marketing. When Microsoft releases a product with great engineering, I
use it -- like their 8080 development system, or MSWord 1 through 5, or
Excel 1 through 4.

>For those who find that Windows 95 does the job, you will find
>that Windows 98 will decrease those GPFs - even eliminate them in most
>cases,

GPFs? In Windows '95? Say it's not so! Funny how we don't hear how
unstable the current release is until the next release is ready to ship.

-- Bruce



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