javalab said:
[...]
anyway, win2000 *does not* have the framework onboard. i got it via wupdate
(together with blast and another worm...).
a point favoring net is that -- in theory -- n*x users could use your app
too. but i never heard a linux user telling s/he was using a net app.
Whenever I see the .net thing brought up, still to this day always the
first thing that comes to my mind was that very humorous incident with
those buffoon MSFT employees getting caught out in their vote rigging.
(I'm having trouble finding the original articles online. Maybe I'd
read originally at pcmag.com. But I didn't trouble with searching there
specifically tonight. In meantime, for those that didn't get to hear the
little story at the time, here is a copy-paste from one of the articles,
which I'd locally saved.)
<quote>
ZDNet UK > News > Story
.NET VOTE RIGGING ILLUSTRATES IMPORTANCE OF WEB SERVICES
Wednesday 9th January 2002; Peter Judge
In December, Java was more popular than .Net for building Web services,
according to a ZDNet UK poll, but weeks later the position had dramatically
reversed; investigation revealed just what lengths Microsoft will go to to
promote its products
Microsoft's .Net Web services technology appeared to experience a sudden
massive boost in popularity over its rival Java, according to a poll run by
ZDNet UK.
By 21 December, more than two-thirds of the respondents (69.5 percent), said
they planned to deliver some applications by Web services by the end of
2002, with a large majority of those (nearly half the total sample) planning
to use Java. Only 21.5 percent said they planned to use Microsoft .Net --
less than the figure (23.5 percent) planning to use neither.
But by the time the poll closed, on 5 January, the position had dramatically
changed, with three quarters of voters claiming to be implementing .Net.
This apparent sudden change of heart over the Christmas period appears to be
the result of a concerted campaign within Microsoft.
ZDNet UK logs reveal rather obvious vote rigging, and prove that it
originated from within Microsoft:
- A very high percentage of voters are from within the microsoft.com
domain.
- There is a very high incidence of people attempting to cast multiple
votes, even though the poll script blocked out most attempts at
multiple voting. The one that wins the prize made 228 attempts to vote.
This person was from within the microsoft.com domain.
- Several of the voters evidently followed a link contained in an email,
the subject line of which ran: "PLEASE STOP AND VOTE FOR .NET!" We know
this, because our logs include the Web address where visitors browsed
from; when people click there from a Microsoft Exchange email message,
Exchange helpfully gives us the subject line and username. The people
who followed that link all had email addresses in the microsoft.com
domain.
There is also clear evidence of automated voting, with scripts attempting to
post multiple times.
This is not the first time Microsoft has been caught using dubious
practices. Last August, lobbyists acting for Microsoft went beyond the grave
and dispatched letters to US states' attorneys general from two deceased
people as part of a campaign to persuade government prosecutors to lay off
the company in the antitrust case. US lobby group the Campaign Against
Government Waste (CAGW) posted the letters as part of an attempt to convince
attorneys general there was a grass-roots campaign against the case.
Although votes cast after 21 December are suspect, this latest episode
illustrates the importance of Web services -- at least to suppliers, anyway.
The inevitable conclusion is that these are some of the first salvos in what
will be a bitter PR struggle. Microsoft may have shot itself in the foot
this time, but future efforts may be a little more subtle.
</quote>
