# Platform hijacks-the last resort of the pathetic loser? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 11, 2001, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409 "2001-06-11T12:18:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![galt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@galt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galt)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/61 "2001-09-13T06:10:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cerowyn \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > > \*\*As to obsolete: Microsoft does its accounting for the U.S. on a DEC platform and its Overseas accounting on an AS/400 platform. (The area is off-limits to _all_ visitors, so that when they drag some other company’s CEO through the building, he only sees the NT servers stacked up on each other, but those things are only producing the “expert management” reports–the real numbers are crunched by the mid-frames in back.) \*\* > > Interesting. Do you have a cite for that? \*\* And a reason it’s relevant to anything? Given that they **don’t make** large-scale accounting software, I would expect them to buy whatever the accountants are accustomed to. I’m sure they’d prefer it ran on windows, but that’s life. Using your own tools to do the job is only a good idea if you actually make a tool to do the job you need done. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/62 "2001-09-15T07:00:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Michael Ellis \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > > **Ah pity the foo’ who doesn’t use CP/M!** > > Ah pity you, cause nothin works better than an ENIAC system.\*\* Too buggy. 😃 > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Yue Han_ > \*\*One button mice: You hit control as you click or you get a 2 button mouse. > > –John\*\* Sing it with me (to the tune of ‘Rubber Ducky’ by Jeffrey Moss): ```auto Double Bucky Double bucky, you're the one! You make my keyboard lots of fun. Double bucky, an additional bit or two: (Vo-vo-de-o!) Control and meta, side by side, Augmented ASCII, nine bits wide! Double bucky! Half a thousand glyphs, plus a few! Oh, I sure wish that I Had a couple of Bits more! Perhaps a Set of pedals to Make the number of Bits four: Double double bucky! Double bucky, left and right OR'd together, outta sight! Double bucky, I'd like a whole word of Double bucky, I'm happy I heard of Double bucky, I'd like a whole word of you! --- The Great Quux (with apologies to Jeffrey Moss) ``` 😃 I found that [here (The Jargon File).](http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/double-bucky.html) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/63 "2001-09-15T13:44:07Z")
> [@](#): > > Given that they don’t make large-scale accounting software, I would expect them to buy whatever the accountants are accustomed to. I’m sure they’d prefer it ran on windows, but that’s life. Using your own tools to do the job is only a good idea if you actually make a tool to do the job you need done. The irony was not that they were doing their processing on midframes. The irony (or dishonesty) was that they pretending that their little NT processors were “really” doing the work that the NT systems only reported on. I doubt that any knowledgeable person would expect a company the size of MS to run on NT. So why should MS pretend that their number crunching did occur on NT? ---
**Author:** ![nerv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85e7bf/32.png) [@nerv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nerv)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/64 "2001-09-15T17:30:04Z")
Personally. I usually do all my computing on an abacus, including 3D graphics and web surfrfrfrfrfrfrfrfrfrfrrfrfrfing. (sorry, a couple of the beads got stuck together. I HATE it when that happens) ---
**Author:** ![galt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@galt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galt)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/65 "2001-09-23T06:34:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > > > [@](#): > > > > Given that they don’t make large-scale accounting software, I would expect them to buy whatever the accountants are accustomed to. I’m sure they’d prefer it ran on windows, but that’s life. Using your own tools to do the job is only a good idea if you actually make a tool to do the job you need done. > > The irony was not that they were doing their processing on midframes. The irony (or dishonesty) was that they pretending that their little NT processors were “really” doing the work that the NT systems only reported on. You’ve failed to demonstrate that this is the case. Are they actually claiming something that’s not happening, or are they simply choosing not to include their accounting back-end machines in their walkthrough? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/66 "2001-09-23T19:44:26Z")
I’m not about to “demonstrate” it. My brother witnessed various executives of companies with whom MicroSoft did business being given tours of the facilities. Whenever they were taken through the room of NT server banks, the visitors were told that “This is where we do the company’s financial processing.” Meanwhile, the staff was ordered to keep the doors to the room full of DECs and AS/400s closed (waiting for the visitors to pass so as not to inadvertantly let the mid-frames be seen through an open door) and to not mention any processing on those platforms if asked about the work being done. Was this, perhaps, overkill on the part of some MS mid-level manager and not an actual plot by Bill Gates? Could be. My story was intended as an ironic comment in the thread, not an indictment of MicroSoft that should lead investors to withdraw their support of the company. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409.md?page=3)