🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1991Oct30.180320.11188@donau.et.tudelft.nl> thomas@duteca.et.tudelft.nl (Thomas Okken) writes:

   From article <BURLEY.91Oct29174837@churchy.gnu.ai.mit.edu>, by burley@churchy.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Craig Burley):
   > [stuff deleted]
   >
   > Your post strongly suggests you are aware only of attacks on Apple and
   > completely unaware of attacks on other companies.  I have seen a lot of
   > both in these forums, but then that's probably because I take none of those
   > attacks personally.

   Unless there is a selective filter somewhere between the US and Europe, I
   daresay the attacks on Apple in this newsgoup are a lot more numerous and
   vicious than those on others.
   Thanks to the boycott, people are not just attacking companies and their
   lawyers anymore, but calling names at the people who use and support products
   of those companies. It's very nice that *you* don't take any of these
   attacks personally, but when I am likened to a terrorist supporter just
   because I use Apple, I get angry. Surprised?

Hmm, seems to me there's not much Apple-attacking in this group _except_ in
response to GNU/FSF/LPF-attacking by pro-Apple people claiming that we're
all silly for supporting an Apple boycott.  In fact I can't recall seeing
any thread on this newsgroup (in the 15+ months I've been reading it) that
started with a GNU person saying "hey, everyone out there, Apple's bad",
aside from the LPF literature itself.  The sad thing is that there have been
unwarranted attacks by GNU people on "innocent bystanders" who didn't know
better than to ask a question like "is there a version of GNU XYZ for the
Macintosh?".  Personally I'm very sorry to see that happen.

Anyway, there _have_ been quite a lot of "original attacks" on other
companies, especially following news items about what they're doing.
The list includes Xerox, Lotus, Microsoft, Ashton-Tate, and probably many
others I've forgotten about.

As far as being surprised you get angry when likened to a terrorist
supporter, I can't really say.  I don't recall doing that, nor recall
anyone else specifically doing that.  Though if you want to make a series
of pretty significant inferences, I can see how you'd come up with that,
given some of the pro-GNU posts I've seen comparing the situation we have
with Apple to one we have with some terrorist organization, or some such
thing.  But I don't personally put much stock in those who take such
comparisons and contort them into personal insults, because I find it is
ultimately impossible to carry on discussions with them -- one cannot cite
_any_ example or risk being accused of either trivializing one's plight or
of making mountains out of molehills.
--

James Craig Burley, Software Craftsperson    burley@gnu.ai.mit.edu