Blogtrek

Microsoft Slaves

At work someone asked if I knew C#, the programming language. C# is Microsoft's version of Java, a way of trying to dominate everything by taking away what Sun has. I said I could probably pick it up. People in the past 20 years have told me that certain programming languages have advantages. Usually it is because they like the language. I find they divide into two groups. One tells me I should use or learn Java, C++, Pascal, Perl, and Delphi. Mathematicians frequently fall into this group. The other group recommends ASP, Visual Basic, IIS, and Microsoft Access VBA. I call these people Microsoft Slaves. They use everything that Microsoft comes out with. I suppose that makes things easy, because Microsoft writes most of the operating system and other fundamental software today and you need to converse with these to work and be popular. But that makes Microsoft the dictator of everything. You have to do it the Microsoft way. That is one reason I never went for certification in using Microsoft products. The certification shows how much you have subserved yourself in Microsoft's favor. The problem with this is that competition is stifled, and the other is that Microsoft can at any time throw conniptions into your work by changing the operating system, the programming languages and so forth. Witness all the fuss that happened when Microsoft rolled out .NET.

So I want to be conversant in computer programming proficiency but I don't want to be a Microsoft slave. That is why I don't have Microsoft certification.