Two wrongs don't make a right.

Story: Sheila Lennon: Google's paying sites to get you to switch to ...Total Replies: 10
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jimf

Nov 15, 2005
7:20 AM EDT
We hate it when MS does this one to us and they won't like it any better. I'm also hearing that people who may be forced to use IE at work, for example, are very pissed when running into this one. Altogether a very bad and misguided idea. This is making Firefox and FOSS no friends or converts.
mvermeer

Nov 15, 2005
8:40 AM EDT
Equal rights for cops and robbers, Jim? I respectfully disagree.

The 'forced by your employer' argument doesn't hold water. It's hardly an employer's job to allow you to browse various blog sites out there -- and if that would happen to be in your job description (if you work for a news site, e.g.), it's your employer's job to give you the proper tools to access the open, standards-based Internet.

The essential difference is, that as a free actor (you, or your employer) you have the option (and I would say the duty) of installing Firefox, at near-zero cost, irrespective of hardware, irrespective of software platform. MSIE doesn't come close.
jimf

Nov 15, 2005
9:11 AM EDT
Then what is your point mvermeer? Are you trying to get people to adapt firefox... or?

If you are trying to get converts, and not just stick it to IE and MS, then this is the worst possible way to go about it. You are just pissing people off.

No matter how evil we think MS is, this tactic just doesn't work.
tadelste

Nov 15, 2005
9:14 AM EDT
I always thought that the "Two wrong don't make a right" saying was just an excuse. It doesn't make sense to me. We execute people for murder. If a guy breaks into my house, he gets an iron skillet over the head.

We might want to rethink the two wrongs don't make a right logic. I don't see it.
jimf

Nov 15, 2005
9:38 AM EDT
tadelste, You guys are missing the point here. I have nothing against a MS tactic if it works in our favor, but this particular one doesn't. I also have nothing against lining MS up against the wall and shooting them, but not if the ricochets are gonna x me too.
dinotrac

Nov 15, 2005
9:55 AM EDT
Tom --

Yikes, old man...apples and oranges.

Two wrongs do not make a right. However, harsh action is not necessarily a wrong.

The death penalty isn't against killing, or even against homicide. It's against murder, a very specific subset of all homicides. If you wish to consider execution of convicted murderers to itself be murder, that is your privilege. As an example of two wrongs, however, you need a reader/listener who holds the same view.

As to whacking a home intruder, same deal. The wrong isn't being in your house. The wrong is being in your house without your permission and under circumstances that give you reasonable cause to fear for your safety and the safety of your loved ones. The skillet conking is not a wrong at all, but a reasonable reaction to the situation.

tadelste

Nov 15, 2005
11:00 AM EDT
I'm going by what's stated not by some set of Dino's rationalizations for bending the rules. If it's wrong to kill, it's wrong to kill. Two wrongs don't make a right. All those polymath circuits in that Chicagoland mind of yours indicates to me that you should move back to Texas where thinking is thinking and doing is doing. If someone hurts me and I hurt them back = two wrongs.

Don't attempt to get me into some kind of mental abberation.

I ain't buying it!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

mvermeer

Nov 15, 2005
11:15 AM EDT
Jim, I put a javascript snippet on my own web page in university (nothing big, visitors in the dozens I suppose) that does pretty much what the first alternative script presented here does, and have already gained a convert that I know about. I have heard no complaints. That's one data point. (I did this months ago.)

You see, it's the psychology of people blaming themselves. When they get an error message, they think they have made an error, and proceed to correct it. MS -- and MSIE-only web sites -- have exploited this ruthlessly. What's wrong with making the same psychology work *for* us?

About completely blocking out MSIE users, I agree and cannot imagine any situation where that makes sense. (Perhaps my lack of imagination.) But jolting users out of their complacency to remind them -- nay, *explain* to them -- that something better is out there... I think that's long overdue.
jimf

Nov 15, 2005
11:23 AM EDT
Ok :D

[jimf frys Ms with a laser cannon while acidentally catching tadelste & mvermeer in the back blast (oops)]

Guess you guys are right. Justice and logic are done.
dinotrac

Nov 15, 2005
11:25 AM EDT
Tom, Tom, Tom...

Methinks you'd better adjust those glasses.

Nobody said it's wrong to kill.

If somebody comes at you with a gun, it is not wrong to defend yourself with lethal force.

If somebody is dying a horrific painful death, it is not wrong to accede to their wish for mercy.

And finally, if somebody is determined to vote Democratic, it is not merely not wrong, but almost required.
mvermeer

Nov 15, 2005
11:35 AM EDT
[On Topic] ;-) Always the teacher, I still need to point out that FF has become so damn good at handling MSIE-special pages, that not even that creates any pressure to switch. What's a guy to do when the reverse is not true.

Careful with those light sabres out there...

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