Who has this much time?!

[ebtb.livejournal.com]

Seriously. Considering that they obviously had to use a thesaurus to construct every sentence just so. Half-way down to the page you finally get to the (sort of) question... I don't have the time to read this nonsense much less write it!

Thank you for the innovative software products that you sell to help compensate for Microsoft's chronic inability and/or unwillingness to "get Windows right," particularly in the areas of security. For some unknown reason, Microsoft either does not "get it" or the corporation -- because it holds the bulk of the OS market share -- is indifferent.

Regarding the latter speculation, I would like to mention the consistent awards for quality that Mac OS X receives, because if computer users did not trust Apple to release intuitive, secure, and innovated operating systems and hardware, Apple would simply not survive, and Windows would be the only OS option for most computers.

Linux will not be competitive until it is as easy to install and use as commercial operating systems (although that day is approaching and Microsoft is obviously aware of the threat).

Despite Linux's advances in ease of use and installation; thousands of free and open-source software programs; almost 200 distributions of Linux; an operating system that runs quickly on hardware that would even not support Windows 95, although Linux running on a fast computer is an amazing experience; the lack of a price (unless one considers the cost of purchasing Linux distributions on CDs/DVDs, or paying for the option of support), Linux needs more time and work to contend with Windows (and, like Mac OS X, Linux faces the challenge of the ability to exchange documents with the Windows platform, and Microsoft will continue to thwart accomplishments toward such compatibility -- such as the major changes to the formats of Office 2007 documents).

I apologize for my digression, but perhaps you might want to consider porting a program or two to non-Windows operating systems. The obvious choice would be Mac OS X, because Mac users use mostly commercial software, whereas the Linux community is used to open-source software; people are not opposed to paying for software, but they are used to the GPL requirement that software includes the source code, which allows people to customize software if they wish and can program.

My query/suggestion today, however, is modest compared to the speculation (rambling?) above.

My extended family and I use the free, open-source, Thunderbird e-mail client. (Most of use it with Windows XP, although my son uses Linux and Mac OS X, as well as Windows XP -- and has the hardware to support the top "flavor" of Windows Vista, although compatibility issues with programs and unavailable hardware drivers are but one problem with Vista).

I realize that you are still working on a version of your anti-spam program that is compatible with Vista, as well as Outlook 2007 -- but, although Thunderbird has a built-in spam filter, I would love to see, and purchase, your anti-spam program if it were compatible with Thunderbird.

Perhaps my suggestion is totally unrealistic, because there are people using Thunderbird as their e-mail client on Windows, but they do not receive enough "spam" to realize that Thunderbird's spam filter uses Bayesian logic and must be trained to recognize spam. For people, such as my son, who uses Thunderbird with Windows and has multiple e-mail accounts, which he has had for years, the number of messages that he receives each day is in the hundreds and if your anti-spam program were compatible with Thunderbird, your product would give him much more time to deal with legitimate messages, and cut back on the hours he spends dealing with the "spam" that Thunderbird misses, simply because of the volume of e-mail and the complexity of the Bayesian logic required to deal with hundreds of spam messages received daily via multiple accounts.

Please do not bother to reply to this message. As I prepare to close this treatise, which was supposed to be a brief suggestion, I realize that making your anti-spam program compatible with Mozilla Thunderbird would, to be succinct (for a change!), involve untold development hours and that most Thunderbird users would not purchase a license to a compatible version of your anti-spam program, because they falsely assume that Thunderbird's spam filter is sufficient -- although my son realizes that Thunderbird's spam filter is overwhelmed if one receives hundreds of messages per day.

I understand why you are focusing on compatibility with Microsoft's Outlook and Outlook Express, although my son has proven to use that Outlook is a huge security risk, although it has some wonderful features (e.g., the built-in calendar) that other e-mail clients for Windows lack.

I will go ahead and send this suggestion to you, Sunbelt Software.
Perhaps, even if that time is years away, you may discover that there is a market for your anti-spam program for other Windows e-mail clients. (I stopped using Outlook for security and stability reasons, and I will never use it again, but it seems to have no serious competition from other commercial e-mail clients for Windows. Eudora, which was a viable commercial alternative to Outlook years ago, has faded in security; it was once very popular for Windows and the Macintosh.)

My son is about to perform a "clean installation" of Windows XP Home on my computer. (The current installation is corrupted beyond believe, although I have had no viruses or other malware on my system.)

I already have a license for anti-malware software and my son is purchasing two licenses today from you for your Firewall -- and my family and I are loyal customers and "$Company evangelists" to others who run Windows. (My son told me that if I must run Windows, I must use your security products!) :-)

Finally, my son is very excited about the anti-virus program for Windows that you hope to release early in 2008. He is fed up with Symantec, so he won't be using Norton AntiVirus anymore, and the reviews of the anti-virus programs that are currently available are mixed. (I use BitDefender 10, because it was recommended to me, I got a good price, and Norton Utilities appeared to be corrupting Windows, so my son removed it. (He also finds Symantec's software activation process too similar to Microsoft's. We are honest, but I have annually reinstalled Windows from scratch each year, because of performance degradation over time. If I have to install Windows XP Home a fifth time, Microsoft will not allow me to install it again.

At 72, I do not anticipate buying another version of Windows or having my son built me another computer: What happens if a hard-drive crash forces me to install WinXP Home again, and I find that I have exhausted my "quota" and that Microsoft no longer sells Windows XP or provides updates?

Thank you for your patience and time -- and for your anti-malware software and Firewall! I cannot use your anti-spam program, but I look forward to other quality software from $Company in the future -- as does my extended family!

Comments

[hisamishness.livejournal.com]

My God!

"I would really like your product to work with Thunderbird on a Mac" extended to 1141 words across 17 paragraphs and 3 pages?

FOCUS!, Dammit!

[omg-teh-funnay.livejournal.com]

We call that "masturtyping"

I'm pretty sure he had to wipe off his keyboard when he was finished.

[insaint.livejournal.com]

Hey, at least you don't need to reply to it. ;)

[snarl817.livejournal.com]

tl;dr

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

Heck, at 72, he might have 20-30 years ahead of him. He expects to still be able to use Microsoft Windows XP in 2027?

Oh wait... a user... Of course!

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, technically, but what I mean is, would he be able to use it for much that he currently uses it for? And I seriously doubt it. Technically, I can start up the 386 I had in 1994 and play some Solitaire, but it's really not going to be much use to me in getting on the Internet (at least not the way I do it now) and seeing webpages and sending email. And that's not even 20 years. That is what I meant.

[taleya.livejournal.com]

Considering that they obviously had to use a thesaurus to construct every sentence just so

for writing that?


*goes and hides in a corner muttering to self about those demmed intellectual lowbrows with the lexicons and communication skills of inbred hamsters*

[kyidyl.livejournal.com]

I don't know man, what we all wouldn't give for users who are that smart and articulate. Because, really...who wouldn't want users smart enough to use firefox/thunderbird? That guy sounds like he'd be hella easy to support.

[lordstorm.livejournal.com]

Not when you'd need Ritalin simply to understand what he's attempting to say! But otherwise, I'd agree.

[manuka.livejournal.com]

Nope, ritalin isn't helping.

[mouser.livejournal.com]

Lawyer or sales?

[ptstech.livejournal.com]

I vote lawyer.

[goose-entity.livejournal.com]

I vote "pretentious prat"!

[ateji.livejournal.com]

I'll second that.

[teriwyn.livejournal.com]

I think you missed an instance of replacing your Company Name with $Company. I don't blame you, as this thing was tedious to read... And I'm ashamed to make this observation, because it means I read this thing all the way through.

[ebtb.livejournal.com]

LOL Oh, well...secret's out!

I want the 10 minutes and brain cells I lost from reading this back.

[teriwyn.livejournal.com]

Now that I know who you work for, I am going to start writing bizarre letters to your tech support line to see if they "make the cut" and get posted here.

Ok, no I won't. I don't have that much free time. It was a funny fleeting thought, though.

[ebtb.livejournal.com]

you wouldn't be the first. my roomies do that sometimes. one of them wrote an epic tale about traveling in Morocco and having his laptop stolen which he wrapped up by asking for his registration key so he could reinstall the product on his new laptop. Needless to say, it was rather amusing.

[bassgirl.livejournal.com]

"Please do not bother to reply to this message. As I prepare to close this treatise, which was supposed to be a brief suggestion"... AND THEN HE KEEPS GOING. That's barely halfway through!

I must confess, I couldn't read the whole thing. And now I must leave so I can find some very stiff alcohol. I will share it with you.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Holy crap... This is what happens when Nigerian spammers write to tech support!!

[darkrose.livejournal.com]

Can't be. He's not bribing the poster with the sum of TWENTY FIVE MILLION US DOLLARS ($25,000,000.00)..of which he can keep TEN PERCENT (10%) to write the software for Macintosh.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... he must be on his lunch break then...

[gilmoure.livejournal.com]

What?

[ngtmagicks.livejournal.com]

I want Lusers like that!!!!

[70schild.livejournal.com]

I'm just stuck on the fact that his son has all those email addresses and doesn't do anything server-side to stop most of the spam.

Unless he's using a free email provider, which would explain that bit. Dumb.

[darkrose.livejournal.com]

It doesn't even need to be server side. I personally use Fetchmail to download my mail and then sanitize it with spamassassin and clamav on my slack box..then I download it all to my client via POP3. It works well enough for me.

[metao.livejournal.com]

At least he was polite.

[geekgrrl-ca.livejournal.com]

this is the kind of user who would turn a 5 minute call into 20 minutes because he's so busy telling you 50 million things that don't have to do with the issue at hane. we're lucky he didn't mention his cat.

[lwj2.livejournal.com]

At least he's polite, if verbose.