manish jha

(note: this is a followup to my previous post)

The majority of the users Just Don't Know. The reference to the "Matrix" movie is both stunning and crystal clear. Right now, nine years after the first film was produced, I have been enlightened:

Microsoft is like the Matrix.

It's all about control and power. The only difference is that Microsoft does not desire electricity, but the money. All it can get. Now read, think and have fun.

MORPHEUS
We are trained in this world to accept only what is rational and logical. Have you ever wondered why? As children, we do not separate the possible from the impossible which is why the younger a mind is the easier it is to free, while a mind like yours can be very difficult.

NEO
Free from what?

MORPHEUS
From the Microsoft.

Do you want to know what it is, Neo? It's that feeling you have had all your life. That feeling that something was wrong with the world. You don't know what it is but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad, driving you to me. But what is it?

The Microsoft is everywhere, its products are all around us, here even in this room. You can see it out your window, or on your television. You feel it when you go to work, or go to church or pay your taxes. The computers use Microsoft products everywhere. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.

NEO
What truth?

MORPHEUS
That you are a slave, Neo.

Like everyone else, you were born into bondage... born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind.

Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Microsoft slavery is. You have to see it for yourself.


MORPHEUS
I promised you the truth, Neo, and the truth is that the world you were living in was a lie.

There are countries, Neo, many countires... Where human beings no longer simply work with computers. We are being accustomed.

For the longest time, I wouldn't believe it. And then I saw their practices with my own eyes...

We are, as a money source, easily renewable and completely recyclable. The old customers can go and lots of new ones will buy new computers loaded with Microsoft software anyway. All they needed to control this money bag was something to occupy our mind.

And so they built a prison out of our past, wired it to our brains and turned us into slaves.


(after you've been shown an open OS (like Linux or BSD), tried to install/use it, failed at some point but resisted in using it)
NEO
I can't go back, can I?

MORPHEUS
No. But if you could, would you really want to?

I feel that I owe you an apology. There is a rule that we do not free a mind once it reaches a certain age. It is dangerous. They have trouble letting go. Their mind turns against them. I've seen it happen. I broke the rule because I had to.


MORPHEUS
When the monopoly was first built there was a man born inside (think: RMS) that had the ability to change what he wanted, to remake the license as he saw fit. It was this man that freed the first of us and taught us the secret of the war; control the source code and you control the future.

When he designed the GPL, the Oracle at the temple of Zion prophesied an even greater glory for his follower (think: Linus) and envisioned an end to the war and freedom for our people.


MORPHEUS
The Microsoft is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you look at the users, who do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inert, they are so accustomed to their programs, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.

Were you listening to me or looking at the woman in the red dress?
(note: I bet the name of a woman in red dress must have been Windows Vista!)

NEO
This isn't the Microsoft?

MORPHEUS
It's another training program designed to teach you one thing: If you are not one of us, you are one of them.


CYPHER
You know, I know that the ideal operating system doesn't exist. I know when I run it in my computer, the Microsoft is telling my brain that it is secure and efficient. After nine years, do you know what I've realized?

Ignorance is bliss.

AGENT SMITH
Then we have a deal?

CYPHER
I don't want to remember nothing. Nothing! You understand? And I want to be rich. Someone important. Like a CEO. You can do that, right?

AGENT SMITH
Whatever you want, Mr. Ballmer.


SPOON BOY
Do not try and bend the facts. That's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth.

NEO
What truth?

SPOON BOY
There are no facts. (think: "Get the Facts" campaign)

Then you'll see that it is not the facts that bend. It is only yourself.


NEO
I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid. You're afraid of us. You are afraid of change.

I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin.

I'll hang up this phone. And then I'll show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible.

Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you.


SYSTEM FAILURE