flexfax: Hylafax future (*not* on NT, please!)

[Evan Leibovitch <evan@telly.org>]

On Wed, 17 Sep 1997, Leslie Mikesell wrote:

> Do you know if this will interoperate with the existing fax system or
> will they (in typical Microsoft fashion) require that you replace
> everything or use only NT to use it?

It's sentiments like this, true as they are, that make me look upon
efforts to make HylaFAX work on NT with total revulsion.

Microsoft has historically used its applications arm as leverage to push
its own OS and OS upgrades. Want the new version of Office? Gotta buy the
new Windows.

Similar leverage has frequently been used by Microsoft to drive a wedge
into the Unix market. Why do people switch from Unix to NT? Not because
NT is faster or cheaper or more flexible, but because that's where the
applications are. If Microsoft is as Java-friendly as it claims, why is it
now forcing all Java applets to be taken off the Microsoft Network?

How nice that Microsoft and its users can exploit the benefits of free
software, while reciprocating by doing everything they can to destroy
any concepts of open standards, and along the way free OSs such as Linux
and BSD. Perhaps we should work a deal that has HylaFAX ported to NT on
the day that MS-Word, or Visual Basic, or Excel is available for any Unix.

HylaFAX operation is the antithesis of the NT way of doing things. 
Command-line administration, chains of compact tools rather than
monolythic programs, no fancy GUIs, documentation in FAQs and manpages --
all classic Unix methods. How much work would be required to make this
usable in the NT world?

Sorry. Call this the rantings of someone who's being a cranky old fart
tonight if you wish --- but the notion that scarce HylaFAX R&D hours may
be diverted to shoehorn it into NT's limitations makes me sick. While we
may not be able to stop the lemmings from falling for the NT hype, IMO we
ought not to encourage such action either.

- Evan