[Kooler] Re: TCO for Windows vs. everybody else?

[DJA]

Somehow, I knew you would be the one to mine that line. ;^)

Actually, I put it in there, just for you. As long as you're gonna be
accused of inappropriate [Kooler]isms, we might as well be entertained
at the same time.


Lan Barnes wrote:
> 
> DJA wrote:
> 
> >
> > Windows Zealots hung by their own petard! Or falling on their own piton,
> > or whatever the hell the phrase is. Grmph!
> 
> Well, the answer isn't particularly simple. It's from "Hamlet," and Hamlet
> himself said "hoist by his own petard," meaning trapped by his own trap.
> 
> Except, as with so many things, it's neither simple nor clear.
> 
> First, most of our texts of Shakespeare's plays come from pirated copies
> transcribed by paid copyright [1] abusers who stood in the pit and wrote
> down the dialog as the play progressed. So there are many lines that were
> heard wrong or differently by different thieves, and modern scholars are
> left making judgment calls. The "petard" line, IIRC, is one such case.
> 
> Second, the image isn't entirely clear. A petard was a bomb that was used
> to breach a door or sink a ship. Someone would either climb the door and
> nail a pulley to the top, or rig a block from a yardarm. Then the petard's
> fuse was lit, and it was hoisted to an appropriate height by volunteers
> with more courage than sense. At the right moment, bomb go boom, door come
> down -- unless the bomb was heavier than the last guy holding the rope, in
> which case he might be "hoist by his own petard." Not a pretty picture.
> 
> I gotta be honest, I never really liked Hamlet that much, and the petard
> thing is an example of why. Entirely too precious. Now "Henry IV Part II"
> -- there is some beautiful language ;-)
> 
> [1] OK, they didn't have copyright then -- so sue me. The point is, Willie
> S. made good money anyway, and if they hadn't been copied down, we wouldn't
> have them today. So the DMCA still sucks bigtime.
> 
> --
> Lan Barnes


-- 
   Best Regards,
      ~DJA.