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Microsoft, Moses and the Burning bush

What does Microsoft have to do with Moses and the burning bush?

Back in the early 90's, Microsoft developed a remarkable piece of software, Windows NT. (Anyone who knows me will know that I am no fan of Microsoft but this product was an exception.)

What was most amazing about this software was that conventional wisdom was that it was impossible to develop something of that size and complexity in the timescale, even with a huge team. In 1994 a Wall Street Journal writer named Pascal Zachary obtained permission to interview all those involved and write a book.

The book is in some places shocking and even a little scary, because it becomes clear that what enables the project to succeed is the cult-like leadership qualities of the project leader, Dave Cutler, and his abilities to motivate his "followers" (employees) to the point where nothing else in their lives mattered, outside of working on his team. Here is a quote from the book:

The substance and style of [Cutler's] leadership was a decisive factor. Cutler sustained a mythical realm for both himself and his followers, in which the ambiguities of life were transformed into black and white, good and evil. He renewed this break with ordinary reality every time he flouted convention in word or deed. No one had a hold on him, not even Gates, the richest American. Cutler divided the world into Us and Them. This opposition echoed the profound distinction between sacred and profane: We are clean; they are dirty. We are the chosen people; they are the scorned. We will succeed; they will fail.**

So, what is the connection with Moses and the burning bush? The answer lies in an accurate understanding of holiness. A common view is that it means "separation" or "purity", but this is inaccurate. In the first few minutes of this audio: http://nlife.ca/audio/andrew-fountain-what-holiness-really-means
I explain how the biblical meaning is different (oh, and how it relates to Microsoft).

** Showstopper!: the breakneck race to create Windows NT and the next generation at Microsoft by G. Pascal Zachary (Free Press, NY: 1994), p.281.

holiness

I liked your item on Microsoft, Moses and the Burning Bush, ... although I prefer my little MacBook. :)

what you said on "holiness" rings very true ...its been my study for the last month and a half. What is a bit trickier, is God's statement that "I am holy". It seems to me that in this case, "holy" must mean something like "distinct," "special" or "separate (from the common)" In the case of YHWH (as opposed to other ANE faux deities) is that holy must have something to do with his character... but for the life of me, I do not know what other word to use to describe what "holy" means when referring to God.

blessings...

ps. I presume you got my email and are formulating a rapier-like response that cuts to the heart (of the matter.)

  • By Gordon Harris (not verified) at 2008/02/25 - 11:03pm
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nt 3.51

Oh, please, Mr. Fountain. You were always fan of MicroSoft, you even trained the seminarians to be MS Office users. And, if I may ask, what system is operating your computers in your house ?

NT 3.51 was a great OS, but MS had nothing to do with that; and if in 1995 Gates & co. unleashed and forced that onto everyone's desktop they may have done some good; but no, they forced us into a 7-year dos7/win95 dead-end street. And MS used hook and crook (not a better product) to destroy OS/2 and DR-dos. After taking control of the NT code MS worked hard to turn it into monopoly-ware.

If by some contortion MS and William Gates (great supporter of abortion and population control, who learned the tricks of his trade from Vanderbilt, Gould, and Rockefeller), and underhanded business methods can be connected with holiness, whom should we bring up in connection with un-holiness ? If the worst OS there is may be equated with Judaism or Christianity ? ... what would be the corresponding OS for Wicca, Ordo Templi Orientis, Hinduism, New Age ?

Next comes Mr. Drucker and his methods to inrease church-membership ?

_________
Please avail yourself to my abandoned ware page, including screen-shots of NT 3.51 which was my OS for a year:
http://www.yamaguchy.netfirms.com/warez/freeware_index.html

I am writing this post on a laptop, using [shame of all shame] NT 5 without IE, wininet.dll, shdocvw.dll, urlmon.dll, browseui.dll

  • By ishmael (not verified) at 2008/03/22 - 2:37pm
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Yes, NT 3.51 was great

but IMHO it was the last great operating system that Microsoft produced. I was a beta tester for NT 3.5 and it would run in 8MB of RAM!
Right now I run CentOS 5.1 (Red Hat clone) on my servers and Kubuntu 8.04 on my desktops. I do have a system still running XP but I in the process of moving it to a Xen virtual machine so I can fire it up if and when I need it.
B.t.w. Istvan, I remember you once gave me some SuSE CDs, way back in the time before Novell acquired them.

  • By Andrew at 2008/05/29 - 11:14am
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Sodom or Niniveh

So that is where S.u.S.E. is. I was wondering ... it is almost a collectors item now.
My fav Linux is Wolvix and GoblinX
_____
On a different note:
Is there (could there be) a discussion on paganization of the churches ?
Over the years I seem to have gone over to the other side (or somewhere). If I wonder into a church building I turn out to be the conservative there.

150 lectures by Mr. Spurgeon are available for listening; I downloaded 3; also listen to lectures by Paul Washer, Ken Ham, the Detroit Church.

When I listen to these harsh messages I understand them, but when I hear these 'oh just smell the armpit of Jesus, taste and feel him'; 'just be nice to others' 'we live under grace' 'no condemnation' 'Jesus is the cosmic social worker' 'God is a cosmic sugar-daddy' coming out of these preachers, I don't know what to do with them, and my molecules are revolting.

Church members in their individual lives and as a group are affected by paganism, but the pagans are not effected by them. I reside outside of Victoria. In my opinion this city has the most degenerate populace in Canada. In Toronto 500,000 sexuals march up and down on pride day, and on every other day, but I did not notice the decline as I noticed it here. Paganism, animal worship, nature worship, astrology

Churches here -- if they are Christian -- I consider Lot(s) in Sodome. Lot tried and managed to get along with the residents there, but could not have any effect on them, and at the end the angels had to blind a few of the degenerates.

Was there any hope, prayer, prophecy for the five cities ? No. Extermination without warning, prejudice or remorse ...(Abraham only asked for the per chance righteous, not the rest)
Did Paul try to get along, fit in with the greeks? or did he tell them plainly that they are wrong ? their religion is wrong, their concept of God is wrong ?
Jonah read a harsh riot act to the citizens of Niniveh.

So, question, is the method of 'be nice to the world' 'be accomodating to the world' working ? Or should the harsh message be read to them ?
Or, should they be just left alone because there is nothing that can be(should be) done for them, just as nothing was even attempted for Gomorra ? And christians should just get out of town and try to find the way back to Abraham ?
Obviously the methods of the past 30-40-50 years are not working.

Is Canada (US, UK and Europe) Niniveh or Gomorra ?

______
Would you take a look at what some Christians wrote 120 years ago
http://www.yamaguchy.netfirms.com/7897401/heath/labour_21.html#land

Have you seen "Expelled" ? I was all by myself in the theatre.

  • By ishmael (not verified) at 2008/07/17 - 8:47pm
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